Stories from Friday, November 28, 2003

Mike Johnson doesn't like using the term "rebuilding year." He prefers "transition year." ' "We hoped for a better year last year," said Johnson, in his third year as the girls team's coach. Scott City's hopes for this season rest partially on the performance of lone senior Amanda Raines, a 5-foot-4 guard and the only player returning from the varsity team. Raines, a three-year starter, is a great pure shooter with good range. She will be counted on as the main scoring threat...

If the New Salem Baptist Academy boys basketball team lacked motivation last season, they found it toward the finish. The team dedicated its season to Lance Fahrenkrog, a former player and student at the school, who was killed in a car accident the summer before...

Fourth-year coach Rod McQuerter has found that simple goals go a long way toward success. McQuerter has taken goals of stressing fundamentals, playing hard and playing as a team into the last few seasons and came away with big results. After a 23-5 record two years ago, McQuerter led the Hawks to a 23-6 mark last season, including a trip to the Class 3 quarterfinals...

A seven-time state champion that fell on hard times is beginning to look dangerous again. The one-time perennial state title contender forfeited its district games in 2001, but it's looking to build on a 15-12 season with a pair of two-time all-conference and all-district players returning...

Scott County Central coach Melvin Porter went through first-year growing pains last year with a young team. Porter, a former Braves standout on state championship teams, is confident that maturity is replacing the inexperience on a team that started four sophomores and a junior last season. The Braves lacked discipline and consistency in an 11-15 season...

Kelly will hope a returning front court and newcomers from last year's strong junior varsity team will help overcome the graduation of its two leading scorers. The Hawks and coach Nick Lanpher will look to build on a strong finish that led to the Class 3, District 2 championship game, where Kelly lost to eventual final four qualifier Charleston...

A big finish last season should have a lasting affect on this year's team, Delta coach Randy White says. It's one of only a few guarantees for a team that ranks among one of White's youngest. Delta graduated all five of its seniors -- four of them starters -- from a team that went 27-3 and finished third in the Class 1 state tournament. The confidence among this year's team is there, White says, but the chore may be filling key leadership roles...

Delta's new coach knows what it feels like to win in a Bobcat uniform. Shawn Kinder was a senior point guard for Delta's last district champion team in 1998. Now after serving as an assistant at Notre Dame last season, Kinder is coming home to take on his first head coaching position...

In her 11 years as coach, Terry Wengert hasn't been in this situation often. Wengert lost five seniors from a team that went 7-18, but she's excited about the upcoming season -- which includes the return of five players now in their senior year. "It's kind of exciting for us to have five players back who know what's going on," Wengert said. "Normally we don't have these kinds of numbers."...

New Salem Baptist Academy won both the boys and girls Class 1A state championship in the Missouri Christian School Athletic Association Tournament last year. No school has ever had both teams repeat as champions, but girls basketball coach Jerome Gaines is ready to try and hold up his end this season...

It never hurts to have a wise man in your midst. Last season Zalma coach Dwyght Ford had two Wisemans on his team, and it proved beneficial. Chad Wiseman played the starring role for a 9-13 team, averaging a team-high 20 points and 10 rebounds on his way to all-conference honors. His younger brother, Curt, also played a key role for the Bulldogs...

Those sorority sisters in the photograph published recently on the front page of this newspaper have my heartfelt sympathy. I can see the fear in their eyes: First the university turns off the hot water, and then what? Board up the toilets? Cart off the candy machines? Ban hair dryers?...

Louis Celeberti is one of the lucky ones. He and his parents had something to be grateful for on Thanksgiving Day. You haven't heard of Louis, but he was born with a kidney malfunction that tethered him to a dialysis machine and threatened his life. Now, with his father's kidney inside of him, he's able to enjoy turkey and the fixings like any 2-year-old...

With less than a year to go until the 2004 elections, the charges and countercharges have already lowered the tone of the candidates to non-problem solving, non-issue and attack mode. And these are just the Democratic presidential candidates who are trying to undermine fellow Democrat Howard Dean's possible breakaway...

Two Jackson residents were transported by ambulance to Southeast Missouri Hospital Wednesday after the car they were riding in ran off the road and hit a highway sign. The accident occurred on Highway 177, 10 miles north of Cape Girardeau. A Missouri State Highway Patrol report released Thursday showed Justin Ford, 19, and Beverly Ford, 38, received moderate injuries but driver David Hendrix, 42, left the scene. The extent of his injuries was unknown...

David Mirly is hard at work just trying to establish his team after he was hired as Woodland's third different girls basketball coach in the last three years. But he couldn't be more excited about the task. "Things are going good so far," said Mirly, who coached at Chaffee last year. "I'm really excited about being at a new school."...

New basketball seasons are accompanied these days by a new boys basketball coach at Chaffee High School. This year is holding true to form. The Red Devils, 6-17 a year ago under David Mirly, will be under their fifth coach in six seasons. Brian Horrell is retaking the reins after leading the programs for a season before Mirly arrived...

After losing several seniors last year and gaining a few surprise players, Leopold is counting on quite a bit of unreleased talent to provide a spark heading into the new season. The Wildcats lost five players to graduation, but coach Carlton Thoma is expecting much of the floor time this season to come from three players who didn't participate last season...

The greatest show on hardwood is back once again this season. Meadow Heights coach Tom Brown and his run-and-gun offense will try to build on a 19-7 season that included a conference title. The Panthers averaged 79.5 points per game last season and routinely scored in the 90s...

Jim Gloth is one of a handful of new coaches in the Scott-Mississippi Conference. Gloth may face one of the tougher tasks in the conference, though, as he tries to bring along a team that graduated four starters. Gone is the inside presence of leading scorer Nathan Seyer, along with Patrick Friga and Tyler Cookson. Garrett Roslen (6-foot-3) and David Asmus (6-3) will try to replace the Eagles' trio of post players...

After losing only two seniors from last year's squad, Oran returns with a wide mix of players of different grade levels to improve on a season that ended in the first round of the district tournament. With a varsity team consisting of 11 players, coach Susan Diebold will rely on returning starter Lexie Todt, the lone senior on the team, to emerge with scoring and leadership. ...

Oak Ridge's basketball players have a new gym to play in and a new coach to play for. New coach Robert Stein hopes that combination equals new results, even though only one starter returns from a team that won two games last season. "We want to establish respectability," Stein said. "We want to try to be competitive."...

Scott City's search for stability in its basketball program just might be over. Lance Amick, 22, took over in the offseason after working as an assistant under Kerry Thompson. He joins a pair of assistants -- Travis Schiwitz and Chris Bradshaw -- who give the coaching staff an average age of 21.3 years...

Notre Dame lost three starters and four key players from last year's district champion team. But coach Darrin Scott sees no reason to call this a rebuilding year. In three years Scott has a 60-25 record, and his teams have two district titles and lost in overtime in the district final in 2002...

The talk of the SEMO Conference in the offseason centered on the frenzied recruiting of Poplar Bluff's junior center Tyler Hansbrough. But league rival Central has a talented 6-foot-8 center of its own: Scott Chestnutt highlights a group of four returning starters from last year's district runner-up...

Notre Dame has become quite familiar with the layout of the Hearnes Center in Columbia, Mo., over the past few seasons. The Bulldogs have made three straight trips to the state finals with one state title to their credit. Along the way, the Bulldogs have won seven straight district titles...

Jackson coach Mike Kiehne has seen his Indians toil in the shadows of taller competition. But now in his fourth season, Kiehne has finally seen them hit a growth spurt. On paper, the Indians look more threatening with 6-foot-9 sophomore Aaron Redecker, a pair of 6-foot-4 players in senior Marc Lumsden and junior Ryan Mirly, and a pair of 6-foot-3 players in all-conference and all-district performer Tyler McNeely and junior Jason Schafer...

New Central coach Amy Blattel knows she has a challenge ahead of her. The Tigers graduated five of their top six players and have only one senior and three upperclassmen likely to contribute to the team. But that doesn't mean Blattel won't expect her team to contend for a conference and district title before the season is over...

Sam Sides has had one of the best seats in the house for Jackson girls basketball over the past 12 years. It was right beside Ron Cook, who stepped down after a third-place finish in Class 5 last year and ended a 22-year era. For his 13th season, Sides has scooted over one seat to the head coach's job...

Eagle Ridge Christian School came within a win of a state championship last season. Now Donna Powell is making a change that she hopes will get the team to the next step. Last year's state runners-up in the Missouri Christian School Activities Association tournament will try its hand at man-to-man defense this year. That, combined with three returning starters, brings hope of another big season for coach Donna Powell...

The goal: Replace Andrew Mellies. One solution: Joel Price, Phillip Brock, Daniel Ellinghouse and T.J. Crowden. Eagle Ridge Christian School coach Tony Hammack says the four returning starters have the potential to lift their team to an even better finish than last season's consolation win in the Missouri Christian School Activities Association tournament...

Bruce Valleroy realizes the odds may be working against him. The team lost six seniors from a 14-8 season that included a share of the Jefferson County Conference's small-school division. The schedule is tough and includes nine teams that won at least 20 games last season...

Woodland's girls basketball team went 8-14 for its best season in 13 years last year. The Cardinals return three starters from that team, and more interest in the program has helped coach Curtis Finley set a junior varsity schedule this year after sitting out last year. Even the junior high program is offering encouragement after three straight winning seasons...

Perryville turns to a young group to carry a big part of the load this year as the Pirates attempt to improve on last season's 15-10 mark. After losing Kelly Kassel for the season due to a leg injury, coach Vicki Lohmann said she will count on "sensational sophomores" to provide a spark for the team. The sophomores already have provided energy in the preseason...

Joel Roth enters his first season as the Perryville boys' coach with plenty of excitement but also plenty of apprehension. Roth, a 1989 Perryville graduate, is directing a varsity program for the first time. He knows the Pirates have their work cut out for them as they try to bounce back from last year's 5-20 record...

A state championship two years ago served as motivation for last season's team. It turns out a loss in the regional round of the playoffs might serve as motivation, too. Bell City returns a pair of starters from a 24-6 team that saw its season end with a loss to Clarkton in the Class 1 regional playoff game. But this season's Cubs are loaded with new weapons --height, strength and another dose of quickness...

Jim Hall doesn't sound like a coach trying to replace five starters from last season's team. Chalk it up to recent experience. Hall's team a year ago entered its season lacking experience, size and depth. The result was 21 wins and a second-place district finish. And he's not discounting the potential of this year's team, which he says is another darkhorse in the making...

As Chaffee's Tyson Moyers embarks on his first season as a varsity head coach, he's equipping his team with two simple principles. "I'm trying to get them to understand that basketball is about working hard and playing as a team, and they've taken to it pretty well," Moyers said...

Saxony Lutheran's young sports program made a splash into the varsity sports world in the fall when its cross country team went to the state meet in its first year. Now the school's second varsity team, the boys basketball team, will try to put up similar results as a member of the Mississippi Valley Conference...

ST. LOUIS -- On the wall outside the entrance to the Rams' locker room is a huge, framed portrait of a $100 bill with Jeff Wilkins' face where a likeness of Benjamin Franklin should be. It's just the latest example of the love-fest and 180-degree turnaround between the near-perfect kicker and his sometimes mercurial coach. Wilkins, who is 27-for-29 on field goals and hit a game-winning 49-yarder to win last week's overtime game at Arizona, has been nicknamed "Money" by coach Mike Martz...

WASHINGTON -- Hollywood has a message for the Supreme Court: Comic books are good, constitutionally protected fun. A who's who from the entertainment world asked the court this week to review a case involving a comic book creator accused of defaming former Blues player Tony Twist by naming a mafia character after him...

NEW YORK -- Parents hoisted little ones atop their shoulders so they could see over the huge crowds and bigger kids scrambled up lamp posts to watch Super Grover and Barney float past in the annual Thanksgiving parade. Hundreds of thousands of people packed Broadway, standing 20 deep in areas. Many were so far back they could only see the giant balloons floating overhead...

ST. LOUIS -- A government-run health plan would provide better care for less cost than the existing system of private health insurance companies, according a study commissioned by the Missouri Foundation for Health. According to the study, health care in Missouri costs $29.4 billion annually, of which $10.4 billion is paid as health insurance premiums by companies and workers. Federal and state aid covers another $14 billion, and out-of-pocket expenses account for most of the rest...

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- President Bush flew to Iraq under extraordinary secrecy and security Thursday to spend Thanksgiving with U.S. troops and thank them for "defending the American people from danger." The unannounced visit brought wild cheers from battle-worn soldiers, stunned the nation and even surprised the president's parents, who had been expecting him at the Thanksgiving table at his Crawford, Texas, ranch...

It's Black Friday. Let the shopping frenzy begin. The day after Thanksgiving is the unofficial start of the holiday shopping season, and customers were expected to show up in droves at many area retailers this morning, drawn by deep discounts, promotional gifts and the thrill of the hunt for this year's must-have gift...

On the volleyball court, there isn't much Sommer McCauley can't do. Whether it's hitting, serving, playing defense or passing -- which was her main chore for Notre Dame in her three years on the varsity squad -- McCauley has excelled at all of it...

Baseball The Red Sox negotiated with Curt Schilling over the holiday as the two sides approached today's deadline for a contract extension that would persuade the Arizona right-hander to waive his no-trade clause and come to Boston. Schilling did not return a call seeking comment, but his spokeswoman, Katie Leighton, said she did not expect him to have an announcement before today...

TRENTON, N.J. -- Joe Pisapia fondly remembers the decade-old community tradition of kicking off the holiday season on the Friday after Thanksgiving with a round of festivities. But this year, Pisapia put up a sign: "Tree and Menorah Lighting Ceremony Canceled This Year Due to Lack of Community Support."...

Singer Carreras calls off Singapore concert SINGAPORE -- Jose Carreras canceled a Singapore concert because of "unforeseen circumstances and difficulties," promoters said. Carreras, 56, had been scheduled to perform Thursday as the last stop on a seven-city Asian tour. The tenor was in Australia when the decision to cancel was made Monday, the Straits Times daily reported...

MOSCOW -- A small piece of space junk slammed against the hull of the international space station, causing no apparent damage but startling the two men inside with its grinding, metallic sound, a Russian official said Thursday. U.S. astronaut Michael Foale and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Kaleri were apparently safe after the incident. ...

When Roseanna Whitlow played the part of the daughter, Laura, in a Southeast production of "The Glass Menagerie" 32 years ago, she thought Laura's mother, Amanda, was simply "mean and crazy." Amanda's rose-colored Southern past is populated by endless beaus and possibilities. Her future, she thinks, hangs on her son's willingness to support her and on her daughter's ability to marry well...

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Jackie Sherrill will go into retirement with his worst Egg Bowl loss ever, but his team may be closer to knowing its next coach. Eli Manning threw for 260 yards and three touchdowns in Ole Miss' 31-0 victory Thursday night in the 100th meeting between the Magnolia state rivals...

Cape Girardeau Central High School principal Dr. Mike Cowan flinched when librarian Julia Jorgensen suggested "Tuesdays with Morrie" for the next United We Read program. In the book, Mitch Albom recounts his visits with his dying friend and mentor, Morrie Schwartz. The book was a best seller and was made into a TV movie starring Jack Lemmon...

The fund raising to get Racine Ghiz's special son a special dog started simply enough. The task would be difficult. Because the family would have to train with the golden retriever mix the first week of December in Kansas City, time was as important as money...

Sixty turkeys. Thirty hams. Mounds and mounds of mashed potatoes, green beans and cranberry sauce. And, to top it all off, lots of pie. It isn't easy to make Thanksgiving brighter for Cape Girardeau's needy, but the 168 volunteers who showed up at the Salvation Army on Thursday were ready to try. They ended up serving 505 meals through deliveries and inside the gym at Sprigg and Good Hope streets...

Southeast Missouri State University's women's basketball team already has traveled across the United States even though it has played just three games. This week the frequent flier miles have continued to add up. After losing at No. 19 Oklahoma 83-48 on Monday, the Otahkians flew the next day to Corpus Christi, Texas, where they will compete in this weekend's Flint Hills Resources Islander Classic...

GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- In a small state that boasts one of the lowest crime rates in the country, Dru Sjodin's disappearance is as baffling as it is troubling. Authorities believe the 22-year-old University of North Dakota senior may have been abducted while she was talking to her boyfriend on her cell phone...

Digging out the facts THE CAPE Girardeau superintendent's committee won't produce fair-minded community input. He stacked it with 60 percent school staff. Shame. A legitimate process conducted by unconflicted citizens would find truth where it is and would unhesitatingly recommend trimming bloated administrative salaries, free post-graduate sabbaticals, two sculpture classes, over-expenditure for new copiers, 40 secretaries and more. ...

One star (out of four) If the real Dr. Seuss were here, he'd call in a Star-bellied Sneech and Cleanerupermajig to wash away this messy adaptation of the quintessential Dr. Seuss story. Mike Myers attempts to be funny by attempting to be funny. And it doesn't work. Instead of embracing the character and becoming one with the cat, he attempts to infuse bits and pieces of every character he's ever done into the lead role of this film...

'Messiah' to be presented Tuesday at SEMO Handel's "Messiah," will be presented at 8 p.m. Tuesday by the Department of Music at Southeast Missouri State University. Fewer than 80 unsold seats remain. The Choral Union, University Choir and University Orchestra at Southeast will perform. The choral groups are directed by Dr. John Egbert. The symphony is directed by Dr. Sara Edgerton...

Cape Girardeau Firefighters responded to the following call Tuesday: At 9:33 p.m., a request for emergency medical service at 212 Pindwood. Firefighters responded to the following calls Wednesday: At 8:50 a.m., a request for emergency medical service at 2048 Big Bend Road...

Cape Girardeau The following items were released by the Cape Girardeau Police Department. Arrests do not imply guilt. Arrests Timothy L Tucker, 42, of Scott City was arrested Wednesday on a warrant for probation violation. John David Sterling, 38, 1127 S. Ellis, was arrested Thursday on a Cape Girardeau County warrant for probation violation...

To the editor: I have recently discovered one of Cape Girardeau's best-kept secrets. I got a promotion which requires giving instruction. I don't like speaking in front of people. A friend told me I should see if there was a Toastmasters Club in my area...

It's crazy to spend countless hours and personal calories chopping on a huge log to make a canoe, but it sure is irresistible to watch. People of all ages seem enchanted by canoe building activity, but what they may not realize is that they're learning something about natural resource history and conservation in the process...

The generosity of our area is being demonstrated in so many ways this year. Donations to charitable organizations, especially the Area Wide United Way, are up. Many individuals and organizations are finding ways to show their holiday support for U.S. troops around the globe. Virtually every special fund raiser for those in need has been generously supported in recent months. And the shelves of food pantries are filling up, thanks to seasonal food drives...

Cape Girardeau has developed quite a tradition involving holiday lights. Anyone wanting to see lighting displays or put up a display will find plenty of opportunities. The three big holiday lighting displays are the Holiday of Lights at the Cape Girardeau County Park North, the Christmas Parade of Lights and the Holiday of Lights contest...

NEW DELHI -- As night fell Thursday, India's capital swarmed with weddings as some 14,000 couples tied the knot on a day considered lucky by Hindus. Tens of thousands of relatives and friends danced in the streets to popular film music as bridegrooms on horsebacks made their way to marriage ceremonies at parks, temples, banquet halls and farmhouses...

MOMBASA, Kenya -- Wooden dhows sail into Mombasa's centuries old port every day, unloading everything from smuggled baby formula to illegal weapons -- all under the eyes of police and customs officers bribed not to notice, Kenyan and U.S. officials told The Associated Press...

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton promised Thursday that America will stand with Afghanistan as it tries to rebuild after a quarter-century of conflict and warned Taliban rebels that they "are fighting a losing battle." But the New York Democrat also said more troops are needed in the multinational military coalition providing security. She told The Associated Press it was for others to decide whether those troops should come from the United States or other countries...

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- More people have reported shots possibly being fired at vehicles along the same stretch of highway where a woman was killed when a bullet penetrated a car door, including one shooting confirmed by authorities Thursday. Authorities were investigating 10 shootings on or near a stretch of Interstate 270, the highway that circles Columbus...

To the editor: Bartenders routinely refuse to serve drinkers who have reached their limit. Intelligent drinkers bite the bullet, follow the bartender's sage advice and go home. Stupid ones head for the next bar. Out of all the plastic surgeons with whom Michael Jackson presumably conferred prior to each of the many procedures that gradually converted him from the good-looking kid he once was into the grotesque he now is, was there none who had the guts, not to mention the humanity, to say to him, "Michael, take a good look in the mirror. ...

To the editor: Here are some statistics from America's largest single-day food drive: 40,000 Scouts, 20,000 volunteers. 500 food pantries receiving three months of food, more than 2.1 million cans. Thank you Southeast Missouri, St. Louis metro area and Southern Illinois for your unmatched kindness and support...

LOS ANGELES -- Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie carry a lot of baggage in "The Simple Life," and we're not just talking Louis Vuitton. There's Hilton's reputation as a party girl and her starring role in a sex tape that went from intimate to Internet. Richie, daughter of pop star Lionel Richie, had a legal run-in involving drugs...

10 years ago: Nov. 28, 1993 Blaze Friday that destroyed Hobbs Chapel United Methodist Church may have been arson, says Jim Hanks, chief of East County Fire Department. New sanctuary and facilities at New Life World Outreach Center will be dedicated and conference held tomorrow and Tuesday at church, 720 Bertling...

Elizabeth "Betty" Brunkhorst, 79, of Cape Girardeau died Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2003, at the Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau. Funeral arrangements are incomplete with Ford and Sons Funeral Home.

Raquel Qualls, 35, of Cape Girardeau died Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2003, at St. Francis Medical Center. Funeral arrangements are incomplete with Ford and Sons Funeral Home.

Weldon Davis, 81, of Cape Girardeau died Thursday, Nov. 27, 2003, at the Lutheran Home. Arrangements are incomplete with Hileman Funeral Home in Jonesboro, Ill.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Gladys Vincent, 88, of Louisville, formerly of Dongola, Ill., died Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2003, at Medco of Hardinsburg, Ky. Friends may call from 5 to 8 p.m. Sunday at Crain Funeral Home in Dongola. Funeral service will be 10 a.m. Monday at the funeral home with the Rev. Paul Sadler officiating. Burial will follow in American Legion Cemetery...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Charles Robert Stearnes, 67, of Sikeston died Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2003, at his home. He was born March 14, 1936, in Sikeston to Charles and Helen Stearnes. On June 24, 1956, he married Joan Hill, who preceded him in death on Jan. 2, 2000...

Marie H. Heise, 85, of Cape Girardeau died Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2003, at the Lutheran Home. She was born Sept. 7, 1918, in Cape Girardeau, daughter of Julius Henry and Lulu Windeknecht Meyer. She and Harry G. Heise Sr. were married April 17, 1938, in Cape Girardeau. He died Jan. 1, 1998...

Working in a department store during December, it would be easy for Edie Steger to turn into a scrooge. After all, she sees the long lines of impatient customers battling to get their bargains to the register. It would be easy for her to get frustrated and forget why people make a fuss over the holidays...