Stories from Thursday, January 10, 2008

NORTHWOODS, Mo. (AP) -- A pit bull is shot by an off-duty police officer after the dog turned on its owner. The dog survived and animal control authorities were still deciding whether to euthanize it. The Northwoods officer was at a beauty salon when she noticed a disturbance Wednesday afternoon. The dog had attacked its owner. Another witness tried to stop the attack by hitting the animal with metal pliers, but the dog would not release its hold...

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (AP) -- A St. Joseph man is jailed in the beating death of his girlfriend's 1-month-old baby. Police say Steven Zorn beat the baby girl about the head, shook her, and dropped her to the floor early Monday at the home he shared with the child's mother. Paramedics and police found the baby, Cora Jean Lockhart, dead at about 9:15 a.m. Monday...

PINEVILLE, Mo. (AP) -- A 27-year-old man died in jail in McDonald County in what the sheriff's office called a suicide. The sheriff's office said Jackson Teague of Pineville was found dead in his cell by a jailer at 7 a.m. Wednesday. Authorities said he had used a sheet to make a noose and hanged himself from a window bar by sitting down...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Gov. Matt Blunt was sued Wednesday by a former staff attorney who claims he was fired and defamed in retaliation for pointing out that Blunt's administration was destroying e-mails in violation of Missouri's open-records law...

NEVADA, Mo. (AP) -- Missouri's sixth biodiesel plant is now churning out alternative fuel from soybean oil. The Prairie Pride plant came on line near Nevada in western Vernon County about 95 miles south of Kansas City. Vice chairman Kevin Fischer said the $90 million plant will produce about 30 million gallons of alternative fuel a year. It is producing now but full production won't begin until mid-March...

Former state representative Nathan Cooper must report to federal prison Jan. 24, said Jim Crowe, the assistant federal prosecutor who prosecuted him for immigration fraud. Cooper, who was sentenced to 15 months in prison Dec. 10, will be housed at the minimum-security prison camp for male offenders adjacent to the federal penitentiary in Marion, Ill., Crowe said Thursday. ...

A Jackson police officer was charged Thursday with assaulting his two sons and the girlfriend of one of the boys at his Jackson home. Edward A. Moore, 45, faces three counts of third-degree assault. His bond was set at $3,500, cash-only. The investigation was conducted by the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department after Moore's former wife, Cherie Moore, called the sheriff's office Wednesday to report that Moore had assaulted her 18-year-old son...

The Southern District of the Missouri Court of Appeals rejected attempts by Justin Brown to overturn his conviction for the 2002 murder of Ralph Lape of Cape Girardeau. Brown was convicted of first-degree murder in May 2006 by a Pulaski County jury. In his appeal, Brown's attorney, Roger W. Johnson, argued that there were errors in the jury selection and the instructions to the jury, constitutional violations and prosecutorial misconduct. Brown is serving life in prison without parole...

Jan. 10, 2008 Dear Leslie, In my 20s I craved something to do in Cape Girardeau on Sunday nights. Familiar cars filled with equally desperate people streamed down Broadway. Bands sometimes played at the clubs on the Illinois side of the river, but the Sunday night darkness had to be deep to draw most people out...

Mitch Robinson offered no excuses as he stood before the Jackson Board of Aldermen on Monday. The city rejected the executive director of Cape Girardeau Area Magnet's funding request in December. After Monday's meeting, the aldermen say they will likely approve funding Magnet for another year at $24,269...

"Raise your hand if your last parent communication was like Jaws," said West Lane Elementary principal Cynthia Matthew. New teachers and mentors sheepishly glanced around the room. No one volunteered. "Good. No one was eaten alive," Matthew said...

CHARLESTON, Mo. -- Sikeston, Mo., police lacked probable cause when they secured computer data from the household of a Sikeston couple charged with serving alcohol to minors, their attorney argued at a motion hearing Wednesday. Attorney Stephen C. Wilson argued to suppress the evidence collected from two computers belonging to Mark Cheatham and Terry Brewer-Cheatham, because the search warrants issued to secure the data contained insufficient evidence...

Three state contests for the Republican presidential nomination have so far produced three winners. On the Democratic side, with two contests completed, there are two winners. The only thing clear about the 2008 path to the White House is that nothing is clear. And if area partisans were hoping endorsements from local leaders could provide a guide to picking a candidate most in touch with Southeast Missouri values, they are out of luck. Like the nation as a whole, there's no consensus...

MARION, Ill. -- At alleged serial killer Timothy W. Krajcir's initial court appearance in Williamson County, Ill., on Wednesday afternoon, State's Attorney Charles Garnati waived the death penalty for the two murder counts Krajcir faces for a 1978 murder...

NEW YORK -- Hannah Montana's concert tour and soundtrack aren't the only hot things on the charts these days. Miley Cyrus' pets, Roadie and Loco, have been named top dogs by Animal Fair magazine. Roadie, a Yorkie, and Loco, a Shih Tzu, clawed their way to the top of the magazine's Most Eligible Pets list. The list appears in the magazine's winter issue, on newsstands now...

To the editor:I am writing in response to the Dec. 19 letter "Wilderness deserves protection." I disagree with Adam Gohn's criticism of U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson's opposition to designating 49,323 additional acres of wilderness in the Mark Twain National Forest...

To the editor:Imagine my surprise today when I opened your paper and read the business column and read that Joey's Seafood Restaurant had closed. The surprise came because I received a gift card from that restaurant as a Christmas gift and wanted to see what I was to do with the card now. ...

To the editor:Thank you for the wonderful article Jan 3. The Visiting Nurse Association of Southeast Missouri has been the perfect place for me and my family since 1981. As I was raising my children, I was able to work at VNA serving mostly the senior citizens of Southeast Missouri. ...

Once again, participants in Cape Girardeau's United We Read project will find ample opportunities to discuss serious and sometimes troubling issues with this year's book selection, "Tallgrass" by Sandra Dallas. The book provides a view of a Japanese internment camp during World War II through the eyes of a 13-year-old girl...

Bias is showing; Essence of Cape; Parole violator; Rush to judgment; Addressing parking; Cherry-coating; A fairy tale

The University of Missouri Extension Center in Jackson will host meetings next week for corn and soybean producers on how to get higher yields out of their crops. The meeting on soybeans will take place from 4 to 8:30 p.m. Jan 17. The meeting on corn will be from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Jan. 31...

MILWAUKEE -- A judge is asking a lawyer to tie one on. Circuit Judge William Sosnay held up court for about three hours Tuesday after a prosecutor showed up wearing a red ascot to court despite a rule requiring lawyers to wear neckties. Sosnay decided that Warren Zier's ascot -- a silk scarf-like loop of cloth worn at the base of the neck -- "borders on contemptuous."...

ST. LOUIS -- A rural Missouri school district's long-standing practice of allowing the distribution of Bibles to grade school students is unconstitutional, a federal judge has ruled. An attorney for the school district said Wednesday he will appeal...

EAST CAPE GIRARDEAU, Ill. -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, using a section of a federal law for the first time, has filed suit against the Ilada Energy Corp., to stop the company from burning or distributing oil being stored near here that is laced with toxic chemicals...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri politicians placed a target on illegal immigrants and pledged an election-year tax break for some homeowners as they opened their 2008 legislative session Wednesday. Lawmakers also will consider plans to expand government-subsidized health care to the uninsured and boost spending on education -- though majority Republicans and minority party Democrats differ on how precisely to fulfill those broad goals...

MERRIMACK, N.H. -- New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson ended his campaign for the presidency Wednesday after twin fourth-place finishes that showed his credentials could not compete with his rivals' star power. Richardson planned to announce the decision today, according to two people close to the governor with knowledge of the decision. They spoke on a condition of anonymity in advance of the governor's announcement...

NEW ORLEANS -- Hurricane Katrina's victims have put a price tag on their suffering and it is staggering -- including one plaintiff seeking the unlikely sum of $3 quadrillion. So far $3,014,170,389,176,410 is the dollar figure being sought from some of the largest claims filed against the federal government over damage from the failure of levees and flood walls following the Aug. 29, 2005, hurricane...

WASHINGTON -- The conventional wisdom around Washington is that President Bush's budget will be dead on arrival when it gets to Capitol Hill. But at least it won't be made from a dead tree. The White House announced Wednesday that it's going paperless when it submits the fiscal 2009 budget Feb. 4. It's a move aimed at saving a few bucks for taxpayers -- and the lives of a few trees...

WASHINGTON -- Fortunately for members of Congress, their pay isn't tied to their approval ratings. Lawmakers in 2008 will receive salaries of $169,300, a boost of $4,100 over the pay they have lived with since January 2006. That 2.5 percent increase is mirrored by similar raises for associate justices of the Supreme Court, who will see their pay go from $203,000 to $208,100, and Chief Justice John Roberts, whose pay will rise to $217,400 from $212,100...

WASHINGTON -- The decomposing bodies of four young people were found Wednesday by U.S. marshals delivering an eviction notice, and a woman who answered the door was taken into custody for questioning. Investigators were trying to determine whether the woman was related to the four victims, who had been dead at least two weeks, authorities said. Her name was not released...

BLOOMFIELD, Mo. -- Glenda "Toots" Link, 75, of Bloomfield died Monday, Jan. 7, 2008, at Missouri Southern Healthcare in Dexter, Mo. She was born Sept. 23, 1932, at Bell City, Mo., daughter of Delias and Winnie McCollum Cartwright. She first married Hubert Hardin, who died in 1969. She and William Link were married Oct. 3, 1976...

BROWNWOOD, Mo. -- Fredrick Leon Caby, 67, of Brownwood passed away Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2008, at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born April 25, 1940, in St. Louis, son of Milford Leon and Edith Wynona St. Clair Caby. He and Dianna Kelly were married Feb. 26, 1991, in St. Louis...

ZALMA, Mo. -- James Clifford "Jay" Nall, 67, of Zalma passed away Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2008, at his home with his wife and daughters by his side. He was born April 16, 1940, at Schlatitz, Mo., son of Clifford W. and Helen M. Null Nall. Jay was a 1958 graduate of Zalma High School. He was a retired mechanical draftsman, and member of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Advance, Mo...

James E. Collins, 80, of Missouri Veterans Home in Cape Girardeau died Sunday, Jan. 6, 2008, at Saint Francis Medical Center. He was born April 17, 1927, in Advance, Mo., son of John and Ethel Shell Collins. He and Opal Johnson were married July 17, 1948, in Swansea, Ill...

John V. Hitt, 88, of Oak Ridge died Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2008, at his home. Arrangements are incomplete at Cracraft-Miller Funeral Home in Jackson.

ADVANCE, Mo. -- Robert Wilson, 53, of Advance died Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2008, at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born Oct. 3, 1954, in San Francisco, son of Elton and Rosalee Slater. Wilson was a veteran of the U.S. Army. Survivors include his wife, Sue Tobin of Advance; three sons, Jeremy, Robert and Tommy Wilson, all of California; two brothers, Earl Wilson of Bismarck, Mo., Steven Wilson of Virginia; four sisters, Margaret Badonald of California, Betsy Bob of Kentucky, Diane Freel of Park Hills, Mo., and Allison Goodman of Farmington, Mo.. ...

Harriett Louise Cope, 85, of Cape Girardeau died Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2008, at the Lutheran Home. Ford and Sons Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Clifford L. Mayabb Jr., 62, of Scott City died Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2008, at Heartland Care and Rehab in Cape Girardeau. He was born June 1, 1945, in Cairo, Ill., son of Clifford Lewis and Edna Virginia Keppner Mayabb. Survivors include three brothers, Kenneth Sumner of Scott City, Ronald Sumner of Chaffee, Mo., Michael Mayabb of Cape Girardeau; four sisters, Marilyn Schildt of East Cape Girardeau, Ill., Peggy Kelley of Killeen, Texas, Judy Sharp of Joppa, Ill., and Linda Fisher of Jackson...

Benton, Mo. -- Glen R. Taylor, 69, of Benton died Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2008, at his home. He was born Nov. 2, 1938, in New Madrid, Mo., son of the late Yewell and Lucille Martin Taylor. He and Brenda Kay Jester were married June 14, 1959. Taylor was a member of Apostolic Lighthouse in Scott City, and had been owner and operator of We Care Transportation...

Thefts

n At 6:16 p.m., an alarm sounding in the 4000 block of Nash Road. n At 6:39 p.m., emergency medical service in the 2800 block of Bevin Drive. n At 8:55 p.m., emergency medical service at 45 S. Kingshighway. n At 9:55 p.m., emergency medical service in the 2000 block of Sherwood Drive...

READING, Pa. -- A 13-year-old armed with a propane torch slashed a girl with a knife before other students jumped on him, disabling him before school officials disarmed him. The girl and two other students suffered minor stab wounds. The alleged attacker was taken into custody by police after school officials disarmed the boy. Students at Antietam Middle-Senior High School, which includes seventh through 12th grades, then were taken to a district building elsewhere...

HAYDEN, Idaho -- A man who believed he bore the "mark of the beast" used a circular saw to cut off one hand, then he cooked it in the microwave and called 911, authorities said. The man, in his mid-20s, was calm when Kootenai County sheriff's deputies arrived Saturday in this northern Idaho town. He was in protective custody in the mental health unit of Kootenai Medical Center...

A rare genetic variation dramatically raises the risk of developing autism, a large study showed, opening new research targets for better understanding the disorder and for treating it. Research into the causes of autism has focused on genetic causes because so many families have multiple children with the disorder. ...

BAYOU LA BATRE, Ala. -- A day after reporting his four young children were missing, a shrimp fisherman broke down and confessed that he threw them off an 80-foot-high bridge to their deaths, authorities said Wednesday. Lam Luong, 37, was charged with four counts of capital murder, and divers searched the murky waters for the bodies of the youngsters, who ranged in age from a few months to 3 years...

WASHINGTON -- Attorneys for Jose Rodriguez told Congress the former CIA official won't testify about the destruction of CIA videotapes without a promise of immunity, two people close to the tapes inquiry said Wednesday. Rodriguez, the former head of the CIA's National Clandestine Service, ordered that the tapes, which show harsh CIA interrogation of two al-Qaida suspects, be destroyed in 2005. Rodriguez is scheduled to testify before the House Intelligence Committee on Wednesday...

MONTICELLO, Ind. -- Troy Nice looked out over the swollen Tippecanoe River and the houses surrounded by its spilled water. He wondered how his own home had fared as the water began its slow retreat on Wednesday. "I didn't think it would come up like this," said Nice, 39. "I managed to get my guitar, dog, and I got my cell phone charger, and some little things. This is the worst it's ever been."...

WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon is preparing to send at least 3,000 Marines to Afghanistan in April to bolster efforts to hold off another expected Taliban offensive in the spring, military officials said Wednesday. The move represents a shift in Pentagon thinking that has been slowly developing after months of repeated insistence that the U.S. ...

JERUSALEM -- President Bush warned Iran of "serious consequences" if it meddles again with U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf, opening a Mideast peacemaking mission Wednesday on an ominous note. He told Israel to dismantle unauthorized settlement outposts and demanded that the Palestinians halt rocket attacks from areas controlled by Hamas Islamic militants...

PARIS -- French prosecutors are investigating a cryptic e-mail sent to an Islamic Web site urging attacks on the capital's mayor and its tourist sites, judicial officials said Wednesday. The e-mail's sender and the site were not identified by the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. They said only that the message went to an Internet site run by Salafists, or Islamic fundamentalists...

BAGHDAD -- Nine American soldiers were killed in the first two days of a new offensive to root out al-Qaida in Iraq fighters holed up in districts north of the capital, the U.S. military reported Wednesday. The losses came as many militants fled U.S. and Iraqi forces massing in Diyala, a province of palm and citrus groves that has defied the trend toward lower violence. The campaign's scope is nationwide but is mainly focused on gaining control of Diyala...

BEIJING -- A cloned pig whose genes were altered to make it glow fluorescent green has passed on the trait to its young, a development that could lead to the future breeding of pigs for human transplant organs, a Chinese university reported. The glowing piglets' birth proves transgenic pigs are fertile and able to pass on their engineered traits to their offspring, according to Liu Zhonghua, a professor overseeing the breeding program at Northeast Agricultural University...

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka -- Residents of the Maldives showered praise Wednesday on a 15-year-old Boy Scout who foiled an attempt to assassinate the president of this island nation by grabbing the attacker's knife. Mohammed Jaisham Ibrahim, wearing his blue Maldives Scout uniform with a blue kerchief, was among those waiting to greet the leader Tuesday when the attacker lunged out from the crowd...

PARIS -- The plot is predictable, the acting maudlin and the ideology is spread on thick, but "The Schoolgirl's Diary" has something most B-movies don't: The first North Korean film ever distributed commercially in the West, it provides a rare, if sugarcoated, glimpse of daily life in one of the world's most secretive and repressive nations...

Kennedy Dillow of Jackson loves animals. She loves them so much that she has spent a year making jewelry to sell so the profits can be donated to the Humane Society of Southeast Missouri, where animals are given up by their owners or brought in as strays...

Montgomery Bank donates to violinists Montgomery Bank recently donated $500 to the University Foundation to benefit the Southeast Missouri Music Academy for help with trip expenses for about 100 young violinists to play in Singapore next year. SADI presents workshop about daily living...

BEIJING -- Declaring war on the "white pollution" choking its cities, farms and waterways, China is banning free plastic shopping bags and calling for a return to the cloth bags of old -- steps largely welcomed by merchants and shoppers Wednesday...

Fred Binggeli said talent combined with a big-time work ethic lifted the 1984 Southeast Missouri State men's cross country team to the NCAA Division II national championship. "I think basically they had the good combination of being talented and hard workers, too," said Binggeli, the team's coach. "That's what it takes to win."...

Wendi Zickfield made her presence felt on both ends of the floor Wednesday night. The Central junior scored 26 points and blocked four shots to lead the Tigers girls basketball team to a 65-35 victory against North County. Taylor Kirn chipped in four points and grabbed a team-high six rebounds...

Wendell Kerr used a 9-iron to record a hole in one at Cape Jaycee Municipal Golf Course recently. Kerr scored the ace on the 105-yard hole No. 18. It was the second hole in one of his career. Bill Isbell, Sam Peterman and Jim Alberson witnessed the shot...

Baseball n Southeast camps: The Southeast Missouri State baseball program will hold a select camp for grades 9 through 12 Saturday and Sunday in Houck Field House. It will run from 8 a.m. to noon. The camp will be used to teach baseball skills and evaluate players. Southeast coach Mark Hogan, assistant coaches Jeff Dodson and Chris Cafalone, and current Southeast players will conduct the camp. Info: 986-6002...

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- A frustrating road trip to Starkville, Miss., no doubt put a damper on Missouri basketball coach Mike Anderson's New Year's celebration. But Missouri's 12-point loss to Mississippi State on Dec. 30 wasn't without its bright spots, not the least of which was the play of 6-foot-8 forward Justin Safford...

NEW YORK -- LaDainian Tomlinson and Randy Moss were unanimous selections to The Associated Press 2007 NFL All-Pro team on Wednesday. So was Tom Brady -- sort of. The league's Most Valuable Player and Offensive Player of the Year was chosen on each of the ballots from 50 media members who regularly cover the NFL. One voter, however, split the vote at quarterback between Brady and Green Bay's Brett Favre...

LUBBOCK, Texas -- Bob Knight is about to enter a realm occupied by only two other Division I basketball coaches, and they're both women. When the Hall of Fame coach gets win No. 900, he will join former Texas coach Jody Conradt and Tennessee's Pat Summitt as the only members of the Division I club. Knight's first shot comes Saturday at Oklahoma State...

A three-dimensional mural depicting the history of Southeast Missouri Hospital was unveiled Wednesday in the Hospital Link, adjacent to the main lobby at Southeast, as part of the hospital's 80th anniversary. The mural is 30 feet long and 9 feet tall. ...

ST. LOUIS -- A judge in Reynolds County has approved a settlement in which Ameren Corp. agreed to pay $180 million in cash and property for the Taum Sauk reservoir collapse of 2005. The settlement to compensate the state was reached in November, but Circuit Judge William Seay signed off on the agreement Wednesday in a Centerville courtroom, much to the relief of rural residents who count on Ameren's tax dollars...

AVA, Mo. (AP) -- Two men are dead and a woman is seriously injured after a car crashed in flames while being chased by state troopers in southwest Missouri. A 1987 Camaro went out of control at about 9 p.m. north of Ava in Douglas County, killing the driver Jesse Workman and his passenger Jason Fleetwood, both of Seymour. Lisa Shields of Ava was injured and taken to St. John's Hospital in Springfield...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Lawmakers are proposing regulations for sub-prime lenders. They hope to target predatory lending by requiring lenders to act in consumers' interests, preventing lenders from charging fees for early payments and allowing lawsuits for violations...

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- The U.S. Coast Guard enlisted the help of towboats on the Mississippi River to round up 45 loaded barges that broke loose from their moorings early Thursday a mile south of the Gateway Arch. The barges broke loose about 3:45 a.m., when a large towboat tried to land near the barges that were parked on the river. The barges had been tied to each other at the parking area, and broke loose when the towboat's impact strained the deck fittings...