Stories from Monday, December 29, 2008

A review of the books for Cape Girardeau County Mental Health Mill Tax Board continues. On Dec. 22, Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones sent a memo to the board, informing its members he has requested a verbal proposal from J. Baer and Associates to provide bookkeeping services for the mental health board at a cost of $150 per quarter...

LOS ANGELES -- Singer-songwriter-producer Delaney Bramlett, who penned such classic rock songs as "Let it Rain" and worked with musicians George Harrison and Eric Clapton, has died. He was 69. Bramlett died Saturday shortly before 5 a.m. at UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center in Los Angeles as a result of complications from gallbladder surgery, his wife Susan Lanier-Bramlett said...

ST. LOUIS -- St. Louis' Cam Janssen gave the Anaheim Ducks an emotional charge. Janssen's crunching hit on Anaheim defenseman Kent Huskins in the third period drew the ire of the Ducks, and they went on to beat the Blues 4-3 on Sunday night to snap a three-game losing streak...

Kathleen Jeanette Branham Mason, 83, of Cape Girardeau died Sunday, Dec. 28, 2008, at Saint Francis Medical Center. She was born May 27, 1925, in Chattanooga, Tenn., daughter of Earl and Jeannie Bell Branham. She and Clyde Mason were married Jan. 1, 1948, in Arkansas...

NEW YORK -- Should auld acquaintance be forgot? Or maybe shredded? In an event that organizers hope will become a New Year's tradition, New Yorkers and tourists were invited to bring bad memories from 2008 to Times Square on Sunday and feed them to an industrial-strength shredder...

SAN DIEGO -- The mild, mild AFC West belongs to LaDainian Tomlinson, Philip Rivers and the rest of the San Diego Chargers. With their 52-21 victory over the Denver Broncos on Sunday night, they won the NFL's weakest division with an 8-8 record, becoming the first team to go from 4-8 to the playoffs...

The group formerly known as the River Corridor Task Force has a new name and a redefined mission, but the issues it deals with in the Red Star and South Cape communities are the same. At the Dec. 8 meeting at the United Way office, a decision was made to change the organization's name to River Corridor Connections...

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. -- Retailers in St. Joseph can expect a bump in business should the Kansas City Chiefs chose to relocate training camp there. Small towns like Berea, Ohio, Latrobe, Pa., and Mankato, Minn., have all seen a boost in business for the four weeks that NFL teams hold summer training camps...

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. -- A family didn't realize it had an unexpected Christmas guest until a man who had been in their attic for days emerged wearing their clothes, police said. Stanley Carter surrendered Friday after police took a dog to search the home in Plains Township, a suburb of Wilkes-Barre about 100 miles north of Philadelphia. He was charged with several counts of burglary, theft, receiving stolen property and criminal trespass...

PHILADELPHIA -- Relatives of those who died aboard United Airlines Flight 93 want the Bush Administration to seize the land needed for a memorial where the plane crashed in Shanksville, Pa., in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The Families of Flight 93 sent a letter earlier this month asking President Bush to empower the Secretary of the Interior to take the land in dispute from a homeowner who had been in negotiations with the National Parks Service, said Patrick White, vice president of the families' organization.. ...

25 years ago: Dec. 29, 1983 Fire believed to have started beneath the hood of a car in an attached garage heavily damaged the home of Donald E. Gordon, 1947 Robin Hood Circle, last night; another fire, apparently caused by sparks from an electric heater, did substantial damage to Mark Slinkard's mobile home in Star Vue Trailer Court...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- More people out of work isn't good: It crimps family budgets, dampens the state economy and lowers the government's tax revenue. But higher unemployment rates also can mean an advantage for Missourians competing for public works project contracts...

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The time it takes to get a complaint decided at Ohio's Bureau of Workers' Compensation has plummeted from an average of 142 days to 34. Licensing a snowmobile in Iowa involves 90 percent fewer steps today than it did two years ago...

PORTLAND, Maine -- The Lobster Dip was launched 21 years ago as Maine's first happening where people could raise money for a good cause by stripping down in the freezing winter air and running half-naked into the bone-chilling ocean. These days, it seems as if everybody's taking the plunge, and that's threatening to saturate the fundraising field...

A rugged Southeast Missouri State women's basketball nonconference schedule won't get any easier today. In fact, it might get even tougher. The Redhawks play a team from one of the nation's power conferences for the third time this season. Missouri (6-4) will provide the latest daunting test for Southeast (4-7) in today's 3 p.m. tipoff in Columbia...

ATLANTA — New general manager Billy Devaney respects how hard the St. Louis Rams played in 12 games under interim coach Jim Haslett. Whether the players' collective effort will be enough to outweigh 10 straight losses and save Haslett's job is another matter for Devaney...

Dorothy Kurre Dorothy Lee Haman Kurre, 85, of Cape Girardeau died Saturday, Dec. 27, 2008, at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born May 31, 1923, in McBaine, Mo., daughter of John M. and Adella Koehrer Haman. She and Clarence A. Kurre were married March 31, 1946, in Cape Girardeau...

BENTON, Mo. — Edna A. Burford, 91, of Benton died Saturday, Dec. 27, 2008, in Benton. She was born May 2, 1917, in Randles, daughter of Joseph and Willemina Werth Kirn. She and Dallas Ben Frank Burford were married July 31, 1937, in Illmo, Mo...

SIKESTON, Mo. — The morning lows on Dec. 22 and 23 were the coldest recorded temperatures in the area in almost two years. But the frigid temps weren't the only weather headlines this year. "We had the ice storm in February, the flooding in March and the remnant from [Hurricane] Ike," said Joel Evans, emergency management director in Scott County. "Any one of those would have been a unique year, but all of them together gives you a really unique year."...

WASHINGTON -- A top adviser to president-elect Barack Obama said Sunday that the country's slowing economy won't keep the new administration from fulfilling its plans for a middle-class tax cut. "We feel it's important that middle-class people get some relief now," Obama adviser David Axelrod said...

IRVINE, Calif. -- Late at night, the neighbors saw a little girl at the kitchen sink of the house next door. They watched through their window as the child rinsed plates under the faucet. She wasn't much taller than the counter and the soapy water swallowed her arms. To put the dishes away, she climbed on a chair...

GREEN BAY, Wis. -- The silence in the Detroit Lions' locker room was so deafening it drowned out all but the most mundane of sounds. No laughter, no post-game jokes, certainly no congratulations for a job well done. Just the occasional sound of luggage being zipped up at the close of a hideous season historic for all the wrong reasons...

BALLWIN, Mo. — Jesse V. Porch, 71, died Saturday, Dec. 27, 2008, at St. Luke's Hospital in Chesterfield, Mo. He was born March 10, 1937, in Poplar Bluff, Mo., to Jesse Andrew and Katherine M. Hodge Porch. He was a project manager and close friend to Charles Drury of Drury Inns for 43 years...

Cape Girardeau The Cape Girardeau Police Department released the following items. Arrests do not imply guilt. DWI n Travis W. Crihfield, 25, of Poplar Bluff, Mo., was arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated. n Rex A. O'Connell, 18, of Jackson was arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated and failure to maintain a single lane...

Mike Lackamp is hoping to hear from his insurance agent today. He and his family had just returned from church Saturday night only to learn that his daughter's home, a quarter-mile from his on Route D north of Jackson, was missing a big part of its roof. ...

ANNA, Ill. — Carl G. McHughes, 81, of Anna died Saturday, Dec. 27, 2008, at his home. He was born Feb. 8, 1927, in Thebes, Ill., son of Willard C. and Mary Edith Brewer McHughes. He and Mary E. Smith were married Jan. 18, 1945, in Cairo, Ill. She preceded him in death on April 7, 2008...

Owens recognized as Saint Francis' Auxilian of the Year Bob Owens was named Saint Francis Medical Center Auxilian of the Year. He was one of 200 Saint Francis Auxilians and volunteers honored at the annual volunteer breakfast held at the Cape Girardeau Drury Lodge in recognition of the support the volunteers provide for the medical center. ...

ATLANTA — Mike Smith had a simple question for his Atlanta Falcons as they looked ahead to the playoffs: "Why not us?" Smith asked. The Falcons, who held off the St. Louis Rams 31-27 on Sunday to clinch the No. 5 seed in the NFC, may believe anything is possible in the playoffs after their improbable regular season...

FRANKFURT, Germany -- Ten years ago, Europe launched its grand experiment with a shared currency -- and watched it plunge in value before recovering. As the anniversary approaches of the Jan. 1, 1999, arrival of the euro, economists say the new currency is finally fulfilling its promise as a way to lower borrowing costs, ease trade and tourism, boost growth and strengthen the European community...

New Year's Eve is just days away. For some, the holiday will mean setting a resolution to lose more pounds or keep a more organized office desk. And for many, Dec. 31 will mean a night of spending time with friends while they count the final seconds down to Jan. ...

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- Israel widened its deadliest-ever air offensive against Gaza's Hamas rulers Sunday, hitting smuggling tunnels and a central prison, sending more tanks and artillery toward the Gaza border and approving a reserves callup for a possible ground invasion...

CHAFFEE, Mo. — Ida Mae Funkhouser, 79, of Chaffee died Saturday, Dec. 27, 2008, at her daughter's home in Charleston, Mo. She was born July 6, 1929, in Delta, daughter of John and Ella Pearl Cole Chapman. She and Emory Dale Wiseman were married March 17, 1954. He died April 18, 1973. She and Harry Fred Funkhouser were married March 3, 1990. He died May 9, 1998...

State agencies routinely seek public comment regarding policy changes and other decisions. Sometimes these requests barely get noticed. Not so with the Missouri Conservation Commission's plan to raise hunting and fishing permit fees and to do away with free permits from some property owners. More than 17,000 comments were received by the commission during a 30-day comment period. Most of them were opposed...

Jacqueline "Jackie" S. Strack, 73, of Jackson died Sunday, Dec. 28, 2008, at the Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau. Visitation will be 5 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at McCombs Funeral Home in Jackson and 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Jackson...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The nation's oldest man has died at 112. The son of George Francis said his father died Saturday of congestive heart failure at a nursing home in Sacramento. The son, 81-year-old Anthony Francis, said his father was born June 6, 1896 in New Orleans, and that his only wife, Josephine Johnson Francis, died at age 63 in 1964...

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Interstate 55 in Cape Girardeau County will be reduced to one while while Missouri Department of Transportation crews replace guardrail in the southbound lane. This section of roadway is located from Highway 74 to Route AB.Traffic will be reduced to one lane from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. today...

LOS ANGELES -- Hollywood had a happy holiday with a huge Christmas weekend as movies from Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson, Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, Tom Cruise and Adam Sandler all opened strongly. Aniston and Wilson's dog tale "Marley & Me" debuted at No. 1 with $37 million in weekend ticket sales and a total of $51.7 million since opening Christmas Day, according to estimates Sunday from distributor 20th Century Fox...

MARBLE HILL, Mo. — Mary Lee Chorn, 84, of Marble Hill died Monday, Dec. 22, 2008, at her home. She was born March 14, 1924, in Dongola, Mo., daughter of Emmett and Lillian A. Worthen Huff. She married Chester Chorn in 1956. She worked as a licensed practical nurse in the home health-care field in St. Louis until retiring in 1982. She was a member of Hahns Chapel Baptist Church...

Thanks for help I WANT to thank the man who helped me out of the Cape Girardeau Wal-Mart and to my car until my daughter could arrive. While standing in line Monday, I became ill and needed help. Craig Hounihan from Jackson came to my rescue without any hesitation. Thank you for your kindness and help. Leona from Marble Hill, Mo...

WASHINGTON -- Fewer police officers died in the line of duty in 2008 compared to last year, reflecting better training and tactics, two law enforcement support groups reported Sunday. The findings reversed the data for 2007, when a spike in police deaths was recorded, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund and another group, Concerns of Police Survivors...

On Wednesday many Americans will join friends to ring in the New Year together. Some will count down the minutes until midnight at New York City's Times Square. Others will spend time at a restaurant, participating in a midnight service at a local church or in front of their couch watching Ryan Seacrest host "Dick Clark's Rockin' New Year's Eve." I'll be preparing for my Nebraska Cornhuskers' Gator Bowl victory over Clemson — I hope...

Three men wearing ski masks on Sunday afternoon robbed the Amerimart convenience store in Old Appleton of money, beer and cigarettes, the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department reported. The department received a call at about 5:30 p.m. reporting the robbery. ...

Seeing your book read to your great grandchildren with such rapt attention is more than an author's dream. Our daughter, the illustrator of the book, reading to her grandchildren, Camden, aged 5, twins Xavier and William, aged 3, and Rory, 2.(A belated Christmas present for me!)...

UNDATED (AP) -- Rivers and creeks across much of central and Southern Illinois are high and rising, creating minor flooding. The National Weather Service says weekend rain and runoff from melted snow and ice is leading to problems along the Illinois River near Peoria and on the Wabash River along the Indiana-Illinois state line...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- For the most part, nursing home facilities in Scott, New Madrid and Mississippi counties received average scores in the five-star rating system study recently released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. There are 12 facilities in the three-county area. One received four out of five stars overall; six were awarded three of five; three received two of five stars; and two ranked at the bottom, with one of five stars...

CHICAGO (AP) -- Talk about leaving a trail. A man allegedly robbed a Chicago bank Friday after writing a threatening note on the back of his own pay stub, which included his name and home address. An FBI affidavit says 40-year-old Thomas Infante of Cary walked into a Fifth Third Bank and handed a teller a note that read "Be Quick Be Quit. Give your cash or I'll shoot."...

Palin a six week old Chihuahua

In a year that has seen everything from floods to drought, ice storms to heat waves, one last round of weather woes should come as no surprise. Weekend storms brought heavy rain to much of Missouri. Combined with snow melt, that's causing minor flooding along some rivers, including the Mississippi. No significant damage is reported or expected...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- The Missouri State Highway Patrol says 12 people died on Missouri roads during the four-day Christmas holiday. The patrol said Monday that troopers investigated 306 traffic crashes in which all 12 fatalities occurred and 128 people were injured. In 2007, troopers reported 499 mishaps, which included 142 people and four of the state's eight fatalities...

The storms that hit Cape Girardeau and other parts of Southeast Missouri on Saturday primarily brought strong winds with them, and some rain. ...

I was fortunate during the Christmas holiday to spend some time with family and while back home, stayed with my best friend and her husband. Linda and Kent have been together for nearly 15 years, but I never noticed until last week how often they refer to one another as "honey."...