Region digest 10/31/01

Studio Jazz Ensemble to perform today

The Studio Jazz Ensemble at Southeast Missouri State University will perform at noon today in the University Center lobby.

The program will include "Matchpoint" by Don Schamber, "Neverbird" by Ray Brown, "Pegasus" by Hank Levy as recorded by the Stan Kenton Orchestra, and "The Big Sur" by Kim Richmond, also as recorded by the Stan Kenton Orchestra.

The concert is free and open to the public.

Autoharp player to perform Thursday

Autoharp player Bryan Bowers will perform at 7 p.m. Thursday in the University Center Ballroom.

Bowers will be featured at KRCU's "Folk Coffee House" event at Southeast Missouri State University. Tickets are $10 and may be purchased by calling KRCU at 651-5070. Children under 12 will be admitted free.

Raised in New Bohemia near Petersburg, Va., Bowers grew up tagging along with field workers. "The music I heard while working in the fields was mesmerizing. I just that music was something that everyone did."

He began playing the guitar, but soon took up the autoharp.

In 1993, Bowers was inducted into the Autoharp Hall of Fame.

Police inquiry clears officer in fatal shooting

ST. LOUIS -- An internal St. Louis Police Department investigation has cleared police officer in the summer shooting death of a teen-ager armed with a BB gun, an investigator said.

"We couldn't find anything to contradict the officer's statement," Capt. Reggie Harris, commander of the force's internal affairs division, said.

Officer Anthony Martin told police he feared for his life when he shot Torrence Mull, 16, in the chest June 23 when the youth reached for a pistol in his waistband. The handgun looked like a .45-caliber pistol but turned out to be a BB gun.

Police have said Mull had no history of criminal activity. He was a student at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School in St. Louis.

Martin, who has won merit awards during his four years on the force, had been placed on administrative leave as police conducted an internal investigation.

Trial continued in suit against co-workers

FORSYTH, Mo. -- A Southwest Missouri nurse who alleges co-workers drew a heart on her buttocks while she was sedated for a colonoscopy will have to wait a bit longer for her case to be heard.

Trial in Phyllis DeForrest's lawsuit against Skaggs Community Hospital and four employees had been scheduled to begin today at the Taney County Courthouse in Forsyth. It was continued Monday when attorneys realized the judge hadn't ruled on some defense motions.

No new trial date has been set.

DeForrest, 69, a registered nurse at Skaggs for more than 30 years, filed the lawsuit shortly after she underwent a colonoscopy at the Branson hospital in 1997. She alleges that two nurses and a technician watched as a third nurse used a red permanent marker to draw a large heart on the perimeter of her buttocks and then wrote the name of the doctor performing the surgery across the middle while she was unconscious.

Phone scam promises lottery winnings

SIKESTON, Mo. -- The Sikeston Department of Public Safety has received information of a telephone scam based on Australian and Canadian lotteries.

The victim is contacted by telephone and told they are winners, but that they must prepay taxes and fees, either by credit card or check. Also, a victim may receive several telephone calls over a couple of days and some have received registered mail. All telephone calls and letters have no return address or a foreign address.

-- From staff, wire reports