Stories from Monday, April 3, 2006

Along with the Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Cape River Heritage Museum is promoting "Where the River Turns a Thousand Tales," as the city of Cape Girardeau ushers in its bicentennial anniversary. Special activities at the museum include a lecture by Chief Paul White Eagle from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. April 22. An appearance by a Mark Twain impersonator is scheduled for May...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- When a resident or business breaks a lease on a building, it usually comes at a cost -- like the loss of a deposit, or the continued payment of rent until a new tenant is found. So what happens if the state backs out of a lease?...

Garden enthusiasts will find more plants than usual available at the Master Gardeners sixth annual plant sale this weekend. About 80,000 plants have been nurtured since January in a first-time partnership between Cape County Master Gardeners and Southeast Missouri State University Agriculture students...

Stormy spring weather activated tornado warning sirens and produced high winds that blew over a mobile home in Stoddard County, killing one of the people inside. According to the Stoddard County Sheriff's Department, a 42-year-old Essex, Mo., man died from injuries he received in the accident. His 12-year-old son was transported to Missouri Southern Healthcare in Dexter with non-life threatening injuries...

They were peaceful protesters, yet made their opinions known. More than 50 Illinois residents believe the opening of a gentlemen's club in East Cape Girardeau will have a negative impact on their small community. Both children and adults gathered in the parking lot of Karpet Korner off Highway 146 on Sunday afternoon. The residents from East Cape Girardeau and surrounding towns held hands, prayed and voiced their opinions about the opening of the Big Blue Martini...

Blue yard signs celebrating Lutheran schools and A-frame signs previewing college summer plays have one thing in common: Under Cape Girardeau's new sign ordinance, both signs would be illegal. This could create some unlikely outlaws. For years, Perrey Lee has used the section of Capaha Park at the corner of Broadway and Perry Ave. ...

St. Joseph (Mo.) News-Press The plight of the Missouri Public Defender System is easy to define. Too many cases piled on attorneys who earn too little. The numbers are just as easy to quantify. Missouri ranks 47th when it comes to per capita spending on a state public defender system. The present system washes through a 100 percent turnover of employees in just five years thanks to a starting pay of $32,000 in a profession that routinely earns $50,000 to start...

When Peter Chan learned that the Chinese restaurant he had owned and operated in Cape Girardeau for years had been damaged in a fire Jan. 28, he was in Hong Kong. Within a matter of days, he and his wife were on a flight back to the United States. It had been less than a year since Chan had retired and leased the building to Nicky Liu -- then a cook at Chinatown Buffet -- who had taken over and changed the name to the New Chan's. ...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Ronald Kidd knows readers are going to want him to take sides in the current evolution debate being argued in schools and courts across the country. After all, his new novel for young people is about the 1925 Scopes Trial, which pitted science against the biblical story of creation in a hyped-up show trial in east Tennessee...

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone -- Attorneys for Charles Taylor will argue for the dismissal of war crimes charges against the former Liberian president, who appears today before a tribunal that is bent on sending a powerful message to despots that no one is above the law...

RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. -- Karrie Webb's slow, steady climb back to her Hall of Fame standards hit warp speed with one magical shot Sunday that sent her to a stunning playoff victory in the Kraft Nabisco Championship. Webb holed a pitching wedge from 116 yards for eagle on the par-5 18th hole to close with a 7-under 65, then made a 7-foot birdie putt on the same hole in the playoff to beat Lorena Ochoa and capture her seventh career major...

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Put a cutting board in the bottom of your kitchen sink and turn on the faucet. You should see a thin film of water in the rough circle that makes up the middle, a band of roiling, albeit miniature, rapids after that and finally a stretch where the puddle you've made flattens and flows with more or less even regularity...

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- American Indian skeletal remains and other artifacts that are uncovered by construction projects will soon be housed by the state in one building near Rock Bridge Memorial State Park. Starting in June, about 2,500 boxes of artifacts that have been discovered in Missouri over the years will be housed in a new 4,500-square-foot, climate-controlled building operated by the Missouri Department of Transportation and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, DNR spokeswoman Sue Holst said.. ...

PIERCE CITY, Mo. -- A piece of Pierce City's community pride that was destroyed by a tornado in 2003 has been restored. About 200 spectators joined military and political leaders Saturday to dedicate a new 28,000 square-foot National Guard armory south of the city...

MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- Tony Stewart prevailed in a paint-trading duel with Jimmie Johnson and overcame Hendrick Motorsports' long domination of Martinsville Speedway. Stewart and Johnson dueled nose-to-bumper and side-by-side for four laps beginning with 30 to go Sunday, bringing a crowd of 65,000 to its feet. After being rebuffed three times, Stewart finally got around Johnson with 27 laps to go and held on...

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- Some of country music's biggest names gathered in this central California farming hub Sunday to pay tribute to Buck Owens, the flashy cowboy who shaped the sound of country music with his honky-tonk twang. Dwight Yoakam, Trace Adkins and Garth Brooks were among the more than 2,000 friends, family members and fans who crowded Valley Baptist Church in Bakersfield, where the country legend died of a heart ailment at his home March 25 at age 76...

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Former U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms, in increasingly poor health before and since he left office three years ago, has vascular dementia and has moved into a convalescent center near his home, his wife, Dot Helms said Sunday. The 84-year-old Republican has been slowed by illnesses including a bone disorder, prostate cancer and heart problems. ...

CHICAGO -- Many young children are too heavy for standard car-safety seats, and manufacturers are starting to make heftier models to accommodate them, according to research on the obesity epidemic's widening impact. More than a quarter of a million U.S. children ages 1 to 6 are heavier than the weight limits for standard car seats, and most are 3-year-olds who weigh more than 40 pounds, the study found...

SPACE CENTER, Houston -- NASA scientists have a new mystery to solve: How did materials formed by fire end up on the outermost reaches of the solar system, where temperatures are the coldest? The materials were contained in dust samples captured when the robotic Stardust spacecraft flew past the comet Wild 2 in 2004. A 100-pound capsule tied to a parachute returned the samples to Earth in January...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Former St. Louis Blues player Mike Sillinger helped the Nashville Predators remain perfect against the reeling Blues on Saturday night. Sillinger, who was traded by the Blues on Jan. 29, put a rebound past goalie Patrick Lalime's stick early into the third period to tie the game, and Martin Erat scored the game-winner about 2 1/2 minutes later in a 2-1 victory...

LOS ANGELES -- Three years ago, Apple Computer Inc. chief executive Steve Jobs persuaded major recording companies to buy into his vision of a simple, one-price-fits-all online music store. As Apple's iTunes grew into the undisputed king of digital music sales, recording companies welcomed the revenues to cushion a five-year decline in CD sales...

DENVER -- Former Colorado Lt. Gov. George Brown, the first black person to win statewide office in Colorado, died Friday from cancer. He was 79. His daughter, Laura Mitchell, said he died at his home in Boca Raton, Fla. Before getting into politics, the Lawrence, Kan., native served in pilot training at Tuskegee Air Force Base during World War II and received a journalism degree from the University of Kansas in 1950. He then became a reporter and night city editor at The Denver Post...

HENDERSON, Ky. -- Police found the bodies of two women Sunday inside a sport utility vehicle that had plunged into the Ohio River, and were searching for four men a survivor said also were in the SUV. A woman who managed to swim to shore told police she was riding in the vehicle when Korena Alvira, one of the two bodies found in the SUV, drove down a boat ramp into the water around 2:30 a.m...

To the editor: Human life begins with a microscopic dot, which contains all the intelligent information or genetic coding that determines who and what each human being will be. The coding tells our sex, the color of our hair, eyes and skin and the exact blueprint of everything we need to develop physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. ...

WASHINGTON -- An estimated 3.6 million U.S. households -- or about three out of every 100 -- reported being victims of identity theft, according to a government study that counted misuse of someone else's cell phone, credit card or personal information...

Southeast Misssourian SIKESTON, Mo. -- The Sikeston-based Kenny Rogers Children Center recently held its 26th annual telethon, raising $256,534, up from last year's $251,763, to improve the quality of life for children with special needs and their families throughout the region...

RICHMOND, Ky. -- The Southeast Missouri State women's tennis team suffered its second Ohio Valley Conference loss in two days on Sunday as host Eastern Kentucky beat the Redhawks 5-2. Southeast, which dropped a 4-3 decision at Morehead State on Saturday, fell to 8-10 overall and 1-5 in the OVC. EKU is 11-6 and 4-2...

This year 180 school districts in Missouri received Distinction in Performance awards recognizing the academic achievements of their students. The state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education gave the awards to 15 districts in Southeast Missouri. They include the Altenburg and Kelso elementary school districts and the K-12 districts at Delta, Leopold, Marquand-Zion, Oak Ridge, Oran and Zalma...

Medical group moves to Saint Francis center Mount Auburn Medical Group has relocated to the third floor of the Saint Francis Health and Wellness Center, 150 S. Mount Auburn Road. Mount Auburn Medical Group began caring for patients at the new location in March. ...

NEW YORK -- The maker of Ambien has begun a new ad campaign it hopes will reverse a sales slide triggered by reports that some patients couldn't recall driving or eating while sleepwalking when using the prescription sleep aid. The campaign Sanofi-Aventis SA launched last week is likely the first salvo in what analysts predict will be a fierce advertising war in the market that has seen sales drop in the aftermath of the negative news. ...

Agent inducted into hall of fame in Nevada Jane Clark of Century 21 Key Realty was inducted into the Century 21 Hall of Fame in Las Vegas at the MGM Century 21 Convention on March 7. There are only 37 members in the Hall of Fame and only two members from the St. ...

When Adam Burnham first considered the advertising field as a profession, he imagined he'd get a job at an advertising agency developing campaigns for businesses. But while he was still a student at the University of Missouri-Columbia, he took a job in retail sales at Circuit City to help make ends meet. He still figured he'd get a job at an ad firm when he graduated, but he saw that working in retail sales could be rewarding...

Something to do; No disease barriers; Sending the money; Goal-driven success; Jail space; Good record

To the editor: Cheaters and lawbreakers proudly waving Mexico's flag and holding the American flag upside down poured onto our streets intimidating Americans, demanding laws to legalize illegal aliens and their jumping ahead of legal immigrants who obey the law. An adoring media portrays this shameful debacle as another huge win for the Democrats...

The first time Jim Vangilder showed any interest for horses, he was largely faking it. Vangilder was trying to get his teenage daughter to develop a fondness for something other than cars and boys, so he took her to a friend's ranch in Jackson to see if she would take to horses...

NEW YORK -- It's hard for phone companies to raise prices in the hyper-competitive telecom business. But since phone bills are already a blur of surcharges and taxes, many companies find there's no need to risk angering customers with a rate increase. They can just tack on another fee with a confusing name...

WASHINGTON -- Americans are divided about whether illegal immigrants help or hurt the country, a poll finds. More than one-half of those questioned are open to allowing undocumented workers to obtain some temporary legal status so they can stay in the United States...

25 years ago: April 3, 1981 The multi-million dollar Westborough Mall lawsuit against the city of Cape Girardeau and the developers of West Park Mall will apparently drag on until the fall term of U.S. District Court in Cape Girardeau; Federal Judge H. Kenneth Wangelen, here to set the court's May docket, tells attorneys involved in the litigation that he would issue rulings in the next two to three weeks, pushing the case back until the court's next term here in November...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Southeast Missouri will be the home to some KIT baseball again this summer. Starting in June, the Sikeston Bulls will take over where the Bootheel Bombers left off. Besides the new name, the Bulls will have a new logo, new ownership and a new general manager...

Those who don't already know about the existence of Twin Trees Park might not even know it's there. A sign once announced the presence of the park on East Cape Rock Drive. Now it's gone. Most of the time the park is empty, and trash and old tires litter the area in spots. ...

BOSTON -- Journalist Jill Carroll was back on U.S. soil Sunday, tearfully embracing her parents and twin sister after 82 days as a hostage in Iraq that she said gave her a deep appreciation for the myriad simple joys of freedom. "I finally feel like I am alive again. I feel so good," Carroll said. "To be able to step outside anytime, to feel the sun directly on your face -- to see the whole sky. These are luxuries that we just don't appreciate every day."...

Two men arrested in separate undercover police operations targeting adults soliciting minors over the Internet for sex were scheduled for preliminary hearings this week. Irvin E. Holderbaugh Jr., 40, of 924 E. Independence St. in Jackson, and Robert C. Wells, 45, of 2515 Horseshoe Ridge in Cape Girardeau, were each charged with attempted statutory rape...

Jackson Board of Aldermen Agenda 7:30 p.m. today City Hall 101 Court Action Items Power and Light Committee Street Committee...

Cape Girardeau City Council agenda City Hall, 401 Independence St. Study Session at 5 p.m. Presentations Public Hearings Appearances Consent Ordinances New Ordinances Resolutions Liquor License Other...

France's Alcatel SA will acquire U.S.-based rival telecom equipment maker Lucent Technologies Inc. in a $13.4 billion stock swap that would form an industry powerhouse with a product line broad enough to entice customers in a consolidating telecom industry...

WASHINGTON -- Lung-cancer patients who use nicotine supplements such a patch or gum to help them quit smoking may undermine their chemotherapy. Nicotine is not known to cause cancer, but it can protect cancer cells from some of the most widely used chemotherapy drugs, researchers reported Sunday at a cancer meeting...

I haven't taken a good look at the Medicare prescription plan, but having heard some of my friends of like age discuss the benefits, I probably should. A large number of Missouri seniors have joined the program. We've generally been bombarded with how hard the program is to understand, but 66 percent of eligible Missourians have signed up. I'm in the minority...

Cape Girardeau...

Cape Girardeau...

Louise Eileen Paul Sykes lived an exemplary Christian life throughout her 90 years. She started reaping the ultimate reward for that life when her soul was released from her cancer-ridden body on April 1, 2006, at the Lutheran Home, where she had resided for the past three months...

CHAFFEE, Mo. -- Iris Lee Taylor Slinkard, adoring and loving wife, mother, grandmother, sister and aunt went home to be with our Heavenly Father on Saturday, April 1, 2006. Slinkard, 61, of Chaffee, died at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Elvira Marie Schwach, 84, of Perryville, died Saturday, April 1, 2006, at the Perry County Memorial Hospital in Perryville. She was born March 30, 1922, in Menfro, Mo., daughter of Gilbert E. and Isabelle R. Bienleine Brewer. She and Franklin Emmendorfer were married and he preceded her in death. She and John V. Schwach were married on April 17, 1978. He died Nov. 7, 2004...

CAIRO, Ill. -- Dorothy M. Westermann, 85, of Cairo, died Sunday, April 2, 2006, at the Daystar Care Center in Cairo. Funeral arrangements are incomplete with the Barkett Funeral Home in Cairo.

MOUNDS, Ill. -- William Wayne Cartner, 84, of Mounds, formerly of Thebes, Ill., died Saturday, April 1, 2006, at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Marion, Ill. He was born July 13, 1921, in Thebes, son of Guy Washington and Blanche Ella Jones Cartner. He and Maryellis Jones were married on Nov. 15, 1947, in Cairo, Ill. She died June 25, 2004...

ALTON, Ill. -- Bertha Houck, 85, of Alton died Saturday, April 1, 2006, at Rosewood Center Care in Alton. She was born July 3, 1920, in Illmo, daughter of Louis and Mary Elizabeth Backus Keesee. She and Harvey Lee Houck were married on Oct. 3, 1936 in Fornfelt, Mo. He died Feb. 8, 1999...

MORLEY, Mo. -- Vida Esther Henson, 94, of Morley died Sunday, April 2, 2006, at the Clearview Nursing Center in Sikeston. She was born March 29, 1912, in Gatewood, Mo., daughter of Wiley Benjamin and Zilpha J. Pulliam Holland. She and Jesse B. Henson were married on Jan. 6, 1937, in Los Angeles, Calif. He died Jan. 20, 1985...

ST. CHARLES, Mo. -- Rita Mattingly Cissell, 84, of St. Charles, formerly of Perry County, died Thursday, March 30, 2006, at her home in St. Charles. Survivors include two daughters, Marilyn Heely of St. Charles and Linda Gregory Beller of Chesterfield, Mo.; two sisters, Aleen Yeager and Melda Heck; and four grandchildren...

TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran conducted its second major test of a new missile within days on Sunday, firing a high-speed torpedo it said no submarine or warship can escape at a time of increased tensions with the U.S. over its nuclear program. The tests came during war games that Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards have been holding in the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea since Friday...

VATICAN CITY -- St. Peter's Square twinkled with the lights of tens of thousands of candles and fluttered with the red and white flags of Pope John Paul II's native Poland -- then fell silent at the moment he died a year ago. There was no dramatic tolling of church bells at 9:37 p.m. as there was in Krakow, Poland -- just a brief moment of silence during an evening prayer vigil before the current pontiff, Pope Benedict XVI, told the faithful that John Paul's memory was still very much alive...

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Frustrated by Iraq's failure to form a government, the chief U.S. and British diplomats told squabbling leaders on Sunday that it is time to pick a governing coalition. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was careful to say the U.S. ...

Two U.S. helicopter pilots killed near Baghdad BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The U.S. military said Sunday that the bodies of two American pilots killed when their Apache helicopter crashed near Baghdad were recovered and the aircraft was probably shot down. Three other U.S. ...

Area AARP chapter offers program at meeting The Cape Girardeau County AARP Chapter 4041 will meet at 1:30 p.m. today at Grace United Methodist Church, corner of Broadway and Caruthers Ave. Director Tina Dohogne will present a program on the Retired Senior Volunteer Program. There will be a drawing for a door prize...

BILLINGS, Mont. -- The government's call to remove federal protections for grizzly bears in and around Yellowstone National Park has sparked sharp debate among some of the country's leading bear experts, who are divided over whether the bear population has recovered enough...

FAIRBANKS, Alaska -- Beneath the lids of large coolers, thousands of tiny bugs devour the desiccated flesh of mammal carcasses destined for the vast specimens collection at the University of Alaska's Museum of the North. As they gnaw away, the stench is overwhelming, a rancid sweetness that stings the eyes and lungs, clinging to hair and clothes like a vile perfume...

INDIANAPOLIS -- UCLA had Bill Walton, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and all those championship banners. Florida had Lon Kruger saying the basketball program never could equal the football success. Different programs on opposite coasts with divergent histories meet for the first time tonight in the national championship game...

BOSTON -- Maryland is playing for its first national championship, and these Terrapins are no fluke. The only team to beat top-ranked North Carolina in the regular season did it again Sunday night, outhustling and outmuscling the disjointed Tar Heels 81-70 in the NCAA women's national semifinal...

Two golfers card aces at Kimbeland Kimbeland Country Club in Jackson was the site of two holes in one on the same hole Friday. Bryan Beussink of Jackson recorded his first career ace when he struck a 9-iron at the 12th hole. He played from the white tees at 90 yards...

Phil Mickelson completed his dominant, wire-to-wire BellSouth Classic victory Sunday in Duluth, Ga., with a score worthy of being remembered as more than just a Masters momentum-builder. Mickelson's final-round 65 gave him a 28-under 260 total, only one stroke away from the best 72-hole total for a par-72 course in PGA Tour history...

Morehead State was much more stubborn Sunday, but the Eagles could not prevent Southeast Missouri State's softball team from completing a three-game series sweep. The host Redhawks scored all their runs in the sixth inning as they posted a 4-0 win, their 20th victory of the season...

Southeast Missouri State finally found the offense to match its recent stellar pitching and defense. The result was a lopsided victory to complete an Ohio Valley Conference series sweep without allowing a run. Southeast banged out a season-high 12 hits and scored its most runs since late February, as the Redhawks routed Murray State 7-0 on Sunday...

PHILADELPHIA -- Since Jimmy Rollins last went hitless in a game for Philadelphia, the Phillies again failed to make the playoffs, the Chicago White Sox ended an 88-year championship drought and the seasons changed three times -- summer to fall to winter to spring...

PARIS -- Alcatel SA will acquire U.S.-based Lucent Technologies Inc. in a $13.4 billion (11.1 billion euros) stock swap to form a stronger player in the fiercely competitive telecom equipment market, the companies announced Sunday. About 8,800 jobs will be cut...

Sunday's edition of the Southeast Missourian listed an incorrect player as the goalkeeper for Southeast Missouri State during its soccer exhibition Saturday night against Southern Illinois-Edwardsville at the Savvis Center in St. Louis. Erin Hartmann played goalkeeper for the Redhawks...

LEE'S SUMMIT, Mo. -- As a child, Craig Belser was diagnosed with celiac disease, a disorder that damaged his intestines whenever he digested anything containing gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley and oats. He thought he had grown out of the disease until the symptoms -- painful stomach cramps, diarrhea and lethargy -- came back with a vengeance when he turned 35, suddenly cutting him off from bread, pizza and, most importantly, beer...

WASHINGTON -- Travelers increasingly are unhappy with airlines, ranking lost luggage among their biggest complaints, according to an annual survey by university researchers that rates carriers' quality. "They're less on time, they're losing bags at a rate they've never done before and people are complaining again," said Dean Headley, co-author of the study being released today...