Stories from Monday, December 8, 2003

CLEVELAND -- All Earl Little needed was a toupee, blazer and microphone. "This is Howard Cosell," the Browns safety said, mimicking the late legendary TV sportscaster, whose distinctive voice and signature opening line welcomed the nation to "Monday Night Football" telecasts during the 1970s...

For the third year, the Cape Girardeau community will find common themes and discuss good writing when the United We Read program sponsored by Central High School gets under way in February. The book choice for next year's program is "Tuesdays With Morrie," which is author Mitch Albom's account of reconnecting with a mentor who is dying...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Omer Wilson Sutton, 91, of Matthews, Mo., died Sunday, Dec. 7, 2003, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. He was born May 19, 1912, in Miner, Mo., son of Marcus and Elle Green Sutton. He and Elsie Rushing were married Oct. 2, 1937...

THEBES, Ill. -- Gerald D. "Bink" Bryant, 58, of Racine, Wis., formerly of Thebes, Ill., died Friday, Dec. 5, 2003, at St. Mary's Hospital in Racine. He was born Aug. 20, 1945, at Thebes, son of Oscar and Lorene Orick Bryant. Bryant was a truck driver and veteran of the U.S. Army...

Freida M. Koerber, 101, of Cape Girardeau, died Sunday, Dec. 7, 2003, at the Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau. She was born June 22, 1902, at Niagara, N.D., daughter of George and Lydia Zshoche Hilpert. She and the Rev. Elmer H. Koerber were married Oct. 15, 1933, at Illmo, Mo. He died Sept. 7, 1974...

ANNA, Ill. -- James R. Webb, 65, of Wetaug, Ill., died Sunday, Dec. 7, 2003, at his home. He was born Jan. 14, 1938, at Chicago, son of Charles and Mildred Smith Webb. He and Marcia Charlene Hord were married Nov. 18, 1963, at Champaign, Ill...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Eleanora Lee Minich George, 86, died Saturday, Dec. 6, 2003, at Clearview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Sikeston. She was born in Morehouse, Mo., on Aug. 6, 1917, daughter of the late Amos Seth and Beatta Fry Minich. She and William "Barney" George were married on March 15, 1937. He died April 10, 1995...

SCOTT CITY -- R. E. "Gene" Reed, 87, of Scott City died Saturday, Dec. 6, 2003, at his residence. He was born June 5, 1916, at Illmo, Mo., son of Peter and Dora Russell Reed. He and Maxine Hinton were married Oct. 31, 1941, at Cape Girardeau...

MILLER CITY, Ill. -- Charles Orville Thomas, 89, of Miller City died Saturday, Dec. 6, 2003, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born May 26, 1914, at Sikeston, Mo., son of Calvin and Fannie Dodson Thomas. He and Dimple Stuart were married Dec. 17, 1936...

10 years ago: Dec. 8, 1993 Group of Cape Girardeau auto dealers lost its legal challenge over city's gross sales license tax; Missouri Eastern District Court of Appeals affirmed Circuit Judge A.J. Seier's ruling in favor of city's contention that tax is constitutional...

Cape Girardeau The following items were released by the Cape Girardeau Police Department. Arrests do not imply guilt. DWI James Emery David, 26, 637 S. Henderson, Cape Girardeau, was arrested Saturday on suspicion of driving while intoxicated....

Cape Girardeau Firefighters responded Saturday to the following:n At 6:09 p.m., a request for medical assistance at 20 S. Sprigg. At 8:25 p.m., a smoke scare at 2001 N. Kingshighway. At 9:11 p.m., a motor vehicle accident at the intersection of Kingsway and N. Kingshighway...

Just less than a week after the Show Me Center announced it was booking the national touring company of "Cats" for a performance next April 23, the 300 floor seats were sold out. Ticket sales continue to be brisk. In short, the Cape Girardeau area is crazy for "Cats," but that doesn't make local residents unusual. ...

Styles by Shery opens in Big Barn Styles by Shery has opened recently between Cape Girardeau and Jackson in the upper level of the Big Barn next to the water slide. Shery Varney has been a hairstylist in the Cape Girardeau-Jackson area for more than 20 years. Varney will be offering a full range of haircare services, which will include precision haircuts for men and women, perms and color weaves...

WASHINGTON -- Many economic analysts believe that China will be the Bush administration's next big target for a trade battle. Trade is certain to be on the agenda Tuesday when Bush welcomes Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao to the White House on his first trip to the United States since taking office in May...

Some Southeast Missouri State University students make an extra effort at the school's basketball games -- painting their faces, stomping their feet and performing their version of an Indian dance. But a bigger noise is sounding now throughout the campus and the community as alumni and student groups suggest dropping the Indian nicknames and coming up with another one that can be depicted on T-shirts and as a school mascot at athletic events...

TUNICA, Miss. -- A woman wearing a wig set the gift-wrapped package on the counter and told the casino cashier to hand over money or she would detonate the bomb hidden inside. By the time police arrived at the Grand Casino and determined the package was nothing more than an empty honey bun box, the bandit was long gone, along with more than $60,000 in cash...

JONESBORO, Ark. -- Southeast Missouri State University's track team won nine events in its season-opening indoor meet Sunday at Arkansas State. The women's team won seven events: Lindsay Stevenson, Nyisha Porter, Juanita Coleman and Laquita Andrews won the 1,600 relay; Andrews won the 400; Coleman won the 800; Michelle Jett won the pole vault; Lindsay Meyr won the long jump; and Heather Jenkins won the shot put and weight throw...

College football fans can get ready to crown not just one, but possibly two national champions. And get ready for a new round of controversy, thanks to computer rankings that had Oklahoma as the country's top team Sunday hours after the human poll voters picked Southern California...

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Missouri will make its first bowl appearance in five years, playing Arkansas in the Independence Bowl on New Year's Eve. The Tigers (8-4) return to a bowl game in their third season under coach Gary Pinkel, who said the game was the reward for his players' hard work...

Residents of the Northeast climbed through snowdrifts and navigated icy streets and sidewalks Sunday as they dug out from a weekend nor'easter that dumped more than two feet of snow in places and slammed waves over coastal seawalls. The powerful storm that started plowing up the coast on Friday began losing strength Sunday. At least 10 deaths were linked to the storm around the Northeast...

PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii -- With a giant American flag waving at half-staff under a cloudy sky, an aging and dwindling group of Pearl Harbor survivors gathered Sunday to commemorate the Japanese attack that launched the United States into World War II 62 years ago...

CAMP SCHIEFFELIN, Liberia -- Thrusting AK-47s in the air one last time, Liberia's fighters started surrendering weapons to U.N. peacekeepers, a major step toward ending 14 years of bloodshed and one of West Africa's most vicious conflicts. The U.N.-supervised campaign to disarm 40,000 rebel and government troops nationwide opened with government troops lined up at an army barracks outside the capital, Monrovia...

MOSCOW -- The main party supporting President Vladimir Putin led rivals by a large margin in Russia's parliamentary elections Sunday, according to partial official results, putting Putin on the path to the solid majority he seeks to increase his hold on the country...

3 Doors Down, a small-town Mississippi band that leapt into the national consciousness in 2000 with the hit single "Kryptonite," will perform Jan. 29 at the Show Me Center. The band will be joined in the concert by Tantric and Shinedown. Ticket sales begin Friday. For information, call 651-5000...

WASHINGTON -- The Justice Department has sharply increased prosecution of terrorism-related cases since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks but many fizzled and few produced significant prison time, a study released Sunday finds. About 6,400 people were referred by investigators for criminal charges involving terror in the two years after the attacks, but fewer than one-third actually were charged and only 879 were convicted, according to government records reviewed by Syracuse University's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.. ...

ST. LOUIS -- A new study of juvenile cases in St. Louis suggests that time in detention may do nothing to reduce criminal behavior. The study by the University of Missouri-St. Louis found that in cases involving some offenses, youth who were locked up appeared to be more likely to reoffend than those who spent no time in detention...

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- Nanotechnology has been hyped as the engine of the next industrial revolution, when molecular computers will supplant silicon chips and cheap "nanobots" will perform tasks now handled by billion-dollar factories. Nanosys Inc., a 35-employee Silicon Valley startup that's quickly gaining strength in the nascent industry, isn't counting on such visions to stitch themselves into reality anytime soon. ...

In an effort to entice big industries, the city of Jackson and the Cape Girardeau Area Industrial Recruitment Association may erect the first building in Jackson's industrial park. A joint committee will determine whether such a building is feasible at the park on U.S. 61, near the Fruitland interstate interchange...

To commemorate the 62nd anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor and celebrate the Christmas season, members of Sikeston American Legion Post 114 presented gifts on Sunday to 150 veterans living at the Missouri Veterans Home. "I spent nine-and-a-half weeks in the veterans hospital around Christmas one year when I had heart surgery," said Bill Linum, a Vietnam veteran who played Santa. "So I know what it's like. It just makes you feel good inside to do something for these veterans."...

Roundabout woes I WAS just reading about the roundabout at Perryville. You would have thought the people would have learned their lesson with the roundabout in Cape Girardeau. Whoever designed the roundabout knew nothing about trucks and farm equipment that go through a place like that. These designers and engineers have no idea what goes on in the real world. I don't understand how they can mess up such simple things...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Last January when Gov. Bob Holden proposed a state budget that included roughly $700 million in spending contingent on future voter-approved taxes or other legislative action, some critics dubbed it "phantom revenue." Since the state fiscal year began in July and the soonest tax proposals could go on the ballot was August, many lawmakers feared the budget was a recipe for fiscal disaster...

ST. LOUIS -- The Cardinals brought back two of their relievers Sunday, agreeing to a $1.7 million, one-year contract with left-hander Steve Kline and a $900,000, one-year deal with right-hander Cal Eldred. Kline, 31, led St. Louis with 78 appearances last season -- the fifth time in six years he was in 75 or more games...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Gov. Bob Holden has sent ideas to a legislative committee for improving the state's tax credit program, including requiring more data from businesses applying for credits and ensuring that promised jobs are created. Holden had ordered a review of all oversight procedures for tax credit programs run by the Department of Economic Development and has urged legislators to repeal the Rebuilding Communities program, which the attorney general's office is investigating for possible fraud.. ...

BRAYMER, Mo. (AP) -- Sixty-two years to the day after he and more than 2,200 Americans died in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the remains of a sailor from Missouri were laid to rest in his hometown on Sunday. Payton L. Vanderpool Jr. was 22 and serving aboard the U.S.S. Pennsylvania when he died. Because of confusion following the Dec. 7, 1941, attack that brought the United States into World War II, Vanderpool's identity was lost, and the location of his remains was unknown for decades...

The Times Herald-Record (Middletown, N.Y.) A three-month international investigation has concluded that the Aug. 14 blackout that crippled much of the East Coast was "largely preventable." In laying most of the blame at the feet of FirstEnergy, an Akron, Ohio-based utility, the U.S.-Canadian task force concluded, among other things, that the nation's fourth-largest utility should do a better job of tree trimming around its power lines...

The Dallas Morning News Put aside for a moment, the word marriage from the phrase same-sex marriage. Then substitute the word union. What you have is same-sex union, the implication of a recognized civil contract that protects the legal rights of same-sex partners. What you also have is the preservation of the concept of marriage, a term that carries long-standing religious and cultural significance and that should remain that way for heterosexual couples...

Jefferson City News Tribune The government suffers from a shortage of Arabic speakers. This hampers military, diplomatic and intelligence operations. The FBI has acknowledged since the 9-11 attacks that it needs more and better translators of all languages, especially Middle Eastern languages. The armed forces need Arabic speakers...

The Show Me Center's Sunday night offering to the rock gods was a study in the dichotomy of today's Top 40 rock landscape. On one side was Fountains of Wayne, an indie-style band who've just cracked into rock stardom with their happy-go-lucky hit, "Stacy's Mom." On the other was matchbox twenty, a well-established multiplatinum group with a slew of hits in its catalog...

Private finishes basic training for Marines Marine Corps Pvt. Ryan E. Boren, son of Helen M. and Rick Boren of Fredericktown, Mo., recently completed 12 weeks of basic training at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego, Calif. He is a 2000 graduate of Fredericktown High School...

Zimbabwe withdraws from Commonwealth ABUJA, Nigeria -- A defiant Zimbabwe withdrew from the Commonwealth of Britain and its former colonies on Sunday, hours after the 54-nation bloc upheld its 18-month suspension of the southern African nation for alleged abuses of civil liberties. ...

Trista Rehn no longer 'The Bachelorette' PALM DESERT, Calif. -- "The Bachelorette" lovebirds Trista Rehn and Ryan Sutter have tied the knot, but the event might not seem real until it airs on television. They were married Saturday at the Lodge in Rancho Mirage. ...

Dean says judge should decide on records release MONTPELIER, Vt. -- Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean said Sunday he will let a judge determine which of his sealed records from Dean's years as Vermont's governor should be made public. Speaking on "Fox News Sunday," Dean said he has decided to use a lawsuit by the government watchdog group Judicial Watch, suing to open the records, as a mechanism to determine which records should be released and which should be kept sealed...

Baseball Second baseman Mark Grudzielanek agreed to a one-year deal with the Cubs on Sunday that guarantees him $2.75 million. He'll get $2.5 million next season, and then the Cubs have a $2.5 million option for 2005 with a $250,000 buyout. ...

The next time you're in the drive-through of the McDonald's on Broadway saying you want that super-sized, you're not talking to anyone in the building. In fact, you're not talking to anyone in the state. You're talking to someone in Colorado. Huh?...

Somebody better dust off that "mythical" national championship label because by the time the first Monday in January rolls around, it's probably going to come in handy. For the third time since they hijacked college football's postseason in 1998, the Bowl Championship Series and the computer geeks they employ made hash out of it...

This is just like the media and society. They take a cute analogy or stimulating story and, after just one week, completely run it into the ground. I'll admit I'm notorious for walking around the house and repeating a goofy phrase or joke over and over again...

BALTIMORE -- Federal prosecutor Jonathan Luna traveled in recent months to the area of Pennsylvania where his body was found, and authorities were not immediately aware of any work-related business that would have taken him to the region, The Associated Press learned Sunday...

The Area Wide United Way held its 2003 Campaign Victory Party at Cape West Cine Tuesday with an encore performance by the Blues Brothers. 2003 campaign chairman Don Fisher recognized key campaign volunteers, significant employee campaigns and campaign cabinet members including Jon Rust, Southeast Missourian education/marketing chair, who was effective in supporting the United Way's work through media coverage, and Steve Bjelich for his work in organizing corporate giving from the start...

Jackson bands putting on Christmas concert A Christmas concert will be presented at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Jackson High School old gym by the two high school bands, the freshman band and the junior high jazz band. The junior high jazz band will start early to entertain early arrivals...

Pancake, sausage supper set at Oak Ridge A pancake and sausage supper will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Dec. 16 in the Oak Ridge School cafeteria before the game against Saxony Lutheran. A free will donation will be taken, with matching funds through Thrivent Financial for Lutherans. Proceeds will benefit the multipurpose building...

The Kansas City Star The effort to ban smoking in indoor public places throughout the Kansas City metropolitan area should push forward. ... ... Elected officials haven't had the courage yet to embrace a ban, even if it would reduce adverse health effects on the great majority of people who are nonsmokers...