Stories from Saturday, March 26, 2005

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- How differently things might have turned out if Fred Reinwald hadn't left his hat on Merle Nipper's coffee table. When Nipper stopped by Reinwald's house on Route D near Longtown to return the baseball cap Wednesday afternoon, he found the basement of the house on fire and Reinwald and his wife, Kathleen, trapped in the basement...

If a recent government ruling to restrict agricultural trade with Cuba isn't reversed, Southeast Missouri rice farmers say it could mean the loss of the country's third-largest buyer of U.S. rice and another stinging financial hit to add to lost subsidies, low commodity prices and the ever-rising costs of doing business...

Standing on the steps outside Old St. Vincent's Church, Twylla James didn't expect to find herself carrying the wooden cross for the Way of the Cross walk through downtown. But no one else seemed ready to volunteer on this Good Friday, so she did...

DOCUMENT LINKS * Power of attorney: http://www.freep.com/pdf/2005/03/23/powerofattorney.pdf * Living will: http://www.freep.com/pdf/2005/03/23/livingwill.pdf * Advance directive: http://www.mobar.org/pamphlet/dpa.pdf Download Adobe Acrobat Reader: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html...

Debra Tracy has less than two weeks to sell voters on her last-minute candidacy for the Cape Girardeau City Council. Tracy filed Friday as a write-in candidate for the Ward 3 council seat, little more than hour before the filing deadline. Tracy, 51, of 689 Highland Drive, is the third candidate in a race in which the other two candidates -- Stan Wicks and R. Todd McBride -- both were prosecuted for felony crimes in the past 15 years...

All but one of the 24 panels on the floodwall mural have found sponsors, and now the River Heritage Mural Association is looking for that final benefactor before a dedication can occur. The murals have all been completed, but panel two featuring the mound builders from the year 1200 still hasn't found a $5,000 sponsor. ...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- At 35, Sean "P. Diddy" Combs has already made his mark as a hip-hop musician, actor, marathon runner, fashion designer, celebrity boyfriend, gossip column favorite, voter registration booster and entertainment entrepreneur. Now, the former Puff Daddy is going into the auto parts business...

ST. LOUIS -- Two sheriff's deputies checking on a motorist stopped along Interstate 70 in the predawn darkness were puzzled at first by what they found -- a driver dressed like an old-time pioneer, saying he was headed for South Dakota with Bibles and "supplies" for American Indian children...

Judging by his performance this spring, the nerve injury that kept Chris Carpenter out of the World Series is a thing of the past. Carpenter pitched five solid innings Friday, giving up three runs while striking out eight, as the Cardinals and Detroit Tigers played to a 4-4 tie in Jupiter, Fla. The game was called after nine innings because of rain...

RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. -- Annika Sorenstam is comfortable with her game, which means everyone else at the Nabisco Championship is probably playing for second place. The most dominant player in golf shot a 3-under 69 Friday to move into a tie for the lead with 45-year-old Rosie Jones after two rounds of the first LPGA major of the year...

VIENNA, Austria -- Iran is quietly building a stockpile of thousands of high-tech small arms and other military equipment -- from armor-piercing snipers' rifles to night-vision goggles -- through legal weapons deals and a U.N. anti-drug program, according to an internal U.N. document, arms dealers and Western diplomats...

Dexter teen faces charges for bomb blast; Music lineup for Sikeston rodeo announced; Mississippi County airport tanks shut down; Arrests made in death of former principal; Charleston woman runs off road, is hospitalized

BAGHDAD -- Insurgents reasserted themselves in a spasm of deadly attacks after days of reported setbacks, killing 17 Iraqi security forces in four separate car bombings, gunning down five Iraqi women working for American troops and assassinating a senior Iraqi military official, authorities said Friday. Insurgents bent on stopping the creation of a new leadership intensified attacks on Iraqi security forces, whose deployment and success are seen as the key to an eventual American withdrawal...

The science behind the tragedy of two Indian Ocean tsunamis, one that struck in 1883 and one too vividly recent, is detailed in a pair of documentaries on PBS' "Nova." "Wave that Shook the World" (7 p.m. Tuesday) examines December's tsunami caused by the undersea slippage of the Earth's crust along a 700-mile-long fault off the Sumatran coast...

After Murray State rallied for a 7-6 victory in 13 innings, darkness forced suspension of the second game. MURRAY, Ky. -- Southeast Missouri State appeared on the way to bouncing back from another disheartening loss when darkness halted its momentum Friday...

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- North Carolina won without Raymond Felton -- barely. After the star point guard fouled out, the top-seeded Tar Heels did just enough down the stretch to hold off Villanova 67-66 Friday night, earning a trip to the regional finals for the first time since 2000...

DENTON -- The Southeast Missouri State gymnastics team didn't walk out of Texas Woman's University's Kitty Magee Arena with the Midwest Independent Conference Championships title, but the Redhawks didn't walk away empty handed either. Southeast finished fourth with 193.500 well behind three-time champion University of Illinois-Chicago with 194.200, but Redhawk junior Tara Boldt was named MIC Co-Athlete of the Year with UIC senior Jennifer O'Neil. ...

JUPITER, Fla. -- There's no satisfying Albert Pujols. No one in baseball history has had a better first four seasons than the Cardinals' first baseman. He's the only player to hit 30 or more homers every year, he's only the third player to reach 500 RBIs along with Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams, and he already has piled up 787 hits and a .333 average...

AUSTIN, Texas -- Michigan State had the depth and muscle, and coach Tom Izzo finally has his win over Duke and Coach K. Paul Davis scored 20 points and fifth-seeded Michigan State moved within a game of the Final Four with a 78-68 win over top-seeded Duke in the Austin Regional on Friday night...

Cape Girardeau The following items were released by the Cape Girardeau Police Department. Arrests do not imply guilt. Arrests * Samuel Louis Preastley III, 30, 701 Broadway, Apt. 9, was arrested on suspicion of driving on a revoked license, failure to register a vehicle and no insurance...

Cape Girardeau Firefighters responded to the following on Thursday: * At 5:02 p.m., citizen assist at 10 Plaza Way. * At 4:29 p.m.., vehicle accident at William and Minnesota streets. * At 9:22 p.m., fuel spill on Highway 74 and South Sprigg Street...

Up to half the wells in rural Scott County could be contaminated because septic systems co-exist alongside the county's many shallow wells.The well water also contains heavy mineral deposits that require filtration. Those are the primary reasons Scott County voters will be asked to decide next month to establish a rural water district to serve areas of the county lacking public water supplies...

To the editor: Marc Powers' March 20 story ("Matt Blunt says local taxes could create jobs") on the governor's support for legislation allowing local voters to decide whether to increase taxes for economic development left out some key facts that need to be mentioned to provide an accurate description of the plan...

Rural dumping; Bring back cleanup; All about appearances; Justice for rednecks; School support; No smiles; Surplus squandered; Cut the waste; Protect the victims; School choices; Discipline at home; New leadership; Bad attitudes; No-work paradise

William Dawson Pikey, 66, of St. Louis passed away suddenly Wednesday, March 23, 2005. He was born Dec. 4, 1938, in Cape Girardeau. Mr. Pikey was the dear father of Robyn R. (David Vitale) Pikey and Scott M. (Mary) Pikey; dear grandfather of Christian and Lauren Vitale, all of St. ...

Dick Joe Brashear, 68, of Scott City died Friday, March 25, 2005, at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis. He was born Oct. 2, 1936, in Morley, Mo., son of Clarence E. and Sherma P. Nation Brashear. He and Barbara L. Diebold were married Jan. 20, 1960, in Chester, Ill. She died April 21, 1996. He and Judy M. Crites were married Oct. 9, 1999, in Cape Girardeau...

CHARLESTON, Mo. -- Barbara Jean Moore, 64, of Charleston died Thursday, March 24, 2005, at her home. She was born Dec. 4, 1940, at Charleston, daughter of Charles and Myretta Winston. She and Thomas Moore were married March 7, 1965. Moore was a member of Mercy Seat Baptist Church and a former church secretary...

Shirley Bollinger, 66, of Cape Girardeau died Friday, March 25, 2005, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. McCombs Funeral Home in Jackson is in charge of arrangements.

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Gladys Allene Francis, 87, of Sikeston died Thursday, March 24, 2005, at Missouri Delta Medical Center. She was born Jan. 28, 1918, in McCracken County, Ky., daughter of Charles Boyd and Laddie Bell Elrod Skinner. She and John Jefferson Francis were married Oct. 25, 1936. He died June 16, 1989...

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- Iva E. Nelson, 80, of Marble Hill died Thursday, March 24, 2005, at Elder Care. She was born Sept. 19, 1924, at Hurricane, Mo., daughter of Lee and Kizzie C. Langston Cook. She and Donald D. Nelson were married May 10, 1962. Nelson was a member of Hurricane Fork General Baptist Church...

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- Margie M. Runnels, 75, of Marble Hill died Thursday, March 24, 2005, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. She was born Nov. 8, 1929, in Jackson, daughter of Homer E. and Lillie Myrtle Bollinger Hurst. She and Floyd W. Runnels were married April 20, 1951. He died March 15, 1995...

To the editor: I have some concerns and questions about the Jackson School District bond issue. The district recently built a math and science building that was going to be all we needed for the foreseeable future. Now the school board says we need much more with only a slight increase in students now and in the near future...

To the editor: I would like to encourage my generation to vote for the Jackson School District bond issue. I don't like tax increases, but I will vote for any school bond issue. If we don't keep our schools updated, it will have a rippling effect in our community...

25 years ago: March 26, 1980 Former circuit judge Lloyd G. Briggs, in a statement released yesterday, said he won't appeal the state Supreme Court order that removed him from the bench for political involvement and failing to adequately supervise his office staff when he was a Scott County magistrate...

Today Prayer service at 9 a.m. at St. Vincent de Paul Church. Easter vigil Mass celebrated at 7 p.m. Easter egg hunt at 10 a.m. at Red Start Baptist Church. There will be several age brackets and prizes. Easter egg hunt at 10:30 a.m. at Fruitland Community Church for children through sixth grade. Call 204-0724 for information...

Two thoughtful Christian writers meditate on Jesus' biblical "seven last words" from the cross, a classic form of Christian devotion, in recent little books: "Cross-Shattered Christ" (Brazos) by Duke University theologian Stanley Hauerwas, and "The Seven Last Words From the Cross" (Eerdmans) by traveling Episcopal preacher Fleming Rutledge...

Then He (Jesus) said to Thomas, "Reach your finger here, and look at my hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into my side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing." -- John 20:27 Considering Rome had just crucified Jesus of Nazareth as an insurrectionist, I'd expect his followers to have found other work besides preaching about a dead rebel. Going back to fishing, collecting taxes and other pre-Jesus jobs probably offered less stress and certainly more longevity...

Cape Girardeau County Commission minutes from Thursday: * Authorized the information technology office to establish a price for a request from Hendricks & Partners for all parcel ID numbers for apartments and multifamily properties, including owner information and sales history, in Cape Girardeau County...

Central's baseball team fell to 0-3 at the Southaven, Miss., Tournament with a pair of losses on Friday. The Tigers (1-3) allowed six runs over the final two innings in a 7-2 loss to Madison Central (Miss.), a team ranked third in the state with a 17-0 record. In its second game of the day, Central dropped an 11-1 decision to Oxford (Miss.). Oxford improved to 14-3 and is ranked fourth in the state...

Southeast Missouri State University's softball team split a doubleheader at Morehead State on Friday. The Redhawks won the opener 7-2 behind a strong pitching performance from Amy Fahnestock, and dropped the second game 8-5. Fahnestock pitched all seven innings in the opener, striking out four while allowing seven hits and one earned run. Kelly Birk, Stephanie Huffman, Fahnestock and Megan McDonald had two hits apiece. Fahnestock had three RBIs...

Basketball...

SOUTH BEND, Ind. In a scientific era, is it still possible to believe in God and such events as the Easter miracle of Jesus' resurrection from the grave? Can a rational person see God as both all-powerful and benevolent despite horrendous suffering in disasters like the Asian tsunami?...

WASHINGTON -- Twenty-seven detainees were killed in U.S. custody in Iraq and Afghanistan in suspected or confirmed homicide cases between August 2002 and November 2004, the Army said Friday in its first comprehensive accounting. The Army Criminal Investigation Command said that in the 16 cases it has completed thus far, it found sufficient evidence to support a range of charges against 21 soldiers, including murder, negligent homicide and assault. ...

PINELLAS PARK, Fla. -- A federal appeals court panel refused to order the reinsertion of Terri Schiavo's feeding tube Friday, hours after the severely brain-damaged woman's father said she was weakening and down "to her last hours." In its ruling, a three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta said it had already ruled on most of the issues raised in the latest appeal, and that other issues raised did not apply to the case...

Comments by Ward Churchill, an ethnic studies professor at the University of Colorado, have ignited a national debate over academic tenure. A self-proclaimed Native American, Churchill referred to victims of the 9-11 terrorist attacks as "little Eichmanns," a reference to the general in charge of purging racial impurity from Nazi Germany....