Stories from Wednesday, December 10, 2003

Each issue we will be profiling a local person whom has achieved a level of personal and or professional success in his/her chosen field of endeavor. This first issue we will be talking to Eric Woods, the designer who is responsible for the look and feel of OFF...

Welcome to the Premier Issue of OFF, the new entertainment and alternative publication serving this area. In this first issue we will be introducing our killer staff of writers and artists. First, we introduce Eric Woods, our creative director, who will be doing all the design work with his artistic eye. We will be treated to a visual feast by his talent...

The Column of Real Life Encounters from Internet Introductions I started chatting in chatrooms when I was in college. It was a way to pass the boredom of studying and gave me a way to kill time when I was working on papers on my computer. I never really paid attention to the people in the chatrooms; I just hung out there to tell jokes and see how quick my come-backs were when people said stupid stuff. ...

Are the Backstreet Boys Cool?-Maybe One or Two of Them. by: AJ Sales Hmm, lemme seeÉ I'm holding the Backstreet Boys "Millenium" CD, and I am really having trouble figuring out why they are SOOO awesome. By the way-it's NOT my CD. Awesome songs? Yeah a few...

Armageddon, Accolades and Adulation (All in Due Time): by Jaysen Buterin "Do I dare disturb the universe?" - T.S. Eliot Alright. I'll level with you. This is my first time writing a column. Now while I've written myriads of things in the past, they were nice private things I thought would never see the light of day (like all those tortured high school poems of angst and infatuation). ...

by Phil Denson Are you a music lover? Do you like hearing "new" music? Are you tired of setting your watch by the predictability of your local radio station's playlist? If you've answered yes to any of the above, read on. Ear Candy will be spotlighting and reviewing musicians, newcomers or established, that for one reason or another do not receive the recognition and the airplay they deserve (can you say cash, looks and corporate greed?). ...

by Bill Shivelbine (sitting in, Melissa Riddell) Last week I went out to Rock's, the new nightclub out on Kingshighway, to take a few pictures and see the new band Rock had put together. The band is named "A Work In Progress" but I couldn't imagine what they needed improvement on. ...

The Talented Mr. Ripley (As directed by the not-so-talented Mr. Minghella) by Bill Zellmer Logically, you would think, Hollywood should be able to improve upon the original, particularly a 35-year-old movie, when it does the remake, especially when the original is virtually a classic as in the case of "The Talented Mr. Ripley." Alas, it seems to almost never happen. In this case, the attempt is an absolute disaster...

CAIRO, Ill. -- Charles Edward "Spike" Joyner, 68, of Cairo died Monday, Dec. 8, 2003, at Daystar Care Center, where he was admitted earlier that day. He was born Feb. 6, 1935, in Cairo, son of Edward and Eurah Sams Joyner. He married Nancy McCowen...

EAST PRAIRIE, Mo. -- Lena Eugenia Pritchett, 95, of East Prairie died Monday, Dec. 8, 2003, at East Prairie Nursing Center. She was born Sept. 7, 1908, in New Madrid County, daughter of John and Rhoda Lee Cooper Day. She and Harley Pritchett were married Jan. 21, 1927. He died Nov. 6, 1978...

BELL CITY, Mo.-- Norma Lee Stovall, 70, of Bell City died Monday, Dec. 8, 2003, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born June 13, 1933, at Morley, Mo., daughter of Bud and Gert Pratt Watkins. She and Raymond Stovall were married March 17, 1956, in Advance, Mo...

Billy Gene Mills, 73, of Cape Girardeau died Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2003, at his home. Ford and Sons Mount Auburn Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Mabel Summers, 97, of Whittier, Calif., died Thursday, Oct. 16, 2003. She was born Nov. 19, 1905, at Caruthersville, Mo., daughter of Thomas Marcus and Viola West Allen. She and Cecil F. Summers were married in 1924. The Summerses lived in Cape Girardeau from 1924 to 1970. ...

Velma Marie Arnac, 79, of Cape Girardeau died Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2003, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. Friends may call from 10 to 11 a.m. Thursday at Cotrell Funeral Home in Poplar Bluff, Mo. A memorial service will be held at 11. Visitation is tentatively planned from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday at Ford and Sons Mount Auburn Funeral Home, with the rosary at 7:30...

Thomas J. Reynolds, 85, of Cape Girardeau died Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2003, at St. Francis Medical Center. Ford and Sons Mount Auburn Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

10 years ago: Dec. 10, 1993 All five bids for a new Jackson Middle School project came in under the architect's estimate of $4.9 million. Southeast Missouri State University has notified 97 people who may have had contact with a student who had active case of tuberculosis earlier in the fall semester...

Standard Democrat BENTON, Mo. -- Two Lilbourn, Mo., men are in the Scott County Jail on drug-related charges. Travis A. Johnson, 22, and Larry Marsh, 26, are charged with second-degree drug trafficking. Bond was set at $100,000. According to Scott County Sheriff Bill Ferrell, officers working a narcotics investigation received a tip Thursday two men were selling drugs from a vehicle in a vacant lot in the Sikeston area. ...

Nancy Hunter Chapter of DAR The Nancy Hunter Chapter of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution met Dec. 3 at the Cape Girardeau Public Library. Maj. Brian Tully of the National Guard spoke on national defense. Jeannine McGinnis gave the DAR report on national defense...

Hawkins Son to Meric Coda and Elizabeth Jane Hawkins of Cairo, Ill., St. Francis Medical Center, 6:10 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2003. Name, Devin Thomas. Weight, 7 pounds 1 ounce. First child. Mrs. Hawkins is the former Elizabeth Pickett, daughter of Burl and Wilma Pickett of Cairo and Sharon Pickett of Okeechobee, Fla. She is a licensed practical nurse. Hawkins is the son of Darrell Hawkins and Phyllis Deaton. He is a correctional officer at Tri-County Detention Center...

Cape Girardeau Firefighters responded to the following item Monday: At 10:18 p.m., a citizen assist at 417 Marroseann Drive. Firefighters responded to the following items Tuesday: At 3:01 a.m., an emergency medical service at 429 S. West End Blvd. At 3:50 a.m., an emergency medical service at 619 N. Spanish...

WASHINGTON -- Health maintenance organizations will start reaping the benefits of the new Medicare law with higher payments beginning in March, well before most seniors get significant help with their pharmacy bills. The new prescription drug benefit does not begin until January 2006. Even the new physical exam for new enrollees in Medicare won't be covered until 2005...

KABUL, Afghanistan -- The largest U.S. military offensive here in two years, launched this week, aims to knock Taliban insurgents off balance and keep them from attacking a historic constitutional council, the American ambassador said Tuesday. U.S. officials have "specific" intelligence the Taliban and their al-Qaida allies are planning an all-out campaign to wreck the grand council, or loya jirga, due to start this weekend, a military spokesman said...

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraq's interim government voted Tuesday to establish a war crimes tribunal to prosecute top members of Saddam Hussein's regime, two people who attended the meeting said. The tribunal will be formally established today, when the U.S. administrator for Iraq, L. Paul Bremer, temporarily cedes legislative authority to the Iraqi Governing Council so that it can create the court...

SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea announced Tuesday it would freeze its nuclear weapons projects in return for the United States providing energy aid and removing Pyongyang from a list of countries that sponsor terrorism. President Bush rejected the offer...

TEHRAN, Iran -- Drug smugglers have demanded $6 million in ransom for three tourists they kidnapped in southeastern Iran, officials said Tuesday. The tourists -- two Germans and one Irish -- were abducted a day earlier while cycling from the historical city of Bam to Zahedan, the provincial capital, in a region known as a major drug-smuggling route. ...

ANNA, Ill. -- Ethyle L. Hall, 86, of Anna died Monday, Dec. 8, 2003, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. She was born June 21, 1917, in Gorham, Ill., daughter of Frank and Ollie Dorway Tucker. She and Andrew Hall were married in 1943. He died Aug. 13, 1988...

WAPPAPELLO, Mo. -- Thomas E. Klinkhardt, 73, of Wappapello died Monday, Dec. 8, 2003, at John J. Pershing VA Medical Center in Poplar Bluff, Mo., after a brief illness. He was born March 6, 1930, in St. Louis, son of Robert and Teresa Mulderig Klinkhardt. He married Willa Ray...

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- Both teams playing on New Year's Eve in the Independence Bowl -- Arkansas and Missouri -- plan to take some time off from practice before they meet at Shreveport, La. Except for a limited practice on Wednesday, Arkansas won't begin work until this weekend on its effort to win its first bowl game since the 2000 Cotton Bowl...

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- Paul Simon, the bow-tie-wearing missionary's son who rose from crusading newspaper owner to U.S. senator and presidential aspirant, died Tuesday, a day after undergoing heart surgery. He was 75. Simon was surrounded by family members at St. John's Hospital in Springfield when he died, according to a statement from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, where Simon started a public policy institute after his retirement...

St. Vincent's football team enjoyed a resurgent year that led it into the playoffs for the first time since 2000. And in turn, St. Vincent placed three players on the Missouri Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association's all-state team Tuesday. Zach Moll put up a 37.55-yard punting average, good enough for a first-team selection. Moll, a senior, also played a big part for the team at wide receiver and defensive back...

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- Not long after the 2000 census, the Republicans in the state legislature used their muscle to redraw Pennsylvania's congressional map and essentially redistricted three Democratic House members out of a job. Today, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments on whether the GOP went too far, in a case that could alter the nation's political landscape by determining how big a role party politics can play in the drawing of voting districts...

DES MOINES, Iowa -- The Better Business Bureau has said egg producers should stop advertising humane treatment of hens under guidelines that allow practices such as forced molting and clipping of beaks. United Egg Producers, an industry trade group based in Atlanta, developed the logo on cartons claiming the eggs to be "Animal Care Certified." The group said it awards the logo based on scientific standards developed by a group of independent experts...

WARWICK, R.I. -- The owners of the nightclub where 100 people were killed in a fire last February were indicted on involuntary manslaughter charges Tuesday along with the tour manager for the heavy metal band whose pyrotechnics ignited the blaze. Club owners Jeffrey and Michael Derderian and Great White tour manager Dan Biechele were each charged with 200 counts of involuntary manslaughter -- two for each death...

BOSTON -- The city of Boston and the state of New Hampshire announced Tuesday they will begin buying prescription drugs from Canada, jumping to the forefront of the growing but illegal movement to take advantage of lower prices across the border. New Hampshire would become the first state in the country to turn to Canada for drugs, and Boston would become the largest U.S. city...

MOSCOW -- A suicide bomber who may have intended to attack Russia's parliament blew herself up outside a nearby upscale hotel across from Red Square on Tuesday, killing five people and sparking fears of a new wave of terror attacks in the Russian capital...

TALAFAR, Iraq -- Suicide bombers, one in a car and another on foot, blew themselves up at the gates of two U.S. military bases on Tuesday, wounding 61 American soldiers but failing to inflict deadly casualties on the scale of recent attacks in Iraq...

JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Southeast Asian radicals are divided over the wisdom of attacking hotels, nightclubs and other "soft targets" where Muslims may be killed alongside Westerners -- an internal split that could weaken the terrorist enterprise, authorities told The Associated Press...

WASHINGTON -- President Bush said Tuesday after meeting with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao that he opposes the apparent interest of Taiwan's leaders in taking steps toward independence. Meeting with reporters in the Oval Office after a 40-minute meeting with Wen, Bush said he had told the premier, "The United States policy is one China."...

WASHINGTON -- The Federal Reserve left a key interest rate at a 45-year low on Tuesday and pledged anew to keep rates down for a "considerable period." However, Wall Street investors didn't like hints from the Fed that the period of easy money may be drawing to a close, even if the first rate increases are still months away...

WASHINGTON -- A conflicted Supreme Court debated Tuesday how much leeway to give police who mistakenly or deliberately fail to give suspects the familiar warning beginning with "You have the right to remain silent." Some of the justices are critics of the court's landmark 1966 Miranda v. Arizona ruling, which requires the warnings. They have an opportunity to loosen restrictions on police in four cases this term. Cases from Colorado and Missouri were argued Tuesday...

To the editor: The person responsible for the Speak Out comment "Not most important" asked how come narrow-minded people think policemen and firefighters are the most important people in the community. Well, they are the most important people in any community if it is going to be anything at all and any kind of a safe place for kids and family members to live...

KENNETT, Mo. -- Chancie L. "Mr. Rudy" Pylant, 82, of Kennett died Sunday, Dec. 7, 2003, at his home, after a long battle with cancer. He was surrounded by his children and friends. Mr. Rudy was born July 19, 1921, on his parents' farm near Leachville, Ark. He grew up during the Depression, in a large close-knit family. Like most people during that time, he worked on the family farm picking cotton, where he learned the value of hard work and dedication to family...

Elizabeth Tilghman, 89, of Cape Girardeau died Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2003, at the Lutheran Home. She was born April 13, 1914, in Rutherford, Tenn., daughter of Franklin and Molly Tinkle Edmundson. She and Rex Tilghman were married in 1934 in Rutherford. He died in 1988...

CLEVELAND -- Tim Couch fell just short in his bid to rally the Cleveland Browns to victory. However, he may have started his own comeback. Cleveland's quarterback saved the Browns from being humiliated Monday night on national TV, replacing starter Kelly Holcomb just before halftime and directing two touchdown drives in the second half...

UNITED NATIONS -- Secretary-General Kofi Annan plans to name a veteran U.N. humanitarian relief official from New Zealand as his interim envoy to Iraq, diplomats said Tuesday. Ross Mountain, who has traveled to war zones in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, will temporarily take over the duties of Sergio Vieira de Mello, who was killed in the Aug. 19 bombing of U.N. headquarters in Baghdad...

JERUSALEM -- Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told lawmakers Tuesday he will move some Jewish settlements as part of an emerging plan for Israel to impose a border in the West Bank without negotiations with the Palestinians, a participant at the meeting said...

and Heidi Hall ~ Southeast Missourian The Cape Girardeau schools superintendent released a plan on Tuesday for $1.3 million in cutbacks based on recommendations from a task force made up of school employees and community members...

Police pay is too low CAPE GIRARDEAU cannot hire nor keep highly qualified college-educated officers due to the extreme low pay when compared to other police departments. I'm amazed by how many people complain about the police and say our officers aren't as professional or efficient as they should be. ...

NEW YORK -- Joe Theismann was incredulous when he saw the matchup for the Bowl Championship Series title game. The newly inducted Hall of Famer knew there were problems with the BCS, but leaving the No. 1 team out of the title game was beyond belief...

In America and right here in Cape Girardeau, we enjoy cuisine from all over the world. Just take a look at some of our restaurants that serve the best foods from the owner's native land. The international students at Southeast Missouri State University decided to share many of their favorite dishes from their homelands. The recipes from 20 different countries have been compiled into a cookbook available just in time for your holiday shopping...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The Missouri Clean Water Commission is holding a hearing this week about the New Madrid Floodway project -- an issue where some environmentalists and some Bootheel residents don't see eye to eye. The $85 million Army Corps of Engineers plan is designed to reduce flooding in New Madrid, Mississippi and Scott counties...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- In a win for executive authority but a loss for cash-strapped school districts, the Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday unanimously affirmed the governor's constitutional power to reduce spending for public schools below levels set by the legislature...

WASHINGTON -- Lose weight without dieting or exercise! Eat your way to a trimmer you! Block fat before your body can absorb it! According to the government, what products using those slogans should really say is: "I lost $350 in two weeks. Ask me how!"...

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Shortages of flu shots could boost disappointing sales of the needle-free vaccine FluMist this winter, but analysts say the drug's long-term outlook is dogged by a high price and limits on who can use it. The news last Friday that the nation's two producers of traditional flu vaccine injections have run out of stock and won't be able to produce more this season has led some health agencies and consumers to turn to FluMist...

ST. LOUIS -- The Cardinals got a pair of potential bench replacements Tuesday, agreeing to one-year contracts with infielder Brent Butler and first baseman-outfielder Steve Cox. The deal for Butler, a third-round draft pick of St. Louis in 1996, pays him an annual rate of $350,000 if he is in the major leagues and $100,000 if he's in the minors. He hit .211 in 37 games with the Rockies last year but spent most of the season with Triple-A Colorado Springs...

ST. LOUIS -- Making the playoffs for the third time in his four years as Rams coach left Mike Martz far from satisfied. There's still plenty of incentive the last three weeks, like an NFC West title, a first-round bye and home field advantage. The Rams (10-3) can clinch the West with a victory over the Seahawks (8-5) on Sunday, and also have a chance to secure a first-round bye...

The Associated Press TORONTO -- Chris Pronger scored 30 seconds into overtime to give the St. Louis Blues a 3-2 victory over Toronto on Tuesday night, ending the Maple Leafs' winning streak at eight games. After Toronto's Joe Nieuwendyk tied it with a short-handed goal with 17 seconds left in regulation, Pronger scored on the power-play with a 20-foot wrist shot from in front of the net...

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- For the first half, Southeast Missouri State University's Indians played about as well as they possibly could and had the Arkansas Razorbacks wondering what hit them. But the Indians couldn't keep up their torrid pace, and the Razorbacks avoided a major upset by rallying for a 78-68 victory in front of 10,419 fans Tuesday at Bud Walton Arena...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Central's boys basketball team bounced back from a disappointing Farmington Tournament championship game and beat a strong Blytheville (Ark.) team 52-51 Tuesday night on a last-second shot by junior Eli Harris. Harris, who scored a career-high 18 points against Hazelwood Central on Saturday, took a pass from Will Johnson and with time running out hit a bank shot to give the Tigers (3-1) the one-point win in the Sikeston Invitational...

The smell of fresh-baked cookies wafted down the hallway and enticed visitors to the kitchen and fellowship room at Grace United Methodist Church, where dozens of volunteers were busy baking. Bright and early Monday morning, the church members gathered to begin mixing dough and baking the cookies for their annual Cookie Walk sale...

So far during this holiday season, many individuals and groups have shown just how generous they can be. Area Wide United Way recently announced it has topped its fund-raising goal for the year. Contributors more than exceeded a goal to pay for a trained companion dog for young Josh Ghiz, whose story has touched thousands of people around the world...

The Cape Girardeau Jaycees are collecting Christmas toys and gifts to be delivered to the city's needy children and elderly. Donations are accepted at the Southeast Missourian offices and other locations around town. Monetary donations can be mailed to P.O. Box 4, Cape Girardeau, Mo. 63702-0004...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- The winter storm that hit Kansas with heavy, wet snow and strong winds moved into Missouri Tuesday night and was working its way across the central portion of the state on Wednesday. Winds which gusted to 40 miles an hour and even higher took the overnight wind chill factor down to around zero...

Cape Girardeau The following items were released by the Cape Girardeau Police Department. Arrests do not imply guilt. Arrests Ronnie F. Parmer II, 19, of 180 Almond Circle, Jackson, was arrested Monday on a Cape Girardeau County warrant for stealing...

PAU, France -- French anti-terrorism police delivered a powerful -- perhaps decapitating -- blow Tuesday to the Basque separatist group ETA, arresting its military and logistics chiefs. Spanish authorities said the arrests marked "one of the most important days" in the decades-long fight against the organization. ...

LONDON -- Heavy metal musician Ozzy Osbourne fractured several bones including a neck vertebra in an all-terrain vehicle accident but the injuries are "not a major problem," a doctor said Tuesday. Osbourne, 55, was stable and comfortable after emergency surgery that restored the flow to a blood vessel damaged in Monday's accident. Osbourne sustained the injuries while riding a quad bike, or all-terrain vehicle, on his Buckinghamshire property in southern England...

LUSAKA, Zambia -- After months of delays, Zambia's first democratically elected president went on trial Tuesday before a packed courtroom, accused of stealing millions of dollars from state coffers during his decade in power. Former President Frederick Chiluba has pleaded innocent to 169 counts of corruption, abuse of power and the theft of $43 million. ...

WASHINGTON -- United Airlines, in urgent need of pension relief before it can emerge from bankruptcy, learned Tuesday that it will have to wait until next year. The Senate adjourned Tuesday without taking action on a House-approved bill that includes billions of dollars of pension relief for airlines and other companies. A long delay, or rejection, could affect United's plan to come out of bankruptcy by mid-2004...

NEW YORK -- Fights, gun battles and blood are increasingly making their way into homes each night through television, according to a study released Tuesday. The study by the Parents Television Council counted 534 separate episodes of prime-time violence on the six major broadcast networks during the first two weeks of the November ratings "sweeps" in 2002. That was up from 292 violent incidents during the same period four years earlier, the organization said...

'The Bachelor,' reality show girl break up NEW YORK -- Reality has set in for yet another reality TV couple, as Andrew Firestone and Jen Schefft from "The Bachelor" have broken up. The heir to the Firestone tire and wine fortune proposed to Schefft, a petite Marcia Brady look-alike, in May on the ABC dating show. But the couple released a statement to the syndicated entertainment series "Extra" on Monday, saying they split after realizing their future goals are different...

Fifteenth shooting added to investigation in Ohio COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A bullet hole found in a van at a used car lot on U.S. 23 has been linked to a string of shootings along a stretch of Interstate 270 in Ohio, bringing the total number of cases under investigation to 15, authorities said Tuesday. ...

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa -- Al Gore endorsed Howard Dean's presidential bid Tuesday, praising the front-runner's fervent opposition to the Iraq war while urging Democrats to unite behind Dean five weeks before the first votes are cast. "We don't have the luxury of fighting among ourselves," said the Democratic presidential nominee in 2000, sending a chilling signal to Dean's eight rivals stunned by the former Vermont governor's political coup...

Tough to believe we've all been jamming at the Show Me Center for 16 years now. It seems only yesterday Steven Tyler strutted across the stage, Tina Turner shook her money maker and Barry Manilow put us to sleep. (Oh, who am I kidding. I love ya, Barry!)...

Poinsettias were introduced into the United States around 1825, when Joel R. Poinsett, then ambassador to Mexico, collected some specimens and sent them to his native South Carolina. Since then the poinsettia has become the most popular Christmas flower sold in the United States. The last figure I saw was that more than 50 million were sold in a year...

President Bush on Monday signed legislation that changes the federal Medicare law and provides for prescription drug coverage. Many questions remain about the new prescription plan. Elderly Americans in the Medicare program who currently rely on supplemental insurance can choose to keep such Medigap policies under the new law, but Medicare beneficiaries cannot be enrolled in both a Medigap plan and the new prescription drug plan, which leaves a "doughnut hole" of expenses that aren't covered. ...

Baseball The Anaheim Angels took one of the top pitchers off the free-agent market on Tuesday, agreeing to a four-year contract with Bartolo Colon. Anaheim had offered a deal worth about $48 million, four-year contract, one baseball official familiar with the negotiations had said Monday. Colon was only 15-13 with a 3.87 ERA this year, but he's coveted for his durability and consistency. He's a 20-game winner who has reached double-digit victories in six straight seasons...

KINGDOM CITY, Mo. -- A woman suspected of involvement in last week's kidnapping and bank robbery in mid-Missouri has turned herself in to authorities. Danel Jones of New Bloomfield is the fifth person charged in the case where intruders allegedly held people hostage overnight to get money from a bank...

A $4,900 piece of Cape Girardeau County equipment lost during an office move is at the center of a dispute between a local communications business and the county government. At issue is who is responsible for a missing computer server and whether county officials should have taken bids to replace it...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri's homeland security adviser is proposing a new exception to the state's open records law that would keep secret any security information provided by private entities to state or local governments. Security adviser Tim Daniel says the proposal merely would provide the same secrecy already afforded to government security plans or to private security plans that are shared with the federal Department of Homeland Security...

Cape Girardeau's aging fleet of fire engines took another hit Tuesday in an already thinly stretched motor pool now down to just four engines for front-line response -- one of which is 29-years-old. Though the department still meets the total engines needed for adequate fire protection according to recommended industry standards, interim fire chief Mark Hasheider said he is not satisfied...

Got time for a quick math problem? If you spend $50 per child and have to buy toys for 1,000 children, how much money will you need? $50,000. Sounds like a lot, doesn't it? Maybe so, but it's what the Cape Girardeau Jaycees usually spend each year in their Toybox program that provides needy children with Christmas gifts...