Stories from Monday, June 5, 2006

Cape Girardeau County Commission discusses $5.9 million sales tax The Cape Girardeau County Commission on Monday directed county highway administrator Scott Bechtold to prepare a list of paving projects that would be completed during the first five years following approval of a proposed county sales tax increase...

Cape Girardeau public school administrators will pocket more money in the coming school year and superintendent Dr. David Scala says they deserve it. Most of the district's 24 administrators, including principals and assistant principals, will receive pay raises of more than 3 percent in the coming school year. Most will receive pay raises of $2,100 or more, salary records show...

Within the next three years, John Latecki Jr. hopes to have canoed 30,000 miles of waterways through 48 continental United States, break a record for the longest canoe trip in the Guinness Book of World Records and raise awareness for multiple sclerosis...

With methamphetamine use in women increasing, politicians seek to provide more funding for some treatment facilities, something local centers can hardly wait to see. "Meth is a big problem," said Jim Ray, clinical supervisor for Family Counseling Center Inc., 20 S. Sprigg St. "We turn people down all the time because funds are not available to increase the size."...

ST. LOUIS -- Jim Edmonds probably was headed for the 15-day disabled list with an abdominal injury, before Albert Pujols beat him to it. Instead, he filled Pujols' position, and the offensive void, in the St. Louis Cardinals' 9-6 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Sunday. Edmonds can't play center field yet because of all the running that's required, but the sudden vacancy at first base could allow him to contribute as he recuperates...

ST. LOUIS -- This is a much larger challenge for the St. Louis Cardinals: Albert Pujols will be out indefinitely with a strained muscle on his right side. Pujols, last year's NL MVP and this season's major league leader in home runs and RBIs, was placed on the 15-day disabled list Sunday...

DALLAS -- Like most longtime Dallas Mavericks fans, Mark Cuban remembers the bad old days, when "postseason play" meant being part of the draft lottery. Boy, how times have changed. Injected with Cuban's cash, Dirk Nowitzki's jumper and Avery Johnson's leadership, the Mavs are headed to the NBA finals for the first time, starting Thursday night at home against the Miami Heat...

Two weeks before his new restaurant opens, Sam Massarweh is watching as two downtown Cape Girardeau eateries close their doors. On the same day last week, Gatherings Cafe at the Marquette Towers and Sidewalk Sandwich Co. closed up shop for good. The restaurant climate here makes Massarweh nervous...

Green family to reunite Sunday at county park; Historical society holds fund-raiser in Anna; Local AARP to meet at Grace UMC today; Historical group holds panel discussions

STE. GENEVIEVE, Mo. -- Ste. Genevieve is celebrating its 270-year-old history this week with the 10th annual French Heritage festival. Promenades, videos and lectures, cemetery theater, wine tasting and street dances are all part of the planned activities, which kick off Saturday...

7 p.m. today Study Session at 5 p.m. Public hearings Consent ordinances New ordinances Appointments Liquor License Other...

7:30 p.m. today Action Items Street Committee...

Cape Girardeau...

The following items were released by the Cape Girardeau Police Department. Arrests do not imply guilt....

FOSTER CITY, Calif. -- The 25-year fight against AIDS has been good to Gilead Sciences Inc., a Bay Area biotechnology company that makes the world's hottest-selling HIV treatment. The popularity of the treatment, Truvada, is soaring because it has almost no side effects and requires patients to take only a single pill once a day. ...

Group names financial adviser of the year D. Joseph McKeon of Cape Girardeau has been awarded the M Luther Hahs, CLU Insurance and Financial Advisor of the Year Award. The award was presented in May by the River Heritage Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors, which is in Cape Girardeau, Perry and Ste. ...

Handy with the wedge and hot with the putter, Carl Pettersson picked up a prestigious trophy, a salute from Jack Nicklaus and a welcome break from U.S. Open qualifying by winning the Memorial on Sunday. Pettersson turned a potential bogey into birdie by chipping in on the par-5 11th and got up-and-down on three straight holes to eliminate any suspense at Muirfield Village in Dublin, Ohio, closing with a 1-under 71 for a two-shot victory over Brett Wetterich and Zach Johnson...

The Associate Press YUMA, Ariz. -- The first National Guard troops sent to assist immigration agents prepared Sunday to work on projects near a fortified stretch of desert along the U.S.-Mexico border. The 55 Utah National Guard members on Monday plan to begin extending fences, improving gravel roads and working on border lighting near the town of San Luis, Ariz., which is part of the nation's busiest U.S. Border Patrol station...

CULVER CITY, Calif. -- Jessica Alba played starring roles in "King Kong," "Mission Impossible: III" and "The Da Vinci Code." At least she did on Saturday, when she parodied the three blockbusters as the host of the 2006 MTV Movie Awards, known for taking a lighthearted look at the industry it honors...

RAMADI, Iraq -- Amid the flames and smoke and smell of burning diesel, there was little left of the Humvee but a blackened knot of scalding, twisted steel. It looked bad -- what troops call a "K-Kill" -- a catastrophic event that claims the life of everyone on board...

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Masked gunmen stopped two minivans carrying students north of Baghdad on Sunday, ordered the passengers off, separated Shiites from Sunni Arabs and killed the 21 Shiites "in the name of Islam," a witness said. In predominantly Shiite southern Basra, police hunting for militants stormed a Sunni Arab mosque early Sunday, just hours after a car bombing. The ensuing fire fight killed nine...

FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. -- The U.S. Army has opened its first mock detention facility at Fort Leonard Wood, where role-playing is the newest part of basic training at the Fort's Military Police School. About 3,500 soldiers at Fort Leonard Wood will get hands-on training this year at Camp Charlie, which is modeled after Camp Bucca, a detention facility in southern Iraq. Next year, that number will double, said Brig. Gen. Rodney L. Johnson, commandant of the U.S. Army Military Police School...

Sabrina White, 18, of Thebes, died Sunday, June 4, 2006, at her home after a two-year battle with cancer. Funeral arrangements are incomplete at Crain Funeral Home in Tamms.

Lillian Jewell Garrett, 77, of St. Louis, formerly of Marble Hill, died Sunday, June 4, 2006 at the Scenic View Nursing Home in Herculaneum, Mo. She was born Sept. 22, 1928, in Scopus, Mo., daughter of William D. and Lillie M. Cook Garland. She and Calvin Headricks were married and he preceded her in death. Later, she and Claude R. Garrett were married on April 30, 1981...

Perry J. Yount, 76, of Perryville, Mo., died Saturday, June 3, 2006, at the Perry County Nursing Home in Perryville. He was born Jan. 29, 1930, in Yount, Mo., son of Jesse and Ella Seabaugh Yount. He and Betty Jean Lukefahr were married on Sept. 7, 1952...

25 years ago: June 5, 1981 "Human error" is being blamed for the escape of three prisoners from the Cape Girardeau County jail last night -- the first escape from the two-year-old facility; two escapees, captured Saturday in Cape Girardeau after their May 22 escape from a Georgia prison, escaped the Jackson jail with the help of a fellow prisoner who overpowered a guard...

ALTENBURG, Mo. -- J.T. Taylor hates wild rides in safety-latched seats on rollercoasters. He'd rather just get jerked around on the bare back of an uncontrollable horse for 8 seconds. He's pretty good at it, too. "I hate heights," Taylor said Friday during the first of two nights of the Perry County Community Rodeo in Altenburg, Mo. "I won't ride anything at the fair. I love buckin' horses, though."...

Emma Louis Schlosser, 76, of Oran, went to be with her Heavenly Father on Saturday, June 3, 2006. She was born March 10, 1930, to loving parents Ella Louise (Schwab) Job and Arthur J. Job of Cape Girardeau. She attended Campster Grade School and College High School in Cape Girardeau. She married Wesley Schlosser on Sept. 12, 1950...

Jerry Ray Davis, 64, of Cape Girardeau died Saturday, June 3, 2006, at the John J. Pershing VA Medical Center in Poplar Bluff, Mo. He was born Sept. 13, 1941, in Cape Girardeau, son of Raymond R. and Covella Spurlock Davis. He and Olivette Jackson were married in August 2005 in Cape Girardeau...

CHICAGO -- "Clean your plate or else!" and other authoritarian approaches to parenting can lead to overweight children, a new study finds. Strict mothers were nearly five times more likely to raise tubby first-graders than mothers who treated their children with flexibility and respect while also setting clear rules...

To say it was teetering would have been kind. When Lydia Dewees joined the Cape Girardeau Jaycees three years ago, the group was on the verge of extinction. "The chapter was getting ready to fold," said Dewees, who now serves as president of the service club when she's not working at her day job as retail director of Chartwell's Dining Service...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- "Read these directions carefully. Failure to precisely comply could thwart the will of hundreds of thousands of Missourians and waste millions of dollars." Missouri's instruction manual for citizen-initiated ballot measures does not actually come with a warning label. But the hypothetical one above could be appropriate...

RALEIGH, N.C. -- If it takes awhile to get into the spirit of these Stanley Cup finals, don't blame it all on the NHL lockout or a pair of unlikely contenders. Muggy weather and Muppets are culprits, too. On the eve of the NHL championship opener Sunday, the Edmonton Oilers were adjusting to the weather down South, where temperatures in the upper 80s felt more like a day at the beach than a skate on a frozen pond...

PARIS -- Irritated by the home crowd's heckling, James Blake took the unusual step of inviting a spectator out of the stands to see for himself that one of French teen Gael Monfils' shots landed out. In truth, Blake's biggest obstacle Sunday wasn't the fans, it was Monfils himself, a 6-foot-3 blur on the baseline who advanced to the fourth round with a 6-2, 6-7 (2), 7-6 (1), 5-7, 6-4 victory over the last U.S. man in the French Open. Venus Williams is now the only American still playing...

One run over 14 innings Sunday led to the first two losses of the season for the Capahas, as Plaza Tire suffered 8-1 and 5-0 setbacks to the Tradewater Pirates in Dawson Springs, Ky. The Capahas, who fell to 2-2, could muster just a fourth-inning RBI single by Jamie McAlister in the opener, one of six hits in the game. The Capahas had just four hits in the second game...

DOVER, Del. -- Matt Kenseth and Jamie McMurray made it a 1-2 finish for Roush Racing. And what a thrilling finish it was. McMurray was the driver to beat, holding the lead for most of the final 90 laps Sunday until the patient Kenseth made his move, passing two drivers late before the leader was firmly in view...

SEATTLE -- Researcher David Baker believes the key to an AIDS vaccine or a cure for cancer may be that old PC sitting under a layer of dust in your closet or the one on your desk doing little else but running a screen saver. Those outdated or idle computers may be just what Baker needs to turn his ideas into scientific breakthroughs...

Two years ago, Arkansas public schools began sending out letters letting parents know whether their children were overweight. Suddenly these students began seeing their pediatrician more and attending fitness classes. Pennsylvania, Florida and California now have programs that do much the same...

Thanks for food; Tell the story; Know the Constitution; Immigration law; Bible lesson; Full accountability; For the tax holiday; Searching for Hoffa; Like summer camp; Getting to the polls; Our offices; The other side; Family pride; What's drug abuse?; War reporting

David Kieltsch, formerly of the Jackson Fire Department, first strapped on boots 10 years ago. For him, firefighting is an adrenaline rush and he says he loves the ability to help others the work provides. "If you do it and you discover you love it, it just gets in your blood. You never want to do anything else," he said of the job...