Stories from Friday, December 26, 2003

The federal government has broadly extended its power in recent decades to fight common crimes, from murder to unpaid child support, and critics say needless federal prosecutions waste money, jeopardize civil rights, and divert law enforcement from true national threats...

For 16 boys basketball teams at area high schools, the excitement of the 59th Annual Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament begins today. This is the once-a-year opportunity for high school teams -- large and small -- to play on the hardwood at the Southeast Missouri State University Show Me Center...

To the editor: Using our 20-20 hindsight, it is obvious that Ricky Clemons was a lot more trouble than he was worth. Coach Quin Snyder at the University of Missouri-Columbia passed his problem on to Elson Floyd, UMC president, who apparently is not skilled in handling athletes with an exaggerated sense of their importance. Not all coaches can either, and it is their job...

Robert "Bob" Carr, 73, of Scott City died Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2003, at home. He was born Feb. 15, 1930, at Truman, Ark., son of the late Clyde and Ida Mae Randall Carr. He and Eleanor Gould were united in marriage on Nov. 19, 1955, at Advance, Mo. She survives of the home...

OLIVE BRANCH, Ill. -- Bobby James Burns, 64, of Olive Branch, Ill., died Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2003, at his home. He was born Jan. 19, 1939, in Dongola, Ill., son of Otis and Goldia Kelley Burns. He and Loretta Shelton were married Aug. 16, 1974, and she died Nov. 2, 1999...

BENTON, Mo. -- Otto S. Diebold, 78, of Benton died Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2003, at Missouri Veterans Home. He was born April 9, 1925, at Benton, son of Otto Solomon and Elizabeth Rose Bertrand Diebold. He and Barbara Faye Hester were married Oct. 22, 1955, at Benton. She died April 26, 1998...

JONESBORO, Ill. -- James Robert Henard, 82, of Jonesboro died Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2003, at the V.A. Medical Center in Marion, Ill. He was born Jan. 23, 1921, at Mount Pleasant, Ill., son of Rama and Cassie Brown Henard. He and Geraldine Bass were married April 19, 1946, in Arkansas. She died Aug. 17, 1998...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- David Edward Boyer, 54, of Sikeston died Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2003, at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, Mo. He was born Oct. 13, 1949, in Sikeston to Ralph E. and Martha Jane Lewis Boyer. He graduated Sikeston High School in 1967 and Culver-Stockton College in Canton, Mo., in 1972. ...

Charles Virgil Miller, 90, of Scott City died Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2003, at the Missouri Veterans Home in Cape Girardeau. He was born Jan. 6, 1913, at Anna, Ill., son of Eugene and Anna Ingraham Miller. He and Anna Rovina Halter were married Aug. 24, 1957, and she died Sept. 1, 1972...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Melvin D. Rhyne, 80, of Perryville, Mo., died Thursday, Dec. 25, 2003, at Fountainbleau Lodge in Cape Girardeau. He was born April 2, 1923, at Crosstown, Mo., son of Daniel and Birdie Pullum Rhyne. He and Velva Lee "Betty" Norton were married June 17, 1960, and she died Jan. 4, 1973...

Victor G. Schuessler, 91, of Cape Girardeau died Thursday, Dec. 25, 2003, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. Arrangements are incomplete at Ford & Sons Funeral Home.

CAIRO, Ill. -- Tracy Caviness, 32, of Paducah, Ky., formerly of Cairo, died Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2003, at UK Medical Center in Lexington, Ky. Arrangements are incomplete at Heavenly Gates Funeral Home in Cairo.

Edna M. Kutscher, 88, of Cape Girardeau, formerly of Frohna, Mo., died Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2003, at the Lutheran Home. She was born July 19, 1915, at New Wells, daughter of Ernst and Ester Hoffman Perr. She and Otto F. Kutscher were married. He died July 15, 1954...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- A veterans memorial burial Service will be at 10 a.m. Monday, Dec. 29, 2003, for Maxie Alton Graviett of Sikeston, Mo., at the Missouri Veterans Cemetery, Highway 25, just south of Bloomfield, Mo.

Robert F. Shuck, 93, formerly of Cape Girardeau, died Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2003, at the Wright Nursing Center in Seminole, Fla. Arrangements are incomplete at Ford & Sons Funeral Home.

For the first time in its nearly half-century of service, the Area Wide United Way topped $1 million in pledged giving. That's a remarkable milestone. The giving level this year represents a 22 percent increase in the last five years. The $1 million level was exceeded by $545, and there are still donations and pledges coming in. The goal for this year's fund-raising campaign was $935,000...

Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department The following items were released by the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department. Arrests do not imply guilt. DWI Brenda E. Brown, 43, of Jackson, was arrested Dec. 19 on suspicion of driving while intoxicated and a Scott County warrant for passing a bad check...

LAWTEY, Fla. -- Marlin Cliburn, inmate No. 575042, recently transferred to Lawtey Correctional Institution, where he is serving 6 1/2 years for aggravated assault, auto theft and fleeing officers. "My life was headed down the wrong road," said Cliburn, a Baptist. "I've kind of seen the light. I've been screwing up my whole life. I see this as a turning point in my life."...

LOS ANGELES -- A mudslide swept over a Greek Orthodox youth camp Thursday, trapping up to 30 people as heavy rains triggered flooding in areas ravaged by wildfires last month, authorities said. Nine to 12 of those victims were rescued from the Saint Sophia Camp in Waterman Canyon, just north of San Bernardino, and needed medical attention. Authorities were not certain how many other people had been at Camp Sophia -- if any...

LOS ANGELES -- A sign that Tavis Smiley's new PBS talk show is not standard-issue for public television: The set was created by tennis star and aspiring designer Venus Williams. That's just the start. Smiley, returning to TV less than two years after he was canned by BET, says his daily late-night series debuting in January will be more than visually striking...

CHICAGO -- The Chicago Mercantile Exchange today will allow live and feeder cattle futures contracts to trade in a wider range than normal, a reaction to heavy selling after news that a cow in Washington state apparently was infected with the brain-wasting mad cow disease...

SHANGHAI, China -- After years of breakneck growth, China announced steps Thursday to reduce a feared overexpansion in some industries that is causing energy shortages and could lead to financial problems. The Cabinet issued orders to curb spending on construction, factories and equipment by slowing down approvals for projects, the official Xinhua News Agency reported...

RAWALPINDI, Pakistan -- Suicide attackers detonated two massive bombs as President Pervez Musharraf's convoy passed on a congested road Thursday, killing 14 people and getting close enough to crack the windshield on his limousine in the second attempt on his life in 11 days...

LONDON -- Scientists at a British observatory, listening for a signal from Europe's first Mars lander, failed to determine Thursday if the Beagle 2 arrived on the Red Planet, a government agency said. More than 19 nail-biting hours after the tiny craft was to have rolled to a stop on the surface of Mars, the radio telescope at Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire, England, took advantage of the planet's position to begin scanning its surface for the Beagle's signal -- about as powerful as that of a mobile phone's.. ...

BELGRADE, Serbia-Montenegro -- They spent decades in exile, banned by the communists and largely forgotten at home. Now some monarchs and aristocrats of the defunct communist bloc are returning in hopes of dusting off their families' past glory and regaining their power or property...

GALLATIN, Mo. -- After spending about $2 million from reserves and other funds, this Daviess County community is giving up, at least temporarily, on its eight-year struggle to profitably operate a natural-gas utility. In 1996, the northwest Missouri city entered into a $4.8 million lease-purchase agreement for the utility, which has never met its projected revenue. Among the problems: fewer customers than expected and several mild winters...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- When people question Chicago coach Dick Jauron about his offensive coordinator, Dick Vermeil feels a special kinship. Jauron's own job status has been the subject of widespread speculation while he defends coordinator John Shoop...

SHREVEPORT, La. -- Many Arkansas and Missouri fans won't be staying in Shreveport or Bossier City on Dec. 31, the night of the 2003 Independence Bowl. They'll be lodged in hotels and motels in other north Louisiana cities and towns, such as Ruston, Natchitoches, Mansfield and Minden...

TROY, Ala. -- Butchie Wallace wrapped up his college career healthy and happy, good news for the oft-injured and overshadowed Marshall running back. Wallace rushed for two fourth-quarter touchdowns, lifting the Blue squad to a 31-24 victory in the Blue-Gray All-Star Classic on Thursday in the stadium where he broke his right hand three months earlier...

WASHINGTON -- America's factories saw orders for big-ticket goods drop by 3.1 percent in November, the largest decline in more than a year, raising new questions about how firm a grip manufacturers have on their own fragile recovery. The drop reported by the Commerce Department Wednesday in orders for "durable goods" -- costly manufactured items expected to last at least three years -- came after a brisk 4 percent advance in October and a solid 2.2 percent increase in September...

WASHINGTON -- A federal appeals court temporarily blocked some of the Bush administration's changes to the Clean Air Act, agreeing with more than a dozen states and cities that claimed the changes could cause irreparable harm to their environments and public health...

Glen Friedrich, 80, of Oak Ridge died Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2003, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. Arrangements are incomplete at McCombs Funeral Home in Jackson.

Grace Williams, 96, of Cape Girardeau died Thursday, Dec. 25, 2003, at Chateau Girardeau Health Center. Arrangements are incomplete at Ford & Sons Funeral Home.

Ruben Studdard, 'Soulful' (J Records) Clay Aiken appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine first. Aiken's debut album, "Measure of a Man," came out first. But Aiken was second to Ruben Studdard in the "American Idol" competition as voted on by you, the people still recovering from repetitive stress injury from pressing the redial button on your phone...

IN GALL, Niger -- Sword at his side, compact mirror at the ready, a 6-foot-tall Sahara nomad named Efad Dadi squinted with determination and girded for the ancient trial of his desert people. Milk of a white cow for the complexion. Black kohl liner to bring out his eyes. Powdered bones of a roasted white egret to accent his lips...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Two months after 2-year-old Spencer Molthan suffered burns on three-quarters of his body, the Liberty boy is back with his family for the holidays. Spencer was burned Sept. 24 when a water heater in his home's basement, near the garage, exploded. Witnesses said the boy ran into the garage to retrieve a toy, and a minute later ran out engulfed in flames...

The best teachers don't have to be bullies. If anything, the long and distinguished history of college hoops suggests just the opposite is true. The teacher with the most disciples in the game, Dean Smith, retired as the winningest coach in major college history and one of the classiest. The active coach with the most disciples, Mike Krzyzewski, is like Smith -- already both a proven winner and a gentleman...

Take those gifts back next week. Put the leftovers in the fridge for another day. Today's all about basketball. Sixteen high school boys basketball teams today set out on the path that will lead one of them to a championship in the 59th annual Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament. First up: Charleston and Chaffee at 9 a.m. Seven games follow...

LOS ANGELES -- "Peter Pan" is about a boy who never grows up, but usually he's played by women who are old enough to be his mother. In previous live-action films based on the J.M. Barrie story, the mystical flying troublemaker was played by Mary Martin, Cathy Rigby and even Mia Farrow. But in the latest version, he finally is being played by an actual 12-year-old -- Jeremy Sumpter...

No more blank check I NEARLY fell out of my chair when I read that the annual budget for the Convention and Visitors Bureau is $440,000. Surely this was a misprint. Shame on all of your for bad-mouthing Jim Drury. I am glad he held the city to task and this information came out. Now the CVB will have to be held accountable for this unbelievable amount of money instead of having a blank check to do what ever it wants...

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration's handling of the mad cow case -- a delicate balance between protecting the health of consumers and of the beef cattle industry -- is being closely watched in farm states crucial in a close presidential race. The nation's Farm Belt with its rural, more conservative states is at the core of President Bush's electoral strength. But some farm states -- like Iowa, Missouri and Wisconsin -- are competitive swing states...

Birds do it. Dogs do it. People do it. Why shouldn't Dodge do it? Why shouldn't Dodge try to distinguish itself from the rest of the pack? There are dozens of SUVs out there. Ford builds five different SUVs. Chevy has as many. Even Buick has two different SUVs. Then there are all the imports. Dodge, with just one SUV, has got to be different...

Ground finally was broken in May on the long-awaited River Campus in Cape Girardeau, and rock 'n' roll made a comeback at the Show Me Center in 2003. Those two developments alone brighten the arts and entertainment outlook for the region in 2004. The $36 million River Campus will be the home of Southeast Missouri State University's new School of the Visual and Performing Arts. ...

Before U.S. Air Force Col. William Robert "Bob" English boarded a plane bound for southern Iraq on Christmas Day, the man who will oversee the medical needs of thousands of soldiers in a war zone made one more phone call to his mom and dad in Cape Girardeau...

From the walls of Vatican City to Bethlehem's Manger Square and beyond, the world celebrated Christmas amid terror warnings and Mideast violence that underscored Pope John Paul II's latest appeal for peace. U.S. troops in Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit paused in their patrols Thursday to mark the holiday with sliced turkey, cranberry sauce and apple pie. Their colleagues in Afghanistan sang Christmas carols and dressed as Santas and elves in a parade of decorated jeeps and Humvees...

The Cape Girardeau engineering department has good tidings that may eventually bring great joy to motorists who regularly travel on Independence. But during the possible four months of construction, there may be some Scrooges behind the wheel. On Christmas Eve, the city of Cape Girardeau began advertising for bids on a reconstruction project that will improve Independence from Pacific to Sprigg...

A protest by sharecroppers in Missouri's Bootheel drew reporters from newspapers across the nation in January 1939. Living in tents made of blankets and enduring frigid temperatures, some 1,200 demonstrators staged a sit-down strike along U.S. 61...

On my tombstone, I'd like to see these words chiseled: He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree. In case you don't recognize it, those words are from the Good Book. You do know which Good Book, right? Among those of low degree I have championed over the years, none has been more maligned than the noble fruitcake...

Mary Lucille Thompson, 87, of Cape Girardeau, died Thursday, Dec. 25, 2003, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. Arrangements are incomplete at Ford & Sons Funeral Home.

John Alan Owen, 59, of Scott City died Thursday, Dec. 25, 2003, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. Arrangements are incomplete at Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel in Scott City.

10 years ago: Dec. 26, 1993 The Rev. Simon Perkins, native of Evansville, Ind., is new pastor at St. James A.M.E. Church; Perkins has served 40 years as pastor in African Methodist Episcopal Church in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Indiana, Ohio and New York. Seven Southeast Missouri State University students will serve legislative internships in Jefferson City next semester: Dylan Dunavan, Angel Woodruff, Shelia Higgs, Karen Golden, Tonya Scherer, Kimberly Green and Nathan Green...

One star (out of four) I considered giving this movie no stars, but the performance by the cast deserved some recognition. However, the plot leaves a lot to be desired. The motive of the writers was not at all a bad idea. The idea of making a movie about the contrast between the contemporary view of women and the view that was instilled in them in that time period is not a bad idea...

'Cheaper by the Dozen'Starring Steve Martin, Bonnie Hunt, Tom Welling, Hilary Duff, Piper Perabo, and Kevin Schmidt. This loose remake of the 1950 Walter Lang film tells the story of small-town college football coach Tom Baker, who tries to run his wacky brood (a gaggle of patience-trying kids) according to the same principles he uses with his team. ...

To the editor: I appreciate Todd Diebold's critique of Lee v. Weisman. However, I disagree with his conclusion that the court's opinion was flawed. There are two questions: 1. Is it obstructing the rights of a member of a religious group (or an atheist or agnostic) to have a public school participate in a prayer for a god or a religion that he or she does not believe in? 2. Is it infringing the rights of a member of the group that the prayer was going to represent to deny the public prayer?...

Baseball A San Francisco Giants fan who allegedly was slugged by former St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Garrett Stephenson in a postgame ruckus during the 2002 National League playoffs has sued the Cardinals and the now-unemployed pitcher for $11.5 million. ...

Cape Girardeau Firefighters responded Tuesday to the following items: At 3:35 p.m., emergency medical service at Kingshighway and Broadway. At 4:46 p.m., emergency medical service at 3008 Gordonville Road. At 7:36 p.m., emergency medical service at 1508 Wayne Street...

Cape Girardeau The following items were released by the Cape Girardeau Police Department. Arrests do not imply guilt. DWI Jeremy T. McDowell, 21, of 1532 Wayne, Cape Girardeau, was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of driving while intoxicated and failure to maintain a single lane...

WASHINGTON -- Disaster teams are ready to respond to any strike by the al-Qaida terrorist network and special equipment is monitoring the air for biological agents in some 30 cities, the Bush administration said Thursday. Four days after the nation went to a high Code Orange status and turned up its vigilance against terrorism, the threat had not diminished. ...

ST. LOUIS -- A group of physicists from Washington University in St. Louis looking to catch a few rays are taking a trip south. Way south. All the way to Antarctica. During a trip that may last up to a month, the scientists are monitoring a 450-foot-tall balloon as it circles 20 miles above the icy continent. The balloon, launched last week, is collecting cosmic rays -- charged atoms blasted here by exploding stars...

Three killed in Middle East suicide bombing JERUSALEM -- A Palestinian suicide bombing at a bus stop outside Tel Aviv killed three people Thursday just minutes after an Israeli helicopter fired missiles at a car in Gaza, killing a senior Islamic Jihad commander and four others. The attacks were the first of their kind in more than two months and were likely to lead to a wave of retaliatory violence and damage new efforts to restart the Israel-Palestinian peace process...

WASHINGTON CROSSING, N.J. -- A Christmas Eve downpour following heavy rain and snow made the Delaware River too dangerous for the annual re-enactment of George Washington's bold Revolutionary War crossing Thursday, grounding the actors for the second Christmas in a row...

SHREVEPORT, La. -- Over-the-hill chimpanzees will soon spend their retirement years in a Louisiana old folks home. Construction has begun on Chimp Haven, planned as the country's only preserve dedicated to chimps who have been retired as entertainers or as subjects of laboratory research. Up to 300 chimps will find themselves on 200 acres of grass and woods for foraging, climbing and monkeying around...

ST. LOUIS -- Maybe it was the heightened fears of terrorism, but a cable dangling from a St. Louis bridge created a brief Christmas night scare. U.S. Coast Guard authorities patrolling the river Thursday afternoon discovered the cable, which dangled from the Poplar Street Bridge to near the waters of the Mississippi River...

ST. LOUIS -- Pro Bowl invitations have a way of inspiring those who were left out. That might have been the case with St. Louis Rams defensive end Grant Wistrom and safety Adam Archuleta, two players who had big games three days after five of their teammates were honored. ...