Stories from Saturday, January 20, 2007

Cape Girardeau public school officials may create a preschool program this year in partnership with a local employer. National Asset Recovery Service Inc., or NARS, has offered to provide space for free in its new call center in the old Sears building in the Town Plaza for the district's proposed child-care facility. ...

Construction is underway on the project to transform the base of Cape Girardeau's old Mississippi River bridge into a scenic overlook point. The project at the corner of Morgan Oak and Spanish streets will be completed May 7. Construction crews were at work Friday pouring concrete footings to support a wall to be built beneath the base of the bridge...

The Cape Girardeau School District could issue a $12 million bond issue in 2009 to pay for needed facility repairs, improvements and new construction without a tax increase, school officials said Friday. Even without a tax increase, voter approval would be needed to approve a new bond issue, said Patrick Morgan, who heads administrative services for the school district, including overseeing facilities...

Not stopping; Give them a break; Sinking ship; Enough sacrifice; Which one?; Precious life; Need to be united; Getting in deeper; Boxer's attack; No-stop signs

Cape Girardeau City Councilman Loretta A. Schneider's motion that the city draft an ordinance restricting abortions sparks a standing ovation from the audience gather in the city hall gymnasium; but the measure dies for lack of a supporting second...

Most people have watched enough cop shows on TV to think we know how the police do their jobs. Some of us have heard from relatives or friends about their encounters with police. Some of us had either called upon police for assistance or have been the targets of police investigations and summonses...

To the editor:Reasons why our children don't complete school: They are judged the day they step into high school. Because they were born black, they have "thief," "drug abuser," "troublemaker" or "dumb" stamped on their foreheads. Their every move is watched for failure, not success...

Southeast Missouri State on Thursday night ended the three-game winning streak of a team it lost to earlier in the season. The Redhawks will try to pull off that same feat tonight when Tennessee Tech visits the Show Me Center for a 7:30 p.m. tipoff...

Southeast Missouri State's women have suffered just two Ohio Valley Conference losses this season. The Redhawks (12-5, 7-2) will have the opportunity to avenge one of those defeats today when Tennessee Tech (5-13, 4-5) visits the Show Me Center for a 5 p.m. tipoff...

In addition to paying former Southeast Missouri State women's basketball coach B.J. Smith through the end of the 2006-07 school year, the university also increased the salaries of the remaining staff following Smith's resignation in December. Acting head coach John Ishee, assistants Lisa Pace and Jenni Lingor are being compensated an additional $17,000 for this season, Southeast athletic director Don Kaverman said this week...

After Notre Dame's near-perfect first period and Saxony Lutheran's late run in the second quarter, the third period was going to be the deciding factor in whether Friday night's nonconference boys basketball meeting between the area's two private schools was going to be a contest or a rout...

Ray Keith Champ, 60, of Hopkinsville, Ky., died Thursday, Jan. 18, 2007, at Jennie Stuart Medical Center in Hopkinsville. He was the son of Grover and Julia Champ. He married the former Deanna Johnson of Cape Girardeau. They lived in St. Louis before moving to Hopkinsville...

Koshakji; Sadler; Green; Gast

Arrests; Arrests; Thefts

n At 6:51 p.m., fire alarm at 750 N. Mount Auburn Road. n At 7:53 p.m., emergency medical service in the 1800 block of Dunklin Street. n At 9:59 p.m., emergency medical service in the 400 block of South Hanover Street. n At 2:06 a.m. emergency medical service in the 2800 block of Whitener Street...

A Cape Girardeau man is behind bars Friday on a $10,000 bond for reportedly throwing an IV needle at a Southeast Missouri Hospital employee Thursday. Police arrested Matthew L. Martin, 28, of 12 N. Pindwood Lane, and charged him with the class A misdemeanor of assault of emergency personnel...

Southeast's enrollment down slightly this year Southeast Missouri State University had 8,848 graduate and undergraduate students enrolled in classes at the start of the spring semester Tuesday. That was 34 fewer students than began spring semester classes a year ago, school officials said. ...

The following information was released by the office of federal prosecutor Catherine Hanaway for defendants appearing in federal court before U.S. District Judge Rodney W. Sippel. SENTENCED Name: Terrance Lamont Fields Age: 44 Residence: Poplar Bluff, Mo...

WASHINGTON -- The House on Friday overhauled the board supervising its teenage pages, responding to a scandal that left youngsters vulnerable to a lawmaker's sexual come-ons and helped Democrats win control of Congress. The vote was 416-0 to equalize the political membership of the House Page Board, whose Republican chairman never told two board colleagues that he believed -- for a year -- that Rep. Mark Foley was a "ticking time bomb."...

Don P. Yount, 82, of Jackson passed away Thursday, Jan. 18, 2007, at his daughter's home in Bloomington, Ill. He was born Nov. 10, 1924, in Patton, Mo., son of Jessie A. and Pairlee Farmer Yount. He and Betty Louise Dolle were married April 4, 1947, in Marquand, Mo...

Joseph Bernard Masterson, 92, of Lake Barrington, Ill., formerly of Mound City, Ill. died Friday, Jan. 19, 2007, at his home. Funeral arrangements are incomplete at Crain Funeral Home in Ullin, Ill.

NEW YORK -- Surprise, surprise. Grass is green, the world is round and Oprah Winfrey is the richest woman in entertainment. The talk-show titan, who's amassed $1.5 billion over the course of her career, has bested "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling and lifestyle guru Martha Stewart to take the No. 1 spot on Forbes.com's list of "The 20 Richest Women in Entertainment."...

Fern Elizabeth Carns, 91, of Cape Girardeau died Friday, Jan. 19, 2007, at the Lutheran Home. She was born April 24, 1915, in Poplar Bluff, Mo., daughter of Henry Thomas and Lita Allen Helm. She and Lester P. Carns were married Dec. 25, 1938, in Poplar Bluff. He died May 26, 1989...

CAIRO, Ill. -- Catherine L. Casey, 94, of Cairo died Thursday, Jan. 18, 2007, at Mercy Hospital in Fairfield, Ohio. She was born Feb. 13, 1912, in Mounds, Ill., daughter of Jesse and Kathleen Sullivan Fox. She married Michael Joseph Casey, who died in 1961...

Irene M. Hartle, 88, of Jackson died Friday, Jan. 19, 2007, at her home. Cracraft-Miller Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Elizabeth New, 93, of Clarkton, Mo., died Thursday, Jan. 18, 2007, in Jackson. She was born Aug. 29, 1913, at Clarkton, daughter of G.M. and Drucilla Whitaker Blaylock. She and Woodrow New were married Sept. 15, 1934, at Campbell, Mo. He died Nov. 22, 1987...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- A 20-year-old Perryville man charged with first-degree murder in the death of his 9-month-old son is scheduled for pretrial Feb. 28 before Associate Circuit Judge Gary A. Kamp in Perry County courthouse. Matthew R. Lindsey admitted to authorities that in an effort to quiet Robert M. Lindsey's cries Dec. 7 he held the child's face against his chest for about five minutes until he stopped moving, according to the probable-cause statement...

MARQUAND, Mo. -- William Eugene Poindexter, 59, of Marquand died Thursday, Jan. 18, 2007, at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born Feb. 17, 1947, in Mayfield, Ky., son of Robert and Helen Lois King Poindexter. Poindexter was a shipping clerk...

Previous Scott City governments have left the current leadership with an unwanted gift -- a zoning mess. On the city's western side, from the large building currently used by Buchheit as a trucking facility on the east to Interstate 55 on the west, zoning rules have been ignored for decades...

Dexter council asks for input on liquor issue The city's board of aldermen wants to hear from constituents on the matter of a liquor license law before its next meeting. At issue is the granting of such a license, which allows the sale of liquor by the bottle, at Stanfield's Hillbilly 66 on Route AD at its junction with U.S. ...

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- President Jalal Talabani said in remarks published Friday that the Iranians were ready to meet with the United States for talks about security issues -- part of an apparent effort by Talabani to encourage a dialogue between two nations that are increasingly at odds, and vital to Iraq...

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- U.S. and Iraqi forces swooped into a mosque complex in Baghdad on Friday and detained a top aide to radical anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, the latest in a series of operations aimed at eviscerating the leadership of the Mahdi Army militia...

WASHINGTON -- Former Republican Rep. Bob Ney was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison Friday for trading political favors for golf trips, campaign donations and other gifts in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal. Ney, the first congressman convicted in the federal bribery investigation involving lawmakers, their aides and Bush administration officials, pleaded guilty in October to conspiracy and making false statements...

ZAMZOLA, Pakistan -- Tribesmen from a Pakistani mountain village where an airstrike hit a suspected al-Qaida hideout claimed Friday that missiles were fired from an American plane and denied the dead were terrorists. Locals were still digging through the rubble of homes destroyed in the Tuesday airstrike of Zamzola village in South Waziristan where Pakistan's army says its helicopter gunships killed eight suspected militants...

TALLIL AIR BASE, Iraq -- The top U.S. commander in Iraq predicted Friday that some of the extra troops President Bush is sending could make an impact and start returning home by late summer, an optimistic note in contrast to skepticism of the plan back home...

UNITED NATIONS -- The United States accused a U.N. agency of funneling millions of dollars in cash aid to North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and questioned if the funds had been used for other activities including nuclear weapons development, U.S. officials said Friday...

AMMAN, Jordan -- King Abdullah II said Friday that Jordan wants to develop a peaceful nuclear program, joining Egypt and Arab Gulf countries in considering a nuclear option. Arab nations are fearful over the West's failure to stop Shiite Iran's nuclear ambitions, which they worry will lead to Tehran having an atomic weapon...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The State Board of Education next month could consider changing the standardized tests high school students take, in hopes of making students try harder. A task force on how to improve high school education had recommended Missouri move away from the Missouri Assessment Program tests and instead require students to take a college entrance exam, such as the ACT. But the state board rejected that idea last summer...

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- The chairman of the University of Illinois board of trustees says the school will decide this year whether to continue its use of the Chief Illiniwek mascot. But the ongoing controversy yielded a new mystery this week: What became of two sets of eagle feathers associated with the costume?...

DALLAS -- In a case that has renewed questions about the quality of Texas justice, a man who spent 10 years behind bars for the rape of a boy has become the 12th person in Dallas County to be cleared by DNA evidence. That is more DNA exonerations than in all of California, and more than in Florida, too. In fact, Dallas County alone has more such cases than all but three states -- a situation one Texas lawmaker calls an "international embarrassment."...

ATLANTA -- Immigration officials have arrested 40 illegal workers hired by military contractors in three states, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Friday. The arrests took place on Wednesday and Thursday in Georgia, Virginia and Nevada, the agency said. The workers were hired by different subcontractors, none of which faced federal charges, Rocha said...

NEW YORK -- Pro-life activists are girding for their annual marches and rallies marking the anniversary of the court decision legalizing abortion, in a political climate transformed by elections that empowered their pro-choice adversaries. In contrast to recent years, when participants at the March for Life in Washington urged the Republican-controlled Congress to expand fetal rights and restrict abortions, activists are now discussing defensive strategies in the face of the Democratic takeover...

The Scott County Central boys basketball rolled to the championship in the Scott-Mississippi Conference tournament Friday night, hammering Scott City 92-53. "I don't think the Lakers could've beat them tonight," Scott City coach Lance Amick said...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Scam artists are coming out of the woodwork as southwest Missouri digs out from under the worst ice storm in at least 50 years, officials in the state's third-largest city said Friday. Also, Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon's office was investigating more than 100 complaints of price gouging on supplies sought after an ice storm last weekend caused widespread power outages...

The hottest-selling concert coming up at the Show Me Center isn't country star Sara Evans -- it's a group of grown men who play music for preschool age children. Kiddie-pop superstars The Wiggles' Feb. 21 appearance at the venue has already surpassed Evans' upcoming Jan. ...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- A new law requiring school districts to inform the state whether they're providing students an adequate education has been largely ignored by schools, as many press legal claims that the state isn't adequately funding public education...

Jackson businessman John Graham, who wanted to be the first outsider to win the mayor's job in decades, was kicked off the ballot Friday because he hasn't paid his 2006 property taxes. The certified ballot omitted Graham because records at the Cape Girardeau County Collector's office showed the delinquency, said Mary Lowry, Jackson city clerk. Graham had been the first to file for mayor Dec. 12...

NEW YORK -- Few crimes rivet the public as much as the abduction of a child and yet -- unlike murder, rape or even car theft -- there are no authoritative national statistics on the offense. Kidnapping is not among the crimes covered by the FBI's annual uniform crime reports, and the last major federal study of child abductions used data from 1999, leaving experts to only guess the trends since then even as concern mounts about a possible surge of abductions by sexual predators using the Internet.. ...

ST. LOUIS -- The Tony La Russa-Scott Rolen feud appears to be yesterday's news. The combination of the St. Louis Cardinals' unlikely World Series championship with two strong personalities who realize it's time to move on should serve to keep postseason bile from rising anew in spring training...

MELBOURNE, Australia -- Top-seeded Maria Sharapova got another taste of the elements, ignoring the saunalike conditions in Rod Laver Arena to advance to the second week of the Australian Open. While often heavy rain prevented play on outside courts, the roof on Rod Laver Arena was closed Saturday for Sharapova's 6-3, 6-1 win over 30th-seeded Tathiana Garbin in the third round...

My friend Tess lost her husband recently. "After his death, everything went quickly and with so many people around, though I missed him, his absence failed to have an impact on me until after everything quieted down," she said. When she explained her situation further, she quietly added, "Everything's better in twos."...

LOS ANGELES -- Andy Murray still cares deeply about the players he coached when he was with the Los Angeles Kings. The resurgent St. Louis Blues feel just as intensely about him. Dallas Drake scored twice in a 2:32 span of the first period, and the Blues gave Murray a satisfying 3-1 victory over the Kings on Thursday night in his return to Staples Center...

Barbara Rose Rust grew up gazing at the stained glass windows of Centenary Methodist Church in Cape Girardeau. When the church celebrated its centennial last year, federal court judge Steve Limbaugh, a fellow member of the church, wrote about the history of Centenary, documenting the church building from its inception in 1906...

Jeff Samardzija decided to give up football and stay with baseball. The former Notre Dame receiver, projected as a first-round pick in the NFL draft this April, agreed Friday to a $10 million, five-year contract to pitch for the Chicago Cubs. Samardzija, 21 year-old right-hander, was the Cubs' fifth-round pick in last year's amateur draft and made seven starts for their Class A teams at Boise and Peoria last summer, posting a 2.70 ERA...

Briefly 'Cherish the Children' event set in Perryville The Altenburg Circuit Lutherans for Life will hold a "Sanctity of Human Life Sunday" with a chili supper and worship service Sunday at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Perryville, Mo. The chili supper will begin at 4:30 p.m. ...

Fans of mixed martial arts have waited years for an event in Cape Girardeau. Now, all of a sudden, they have two events on back-to-back weekends. The Eagles Aerie 3775 is hosting "Rumble on the River," a mix of boxing matches and mixed martial arts events. ...