Stories from Thursday, August 20, 2009

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Former governor Warren Hearnes was remembered Wednesday for a "legacy of compassion" to the mentally ill and children as officials from Missouri's political past and present paid their respects at a Capitol memorial service.

The Missouri Ethics Commission fined a member of the Millersville Rural Fire District board of directors $1,100 in connection with campaign fliers distributed during the last election.

Judy Ruppel of Oak Ridge submitted this photo of a "whistling tomato."

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- Employees of Crown Chevrolet in Marble Hill knew that the decision to remain open or to close permanently would come Monday. Office manager Barbara Kidd said the employees were on pins and needles waiting for the word to come, and just after 1 p.m., the news came that their jobs were safe...

The American Wind Symphony Orchestra and its boat.

FIRST ANNUAL SPORTMEN'S BANQUET TO BE HELD AT FIRST BAPTIS CHURCH OF PERRYVILE, MO The men and boys of First Baptist Church of Perryville, MO are very excited about their First Annual Sportsmen's Banquet they are preparing for Saturday, September 19, 2009, at 5:00pm. ...

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- When Conservation Agent Rob Sulkowski rushed into floodwaters alongside Missouri State Trooper Timothy Craig on May 8, he only considered the job that had to be done. Today, he was reminded of the May 8 storm while taking part in defensive tactics training at the Missouri Department of Conservation's (MDC) Southeast Regional Office in Cape Girardeau...

Two ways to meet community college needs in the area were presented at a coalition meeting Wednesday. A group of 11 business and education leaders has been meeting since 2007 to address higher education needs in the Cape Girardeau area. It commissioned a $70,000 study last year, the results of which were released in April...

Randy Mulvaney hasn't had much downtime lately, but the owner of Heartland Home Repair in Cape Girardeau isn't complaining. Mulvaney said his employees have done many remodeling jobs and additions to homes from Cape Girardeau to Sikeston, Mo. The company is booked into September...

Eight members of the Girardot Chapter of International Association of Administrative Professionals (IAAP) attended the annual Education Forum and Annual Meeting in July. The meeting was held in Minneapolis, MN. Members in attendance included: President Rhonda Zeilinger CPS, Vice President Doris Dumey CPS/CAP and members Sherri Jenkins CPS/CAP, Donna Wills CPS, Debbie McKee CPS, Carol Kitchen CPS/CAP, Patty Eck CPS and Barb Ostrenga CPS/CAP...

Grandaughter Shyleigh on her way to go swimming...

Best Grocery Store in Benton Mo

Route UU in far western Cape Girardeau County will be closed today while Missouri Department of Transportation crews replace a pipe.

Heather Nelson's tenure as Southeast Missouri State's soccer coach has been marked by major success. An exception was last year, when Southeast compiled the worst record in program history and failed to make the Ohio Valley Conference tournament for just the second time...

LOS ANGELES -- Matt Holliday's sacrifice fly snapped a ninth-inning tie, giving the St. Louis Cardinals a 3-2 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday night in the series finale between two first-place teams. The Cardinals took two out of three from the Dodgers to maintain their NL Central lead of six games over the Chicago Cubs, who beat San Diego and open a four-game series in Los Angeles today...

John D. Hale grew up on a ranch outside of Jackson. The barn up on the hill has served as practice room and creative escape for the country musician for years. Before he formed a band, John used to practice with friends in the barn and have concerts for friends and family. ...

The Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team has added more size for the 2009-2010 season. First-year Southeast coach Dickey Nutt said Wednesday that 6-foot-8, 220-pound forward Rae-Vonn Banks will join the Redhawks as an invited walk-on. He is enrolled in classes, which begin Monday...

Mission Continues, a St. Louis-based organization that helps returning war veterans find ways to serve their communities, is looking for volunteers in Southeast Missouri.

Art and entertainment briefs

The 700 bowl goal of the local Empty Bowls project was met weeks ago. Now they just need painting. Handmade bowls fill shelves in the basement of the Garden Gallery at 835 Broadway -- the headquarters for bowl-making. But three shelves stand six feet tall and are covered with naked bowls...

An occasional feature highlighting local writers

You entertainment options for the week.

I saw in the paper that someone thinks there should be more collection containers around town for the benefit of area food pantries. What a kind gesture. But there are collection cans. Proceeds go to SEMO Food Bank and benefit many area pantries. Many churches and businesses have regular collections. There is a life-saving Boy Scout food drive in November. Organizations, groups, families and individuals give regularly. Without these donations, pantries such as ours in Scott City would fold...

The political leaders we have elected to represent us have failed miserably. Their dereliction of duty and lack of responsible lawmaking during the past several decades have placed our beloved America in serious jeopardy. Because of their failure to pass laws to secure our borders, the illegal immigration problem has developed to such a condition that it is almost impossible to correct...

Officially, it's called the "summer district work period." It is the break Congress takes, lasting through Labor Day, to allow senators and representatives to visit with constituents in their home districts. During the break, some federal legislators take what they call fact-finding trips -- sometimes to war zones, sometimes to exotic locales...

I have attended town hall meetings in St. Louis, Kennett and Poplar Bluff, and I am appalled and ashamed of most of the citizens attending these meetings. Free speech is a fundamental right in this country, but disrespect, rudeness and violence should not be the public face of something that we should cherish and value in this country...

Voting decision; Light pollution; Excellent column; No choice; Dangerous mowing; Second chance; Curious scandal; Changing list; Good column; Taking a position; Testing gap; Monitoring parents; Healthy reform; Fear of denial; Affording care

In the face of all the political machinations seeming to the contrary, America will ultimately face a single-payer, government-administered health-care system just like Social Security, our nation's most fulfilling social program (besides war). The impossible takes time...

For garden produce — even zucchini — we give thanks to you, O God. Amen.

Here is my response to the Lou Pritchett article, "President Obama: You scare me": Dear Lou Pritchett: You scare me. Clearly you can't be scared about this many things. Apparently you don't know what scares you. Are you really scared, or do you mean to scare others?...

Aug. 20, 2009 Dear Leslie, Doug E. Rees is a local songwriter who sings about people who meant something to him growing up, about being proud of his hometown, about what matters to him. His version of Curtis Mayfield's "People Get Ready" urging all aboard the train of social justice makes you want to hug everyone in the room...

NEW YORK -- Will.i.am would love to say "I told you so" to all the people who have bashed the Black Eyed Peas in the past, but he won't -- even though the group just made history on the Billboard charts. "There's a part of me that wants to be cocky, but then I can't be cocky," the 34-year-old Peas leader said Tuesday in a phone interview from Los Angeles. ...

BAGHDAD -- Nearly simultaneous truck bombs struck Iraq's Foreign and Finance ministries Wednesday as a wave of explosions killed at least 95 people, bringing the weaknesses of Iraqi security forces into focus less than two months after U.S. forces withdrew from urban areas...

RICHMOND, Va. -- Something unusual is cropping up alongside the tomatoes, eggplant and okra in Scott Byars' vegetable garden -- the elephantine leaves of 30 tobacco plants. Driven largely by ever-rising tobacco prices, he's among a growing number of smokers who have turned to their green thumbs to cultivate tobacco plants to blend their own cigarettes, cigars and chew. Byars normally pays $5 for a five-pack of cigars and $3 for a tin of snuff; the seed cost him $9...

Cape Girardeau Firefighters responded to the following calls Tuesday: Firefighters responded to the following calls Wednesday: Jackson Firefighters responded to the following calls Wednesday:...

Cape Girardeau: Arrest; Summonses

Sherri S. Hodges Collier, 46, of Louisiana, formerly of Scott City, passed away Saturday, June 27, 2009, at Christus Schumpert Highland Hospital in Shreveport, La., following a six-and-a-half year battle with lung cancer. She was born Aug. 21, 1962, at the old Saint Francis Hospital in Cape Girardeau, to Clinton and Doris Hodges...

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- Lottie Ellen Newell, 94, of Marble Hill died Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2009, at Elder Care of Marble Hill. Visitation will be from 4 to 8 p.m. Friday at Liley Funeral Home in Marble Hill. The funeral will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at Haven of Hope United Pentecostal Church in Marble Hill, with the Rev. Jeff Wells officiating...

Michael Crowden, 55, of Cape Girardeau died Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2009, at his home. Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel in Chaffee, Mo., is in charge of arrangements.

ANNA, Ill. -- Nellene Quick, 85, of Anna died Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2009, at Heartland Regional Medical Center in Marion, Ill. Visitation will be from 5 to 8 p.m. today at Crain Funeral Home in Anna. The funeral will be at 11 a.m. Friday at the funeral home, with Mark Kirk officiating...

CAIRO, Ill. -- Mary Agnes Johnson Cooper, 95, formerly of Cairo, died Friday at Autumn Care. A memorial service will be held at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at Barlow Cemetery in Barlow, Ky., with the Rev. Kelly Cox officiating. Barkett Funeral Home in Cairo is in charge of arrangements...

LOS ANGELES -- It's easy to see why Spike Lee was drawn to Stew, the one-named musician and mastermind behind the Broadway production "Passing Strange." Like Lee, the artist formerly known as Mark Stewart possesses a powerful and singular voice, one he uses to express vividly his own unique experience of growing up as a black man in America. ...

Jared Ryan Birk, 20 months, of Jackson passed away Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2009, at Children's Hospital in St. Louis. Visitation is from 4 to 8 p.m. Friday at St. Paul Lutheran Church. The funeral will be at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at the church. Burial will be in Russell Heights Cemetery in Jackson...

Loper; Heisserer; Pobst; Espinoza; Locklear; Riegert

25 years ago: Aug. 20, 1984 CHAFFEE, Mo. -- A proposal to add a fifth police officer to the Chaffee Police Department meets strong opposition from Mayor Robert Capshaw, who counsels the board of aldermen not to vote on the proposal that he characterizes as a waste of taxpayer money...

BERN, Switzerland -- The Swiss government said Wednesday it is selling its stake in UBS AG after concluding a deal that appears to end the bank's yearlong tax-evasion probe in the United States. A consortium of banks has been asked to place the government's 332.2 million mandatory convertible notes with institutional investors. The sale should be completed today, the government said...

Following the trend of recruiting viewers to submit content, MTV has enlisted its fans to fill in an award spot for the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. MTV Networks, a division of Viacom International Inc., has teamed up with Pepsi-Cola and Rock Band to host a Rock Band Video where a fictional band can win a Moonman at the VMAs. Judges narrowed the field to five semifinalists. Now, viewers will vote on which video they think should win the grand prize: a trip to New York for the VMAs and a Moonman...

ST. LOUIS -- John Smoltz agreed to a deal with the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday, giving the 42-year-old former ace a chance to rejuvenate his career in the middle of a pennant race. Smoltz joined the NL Central leaders shortly after he cleared waivers, following his release by Boston. He was 2-5 with an 8.33 ERA in eight starts for the Red Sox...

ST. LOUIS -- Rookie offensive lineman Jason Smith cooled his heels until late in the second quarter of the St. Louis Rams' preseason opener. That could change Friday against the Falcons. The second overall pick of the NFL draft out of Baylor may get to start because fellow offensive tackle Alex Barron has missed two recent practices with knee soreness. It's also evidence that he's making progress...

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Jerry Jones just could have renovated Texas Stadium. Or he could've built his Dallas Cowboys a nice, new place for about $650 million. Then Jones really thought about it. With only one chance to do something like this, he didn't want just another stadium...

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. -- The salt and pepper in Brett Favre's hair is long gone, with only a few flecks of brown remaining in the silver atop his 39-year-old head. He has a torn rotator cuff in that famously bionic arm, and it's been 12 years since he won the last of his three consecutive MVP awards...

Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau will announce a new president and CEO at an 11 a.m. news conference today.

The Cape Girardeau County Collector's Office has revised its list of delinquent taxes, as some property owners who owed those taxes have paid them. The list linked to here is dated Aug. 20. Click here to download the revised list. The Southeast Missourian recently obtained a list of properties in Cape Girardeau County on which delinquent taxes are owed, including legal descriptions of the properties and how much taxes are owed on them...

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama said Thursday any health care overhaul bill he signs must reduce rapidly rising health care costs, protect consumers from insurance abuses and provide affordable choices to the uninsured -- while not adding to the federal deficit...

WASHINGTON -- The number of first-time claims for unemployment benefits rose unexpectedly for the second straight week, a sign that jobs remain scarce even as other data show the U.S. economy is stabilizing. Many economists expect the economy to grow at a modest pace in the second half of this year, bringing an end to the longest recession since World War II. ...

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration is developing plans to wind down the popular Cash for Clunkers program and could announce by Friday when the incentives will no longer be available. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Wednesday the department would announce within 48 hours how it intends to discontinue the program that offers car buyers rebates of $3,500 or $4,500 for trading in older vehicles for new, more fuel-efficient models. ...

NEW YORK -- The rules your credit card company operates by will start getting much clearer on Thursday. But just because you'll know what they're up to doesn't mean you're going to like what you learn. Regulations aimed at reining in practices like unexpected interest rate increases and credit limit cuts start with two rules. Consumers will now be given advance warning of any major changes to the terms of their accounts, and get more time to pay their balance after receiving a bill...