Stories from Friday, May 6, 2005

BENTON, Mo. -- Three people were arrested Sunday night as a result of a drug-related search warrant served in Morley. A narcotics investigation conducted by the Morley Police Department and assisted by the Scott County Sheriff's Department resulted in a search warrant being served at 105 Emerson Lane in Morley...

A second post office facility could be in Cape Girardeau's future. It would be an addition on the city's west side long sought by city and civic leaders. A temporary west side retail post office could be in operation in Cape Girardeau within a month, postmaster Mike Keefe said Thursday. Keefe said postal officials have all but assured him that a temporary facility will be opened. Several businesses have expressed interest in operating a retail post office, he said...

SHAWNEETOWN, Mo. -- At the Apple Creek conservation area in the extreme northern fringe of Cape Girardeau County, progress is measured not by days or even weeks, but by years and decades. The area where Apple Creek runs alongside river bluffs, flood-plain bottomlands and grassy fields on its way to the Mississippi River is the site of an ongoing battle to restore what centuries of human development have destroyed -- natural habitats...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- An 18-year-old Perryville man was killed in a one-vehicle accident on Route K just south of Interstate 55 in Perry County Thursday night, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol. The patrol said Michael Berkbuegler was driving his Yamaha motorcycle northbound when he ran off the road, struck a mailbox and overturned. He was pronounced dead at the scene by county coroner Herb Miller...

The mail processing center in Cape Girardeau will be outfitted with high-tech equipment to detect deadly anthrax, part of the postal service's nationwide effort to combat bioterrorism. Postal officials announced Thursday that the equipment will be installed and put into operation at the center at 475 Kell Farm Drive by June 18...

The Cape Girardeau Fire Department will install smoke detectors in high-risk homes this fall as part of a $64,000 federal Homeland Security grant, fire chief Rick Ennis said Thursday. The grant will fund the purchase of 4,800 smoke detectors as well as 4,800 additional batteries that would replace dead batteries in existing smoke detectors, he said...

Less than a week after being robbed for the fifth time since 1998, police say an unhappy customer assaulted a security guard at the Bank of America at Kingshighway and Cape Rock Drive. A short time later, the customer, Richard Andrusejko of Jackson, was stopped by police, where he collapsed and was taken to a local hospital...

CAIRO, Ill. -- Charges of forgery and official misconduct were filed Thursday by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan against the mayor, former city treasurer and city clerk of Cairo. The charges allege the three mishandled city funds after the mayor was sworn into office two years ago...

Bonnie Blechle had been looking for rhubarbs for weeks at area grocery stores, but they didn't have them yet. "When I saw that the farmer's market was open today, I knew they'd be here," said the Jackson resident. "And I knew they'd be fresher anyway. You know when you come here that they've probably been picked that morning."...

BENTON, Mo. -- A husband and wife from Oran, Mo., were being held in the Scott County jail Wednesday evening in connection with a rash of residential burglaries that started in October. Keith D. Chapman, 44, is being charged with possession of a controlled substance, five counts of second-degree burglary, five counts of stealing, possession of burglary tools, unlawful use of a weapon and possession of drug paraphernalia. Bond is set at $150,000...

Editor's note: Joe Sullivan is on vacation. This column was originally published May 8, 1998. My wife and I are to the point that we don't like many wrinkles in our routine, but once in a while we get a jolt or two. If someone asked me to describe my life, I would say that I have been very fortunate and very lucky, but on the whole I consider myself ordinary...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The House tabled a bill Thursday that would have allowed the state park board to decide whether the Confederate flag should again fly over Missouri's historical gravesites. Several lawmakers decried the bill, arguing that the Confederate flag is offensive to many black Americans who associate it with slavery...

NEW YORK -- Jittery investors sold stocks lower Thursday as the downgrade of bonds issued by General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. undermined the market's confidence and erased its earlier modest gains. Standard & Poor's decision to lower the automakers' debt ratings dragged down the rest of the market, which was already nervous ahead of the Labor Department's job creation report Friday. ...

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraqis seeking jobs with security forces were targeted once again Thursday when a suicide bomber with explosives strapped to his body mingled among hundreds of men and blew himself up in one of four attacks that killed 26 people. The attacks are part of a surge of violence that has killed more than 200 since Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari announced his new government last week with seven positions still undecided...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The Senate gave final approval Thursday to legislation that makes it a felony for inmates to throw spit, urine or other bodily fluids on prison guards. Another provision of the bill allows the state to collect up to $60 a month from those on parole or probation. The state parole board could consider an inmate's ability to pay and allow for lower or no payments...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The state has received about $135 million in federal homeland security money since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and has spent about $49 million of it, Gov. Matt Blunt's office said Thursday. Blunt asked state agencies for an accounting of how that money is being spent in February, saying it was tough to track where the funds had gone...

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- A Libyan seized in Pakistan this week was the fourth purported No. 3 leader of al-Qaida killed or captured since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, but the global dragnet has yet to reach up the terror group's hierarchy to the main prizes -- Osama bin Laden and his right-hand man, Ayman al-Zawahri...

NEW YORK -- Two small makeshift grenades exploded early Thursday outside a building housing the British Consulate, just as Britons went to the polls in a national election. The blast caused minor damage and no injuries. Authorities said they had no clear indication the consulate, which shares the building with several other tenants, was a target. The blasts blew out a glass panel at the building's entrance...

WHEELER ARMY AIR FIELD, Hawaii -- An Army helicopter pilot pleaded guilty to negligent homicide on Thursday, admitting he was showing off before his Black Hawk helicopter crashed in Afghanistan last year and killed the crew chief. Chief Warrant Officer 3 Darrin R. Rogers, 37, could be discharged from the Army and get more than five years in prison for his guilty pleas...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Among the flowers and balloons honoring a little girl known for years only as Precious Doe, a handwritten sign announced the news: Her real name was Erica Michelle Marie Green. Just shy of 4 years old, Erica had long been anonymous in death, her headless body abandoned beside a road. But she was not forgotten...

LONDON -- Tony Blair won a historic third term as prime minister Thursday, but exit poll projections indicated his Labour Party suffered a sharply reduced parliamentary majority in apparent punishment for going to war in Iraq. A chastened Blair said, "We will have to respond to that sensibly and wisely."...

Bigger translates to better opportunities when it comes to Saturday's Soap Box Derby in Cape Girardeau. With 17 cars expected in the stock division and 13 entries in the super stock, two winners from the Cape Girardeau Rotary Club's annual local qualifier can qualify for the All-American Soap Box Derby this summer in Akron, Ohio. Ten entries are needed in a classification to qualify. Last year, the event featured 26 boys and girls, but just eight entries in the super stock...

Central's Joanna Taleno won two events and was part of two winning relays to lead the Tigers to the Show-Me Conference girls swimming title Thursday at Poplar Bluff. Central finished with 437 points, and Notre Dame finished second at 366. "We didn't win every event but it took the whole team to win that," Central coach Dayna Powell said...

The Perryville boys track team finished first out of nine teams Thursday in the Jefferson County Conference track and field meet at Festus High School. The Pirates tallied 186 points Jesse Kueker won the 1,600-meter run and was part of both the winning 1,600 relay and 3,200 relay teams...

Brian Giles' 0-for-22 slump is over. So is the San Diego Padres' 11-game losing streak at St. Louis. Giles had four hits and five RBIs Thursday night in San Diego's 8-3 victory over the Cardinals. The Padres won at Busch Stadium for the first time since Aug. 28, 2001, despite hitting into the first triple play in the major leagues this season...

WASHINGTON -- Toward the end of the Washington Nationals' first month in their new home, where they've been winning more than losing, someone took a black marker to the white board outside their RFK Stadium clubhouse and scribbled this: "We might not have it all together right now guys but together we can have it all. Let's do it."...

WASHINGTON -- Investigators never located all 80 of the cattle that crossed the Canadian border with a dairy cow that brought the first known case of mad cow disease into the United States. Eighteen months later, the government is proposing a national tracking system that would pinpoint an animal's movements within 48 hours after a disease is discovered...

The most positive aspect of the new mural commissioned by Southeast Missouri State University is that it is not a mural at all, since it will be painted on canvas and hung on a wall at the River Campus. This means that eventually, when more aesthetically enlightened views prevail, it may be removed to a location more appropriate to its subject matter: river boats...

Every spring, the excitement of proms, house parties and graduation heightens the potential for a tragedy that should worry every school and parent: The death of a student or students caused by drinking and driving. Car crashes involving teen drivers are the leading cause of death for American teens, outstripping murder, cancer, suicide, and heart disease combined. ...

Football...

To the Editor: Back in 1981, Dr. Jack and Dorothy Miller started a beautification campaign in Bryan/College Station, Texas, that has received wonderful reviews for its accomplishments. I lived in Bryan as the Community Development Coordinator, and Jack was retired from the Veterinarian College at Texas A&M University...

To the Editor: V-E Day (Victory in Europe Day, May 8) is an appropriate time to enlarge Holocaust museums, and to include new Wholecaust museums. It is time to announce new, larger museums that will document the Wholecaust (of which the Holocaust was a part): 62 million killed under the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics; 35 million under the Peoples' Republic of China; 21 million under the National Socialist German Workers' Party. ...

Post office location; We did that already; Home of the best; Graduation crowd; How far back?; Deserved tyranny; Very good articles; Don't need spies; Add to the base; Getting too nosy; Thanks for paying; Pat on the back; Caring for others; Support, friendship; Honesty appreciated; Health care expenses

RANDLES, Mo. -- Frank "Mike" Dumey, 94, of Randles passed away Wednesday, May 4, 2005, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. He was born Feb. 8, 1911, at Kelso, Mo., son of Leo and Louise Enderle Dumey. He and Agnes C. Felden were married Sept. 14, 1932, at St. Ambrose Catholic Church in Chaffee, Mo...

WYATT, Mo. -- Sandra Kay Berry, 50, of Wyatt died Thursday, May 5, 2005, at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born Jan. 1, 1955, at Wyatt, daughter of Jim and Martha M. Housman Coker. She and Paul E. Berry were married Oct. 28, 1998...

Lappe; Roumany

Mattie O. Ellis, 77, of Shawnee, Okla., died Wednesday, May 4, 2005, in a Shawnee hospital. She was born July 2, 1927, in Reydon, Okla., daughter of Herbert E. and Lily Hamon Hill. She and Bill D. Ellis were married Sept. 4, 1945, in Denver, Colo. Ellis received a bachelor of science degree from Southeast Missouri State University, and a master's degree from Southeastern State University. She was an elementary teacher 27 years, having taught at May Greene and Washington schools...

25 years ago: May 6, 1980 With little more than a month before the present Cape Girardeau Public Library building at Lorimier and Themis streets is scheduled to be vacated, the city council has yet to decide what the future use of the building will be...

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. -- There's a Swede in the lead at the Michelob Ultra Open. No, not THAT one. Trying to become the first LPGA player to win six straight tournaments, Annika Sorenstam instead had one of her worst rounds in recent memory Thursday. She shot a 5-over 76, leaving her nine strokes behind leaders Silvia Cavalleri and Catrin Nilsmark...

MIDWAY, Ky. -- The love affair hasn't cooled one bit. A year after he set the nation's heart fluttering, Smarty Jones still possesses the looks, charm and self-assuredness of a champion. A movie is already in the works. And now, on top of all that, he's got ... the life...

In the wildest game yet of a series headed to a Game 7, the Celtics overcame the late ejection of Paul Pierce and sent their first-round matchup with the Indiana Pacers back to Boston. Antoine Walker scored 24 points Thursday night, including a go-ahead 3-pointer early in overtime and the clinching basket with a minute to go, in Boston's 92-89 victory...

Leo "Pete" Poe, 85, of Jackson died Wednesday, May 4, 2005, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. He was born Feb. 8, 1920, in Jackson, son of Jesse Marvin and Lula Maud Cavaner Poe. He and Marjorie Lorraine Blumer were married Feb. 14, 1941. She died Jan. 12, 1997...

WASHINGTON -- Russian President Vladimir Putin's uneven record on reform and President Bush's campaign to spread democracy are sorely testing the wary friendship that grew between Russia and the United States out of the hostility of the Cold War. From the U.S. ...

Cape Girardeau The following items were released Thursday by the Cape Girardeau Police Department. Arrests do not imply guilt. Arrests * Otis D. Rutherford, 18, of Benton, was arrested on a municipal warrant for two instances of failing to appear for assault and failing to appear for prohibited acts...

Cape Girardeau Firefighters responded to the following calls Wednesday: * At 5:24 p.m., an alarm at 4680 Nash Road. * At 9:12 p.m., a citizen assist at 1800 Brink St. * At 6:46 p.m., a motor vehicle accident at 42210 Route Y. * At 11:13 p.m., a smoke scare at 828 S. West End Blvd...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- A jury has awarded a $6 million judgment to a former choir director who claimed the Methodist Church didn't protect her from a pastor who allegedly raped her seven years ago. A Greene County jury heard two weeks of testimony before returning their verdict Wednesday to give Teresa Norris $4 million in punitive damages. ...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The Missouri Legislature on Thursday gave final approval to a $19.2 billion state operating budget that, despite large core cuts to Medicaid and other programs, would increase overall government spending by $323.6 million. In sending the 13 appropriations bills that make up the state budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1 to Republican Gov. ...

GAINESVILLE, Ga. -- Runaway bride Jennifer Wilbanks apologized Thursday for disappearing just before her wedding day, and insisted cryptically that her flight was prompted not by cold feet, but by "a host of compelling issues, which seemed out of control." Wilbanks, whose three-day disappearance led to a nationwide search, initially told investigators she had been abducted by a Hispanic male and white woman with a handgun, a story that quickly unraveled. ...

The season for Southeast Missouri State's softball team will basically come down to its final four games -- all at home -- in a span of three days, beginning today. Southeast plays Eastern Illinois at 3 p.m. today in a single contest, then faces Austin Peay in a three-game weekend series. There will be a 1 p.m. doubleheader Saturday and a 1 p.m. game Sunday...

CINCINNATI -- Just the other day, Ken Griffey Jr. got an unsolicited hitting tip from his youngest child. "My 3-year-old said, 'Daddy, you've got to have a bigger leg kick. You'll hit it farther,"' Griffey said. Precocious Tevin Griffey would like to put the power back into his pop's swing, the one that has launched 503 homers since 1989 but only two so far this year. Something is indeed out of whack, and papa Griffey knows there's only one thing that can fix it...

'CRASH' Starring Sandra Bullock, Brendan Fraser, Don Cheadle and Matt Dillon. Set in Los Angeles shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, this ensemble drama tracks the intersecting lives of a Brentwood housewife and her attorney husband, a Persian store owner, two police detectives who are also lovers, an African-American television director and his wife, a Mexican locksmith, two carjackers, a rookie cop, and a middle-aged Korean couple. ...

After being out of the pop music game for about five years, Michael W. Smith is ready to bring his old flavor back. The Christian contemporary singer/songwriter who hit the scene in 1983 and was a driving force behind building the Christian music industry has returned to his musical roots on his newest hit record, "Healing Rain," and Saturday night Smith plans to bring his re-invigorated, pop-infused music to the Show Me Center stage...

Singer and guitarist Tony Spinner has a simple philosophy about his music -- don't compromise for anyone and always play from the heart. That's why the Cape Girardeau native has, since the early-1990s, thwarted advances from major labels, making albums instead on smaller independent labels like Blues Bureau. That's also why almost 10 years after his last album on that label, Spinner has decided to produce his own album, "Chicks and Guitars," which will go on sale this week...

Grampa Woo yacht coming to Cape Girardeau riverfront Tuesday; 'Sheep Shots' reception opening at Schock Community Arts Center; First Friday opening reception today at Gallery 1.2.5 ; First Friday opening at arts council galleries; Musical lineup announced for ArtsCape festival; Heartland Writers Guild sponsors workshop in Cape Girardeau; Graduating Southeast poets give 'Last Stand' at Barnes & Noble; Chickasaw Nation Dancers appearing at Wickliffe Mounds; First Friday opening at The Artist Studio; Garden Gallery showcases student work

ST. LOUIS -- Taking a marketing feud between the nation's two largest brewers to new heights, Northwest Airlines has tapped Miller Lite to replace top-selling Bud Light on all of its flights worldwide. Eagan, Minn.-based Northwest, the fourth-largest airline, said Miller Lite will be phased in aboard Northwest and Northwest Airlink-operated flights over the next several weeks. ...

I feel really special. This week I've been pampered. Coddled. Swaddled in expensive leather skins, caressed by filtered, air-conditioned breezes, and serenaded by the finest classical orchestrations of human creation. You see, I've been parading around in a pickup truck!...

Heins won the 2004 Spirit of St. Louis Marathon. He is an Assistant Cross Country/Track Coach at Southeast Missouri State University and competed for the University of Cincinnati. There are many reasons people attempt to run a marathon. Some just to finish, others to raise money for a cause and others to try to see just how fast they can cover 26.2 miles on foot. ...

This account is from a member of an elite force in a branch of the military. His experience was a training exercise, closely monitored and administered by the military. His team is serving a tour of duty in an undisclosed foreign land...

Dax is a former University of Nebraska swimmer. Currently, he is a student at Southeast Missouri State University and an avid cyclist...

Smith is the reigning OVC Champion in the 400m. He was Named First Team All-OVC in 2004. At one point this season, Smith had the fastest outdoor 400m time in the nation...

Culetti starred as Sky Masterson in the Southeast production of Guys and Dolls...

It's been almost two years since Fiona Apple completed her third album, "Extraordinary Machine," but there's little chance you've even heard of it. The piano-pop songstress was made famous by heroin chic videos on MTV, as well as her songs like "Shadow Boxer" and "Criminal." "Tidal," the album containing those hits, earned her a Grammy, but she hasn't released new material since 1999's "When the Pawn."...

The A.C. Brase Arena was the site of the first OFF!-n-Rage concert put on by OFF! Magazine and Rage 103.7 FM. Co-sponsored by Cape Girardeau Parks and Recreation Department and Shivelbine's, the OFF-n-Rage Concert drew approximately 200 people. Local bands featured were Battery Kate, Knotted Fear, Elixir, Rock Solid and Roadside Memory. Each band was allowed a 40-minute time slot to play their music, and seemed to take advantage of their opportunity to do what they do best - rock...

Dustin Michael has been striking out with asinine poetry since high school. "I wrote this goofy poem for my 11th-grade girlfriend in a Christmas card. She read it and said it was really cheesy. She broke up with me a week after Christmas." Michael's early diss has been forgotten, now that the poet is featured in a new book, "Asinine Love Poetry." The collection features contributors to the website www.asininepoetry.com, an online journal for all poems silly and hilarious...

This summer promises to offer enough new music from established acts to clog your eardrums and make you go deaf for weeks. But at least the new music should take attention away from all the sunburns, sweat and increased electric bills. Maybe. ** Audioslave: "Out of Exile"...

May 7, Soap Box Derby; The Cape Girardeau Soap Box Derby is one of 150 qualifying local races held across the U.S. and around the world. Drivers, along with their own pit crew, assemble the kit cars and compete in one of two divisions: Stock and Super Stock. Ages 8-17. Kit cars may be ordered by calling Tracey Glenn at 573-335-8556...

The Lorimier Gallery features Arnor Bielvedt, Gallery 100 presents Claus Gray and Freer "Material Soft And Hard" and a mini exhibit by Jan Chamberlain...

Dear Tom and Ray: I'm considering buying a hybrid car, but someone recently told me that because I do a lot of highway driving, I will not get nearly the mileage promised in the ads. The reason I was given is that on the highway, the gasoline portion of the engine is used rather than the electric portion. Is this true?...