Stories from Saturday, August 20, 2005

Lindsay Pickering didn't think she was ready to be a two-sport athlete when she originally entered Southeast Missouri State. But Pickering is ready now, and she demonstrated Friday night that she should be a nice addition to the Redhawks' soccer program as a goalkeeper...

St. Louis scored five runs in the bottom of the ninth inning for a 5-4 victory over San Francisco. ST. LOUIS -- A five-run rally in the ninth inning by a dormant St. Louis offense kept Chris Carpenter's nine-game winning streak alive. Jim Edmonds' two-run double with two outs capped the five-run comeback in a 5-4 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Friday night...

Tiger Woods double-bogeyed his final hole of the second round to finish with a 70 that dropped him into a tie for the lead with Luke Donald at the NEC Invitational on Friday. Woods' 8-iron caromed off a tree and 20 yards to the right on No. 18. From there, a 7-iron bounded through the green and into deep rough. From behind the green, he hit a poor chip to 20 feet and left the bogey putt short, as he did several putts during the round...

The veteran fullback is getting a challenge for the starting job from rookie Madison Hedgecock. ST. LOUIS -- Both players competing for the starting job at fullback for the St. Louis Rams know exactly what coach Mike Martz wants out of them. With running backs Steven Jackson and Marshall Faulk, wide receivers Torry Holt and Isaac Bruce and others, Martz figures to have plenty of playmakers. He needs a fullback to help clear space...

New policy requires reviews of all expenses and written records of calls to recruits. COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Nearly one year after being placed on probation and losing scholarships for recruiting violations, the University of Missouri-Columbia has tightened oversight of its men's basketball program, a new report to the NCAA shows...

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- For University of Missouri tailgaters, the name of the new parking lot down the hill from 68,349-seat Memorial Stadium is little more than a curiosity: Reactor Field, a nod to the nearby, 10-megawatt nuclear research reactor. The nation's largest university-based reactor keeps an intentionally low local profile, despite its cutting-edge research into several promising cancer-fighting drugs...

The rocket, which killed a Jordanian soldier, stokes fears that terrorists are now targeting Sinai Peninsula. AQABA, Jordan -- It was literally a shot across the bow. A Katyusha rocket whizzed over the deck of a U.S. Navy amphibious assault ship in this Jordanian port and crashed into a warehouse, killing a Jordanian soldier. Two other missiles flew the other direction -- toward Israel -- one of them nearly hitting a taxi...

HAMBURG, Germany -- A Moroccan man was convicted Friday and sentenced to seven years in prison for belonging to a terrorist cell that included three of the Sept. 11 hijackers, long-awaited decisions welcomed by the German government and a victim's relative...

RALEIGH, N.C. -- A federal tobaccco quota buyout doesn't free cigarette makers from having to pay $424 million to growers in 14 states as part of 1998's multibillion-dollar anti-smoking settlement, North Carolina's Supreme Court ruled Friday. The ruling, which reversed a lower court's decision, was welcomed by tobacco farmers who had counted on the money to pay for materials and equipment...

DETROIT -- A computer worm temporarily halted production at 13 of DaimlerChrysler AG's U.S. plants this week, but the company says the damage was minimal and it expects to make up the lost production. General Motors Corp. also had some minor disruptions because of the worm but didn't stop production, spokesman Dan Jankowski said Friday...

In Stoughton, a tornado left a 12-mile-long, half-mile-wide path. STOUGHTON, Wis. -- Emerging from her basement, Connie Janisch saw destruction all around her. One of more than a dozen tornadoes to hit the state Thursday night had ripped through the neighborhood, destroying homes and dumping remnants of three other roofs in her yard. Then she considered what could have been...

ANGLETON, Texas -- A Texas jury found pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. liable Friday for the death of a man who took the once-popular painkiller Vioxx, awarding his widow $253.4 million in damages in the first of thousands of lawsuits pending across the country...

Cape Girardeau...

The Southern Illinois town of Thebes has financial problems. Last spring, an energy company threatened to cut off the town's gas service because of a $57,000 debt. More recently, the IRS seized the village's assets. Thebes was four years behind in paying payroll taxes on its employees...

Great open house; Unsung heroes; God's gift: your brain; Political roads; Transit leadership; Avoiding drugs, booze; Control of oil fields?; Looks like greed; Oil's still the same; Unsightly interchange; Culture for Cape; Plenty of gas; Freedom of nudity; Cartoon was cheap shot; They truly don't care; Meager profits; More information; Sounds familiar; Misinformation?

Basketball...

To the editor: Cape Girardeau's pre-eminent sacred cow, Rush Hudson Limbaugh III, during his radio talk show of Aug. 3, characterized the losing candidate in an Ohio congressional race as "a liberal hiding behind an American uniform." This was a reference to the man's past service in, I believe, Iraq, and, of course, to that rightist gasbag's seeming belief that nothing liberal is American or patriotic...

To the editor: I spent this last weekend visiting my parents' home in Benton, Mo. We made several trips to Cape Girardeau and surrounding areas. I may be a bit prejudiced, but I think that this area looks excellent. I always see some changes, some good and some not. But your area looks like heaven to some of us who care. Thanks to everyone involved in making Cape Girardeau what it is. Thanks, Southeast Missouri...

To the editor: On behalf of the Jackson Underground Dodgeball League, I would like to express our appreciation for the recent article describing our removal and ban from the upper Jackson tennis courts. However, we do not feel that the story fully conveyed the situation...

Coretta Scott King mostly paralyzed after stroke; BTK killer Rader begins serving life sentences

On its surface the annual Slamfest basketball tournament is about sport. But the true aim is something much different than playing basketball. "This is strictly ministry," said Scott Porter, classifying Slamfest as "a weekend of God." Porter is one of the event's organizers from the House of Prayer church. Together with church members Stafford Moore Jr., Latanya Thomas and church pastor Jo Ann McCauley and others, Porter has kept the tournament going for 14 years...

INDIANAPOLIS -- The NCAA said Friday that approval from American Indian tribes would be a primary factor in deciding appeals from schools that want to use Native American nicknames and mascots in postseason play. The first review is scheduled to start next week...

Geneva M. Johns, age 85, of Cape Girardeau passed away Friday, Aug. 19, 2005, after a long illness at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born Jan. 30, 1920, at Glen Allen, Mo., daughter of Marion and Myrtle Whittenberg McDaniel. She and Olin Johns were married April 26, 1940...

25 years ago: Aug. 20, 1980 "Back to school week" has become "back to the pickets" week in four Southern Illinois school districts; salary disputes have led to teacher picketing at Mounds, Meridian, Carterville and Metropolis. The Cape Girardeau Redevelopment Corp. ...

Christina Ann Watts, 29, of Tallahassee, Fla., died Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2005, in Tallahassee. She was born March 31, 1976, in Cape Girardeau, daughter of Kurt and Phyllis Wilcox. She married Darin Scott Watts. Watts had lived in Tallahassee nine years...

Davis; Sauer

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Cleo Mae Berkbigler, 88, of Perryville died Thursday, Aug. 18, 2005, at her home. She was born Dec. 14, 1916, in Perry County, Mo., daughter of Isadore and Mary Klemp Weinkein. She and Louis B. Berkbigler were married Nov. 25, 1947, at Highland, Mo. He died Jan. 10, 1992...

TAMMS, Ill. -- Inez Fay Woodrick, 88, of Columbia, Ky., died Thursday, Aug. 18, 2005, at Barren County Health Care Center in Glasgow, Ky. She is the daughter of Raymond and Lilly Barker Ackley. She was formerly of Tamms. Woodrick retired as a mental health supervisor for the state of Illinois. She was a member of Bradley Church of God in Bradley, Ill...

Omer R. Lindman, 96, of Cape Girardeau died Thursday, Aug. 18, 2005, at Missouri Veterans Home. He was born June 21, 1909, in Maywood, Ill. His father, Frank, worked for the railroad, and his mother, Annie, was a homemaker caring for eight children. He attended Proviso High School in Maywood. He was employed by Rathbun Farm Products in Elgin, Ill., from 1935 to 1943...

Miles James Lincoln, 84, of Millersville died Thursday, Aug. 18, 2005, at Elder Care of Marble Hill, Mo. He was born May 18, 1921, at Scopus, Mo., son of Miles O. and Ruth Adeline Long Lincoln. He and Ethel Imogene Crites were married Oct. 2, 1946. Lincoln retired as a machinist at Anheuser-Busch in St. Louis. He was a member of the Church of Christ...

CHAFFEE, Mo. -- Goldie Elizabeth Asher, 82, of Chaffee died Friday, Aug. 19, 2005, at the Chaffee Nursing Center. She was born Feb. 7, 1923, the daughter of Robert Eugene McBride and Sophia Frances Stuppy McBride. She married Dennis LaCroix Sr. on Oct. 3, 1941. He died Oct. 31, 1976. On Nov. 4, 1978, she married Virgil Clyde Asher. He died July 28, 1993...

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- Mary Helen Zimmerman, 95, of Marble Hill died Thursday, Aug. 18, 2005, at Elder Care. She was born Nov. 7, 1909, at Zalma, Mo., daughter of Henry Levi and Minnie Belle Thomas James. She and Mason Englehart were married Jan. 7, 1933. He died in 1950. She and Clinton Zimmerman were married in July 1958. He died in 1991...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Melvin J. Wibbenmeyer, 63, of Perryville died Thursday, Aug. 18, 2005, in rural Perry County. He was born April 21, 1942, at Apple Creek, Mo., son of Frank C. and Mary A. Schnurbusch Wibbenmeyer. Wibbenmeyer was a self-employed truck driver, and also farmed. He was a member of St. Joseph Catholic Church at Apple Creek...

QULIN, Mo. -- Jerry Dewain Bridgeman, 54, of Qulin died Thursday, Aug. 18, 2005, at Advance Nursing Center. He was born Dec. 28, 1950, in Cape Girardeau, son of Sylvester and Almeda Ladd Bridgeman. He and Emma Sue Baucom were married July 28, 1975. Bridgeman was a retired carpenter...

HIRAM, Mo. -- Ronald Carlos Smith, 77, of Hiram died Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2005, at the home of a sister in Texas. He was born Nov. 8, 1927, in Gates Mills, Wis., son of Vincent and Fern Childs Smith. Smith was a livestock farmer. He served in the U.S. Navy...

The Rev. Lee Roy Quinn, 72, of Jackson died Friday, Aug. 19, 2005, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. Ford and Sons Funeral Home in Cape Girardeau is in charge of arrangements.

Robert Davis of Jackson, just promoted to sergeant, was on his second tour of duty. War reached across the globe to Jackson Thursday, taking a local soldier's life days after he visited his new son. Sgt. Robert G. Davis, 23, who grew up in Jackson, died in Afghanistan Thursday when a roadside bomb exploded near his armored vehicle. The bomb also took the life of Lt. Laura M. Walker of Texas and wounded two others, the Department of Defense reported...

The man was thought to be suicidal when officers engaged in a scuffle, the state's attorney said. A man who shot and slightly injured an Illinois police officer during a scuffle underwent a psychiatric evaluation Friday, Union County State's Attorney Allen James said...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- A man who was apparently upset about losing a farm in divorce proceedings broke into his ex-wife's Lebanon home, fatally shot her daughter, then took his own life, authorities said. Police said James Edward Crank, 45, blasted 11-year-old Hannah Rose Sellers in the face with a shotgun late Wednesday but allowed her mother, Lisa Weatherly, 43, to escape before turning the gun on himself. ...

ACT scores are up across the state. Three area parochial high school scores contributed to the state composite score of 21.6 as all secondary school scores make up that number. Of those, Eagle Ridge Christian School's students fared the best with a composite score of 26 out of a possible 36. Notre Dame Regional High School's students had a composite score of 25.4. Saxony Lutheran's students had a score of 20.8. All students who take the ACT contribute to the school's overall composite score...

Cape Girardeau Firefighters responded to the following calls Thursday: * At 5:51 p.m., an emergency medical service at Woodland and Henderson Avenue. * At 7:08 p.m., an alarm sounding at 2103 Broadway. * At 7:30 p.m., an emergency medical service in the 500 block of South Benton Street...

SEATAC, Wash. -- Boeing Co. and its biggest union said bargaining teams were making good progress after the first week of intense contract talks, though tough issues remained on the table. Boeing spokesman Charles Bickers said talks have been "purposeful and respectful."...

The Cape Girardeau police arrested an 18-year-old man Friday for assaulting a police officer trying to make an arrest for illegal fireworks on July 4. Marcus A. Rice of 1038 West Mount Drive allegedly struck Sgt. Kevin Orr on the his forehead with a heavy, blunt object on South Hanover Street. Orr was responding to a call for help from patrolman Adam Glueck, who was investigating reports of fireworks on the street. A large crowd was gathered when Glueck arrived...

The proposed uptown Jackson historic district has won approval from the Missouri Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, the next step in achieving National Historic District status. Melinda Winchester, a historic preservationist for Lafser and Associates, received the approval Friday after a presentation to the advisory council...

MINNEAPOLIS -- Northwest Airlines and its mechanics rolled toward a strike Friday, with no evidence that progress was being made in negotiations with federal mediators. By Friday afternoon, the two sides had gone all day without a joint session, said Jim Young, a union negotiator at the site of talks in Washington, D.C. He declined to comment further on the talks...

Davis first local to die in combat since Vietnam Robert Davis is the first serviceman or servicewoman from Southeast Missouri to die in a war since Vietnam. Earl Tharp, the 20-year-old son of a Cape Girardeau minister, was killed in June 1970 when enemy mortal fire hit his base camp in Vietnam...

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka -- Sri Lanka's government and Tamil Tiger rebels agreed Friday to meet in coming weeks to review a cease-fire that has been threatened by a rash of killings, including the assassination of the foreign minister. ...

AMMAN, Jordan -- Unknown assailants fired at least three missiles from Jordan early Friday, with one narrowly missing a U.S. Navy ship docked at port, an attack that killed a Jordanian soldier. One missile fell close to an airport in neighboring Israel, officials said...

GADID, Gaza Strip -- Israeli forces on Friday cleared out one of the last strongholds of opposition to the Gaza pullout and began demolishing homes in an empty settlement, avoiding a repeat of previous day's violence in which youths pelted soldiers with acid, oil and sand...

Have you ever thought about why you work? As a youth, I attempted to find something I enjoyed doing. Then I asked how much money it paid. Later I wondered how much prestige was associated with my job. Work fills many roles in our lives, but it was only after scrutinizing the total picture of work that I appreciated its value...

The Oasis Club, Older Adults Still In Service, from Christian Faith Fellowship will meet at 8:30 a.m. at The Landing Place. ; Sunday; Good-bye party for Dr. Clayton Smith and family, 6 p.m., at the Family Life Center at Centenary United Methodist Church.

ALTENBURG, Mo. -- The reverberating dong of the rooftop bell is muffled by the interior stone walls of the Lutheran Heritage Center and Museum, but even muted, the noise is still beautiful to Bob Schmidt. There's a story behind that bell, Schmidt will tell you, that dates back to the original Saxon Lutherans who settled in this corner of Perry County in 1839...