Stories from Saturday, April 5, 2003

Southeast Missourian Joining the cast of an Easter production at church wasn't as simple as showing up for rehearsal and learning some lines for Mickey Wright. Wright had to get permission from his boss at the Southeast Correctional Center at Charleston, Mo. -- where he teaches GED classes -- to grow his hair long and to wear a beard so he could look more like his character. He's playing John the Baptist in an upcoming drama at Cape First...

The Jackson police chief search committee narrowed its list to three candidates Friday. The finalists are Jackson police detective James Humphreys; Douglas E. Lebert, police chief in Lebanon, Ill.; and Jeffery Womack, recently retired from the Missouri State Highway Patrol Gaming Division...

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. -- A soldier from the 101st Airborne Division has been charged with murder in a grenade attack on officers' tents in Kuwait that killed two. The charges against Sgt. Hasan K. Akbar, 32, were announced Friday afternoon. Fort Campbell officials said Akbar was charged March 25 with two counts of premeditated murder and 17 counts of attempted murder, under military law...

HAVANA -- Cuban security forces waiting in the waters of Mariel port rescued hostages jumping from a ferry boat as other troops stormed the vessel and arrested the captors, the government said Friday. The nearly 50 hostages were uninjured, according to a government statement read on state television. The hijackers were taken by boat to an undisclosed location and their identities were not released...

CHICAGO -- A fire erupted Friday in a food store that illegally sold leopard and tiger meat to gourmets with exotic tastes, and an underground animal rights group claimed credit for starting the blaze. "The Animal Liberation Front has claimed credit for starting this fire," FBI spokesman Ross Rice said. He said the fire was being considered an act of domestic terrorism on the part of the animal-rights group...

ST. LOUIS -- A St. Louis man was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison in connection with an incident in which he shot at a city police officer in October. Maurice Thomas Poindexter, 25, was convicted in U.S. District Court in January of one felony count of being a previously convicted felon in possession of a firearm...

PLATTE CITY, Mo. -- The bell that graced the bridge of the USS Platte for more than 30 years has been given to Platte County. The Platte County Board of Commissioners received the bell from the Navy on Thursday. The bell was on the USS Platte from 1939 to 1970...

ATLANTA -- After months of debating Georgia's flag, state lawmakers from both parties struck a surprise compromise Friday -- an entirely new flag with no public referendum first. Gov. Sonny Perdue, who had proposed a statewide referendum on changing the flag shortly after his upset victory last November, is now endorsing a completely new design that does not include the divisive Confederate battle emblem. ...

A Cape Girardeau business that supplies parts to motorcycle shops around the world and an organization set up to assist businesses were given the U.S. Department of Commerce's Export Achievement Certificate Friday morning. Motorcycle Stuff and the Small Business Development Center at Southeast Missouri State University were presented the certificates at First Friday Coffee, a Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce event...

Man stabbed during argument at gas station An argument over a woman between two Cape Girardeau brothers escalated into a stabbing in a gas station parking lot Thursday night, police said. The victim, 41, was allegedly cut on his upper right arm by Bobby E. Reed, 39, of Cape Girardeau, said police spokesman Sgt. Rick Schmidt...

Cape Girardeau County Saturday, April 5 The following items were released by the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department. Arrests do not imply guilt. Arrests Robert J. Luttrel, 24, of Chaffee, Mo., was arrested March 27 on a warrant for failure to appear...

Cape Girardeau Saturday, April 5 Firefighters responded Thursday to the following items: At 6:54 p.m., smoke alarm at 1901 Weissinger. At 8:24 p.m., emergency medical service at 301 N. West End Blvd. At 8:38 p.m., smoke alarm at 703 Watkins. At 10:03 p.m., emergency medical service at 1805 Margaret...

Cape Girardeau Saturday, April 5 The following items were released by the Cape Girardeau Police Department. Arrests do not imply guilt. Arrests Paula J. Cornman, 29, of 224 Independence, Apt. E, Cape Girardeau, was arrested Thursday on a Dunklin County warrant for probation violation...

Through the emergence of various community groups, talent shows and the like, Southeast Missouri residents are learning just how many artistically gifted people live among us. The latest effort is the Heartland Pops Orchestra and Chorus, which will present "Broadway at the Pops" at 3 p.m. Sunday in the Jackson High School auditorium. The group, formed last August, first performed a Christmas concert...

WASHINGTON -- Michael Kelly, editor-at-large for The Atlantic Monthly, was killed while covering the war in Iraq, the first American journalist to die in the conflict. Kelly, also a columnist for The Washington Post and a former editor of The New Republic, died Thursday night along with a U.S. soldier when their Humvee went into a canal. Kelly, 46, was traveling with the Army's 3rd Infantry Division as one of 600 journalists embedded with U.S. forces...

TALLADEGA, Ala. -- Although Jeremy Mayfield got his first pole in more than two years, he doesn't figure the Talladega Superspeedway aces from Dale Earnhardt Inc. should be too worried. "That doesn't change anything," Mayfield said of Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Michael Waltrip. "We beat them in qualifying, but they don't ever qualify that well."...

Notre Dame won 10 events and beat Principia 122-54 in a girls dual swimming meet Friday in St. Louis. Ashly Ducharme (200 and 500 freestyles) and Janelle Essner (200 IM, 100 butterfly) each won two individual events and were members of the winning 400 freestyle relay team. Other winners were Lauren Bader (diving), Jennifer Barrett (100 backstroke) and Maggie Glastetter (100 breaststroke)...

After two years of coaching at Central High School, girls basketball and volleyball coach Sheila Midgett has resigned her positions to join the staff at Jackson High School next school year. Midgett, who recently led her team to a 15-11 season in basketball, handed in her resignation this week to become a physical education teacher at Jackson. She also will be an assistant varsity basketball coach, pending school board approval...

COLUMBIA, Mo. --Missouri basketball coach Quin Snyder and his staff might have violated NCAA rules with improper phone calls during the recruitment of VMI transfer Jason Conley, according to a published report in Friday's St. Louis Post-Dispatch. According to records obtained by the paper, at least six calls were made to Conley's mother, Karyne Conley, from Dec. ...

For a baseball game that took four days to complete, the end came swiftly. Central and Jackson resumed their darkness suspended game on Friday at Central Junior High School and needed just seven pitches to declare a winner. Mark Dunaway, the third hitter of the day and the Tigers' No. 9 batter, lined a two-out single in the left-center field gap in the bottom of the eighth inning to score Josh Ford with the winning run for a 4-3 Central victory...

Southeast Missouri State University's baseball team has already played 19 games, but in reality, the Indians' season begins today. It's not that what the Indians have done to this point is meaningless. But coach Mark Hogan and his players know that ultimately the season will be judged on how the Indians perform in the Ohio Valley Conference...

NEW ORLEANS -- Kansas coach Roy Williams looks at Marquette's Dwyane Wade and sees a momentary flicker of Michael Jordan. When Marquette coach Tom Crean describes KU forward Nick Collison's versatility, he might as well be talking about Larry Bird...

Southeast Missouri State University's softball team will look to shake off Wednesday's pair of 9-0 losses to Missouri when the Otahkians jump back into Ohio Valley Conference play this weekend. The Otahkians (6-17, 2-1 OVC) visit Austin Peay (13-16-1, 3-0) for a three-game series beginning with today's 1 p.m. doubleheader. There will be a 1 p.m. single game Sunday...

Heather Jenkins won the first Gatorade Classic title of her career Friday -- but not in the event most would expect. Jenkins, a sophomore track and field athlete at Southeast Missouri State University, captured the hammer throw as the 22nd annual Gatorade Classic began at Southeast's Abe Stuber Complex...

You wouldn't expect somebody who played his first major college football game against Nebraska's vaunted defense in front of nearly 80,000 rabid Cornhusker fans to shy away from a crowded quarterback situation. So forgive Andrew Goodenough if he doesn't seem bothered by the presence of two record-setting signal callers at Southeast Missouri State University...

CHICAGO -- Pavol Demitra's goal early in the third period lifted the St. Louis into a 2-2 tie with the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday night, stretching the Blues' winless streak to four games. Demitra tied it 5:36 into the third when his centering pass deflected off the stick of Chicago's Alex Zhamnov and past rookie goalie Michael Leighton...

Briefly Baseball Derek Jeter and the Yankees might have caught a big break: The All-Star shortstop probably won't need surgery. Team doctors said Friday that Jeter's injury should be treated "conservatively" instead of with an operation that could have sidelined the heart and soul of the Yankees for most of the season. Instead, Jeter could be back in about a month...

ST. LOUIS -- Brad Ausmus hit a grand slam in the first inning and a solo shot in the 12th to lead the Houston Astros over the Cardinals 6-5 Friday night. With two runners on in the bottom of the 12th, Brad Lidge struck out Albert Pujols on a 3-2 pitch and Ausmus threw out Fernando Vina trying to steal third to end it...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Brian Vickers was just another new kid in the Busch Series a week ago. Then he had an almost-certain victory taken from him and the list of big-name drivers rallied around him. From Dale Earnhardt Jr. to Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson, all supported the 19-year-old after NASCAR ruled against a pass he attempted in the Busch race at Texas last weekend...

What would the English language be without the English Bible? Etymologists say the grand old Bibles, along with Shakespeare, pretty much established the tongue and their words still resonate. Consider "Passover," for example. The English label for Judaism's annual festival originated with a Christian Bible. (The Hebrew "Pesach" literally means "Passage.")...

To the editor: I used to think this was a great place to live until I moved away. You people complain about every little thing that crosses your minds. If I were a person thinking of moving to or vacationing in Cape Girardeau or Jackson and happened to read Speak Out, I'd abandon the thought immediately...

BOONVILLE, Mo. -- A surprise winning bid by the city of Boonville kept Kemper Military School's campus from being sliced up at auction Friday. But thousands of school items -- some historic, some mundane -- were sold to the highest bidders. Those bidders included clusters of alumni determined to preserve items ranging from class photographs to ethics codes signed by generations of cadets at what was the oldest military school west of the Mississippi River...

BAGDAD, Calif. -- It's hot and dry here and not terribly hospitable. Years of neglect have left few structures standing. Trucks rumble by, kicking up desert dust. This is Bagdad -- the California version. The now-abandoned highway stop deep in the Mojave desert is one of at least 10 Bagdads in a handful of states that existed in relative obscurity until Iraq's capital once again became a target for U.S. bombs...

SYDNEY, Australia -- The bride has arrived and so has Italian fashion designer Giorgio Armani with her dress. Despite a planning hiccup, the chapel is ready and tents are up to protect guests from the prying eyes of the media. But that hasn't stopped reporters and photographers from trying to peek at the preparations for Russell Crowe's wedding to girlfriend Danielle Spencer -- mostly from helicopters hovering over the Oscar winner's ranch...

WASHINGTON -- With their troops overtaking Iraq, President Bush and wartime ally Tony Blair will meet next week in Northern Ireland to review final-stage battle plans as well as Bush's hotly debated blueprint for postwar reconstruction. Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern will join the leaders in Belfast for meetings Tuesday that also will address efforts to bring peace to Northern Ireland and the Middle East...

When you're the wife, mother, father, brother, sister, child or even aunt or uncle of someone in the military right now, it doesn't seem to matter whether they're in combat or anticipating deployment. "Waiting for the phone call is just as bad," said Kim Dohogne, the ombudsman for the U.S. Naval Reserve Station in Cape Girardeau...

U.S. tanks and armored vehicles rolled into the Iraqi capital early this morning for the first time, making reconnaissance probes as Marines and infantry on the city edges fought to impose a "choke hold" on President Saddam Hussein's seat of power...

NEAR BAGHDAD, Iraq -- U.S. troops found thousands of boxes of suspicious white powder, nerve agent antidote and Arabic documents on how to engage in chemical warfare south of Baghdad. But a senior U.S. official familiar with initial testing said the materials were believed to be explosives...

NEAR KHAZER, Iraq -- The Kurds' yellow flag was wedged into the rusty bridge at Khazer, a key crossing point on the road to the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. Militiamen allied with U.S. forces marched over single file, their rucksacks and guns swaying on their backs...

An Iraqi lawyer tipped U.S. forces to the location of POW Jessica Lynch after seeing her slapped in the face by a burly Fedayeen security man guarding her in a Nasiriyah hospital, according to published reports. The 32-year-old lawyer, identified only as Mohammed, told The Washington Post and USA Today that he peered through a window at the hospital where his wife worked as a nurse and saw a sight that "cut" his heart: Lynch being slapped in the face by the black-clad Iraqi security agent...

The economy is in a funk. America is mired in a war. Wall Street is indecisive, at best. Not to mention that 100,000 jobs have left Missouri in the last 18 months, and this remains one of the few states in the country still steeped in recession. That was the dour message about 60 Southeast Missouri State University students and faculty heard Friday from two state legislators who listed those reasons as factors behind Missouri's estimated $1 billion budget shortfall...

Businessman Jim Drury lashed out at Cape Girardeau city government "tax math" on Friday, charging that four tax and fee issues on Tuesday's ballot would cost households close to $300 more a year rather than the $83.51 figure city officials have calculated...

WASHINGTON -- Federal researchers are beginning work toward a vaccine that could eventually help control the mystery illness that has spread from Asia to North America and killed at least 85 people. The research on a vaccine is just getting under way at the National Institutes of Health, but officials said Friday they are already trying to interest industry in producing a vaccine based on the results...

FOSHAN, China -- In an extraordinary move, the Chinese government apologized Friday for not warning people quickly about the dangers of the deadly mystery illness that began here. The apology came as international health investigators said they believed they were on the trail of the first person ever infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome...

ST. LOUIS -- A former Cape Girardeau public defender has resigned in the fallout from a racist joke he told. Kent Hall, the head of the public defender's office in St. Louis, quit Thursday. Others in his office said Hall's joke caused credibility problems, especially considering that more than nine out of 10 of their clients are black...

MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- Protesters against the war with Iraq joined several hundred people for a march honoring Martin Luther King Jr. on the 35th anniversary of his assassination. "The truest kind of patriotism is to challenge your country to do the right thing," Joseph Lowery, a former King associate and longtime civil rights leader, told more than 3,500 people gathered for a memorial service for King following the march...

WANT TO GO? "One Voice" production at 7 p.m. April 11, 12 and 13 at Cape First, 254 S. Silver Springs Road. Admission is $3. Call 334-4421 for information. "Freedom" production at 7 p.m. April 9 to 13; matinee at 3 p.m. ...

To the editor: In response to the article "War ties up demand for yellow ribbon": Thank you for placing the photo of our youngest son, John, on the front of the April 2 edition in the story about the yellow ribbons. He was very proud to be able to answer your reporter's questions about his brother's involvement in the war. ...

Michael L. "Mike" Conley, 55, of Jackson died Thursday, April 3, 2003, at John Cochran VA Medical Center in St. Louis. He was born July 4, 1947, in Cape Girardeau, son of William R. and Virginia Crader Conley. He and Reita Schweain were married Sept. 1, 1967, in Jackson...

CAIRO, Ill. -- Maudie Christine Chambliss, 100, of Cairo died Tuesday, April 1, 2003, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. Chambliss was formerly of Mounds, Ill. Friends may call at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Mound City, Ill., after 9 a.m. today...

ANNA, Ill., -- Junior R. Miller, 70, of Anna died Friday, April 4, 2003, at the Veterans Home in Anna. Funeral arrangements are pending at Hileman & Parr Funeral Services in Jonesboro, Ill.

10 years ago: April 5, 1993 Proponents of school bond issue and building fund tax levy to be decided Tuesday by Cape Girardeau voters denounce "11th-hour campaign" by people hoping to defeat two propositions; opposition, Citizens Against the School Bond Issue, ran half-page advertisement in Sunday's and today's Southeast Missourian outlining their reasons for opposing school bond issue...

Dirnberger Son to Derek and Nicole Dirnberger of St. Louis, St. Mary's Medical Center in Clayton, Mo., 2:51 p.m. Monday, March 24, 2003. Name, Drew Michael. Weight, 5 pounds 10 ounces. First child. Mrs. Dirnberger is the former Nicole Inman, daughter of Larry and Fern Burgess of St. Charles, Mo. She is a sales representative with Paychex. Dirnberger is the son of Henry and Pam Dirnberger of Benton, Mo. He is self-employed with Dirnberger Resurfacing...

Down the drain IF THE tax for a water park passes, we will literally throw tax money down the drain -- though for a good reason. Within our means WE WOULD like to live beyond our means just as our state and federal governments do. However, we have not yet found a way to get votes for an increase in our wages or Social Security. ...

Saturday "Dwelling in the secret place" conference for women from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Illmo Baptist Church in Scott City. Speaker is Laura Trapp of MorningJoy Ministries and music by Audrey Franklin and Celebration Generation. Cost is $12 and includes a light breakfast and lunch...

National Day of Prayer speaker announced Former Missouri Secretary of State Bekki Cook of Cape Girardeau will be the featured speaker during the Mayors' Prayer Breakfast May 1 at the Osage Community Centre. A community choir also will perform. The event is part of the area's National Day of Prayer observance. The breakfast will be from 6:45 to 8 a.m. at the Osage Centre and is a continental breakfast...

WASHINGTON -- U.S. companies slashed 108,000 jobs in March as war in Iraq battered the economy at home. The unemployment rate held at 5.8 percent after thousands of job seekers gave up and dropped out of the work pool. Job cuts were widespread with few hiring gains, the Labor Department reported Friday. That ignited fresh recession worries among economists, who said that a quick end to the war couldn't even resuscitate the jobs market, which is expected to worsen in coming months...

MEXICO CITY -- Police arrested nine members of the powerful Juarez Cartel during raids across Mexico, capturing the violent drug gang's main killers, the federal attorney general said Friday. The arrests, carried out Thursday and early Friday in seven separate states, marked the latest blow to the country's powerful drug trade. ...

CHIMA, Bolivia -- Crews searching for survivors from a landslide that buried this Bolivian mining town said Friday they may declare the site a mass grave after another day of rescue efforts found nothing. Crews, which have recovered 17 bodies, have given up hope of finding anyone alive from Monday's avalanche. Villagers have reported dozens of people still missing, but officials had no firm number of victims still buried...

It wasn't until the late 1980s that scientific advancements permitted authorities to gather and rely on evidence contained in each person's unique genetic code. As a result, there now is a precise way to identify -- or eliminate -- criminal suspects...