Stories from Tuesday, November 25, 2003

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- New Jersey Nets center Alonzo Mourning is leaving basketball again because the kidney disease he's had for three years is worsening and he needs a transplant. The announcement Monday came just a few months after Mourning, 33, signed a four-year contract with the Nets believed to be worth $22 million. ...

To the editor: Ever since discovering that I am a descendent of the founder Cape Girardeau (great-great-great-great-great-great-granddaughter of Louis Lorimier and Charlotte Bougainville), I have been reading all about Cape Girardeau with great interest. ...

To the editor: Peter Kinder's column, "Marriage diktat," struck a chord with me. Why has it become acceptable in American society, supposedly the bastion of freedom of thought, to impose one's personal beliefs on others? The entire point about the Massachusetts court case, which is explicitly blamed on "liberal" thinking, is that humans are created equal. Or so the second-most sacred document in America, the Declaration of Independence, would have us believe...

10 years ago: Nov. 25, 1993 Thanksgiving Day. Capt. Elmer Trapp of Salvation Army estimates 450 people are served by Army during its annual community Thanksgiving dinner, including 125 meals that are delivered to shut-ins. Shoppers brave drizzling rains and cooler temperatures to get day's head start on official Christmas shopping season, visiting two big retail outlets before and after Thanksgiving feasts...

Christian first I DEPLORE the way the chief justice was thrown off the Supreme Court because of the Ten Commandments. I'm a Christian first, an American second and a Democrat third. About 75 percent or 80 percent of my Democrat friends go along with this 100 percent. We're good Christians. We believe in programs to help everybody and the poor...

Baseball Right-hander Kelvim Escobar and the Anaheim Angels agreed Monday to a three-year contract. Escobar, 27, was 13-9 with a 4.29 ERA and four saves in 26 starts and 15 relief appearances for Toronto last season. Curt Schilling is headed to the Boston Red Sox -- if he waives his no-trade clause with the Arizona Diamondbacks...

WASHINGTON -- States that raised their speed limits to 70 mph or more have seen a big jump in traffic deaths, according to a report Monday by an auto safety group. Some 1,880 more people died between 1996 and 1999 in the 22 states with higher speed limits on rural interstates, said the study, compiled by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, funded by insurers. ...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Just in time for the holidays, Carlita Cane got a cashier's job at a Cracker Barrel restaurant and store. She is hoping to keep it after Christmas -- and Cracker Barrel would also like her to stay. With the economy improving, many U.S. retailers are doing more than taking on extra help for the holidays. They are hoping to keep the new hires afterward...

Blanchett performances spark talk of Oscar BOSTON -- Cate Blanchett is getting reviews for "The Missing" that match the raves she received for "Veronica Guerin." "The Missing," opening Wednesday, stars Blanchett as a frontierswoman trying to rescue her kidnapped daughter. In "Veronica Guerin," she played the real-life Irish journalist killed for her reporting about drug dealers. The betting for many Hollywood insiders is on which role will earn her a best-actress nomination...

Parking in certain parts of Cape Girardeau will be restricted due to the Downtown Merchants Christmas Parade of Lights scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Sunday. Parking will be prohibited beginning at 2 p.m. on both sides of Broadway, from West End Boulevard to Main Street; on Main Street, from Park Drive to William Street; on North West End Boulevard, from Broadway to Normal Avenue; on Parkview, from Perry Avenue to North West End Boulevard, and the entire area within Capaha Park. ...

Caramel, the beloved golden retriever of two physically challenged children in Cape Girar-deau County, has gone missing. When Barb Rutherford's family returned home the evening of Nov. 14, their 6-year-old dog of nearly nine months was gone. Her children, Zach, 9, and Emily, 6, suffer from static encephalopathy, a disease similar in appearance to cerebral palsy that affects motor skills and prevents them from talking. They don't quite understand that Caramel may be gone for good...

To the editor: This is in reference to Christine Bales' letter concerning blood donations in Cape Girardeau. I have donated in the past -- as often as my schedule afforded -- until about two years ago. That's when the Red Cross or the Centers for Disease Control came up with the knee-jerk reaction to mad cow disease by restricting donations from potential donors who have visited Europe since the 1970s. ...

BONNE TERRE, Mo. -- Vicki Lohmann picked up her 100th win as Perryville's girls basketball coach in a 66-47 win over North County on Monday night in the team's season opener. Perryville senior April Lorenz overcame early foul trouble to lead all scorers with 25 points. Kate Lowry and Krista Miesner each had 12 points apiece for Perryville...

Jeffrey A. Wooldridge, 43, of Jackson, appeared Monday for his initial arraignment in Cape Girardeau County Associate Circuit Court on 13 felony sex charges. He faces 12 counts of second-degree statutory sodomy and one count of incest. Investigators say he fondled and performed oral sex on a teenage relative...

Phone company ads proclaimed "Bring your number up to speed" and "Your number on America's best wireless network" as new rules went into effect Monday allowing consumers within the top 100 markets to switch cell phone service without switching their phone numbers...

LOS ANGELES -- Michael Jackson launched a Web site Monday designed to tell his side of the story in his child-molestation case, asserting that the allegations are "predicated on a big lie." "As you know, the charges recently directed at me are terribly serious," Jackson said in a six-paragraph statement posted on the site. "They are, however, predicated on a big lie. This will be shown in court, and we will be able to put this horrible time behind us."...

WASHINGTON -- The Senate cleared the way Monday for final congressional passage of landmark legislation to add a prescription drug benefit and a free-enterprise flavor to Medicare, repelling twin attacks by Democratic opponents. "Today is a historic day and a momentous day," Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said as lawmakers broke through years of gridlock on a bill that would make the most sweeping changes in Medicare since the program was created in 1965...

Sikeston police headed out Monday to arrest approximately 60 people who failed to pay municipal fines. As of noon, 20 people were arrested and three people showed up and paid fines so the warrants would not be served. The municipal court staff was flooded with phone calls asking if fines needed to be paid in order to avoid arrest...

Locals among All-State Choir participants Students in local high schools were among those chosen for this year's Missouri All-State Choir, including: Jordan Cox, Hannah Rice, Laura Puchbauer and Gabriel Gross from Jackson; Rachel Morse from Cape Girardeau; and Tim Yamnitz of Perryville, Mo...

I'm 17 now and that means the spirit of Christmas is slowly being sucked out of me as the years go by. When I was young, it was all good. I would go to bed on Christmas Eve, so determined to stay up all night and catch Santa in the act that I put bells on our back door so I could hear him. ...

Seventh-grade students at St. Vincent de Paul School took a 130-page book and summarized it into 12 tiny typed pages with the help of their parents. The project was called Book in a Box and helped link technology and literature in an interdisciplinary program at the Catholic school. The project also was a way for parents to visit the classroom and see what their children are learning, said Becky Crow, junior high literature teacher...

Those who sometimes complain there is little to do in Cape Girardeau surely found plenty to keep them occupied this past weekend. The choices ranged from championship football and soccer games to dazzling historical displays and craft fairs that drew thousands:...

After 12 years, the village of Biehle in Perry County has been officially wiped off the map. Twelve years ago, Biehle's handful of residents got the village incorporated to pay for a fire district. The popular Buchheit store was the sole provider of the sales tax that once enabled Biehle to pay for its basic operating costs. Now the store has moved most of its sales to Perryville and Jackson locations...

The audience at the Show Me Center will soon watch somebody's rock star fantasy become real for a night. Headliners matchbox twenty will choose one fan/musician in the audience to join them onstage during their concert Dec. 7. The performance will be filmed for broadcast next spring on the cable TV show "VH1's You Rock with ..."...

A cold blast of winter greeted area residents Monday only two days after temperatures reached 69 degrees for a high, tying a record set in 1973. Monday's low temperature in Cape Girardeau was 31 degrees, with the wind chill in the mid-20s. It warmed to 41 degrees by midafternoon, the National Weather Service said...

The actual words used Monday were carefully chosen, but the message sounded like the prelude to a neighborhood rumble: If you want our $80,000 per year, you're going to have to fight us for it. And so the road and bridge tax debate took a critical step as the three Cape Girardeau County commissioners, sitting in the county building two blocks from city hall, dared the city of Jackson to take them to court...

MOSCOW -- An early-morning fire Monday raced through a Moscow dormitory packed with students from Africa, Asia and Latin America, killing at least 36 people and injuring nearly 200 -- many of them forced to jump from the five-story building because the exits were blocked...

U.S., Europe agree on draft Iran resolutionVIENNA, Austria -- The United States and key European countries agreed Monday on a compromise draft resolution on Iran's nuclear activity. The resolution -- to be voted on Wednesday by the International Atomic Energy Agency -- encourages Iran to continue its stated commitment to open its nuclear programs to stringent IAEA scrutiny, which France, Germany and Britain insisted upon, while setting a "trigger mechanism" for Security Council action if Iran does not comply with IAEA requests, which the United States demanded.. ...

Cape Girardeau The following items were released by the Cape Girardeau Police Department. Arrests do not imply guilt. DWIs John A. Recker, 24, of 1346 Perry Ave., Cape Girardeau, was arrested Friday on suspicion of driving while intoxicated and driving with expired plates...

Cape Girardeau Firefighters responded Saturday to the following items: At 4:41 p.m., brush fire at 2301 Boldercrest. At 8:44 p.m., medical assist at 607 Locust. At 11:56 p.m., fire alarm at 2835 Bloomfield. Firefighters responded Sunday to the following items:...

DONGOLA, Ill. -- Rick "Red" Dirden, 55, of Dongola died Sunday, Nov. 23, 2003, at the VA Medical Center in Marion, Ill. He was born Dec. 30, 1947, in Anna, Ill., son of Jesse and Helen Harvel Dirden. He married Jean Compton. Dirden was a truck driver...

CLAYTON, Mo. (AP) -- The St. Louis County Council could decide next week on a plan to lend the St. Louis Cardinals $45 million for a new stadium. The council took up the funding again at its Monday meeting, but did not vote on it. While some members of the public spoke out against the plan, council members did not express opposition to the funding proposal...

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. -- A jury decided Monday that John Allen Muhammad should be executed for taking it upon himself to choose who should live and who should die during the sniper attacks that gripped the Washington area for three terrifying weeks last fall...

He was the first black man to cross the United States, playing jokes on American Indians and hunting at the side of William Clark and Meriwether Lewis along the way. The story of York, Clark's slave, is among many that will be told during the 'Corps of Discovery II: 200 Years into the Future' exhibit beginning this Sunday in Cape Girardeau...

ST. LOUIS -- There's no need for Marc Bulger to look over his shoulder. St. Louis Rams coach Mike Martz said Monday that Bulger is his quarterback, even though he committed five turnovers in Sunday's 30 to 27 overtime victory against the Cardinals. And even though Bulger has thrown 10 interceptions and only four touchdown passes the last four weeks...

Three days after squeezing out a one-point season-opening win, Southeast Missouri State University's Indians barely worked up a sweat in moving to 2-0 for the first time in three years. Kentucky Christian College battled hard but was simply overmatched during an 83-51 Southeast romp in front of an announced crowd of 3,167 at the Show Me Center Monday night...

Buchheit Twin daughters to Curt and Betsy Buchheit of Cape Girardeau, Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, Thursday, Oct. 23, 2003. Allison Elizabeth was born at 12:55 p.m. and weighed 5 pounds 7 ounces. Sydney Elizabeth was born at 12:56 p.m. and weighed 5 pounds 6 ounces. Mrs. Buchheit is the daughter of Betty Henson of Cape Girardeau and Dennis Henson of Poplar Bluff, Mo. Buchheit is the son of Stanley and Rita Buchheit of Ste. Genevieve, Mo...

NORMAN, Okla. -- Southeast Missouri State University's women's basketball team faced its second ranked opponent in its first three games Monday night when it faced the No. 19 Sooners. Unlike Southeast's opener, when the Otahkians hung in with then No. 19 Utah until late in the game on the road, Southeast could not compete with a physically imposing Sooner team and was routed 83-48...

With the possibility of financial cuts looming, officials in the Jackson School District have joined the effort to sue the state over its funding system. At their Monday night meeting, members of the Jackson School Board voted to join with the Committee for Education Equality, a group of nearly 230 districts challenging the constitutionality of Missouri's current formula for distributing state aid to schools...

Bailey still likes Barbie dolls. She has a drawer full of the dolls, most of them stretched out naked just waiting for our daughter to dress them up again. Of course, they're barefoot. It's impossible to keep America's most well-known dolls in those tiny shoes which are always getting lost...

Lena Marie Mehner, 86, of Cape Girardeau, died Sunday, Nov. 23, 2003, at her home. She was born April 30, 1917, in Burdette, Ark., daughter of William and Lula Foster Barksdale. She first married Marvin Blankenship, who preceded her in death. She married Lonnie Mehner in 1948, who died in 1975...

ADVANCE, Mo. -- Clara M. Statler, 93, formerly of Advance, died Sunday, Nov. 23, 2003, at Care Center of Vernon in Vernon, Ala. She was born April 20, 1910, at Zalma, Mo., daughter of Amos and Nettie Vance Walker. She and Elvis Statler were married April 9, 1965. He died Aug. 17, 1988...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Vester "Bill" Ross, 63, of Sikeston died Saturday, Nov. 22, 2003, at Missouri Delta Medical Center. He was born Jan. 4, 1940, in Caraway, Ark., son of Silvia and Marie Mitts Ross. He and Patricia L. Kimber were married May 1, 1959...

Charles Glen Buttrey Sr., 78, of Eagar, Ariz., died Thursday, Nov. 20, 2003, in Eagar. He was born Aug. 2, 1925, in Scott City, son of John William and Bertha Cox Buttrey. He and Cleo K. Bond were married in 1950. Buttrey was a graduate of Scott City High School, and studied engineering in college. He was a former time study engineer at Granite City Steel...

CAIRO, Ill. -- Mary E. Maddox, 96, of Cairo died Saturday, Nov. 23, 2003, at the Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau. She was born Aug. 27, 1907, in Cairo, daughter of William S. and Anne Taggart Hurst. She married Merlin M. Maddox, who died in 1984. Maddox was a 1924 graduate of Cairo High School. She was a secretary for the U.S. Immigration Service 30 years...

BERNIE, Mo. -- Donald Ray Farmer, 70, of Bernie died Sunday, Nov. 23, 2003, at the VA Medical Center in Memphis, Tenn. He was born Aug. 3, 1933, son of Hershel "Jack" and Dolly Wilson Farmer. He and Mary Frances Farmer were married June 29, 1957, at Senath, Mo...

DONGOLA, Ill. -- Amos Mowell, 81, of Parkin, Ark., died Saturday, Nov. 22, 2003, at Cross Ridge Community Hospital in Wynne, Ark. He was born Jan. 25, 1922, in Bush, Ill., son of Amos and Augusta Slimer Mowell. He and Sarah Lee Dillow were married in 1946. She died Jan. 23, 1970. He and Katherine Deloris Peterson Rider were married July 3, 1982...

Elsie Marie Williams, 53, of Cape Girardeau died Monday, Nov. 24, 2003, at the Lutheran Home. She was born May 2, 1950, in Cape Girardeau, daughter of Lloyd and Annie May Temple Williams. Williams was a 1968 graduate of Notre Dame Regional High School and attended Southeast Missouri State University. She was a claims clerk with Missouri Division of Employment Security. She was a member of St. Mary's Cathedral, Council of Catholic Women and Eastern Star...

FERGUSON, Mo. -- The year is 2076. Interplanetary space flight is a common occurrence, and humans have a permanent presence on Mars. l But even under nuclear propulsion, the trip from Earth to the red planet takes six to nine months and space remains a hazardous place, requiring a highly skilled crew to safely complete the journey...