Stories from Monday, January 9, 2006

A Doniphan, Mo., man died early Sunday morning when the vehicle he was driving ran off the road and overturned. Phillip Holland, 20, was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident in Ripley County. According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Holland was driving on Highway 21, 11 miles north of Doniphan. ...

Sikeston motorist killed in single-vehicle accident Southeast Missourian A Sikeston, Mo., man died late Saturday night when the vehicle he was driving overturned in New Madrid County. James Robinson, 54, received fatal injuries from the accident that occurred after he failed to negotiate a turn on Route D in Lilbourn, Mo. According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Robinson's vehicle ran off the right side of the roadway, overturned and he was ejected...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- When Qasim Al-Ganzawy and his brother Satar were fleeing for their lives from Saddam Hussein, they did not have much time to think about the future. In 1991 the two brothers fled the brutal attacks unleashed by the Iraqi dictator to quell a Kurdish uprising in northern Iraq. They feared for their lives and they mourned the family members they had lost in the attacks which largely targeted civilians in their hometown of Kirkouk...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Some call it the scarlet letter of the modern day: registered sex offender. More than 11,000 men and women in Missouri carry the label above their names, addresses and photographs on a publicly accessible Web site. But do they all deserve to be there?...

Jackson wrestlers Sean Gant and Ben McMillian are trying to make the most of their senior seasons. Gant and McMillan have come as close as possible to qualifying for the state tournament but have yet to step on the mat at the University of Missouri...

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- The Carolina Panthers' defense played like coach John Fox was in the New York huddle, spying on his former team. The Giants had no such insight into the Panthers, allowing Steve Smith and DeShaun Foster to beat them at their own game in their own place...

CINCINNATI -- Carson Palmer stood his ground and held the ball an extra second, waiting for rookie Chris Henry to run past a defender and get open. That one second changed everything. Steelers nose tackle Kimo von Oelhoffen dived at Palmer on his first pass Sunday, hitting Palmer at the knee and knocking the Pro Bowl quarterback out of the game with a torn ligament...

KAPALUA, Hawaii -- Stuart Appleby had to go an extra hole to make it three in a row Sunday at the Mercedes Championships, making a birdie on the par-5 18th to force a playoff against Vijay Singh, then winning on the same hole with a bunker shot that nearly went in...

AUSTIN, Texas -- Vince Young is headed to the NFL. The quarterback who led Texas to its first national championship in 36 years announced Sunday he would make himself eligible for the NFL draft. "I thank God for the opportunity to be in this position," Young said at a news conference. "Hard work has paid off a whole lot."...

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter went down in northern Iraq, killing all 12 Americans believed to be aboard in the deadliest crash in nearly a year, while five U.S. Marines died in weekend attacks, the military said Sunday. The latest deaths followed an especially bloody week in which about 200 Iraqis and a dozen U.S. ...

25 years ago: Jan. 9, 1981 Petitions sufficient in number to assure an election in April on proceeding toward a charter form of government for Cape Girardeau are submitted to the chamber of commerce; the total number of signatures obtained is close to 400; the minimum needed was 295...

AGUILAR, Colo. -- The wildfire danger that has been menacing the parched southern plains spread to Arkansas and Colorado on Sunday, where wind-whipped blazes destroyed at least nine homes and forced hundreds of people to evacuate, authorities said. Fires in southern Colorado destroyed five homes, burned at least 6,000 acres and forced several residents to evacuate homes in Huerfano and Las Animas counties, not far from the New Mexico line...

The (Carbondale) Southern Illinoisan CARBONDALE, Ill. -- At least it's not cougars this time. Dr. Clay Nielsen, an ecologist with Southern Illinois University Carbondale's Cooperative Wildlife Research Lab, says there have been a number of confirmed reports about a strange critter not typically associated with Southern Illinois -- the armadillo...

PHILIPPI, W.Va. -- The funerals began early -- they had to. There were just so many in West Virginia's coal mining towns this Sunday. And after the agonizing heartbreak that played out on television as families learned that 12 miners they thought were alive in the Sago Mine had actually died, the funerals were, for the most part, a private affair...

Anna Wiethop, 81, of Cape Girardeau, died Sunday, Jan. 8, 2006 at her residence in Cape Girardeau. Funeral arrangements are incomplete with Ford and Sons Funeral Home.

SIKESTON, Mo. -- It looks like Mike Marshall won't have an opponent after all in his bid for another term as Sikeston's mayor. Sikeston City Clerk Carroll Couch said he received an e-mail from Wayne Morgan Wednesday advising Morgan has withdrawn from the race. ...

Cape Girardeau...

Cape Girardeau...

Marilynne Anne Toll, 74, of Cape Girardeau died Saturday, Jan. 7, 2006, at the Chateau Girardeau Health Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born on March 13, 1931, in Oklahoma City, Okla., daughter of Neal and Jewel Stumpf Baker. Marilynne attended Stephens College in Columbia, Mo. and Southeast Missouri State University where she obtained a Bachelor of science degree in home economics and a Masters degree in guidance and counseling...

A foundation associated with former St. Louis Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog has contributed $25,000 to Jackson to help build a first-class baseball field in Brookside Park. Herzog also has pledged another $25,000 to the project, estimated to cost more than $200,000...

WASHINGTON -- The percentage of physicians who accept new Medicare patients has increased over the past fours years despite a slight drop in physicians' reimbursement rates, a study shows. The findings suggests that doctors would not quit seeing Medicare patients if Congress had gone ahead with a proposed 4.4 cut in reimbursement rates in 2006, one of the authors said...

WASHINGTON -- Head restraints in several sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks poorly protected test dummies from neck injuries in a simulated rear crash at 20 mph, the insurance industry reported Sunday. Only six of the 44 SUVs but not one of the 15 pickups tested earned top scores for their seat and head restraints...

Some great people; Mixed signals; Simple solution; Get the facts straight; Protecting us; Movie freedom; Main Street options; Alternating directions; Walk for your life; Nursing care; Public employment

Douglass Lloyd Block, 41, of Cape Girardeau died Saturday, Jan. 7, 2006, at his residence in Cape Girardeau. He was born on March 24, 1964, in Muscatine, Iowa, son of Lloyd H. and Jill F. Feagan Block. He and Margo Thien were married on March 11, 1995, in Cape Girardeau...

Fredericktown, Mo. -- Virginia 'Tinny" Mercier died January 8, 2006, at the age of 92 years in Fredericktown. Virginia Hough Mercier was born Dec. 17, 1913, to Riley and Alma Hough. She moved to Fredericktown as an infant and lived there her entire life...

Imogene 'Jean' Ross, 94, of Cape Girardeau died Sunday, Jan. 8, 2006, at Chateau Girardeau Health Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born Oct. 30, 1911, in Blodgett, Mo., daughter of the late Joseph F. and Myra Tisdel Mackley. She and Oral C. Ross were married on March, 13, 1926, in Jackson. He preceded her in death in 1968...

Wanda Matlock, 79, of Cape Girardeau, died Sunday, Jan. 8, 2006, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. Funeral arrangements are incomplete with Ford and Sons Funeral Home.

Jewell T. Gettings, 89, died on Sunday, Jan. 8, 2006, at her daughter's home in Cape Girardeau. Funeral arrangements are incomplete at the Lorberg Memorial Funeral Chapel in Cape Girardeau.

COBDEN, Ill. -- Carole J. May, 72, of Cobden, died Sunday, Jan. 8, 2006, at the Union County Hospital. She was born Aug. 18, 1933, in Jonesboro, daughter of Bon and Ellen Disney Harrison. She and William May were married on Aug. 19, 1950, in Jonesboro. He preceded her in death...

Nada E. Bradford, 97, of Cape Girardeau, died Sunday, Jan. 8, 2006, at the Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau. Funeral arrangements are incomplete with Ford and Sons Funeral Home.

Cape Girardeau...

The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch Afghanistan is an interesting incubator for democracy, perhaps more of a challenge than Iraq, which gets more of the world's attention. In the past three decades, the nation has suffered wars, military takeovers, Soviet occupation and a repressive Taliban regime that backed international terrorism. .....

A popular dance video game tests the coordination of players who score points by performing the right moves. Dance Dance Revolution is played on a computerized pad with points awarded for dancing on squares that coordinate with the arrows on the TV screen. It's a good way to get exercise, but coordination is the key word when considering game mastery...

KABUL, Afghanistan -- President Hamid Karzai said Sunday that a few hundred Taliban fighters have reconciled with the government and suggested militant leader Mullah Omar should "get in touch" if he wanted to talk peace. In the context of escalating violence, including suicide attacks, the remarks by Karzai in an interview with The Associated Press were seen as a significant softening of the government's previous policy of not negotiating with top leaders of the hard-line militia...

ANKARA, Turkey -- The man who shot Pope John Paul II in 1981 will be released from prison this week after a court decided he had completed his sentence for the attack on the pontiff and other crimes -- a ruling that took the Vatican by surprise. Mehmet Ali Agca was extradited to Turkey in 2000 after serving almost 20 years in Italy for shooting and wounding the pope in St. Peter's Square in Rome. His motive for shooting John Paul in the abdomen on May 13, 1981, remains unclear...

TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran said Sunday that inspectors from the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency would remove seals from some nuclear facilities by Monday, opening the way for Tehran to resume research on fuel production. The development heightened concerns in the West that Iran was moving toward building atomic weapons...

Cape Girardeau karate business relocates Tracy's Kenpo Karate Studios in Cape Girardeau has relocated to 1131 N. Kingshighway, Suite 2C, in the King's Center mall. The former location was 240 S. Plaza Way. The owner is Roger Arpin. Denny's real estate sold, but restaurant staying...

The Missouri Department of Conservation is hosting four public meetings in January to discuss turkey management and proposed changes in deer hunting regulations. State wildlife biologists will make presentations on antler restrictions and turkey season details. Meetings will be 7 to 9 p.m. on the following dates at these locations:...

MINA, Saudi Arabia -- More than 2 million Muslims raised their hands to heaven and chanted in unison Sunday as they hiked through a desert valley to the outskirts of Mecca in preparation for Islam's annual sacred pilgrimage. The journey through the eight-mile-long valley puts the pilgrims from around the globe in place for the start of hajj rituals today. The march takes Muslims along the steps of the prophet Muhammad, who gave his last sermon on Mount Arafat in 632...

The number of spring softball teams in Missouri continues to dwindle, leaving Southeast Missouri one of the few regions of the state with as many spring teams as fall teams. Conference and tournament championships have been the ultimate goal for spring softball teams -- there is no state tournament for spring softball -- but that could change if a proposal to add a spring softball tournament gains steam at the Missouri State High School Activities Association regional meetings...

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Missouri, picked in the preseason to finish 10th in the Big 12, is out to prove its detractors wrong. Beating the defending national champions, as the Tigers did with a 64-61 victory over No. 4 Baylor in their conference opener, goes a long way toward making their case...

The Penzel Construction Co. received an award on Tuesday for the work they completed for the First Presbyterian Church of Cape Girardeau. The annual award was presented by the National Association of Church Design Builders, a professional association of firms that bridges communication and resources between churches and construction contractors. ...

Cape Girardeau physician elected to advisory board Dr. Elizabeth J. Horton, a specialist in the neurological diseases of children, has been elected secretary of the Professional Advisory Board for the Epilepsy Foundation of America, St. Louis Region. ...

Cape man completes army vehicle training...

When Betty Griffith, a Southeast Missouri State University International Center host parent, found out that Hitomi Sato's parents were coming from Japan to attend her graduation, she planned a tour for them. Her main objective was to take the Satos to Interesting and informative sights that would familarize the couple with the American life their daughter had come to know...

NEW YORK -- Yields on some long-term U.S. Treasury securities have fallen below those on short-term ones for the first time in five years, triggering alarm bells about what that may mean for the economy. But don't expect a quick answer. If history is any guide, the phenomenon known as the inversion of the yield curve doesn't bode well for what's ahead. When the return on 10-year Treasury notes slid lower than those on two-year notes in the past, it often was a precursor to a recession...

n Name: Tracy Haggerty...

The Cape Girardeau Police Department is seeking individuals who are interested in attending the annual Citizen's Police Academy, which will familiarize participants with the department's daily activities and services through presentations by various department officers...

City Hall, 401 Independence St. Study Session at 5 p.m. Consent Ordinances (Second and third readings) An ordinance to place stop signs on Park Place Drive at its intersection with Bloomfield Road. An ordinance approving the record plat of Forest Hills Estates Third Addition...

State lawmakers return to their jobs this month, grappling with finding ways to protect property rights, stem the influx of illegal immigrants and prepare for emergencies, with Hurricane Katrina still fresh on their minds. Looming behind all their actions will be thoughts of elections this fall...

ST. CHARLES, Mo. -- The first surprise was when three Warrenton sisters discovered they were pregnant and due around the same time. But the bigger surprise came last week when their babies -- Sophia, Jack and Kara -- were born on three consecutive days at the same hospital in the St. Louis suburb of St. Charles...

WASHINGTON -- In a race framed by scandal, Republican Reps. Roy Blunt and John Boehner pledged action on a reform agenda Sunday as they launched competing campaigns to succeed Tom DeLay as House majority leader. "We've had a tough run recently, some of it of our own making," Boehner, R-Ohio, wrote fellow Republicans, whose decade-long hold on power will be challenged by Democrats next fall...

RICHMOND, Va. -- Investigators are looking into whether two men arrested for the robbery and killings of seven people in their Richmond homes were involved in similar crimes elsewhere, a police spokeswoman said Sunday. Ray Joseph Dandridge and Ricky Gray, both 28, were captured Saturday in Philadelphia on charges stemming from the killings of members of two families, including two children, who were discovered bound with tape. The home of one family was set on fire and the other was ransacked...

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration has illegally stopped making public detailed tax enforcement data, which has been used to show which kinds of taxpayers get the most and toughest audits, a noted tax researcher says. Syracuse University Professor Susan B. Long said in papers filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle late last week that since Nov. 1, 2004, the Internal Revenue Service has violated a 1976 court order requiring the release of the data...

WASHINGTON -- The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee said Sunday he has asked Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to testify publicly on the legality of warantless eavesdropping on telephone conversations between suspected terrorists and people in the United States...

JERUSALEM -- A scan of Ariel Sharon's brain on Sunday showed improvement, but doctors decided to wait another day to start bringing the Israeli leader out of his medically induced coma, an important step in determining how much damage he suffered from a massive stroke...

TRAPPE, Md. -- If you're a suburban cowboy hankering to raise a herd and short on ranch land, mini cattle may be for you. New breeds of pint-sized heifers and bulls are making it easier for small farmers to raise cattle for milk, meat or just fun. Bill Bryan, who operates a 50-acre spread on Maryland's Eastern Shore, sold seven calves last year...

These days Cape Girardeau residents can do just about anything without leaving their cars. The 2.6-mile stretch of Kingshighway between Bloomfield and Mount Auburn roads has 11 drive-through restaurants, seven drive-through ATMs, seven drive-through convenience stores and two drive-through pharmacies...

SYDNEY, Australia -- Justine Henin-Hardenne beat Martina Hingis 6-3, 6-3 Monday in the first round at the Sydney International, giving the former No. 1 player a dose of reality in her comeback. Henin-Hardenne, the French Open champion who had not played since October because of a right hamstring strain, had too much power for Hingis...

Final results (Top 2 finishers) Boys Under 9: 1. Cobras, 2. LK Wood Under 10: 1. Sikeston Storm, 2. Jackson United Under 12: 1. SMSC Lightning, 2. SMSC Code Blue Under 14: 1. Hoffman Soccer Team, 2. Classic United 92 Under 17: 1. Noon Optimist Terror, 2. Empire...

The Kelly girls basketball team lost to Sikeston for the third time this season on Thursday. But the Hawks played much better in a 62-58 loss than it did in its last meetings with the Bulldogs. The Hawks (5-4) had lost 70-34 to Sikeston in the Twin Rivers Tournament just before the holiday break. They had lost 70-58 to Sikeston at the Chaffee tournament earlier this year...

Cardinals Caravan set for Jan. 15 stop The Cardinals Caravan will stop at the Osage Community Centre in Cape Girardeau on Sunday. Current Cardinals players Yadier Molina, Randy Flores and Aaron Miles and former player and now broadcaster Al Hrabosky will take part in the program...

Winter youth activities at the Cape Public Library include: From 10 to 10:30 a.m. on Mondays, Jan. 23 to Feb. 20, toddler time for ages 18 to 35 months will include stories, activities and fun for toddlers and their parent or caregiver. From 10 to 10:30 a.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays, Jan. 24 to Feb. 22, story time with a take-home activity available for ages 3 to 5...

Scott County EMA training announced National Weather Service Paducah meteorologist James Packett will conduct SKYWARN spotter training from 6 to 9:30 p.m. Feb. 16 at the Scott County Emergency Management Agency Training Center (former 911 building) at 22842 U.S. 61, Oran. Basic and advanced certification will be held the same evening. Certificates will be issued upon successful completion of the course. Call (573) 545-9113 for more information...

MAIDAN, Pakistan -- The snow is waist-deep, food stocks are dangerously low and villagers say the cold has been killing their children since a devastating earthquake three months ago. But most Pakistanis in the remote northwestern village of Maidan won't be leaving for warmer lowland camps. They have no land deeds and fear moving could cost them their homes...

Twenty-eight streets in Jackson will have potholes filled and other concrete repairs made in the upcoming year. The available $150,000 to make the repairs comes after a lawsuit was settled between Cape Girardeau County and the city of Jackson regarding the allotment of the county road and bridge taxes. Both sides officially ended the 3-year tax battle last March...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- In 1964, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart penned one of the most famed legal phrases in America. "I know it when I see it," he said. Stewart was referring to what qualifies as hard-core pornography -- something susceptible to government-imposed restrictions on free speech...

When Rick Honaker was growing up in coal country, his grandmother would dispatch him to the backyard, pail in hand, to scoop up the shiny, black rocks that fed her stove. It was the only fuel in a home that had long sent its men to the mines. Now, a generation later, the only time Honaker's own children have ever seen a lump of coal is when he brings one home. ...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Gov. Matt Blunt plans to propose a 4 percent pay hike for most state employees to take effect later this year. The governor told the News Tribune here that the budget plan he will unveil Wednesday night in his State of the State address includes $93.6 million to increase wages of state workers...

WASHINGTON -- Senate Democrats on Sunday promised a drawn-out confirmation and perhaps a filibuster for Samuel Alito if the Supreme Court nominee evades or refuses to answer their questions on abortion, presidential war powers and other issues at this week's confirmation hearings...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- David and Danyel Anderson delighted Honduran children in 2005 by giving them a variety of Dollar Store toys from Springfield. But the barefoot youths did not ask the Peace Corps volunteers to bring more balls and bracelets when they return to the tiny village of Campamento Dos. They asked whether the Americans could bring some footwear...

ATHENS, Greece -- A powerful earthquake shook Greece on Sunday and was felt as far away as the Middle East and Italy. Minor damage was reported in southern Greece, and authorities on the island of Crete said three people were slightly injured. No tsunami warnings were issued...