Region briefs 3/16/07

Cape man pleads guilty to felony possession

A Cape Girardeau man involved in a December drug bust pleaded guilty to an amended charge of felony possession of a controlled substance Monday in Cape Girardeau County circuit court. Roy A. Johnson, 20, of 11 S. Hanover St., had been charged with second-degree trafficking, misdemeanor possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia with intent to use. Johnson is out on a $40,000 bond. Johnson was one of three men arrested on drug-related charges in December. Johnson is scheduled for sentencing April 23.

Rape case changes venue to Cape county

A man charged with 15 felony counts related to raping a 12-year-old girl has had his case venued to Cape Girardeau County from Perry County. Zane L. Twomey, 37, of Fredericktown, Mo., was charged in October with 10 counts of statutory sodomy and five counts of statutory rape. Twomey appeared in Jackson courthouse Monday where Circuit Judge Benjamin Lewis set a jury trial date of June 28. According to the victim, Twomey had sexual intercourse and oral sex with her at her home in Perry County between May 2005 and June 2006, a probable-cause statement filed in the case read. Twomey admitted to police that he had oral sex with the girl, but said it occurred between March and June of 2006, according to the statement. The defendant is being held in lieu of a $250,000 cash-only bond.

PARE discussion today on overhaul of Medicaid

Health-care providers and policy-makers will hold a discussion today at the Show Me Center to help align proposals for overhauling Medicaid to the needs of patients. The meeting will run from 2 to 4 p.m. in the Show Me Center meeting rooms. The PARE Policy Think Tank will feature lawmakers, speakers from the state Department of Social Services and the Department of Mental Health to learn about features of the proposed Missouri HealthNet system. Dr. Joel Ray, a Cape Girardeau neurosurgeon, said the mission of PARE is to "create a team for policy-makers, politicians and providers to help patients." The session is not designed to merely hear complaints about the current system but to work on solutions that will make patients the main concern of the system, he said. "It is going to be a constructive session to see if we are speaking the same language," Ray said. More than 500 invitations have been issued to providers and policy-makers, he said. The meeting is the second for PARE. The first meeting was held in October on Southeast Missouri State University's campus.

-- From staff reports