Stories from Saturday, November 24, 2001

Teen-ager apologizes for smacking prince RIGA, Latvia -- The 16-year-old girl who slapped Prince Charles with a flower earlier this month has sent a note apologizing for the incident, her father said Thursday. "I didn't want to offend you personally and I ask for your forgiveness and hope you understand," Alina Lebedeva wrote in the letter, published in the Chas Russian-language daily...

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Narrow tracks cling to bleak, rocky slopes. Some lead to caves hidden away in crevices or under jagged overhangs. Others climb thousands of feet to obscure mountain passes. Routes used by smugglers for centuries could be Osama bin Laden's way out...

KABUL, Afghanistan -- After Humaira's beauty salon was shut by the Taliban, she hid her cans of hairspray, her portraits of coiffured women and her cracked hair dryer. A day after the Islamic militia fled, she reopened for business. The chairs are old and torn, and the Taliban had smashed her larger mirrors, but Humaira has scraped off the paint they splashed over her "beauty salon" sign. And she's put her posters back on the walls, one showing a sassy young woman in heavily curled pigtails...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- For Yovani Dircas Leiva, Guatemala is home. But America is opportunity. For many Hispanic immigrants such as Leiva, the holidays are a time of bittersweet travels. Leiva, a Mayan Indian from Guatemala, works two full-time jobs, more than 80 hours a week managing fast food restaurants in Kansas City. Every month, he wires most of his salary -- about $3,000 -- home to his wife and two young children in San Antonio Aguas Calientes, a town of about 12,000...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Acts of terrorism and a weakening economy were the last things on shoppers' minds Friday as they scoured stores for holiday bargains. Karen Willmeno, 26, of Jefferson City, said her focus was on shopping despite suggestions that the Sept. 11 attacks would alter the mood of holiday shoppers...

MEMPHIS, Mo. -- For the second time in a year, a northeast Missouri sheriff faces illegal deer hunting charges. Clark County Sheriff Doug Jones was also cited last year in Iowa for poaching deer. In the latest case, Jones was cited for three alleged deer hunting violations on Nov. 13 in nearby Scotland County during Missouri's firearms deer season. Jones was charged with attempting to shoot deer from a motor vehicle, from a public roadway and by using an artificial light...

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- Take a bunch of musical lawyers and what happens? They find a way to sing state law. That's what the Sangamon Bar Lawyers Chorus did this week when 80 immigrants became U.S. citizens at the Old State Capitol. "We'll be singing to you a statute, or a law, but you know it as the Illinois state song," Judge Roger Holmes announced before conducting a rendition of "Illinois," which the Legislature added to the books in the 1920s...

CHERRY VALLEY, Ill. -- A man who shouted "freedom and liberty for all" and lit himself on fire Friday morning at a northern Illinois shopping mall was in critical condition with nearly half his body burned, hospital officials said. Witnesses said the man, identified as 27-year-old Rockford resident Richard Lewis, was yelling as he leaned from a mezzanine railing and threw burning packages onto the CherryVale Mall's center court. ...

OMAHA, Neb. -- American servicemen are receiving medals from the Korean government in tribute for their sacrifice and service more than 50 years later. Already more than 112,000 Korean War Service Medals have been issued. There are about 1.8 million Korea vets of every branch of service, or their next of kin, eligible to receive it...

ST. LOUIS -- Giving the ball away three times per game hasn't hurt the St. Louis Rams much. The Rams lead the league with an 8-1 record heading into Monday night's game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, despite totaling 27 giveaways. They're tied for the most in the league with the lowly Cowboys, who have played 10 games...

DETROIT -- Dominik Hasek made 34 saves, and Steve Yzerman had a goal and an assist as the Detroit Red Wings beat the St. Louis Blues 3-1 on Friday night. Brendan Shanahan and Kris Draper also scored for Detroit, which won its sixth straight and improved to 20-3-0-1 despite being outshot 34-24...

LOUDON, N.H. -- It's rare to see Jeff Gordon lose his cool on the track. It's even rarer to see Robby Gordon win a race. Both happened Friday in NASCAR's season finale at New Hampshire International Speedway, a race rescheduled after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks...

Els closes gap at Australian Open GOLD COAST, Australia -- With three late bogeys, Ernie Els slipped into a share of second place Friday, one shot behind Scott Laycock after two rounds of the Australian Open. The two-time U.S. Open champion bogeyed the 14th, 15th and 18th holes...

IRVING, Texas -- When the Dallas Cowboys put together their best quarter of the season and nearly pulled off the biggest comeback in team history, Emmitt Smith wasn't part of it. Instead, he was on the sideline with his helmet off Thursday when the Cowboys scored three touchdowns in the fourth quarter of a 26-24 loss to the Denver Broncos...

WASHINGTON -- James Dobbins has spent a career tossed into some of the toughest, most sensitive diplomatic jobs. Somalia. Haiti. Bosnia. Kosovo. Yugoslavia. And that's just the last eight years. The diplomat's latest task as President Bush's envoy to anti-Taliban forces in Afghanistan is to help forge a power-sharing government to take over the country, long torn by ethnic divisions...

WASHINGTON -- An Indonesian man charged with document fraud knew Mohammed Atta because the two attended the same mosque in Germany, but he had not seen the hijacker since he came to the United States, his lawyer said Friday. Ivan Yacub, Agus Budiman's immigration lawyer, said Budiman knew Atta by the alias Mohammed Al-Amir. Budiman and Atta attended the same mosque in Hamburg, Germany, Yacub said in an interview with The Associated Press...

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Candidates in Taiwan's legislative election next week include a jailbird, a former soap opera star and a man who wants to make this island part of the United States -- all signaling a new force in Taiwanese politics: wackiness. The quirky candidates help mark the island's successful transition from humorless -- and often brutal -- authoritarian rule to one of Asia's most freewheeling democracies, a change that began happening about a decade ago...

LONDON -- Prime Minister Tony Blair urged his nation to embrace Europe, but the financial markets concluded Friday that the government hadn't moved closer to a decision to join the European Union's common currency. In anticipation of his speech, the pound sank to a four-month low of $1.4043 early Friday, perhaps taking a cue from the front-page headline in the Financial Times: "Blair to deliver strongest signal on euro."...

OXFORD, Conn. -- Deepening the mystery surrounding the nation's latest anthrax death, preliminary tests Friday found no trace of the germ in the 94-year-old victim's home, on her mail or at her post office. "Testing was focused on the so-called mail trail," Gov. John Rowland said. "I can't speak for the federal authorities, but it's frustrating for all of us."...

HAMILTON TOWNSHIP, N.J. -- It was down to the wire Friday for husband-to-be Thomas Cramer. His wedding was just one day away and the engagement ring for his fiancee was somewhere among the 10 truckloads of mail quarantined at the Hamilton Township postal facility after it was contaminated with anthrax...

NEW YORK -- An action figure of a New York City firefighter is selling briskly and is expected to help the department raise more than $1 million for fire safety education. The mustachioed, ax-wielding Billy Blazes is part of Fisher-Price's Rescue Heroes line of action figures...

Shoppers looking for things like Harry Potter games and Microsoft's Xbox hit the nation's malls at first light Friday as the Christmas rush began amid tight security and fears this could be the worst holiday shopping season in a decade. In a scene played out across the country, 300 people lined up outside a Toys R Us store in Little Rock, Ark., before the doors opened at 6 a.m. Among the crowd was Elizabeth Phifer, who was in search of a Diva Starz pet plush dog for her 8-year-old daughter...

SALT LAKE CITY -- Tension in Utah is building between the liquor industry and statewide Mormon sensibilities -- increasing in the past few years with the approach of the 2002 Winter Olympics. Seventy percent of Utah's 2.1 million people are members of the Mormon church, which shuns alcohol. And the state's liquor laws reflect that...

DENVER -- A handful of smaller, scrappier airlines are emerging battered but not beaten in the worst downturn in the history of the airline industry. While the nation's largest airlines posted $2.4 billion in losses and laid off more than 100,000 employees in the third quarter, three small airlines -- AirTran, Frontier and jetBlue -- are adding more routes...

PHILADELPHIA -- For a second time, a federal judge has ordered the release of a woman convicted of killing a girl who briefly dated her ex-boyfriend in a case that was later made into a television movie. It was not immediately clear whether the ruling would free Lisa Michelle Lambert, now 29, who was convicted in 1992 of slaying 16-year-old Laurie Show with the help of two friends...

PORTLAND, Ore. -- After struggling for three days against 30-foot storm swells and winds of more than 50 mph, salvage workers succeeded Friday in attaching a rope to a drifting crude oil tanker and began towing it. Rough seas subsided and winds slackened enough to allow a helicopter to lower a six-person crew onto the deck of the 906-foot Atigun Pass, which had drifted to within 30 miles of the Washington coast Friday afternoon. The Coast Guard had feared it would hit land and begin leaking...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- For years, Harvard Square has been a place for young people to get together with friends, to fit in when they might elsewhere be considered misfits, to sleep when they might not have a home. Io Nachtwey, a 22-year-old college dropout from Hawaii, was drawn to this spot, a sunken plaza known as "the pit," next to the subway stop and across from the red brick buildings of the nation's oldest university...

BANGI, Afghanistan -- Northern alliance troops closed in Friday on Taliban and al-Qaida fighters trapped in Kunduz, seizing an outlying town without a fight. Alliance commanders said they expected the city to surrender this weekend. An American official in Washington said some of the fighters in the besieged city -- the Taliban's last major garrison in the north -- may be deputies and lieutenants to Osama bin Laden and to the Taliban's supreme leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar...

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands -- The U.N. war crimes tribunal said Friday it will try Slobodan Milosevic for genocide in Bosnia, linking him for the first time in court to the murder of thousands of non-Serbs and the displacement of a quarter million people...

FILADELFIA, Colombia -- They knew it was risky work, but for the miners who died in a mudslide in the Andes, finding a few specks of gold was the difference between eating and going hungry. While emergency crews dug for bodies Friday, people talked of the perilous prospecting that killed at least 37 miners a day earlier when a hillside gave way and swept over them. Officials said 37 others were missing and feared dead...

MOSCOW -- With terrorism as a common enemy, Russia's president and the NATO chief on Friday explored areas where the former foes could move from consultation to cooperation between equals, edging closer to a new partnership after decades of rivalry...

ZAMBOANGA, Philippines -- The Philippines' president said she asked Indonesia and Malaysia for help dealing with a renegade Muslim governor Friday amid reports that he may try to flee the country. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo did not say what kind of help she requested but she acknowledged difficulty trying to arrest and extradite Gov. Nur Misuari if he manages to escape the Philippines...

MEXICO CITY -- The era of peace and love really is over: the Volkswagen van that took a generation on long, strange trips is going out of production in Mexico at year's end. Sales are scheduled to halt at the end of December. And in Brazil, the only other place where the boxy VW bus is still being made, union officials say they suspect Volkswagen is planning to end production soon as part of cost-cutting measures...

WASHINGTON -- More than 30 years ago in a Vietnamese jungle, Army intelligence officer Rob Simmons watched a U.S. colonel scratch out enemy strength estimates Simmons had provided and fill in smaller numbers. The lie, and many like it, was designed to demonstrate progress to U.S. policy-makers and the public. But it left American and South Vietnamese forces unprepared for the communists' Tet Offensive of 1968 that changed the course of the war...

WASHINGTON -- Cloned cows that reach adulthood show no unusual signs of physical problems, according to a study that could have significance for the medical and commercial uses of cloning. The study published in the journal Science found that 24 cloned Holsteins remained alive and healthy one to four years after they were born. Their immune systems were normal, they exhibited puberty at the expected age and two of the cloned cows gave birth to calves that appeared normal in all respects...

Watch the poetry THE BEAUTIFUL poetry in Southeast Missourian columnist Sam Blackwell's columns inspired Dennis Wyman to turn what he described as "quite poetic" and submit a poem for publication. Sam, I hate to cramp your style but would ask that, if your poetry is going to affect others in a similar way, you immediately cease and desist from writing, or at least publishing, poetry...

JONESBORO, Ill. -- Mary Elizabeth Lacy, 86, of Jonesboro died Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2001, at the Jonesboro Healthcare Center. He was born Aug. 10, 1915, in Jonesboro, daughter of Harry and Mae Jackson Wilson. She and Ammon Lacy were married Nov. 7, 1931, in Jonesboro. Her died Feb. 3, 1977...

BERTRAND, Mo. -- Helen Groves Sweet, 71, of Bertrand died Thursday, Nov. 22, 2001, at the Bertrand Nursing Facility. She was born Nov. 20, 1930, in Red Bay, Ala., daughter of Floyd and Lillie Bell George. She was first married to A.J. Groves Jr., who died in 1973. She then married James Sweet, who died in 1989...

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- Thomas Lee Carlton, 69, of Marble Hill died Thursday, Nov. 22, 2001, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. He was born March 17, 1932, son of Agabus Poplin Carlton and Floya Bernice Robins Carlton. He was a retired FAA air traffic controller at Memphis, Tenn. ...

Elsie L. Riehn, 88, of Cape Girardeau died Thursday, Nov. 22, 2001, at the Fountainbleau Lodge. Arrangements are incomplete at Ford & Sons Mt. Auburn Chapel.

TORRENCE, Calif. -- Wilberd "Schell" Seabaugh, 92, formerly of Jackson, Mo., died Monday, Nov. 19, 2001, at Driftwood Health Care in Torrence, Calif. He was born Oct. 29, 1909, at Patton, Mo., son of Wilberd Elbert and Lillie Jane "Jennie" Schell Seabaugh...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Mildred Corbin George, 77, of Sikeston died Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2001, at Missouri Delta Medical Center. She was born Dec. 30, 1923, in Sikeston, daughter of Nathan Alexander and Cora Jane Fox Bennett. She was first married to Homer Corbin, who preceded her in death. She then married William J. George in 1978. He died Dec. 3, 1993...

Geneva Ann Trovillion, 84, of Cape Girardeau died Thursday, Nov. 22, 2001, at her home. She was born April 3, 1917, at Cape Girardeau, daughter of A.W. and Frances Kreitler Roth. She and Laurence Trovillion were married in June 1943. He died in January 1977...

Mungle Son to Gary Charles Mungle and Bethany Elizabeth Haertling of Altenburg, Mo., Southeast Missouri Hospital, 5:10 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2001. Name, Devin Wayne. Weight, 8 pounds 12 ounces. First child. Haertling is the daughter of Amber Kuehn of Jackson, Mo. She is a student. Mungle is the son of Gary and Michele Mungle of Cape Girardeau. He works in the operations department of the Show Me Center...

10 years ago: Nov. 24, 1991 Glory Choir, senior adult choir at First Baptist Church, is in Jefferson City to perform in annual Missouri Baptist Music Festival; group is directed by John Broom, minister of music at church. Longtime Cape Girardeau businessman and civic leader David Allen Graves dies at Chateau Girardeau Health Center; he was 86; Graves was member and volunteer with numerous city organizations; he managed Montgomery Ward store in downtown Cape Girardeau until retiring in 1969; he was executive vice president of Downtown Merchants Association from 1970 to 1989; Graves married Mary A. ...

The official start of the holiday shopping season was marked by half-block-long lines formed before dawn as area residents heeded President Bush's call to shop for the good of the economy. Armies of shoppers waited to snap up early-bird bargains at Kmart, the talk of the town for opening at 5 a.m. ...

JACKSON, Mo. -- Missouri's year-old domestic abuse law makes even a slap punishable by up to seven years in prison, a penalty that some lawyers view as too tough. But Morley Swingle, Cape Girardeau County prosecuting attorney, likes the new law. He said it's an effective tool for battling domestic violence...

Cape Girardeau thespian Chuck Ross received a national award Friday for his more than 20 years of commitment to community theater. The American Association of Community Theater gave its annual Spotlight Award to Ross at the River City Players' annual awards banquet...

Susan Sheets of Cape Gir-ardeau won't put an artificial Christmas tree in her home. "It has to smell like Christmas in my house," she said after spending $120 for two spruce trees Friday at Kinder's tree lot on Kingshighway. David Kinder, who owns the tree lot, said real trees are a holiday tradition. He and others who sell Christmas trees predict sales could be up this year...

JACKSON, Mo. --An avid reader who always thought she might set up the stories differently in the books she read, Cindy Chubboy of Jackson can now sign copies of her first book. "The Rose and the Sword," a Christian adventure and romance, is the story of Captain Drake Nickless, Lady Emily Camden and adventures on the high seas as the English guard against the Spanish Armada...

To the editor: This is regarding the article, "Many Missouri veterans missing out on benefits." I can tell you why most veterans do not apply for benefits: The process is a nightmare. I am the wife and daughter of veterans. I am trying to help my father file a claim and am still waiting after seven months for any word on the status of his claim. My father had been trying to go through the VA system for almost 20 years with no success...

MANHATTAN, Kan. -- The last time Missouri played a football game here, Kansas State humiliated the Tigers 66-0 -- the third-worst loss in their 111-year history. "If they really wanted to, they could've put 100 points up," Missouri linebacker Jamonte Robinson said, "because I don't think too many of the guys who were playing were going to try to do much to stop them at that point."...

WASHINGTON -- Federal agencies are exploring new ways to measure poverty, a politically delicate endeavor that could boost the number of Americans considered to be among the poorest of the poor. Part of the problem, critics say, is that the decades-old method of determining how many people are in poverty is outdated, and does not take enough account of factors such as skyrocketing child care and housing costs. Nor does it consider non-cash aid such as food stamps that some poor families get...

WASHINGTON -- Iraq tops the lists of countries where the United States might take its war on terrorism next. Some other places -- Somalia, Sudan, Kashmir -- could also face military attacks if Osama bin Laden flees there. Beyond that, America's next steps probably won't involve bombing runs. ...

GENEVA -- A 1999 Israeli Supreme Court ban on torture left loopholes that have let interrogators use force to extract confessions, a United Nations committee said Friday. "The ruling did not contain a definite prohibition on torture," said Peter Burns, chairman of the 10-member U.N. Committee against Torture. He called on Israeli lawmakers to close the legal gaps by enacting an explicit ban on all forms of torture...

GRAPEVINE, Texas -- A deer hunter's rifle accidentally went off at the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport on Friday as the owner tried to show a ticket agent that the weapon was not loaded. No one was hurt. The bullet went through a window and landed in a planter...

Combat engineer given achievement medal Army Staff Sgt. Stephen Keene has been decorated with the Army Achievement Medal. The recipients must distinguish themselves by meritorious service or achievement and accomplish the act with distinction...

Cape Girardeau Saturday, Nov. 24 DWIGary Steven Cunningham, 29, of Jackson, Mo., was arrested Thursday for driving while intoxicated. ArrestsGene Allen Perkins, 29, of Jackson, Mo., was arrested Wednesday for failure to appear. William Andreas Cortez, 45, of 525 South Sprigg was arrested Wednesday for property damage...

Cape Girardeau Saturday, Nov. 24 Firefighters responded to the following calls on Thursday:At 11:57 p.m., trash on fire in Cherokee Park. At 11:59 p.m., Dumpster on fire at 2500 Lisa Drive. Firefighters responded to the following call on Friday:At 3:45 a.m., emergency medical service at 1305 Broadway...

The genius economists of this country keep pounding the point so that everybody can understand it and agree with them: We are in a recession. It's bad. Hang onto your money. Luckily, consumers don't seem to be listening. Nationwide, retail sales surged 7.1 percent in October, a month after terrorist attacks seemed to drive the final nail in the United States' financial coffin. It was the biggest jump on record since 1968...

The October sales-tax figures are still out for Cape Girardeau County, but early indicators are that they will be encouraging. Cape Girardeau-area consumers apparently outspent the rest of the nation in September, when terrorist attacks seemed likely to keep everyone out of the stores...

Christian author Max Lucado who has written about such theological topics as grace, God's forgiveness and the resurrection is known for his comfortable writing style and easy conversations. In a recent interview with the Southeast Missourian, Lucado spoke about weighty matters of the world and the burdens God wants to lift. He spoke about terrorist attacks and the events that followed Sept. 11, overcoming fears, spiritual revival and prayer...

ST. LOUIS -- Running back Zach Sherman had 37 carries for 169 yards to ensure Platte County's 21-14 victory over New Madrid County Central and the Missouri State 3A football championship on Friday. Quarterback Rob Campbell secured the title for Platte County (14-0) when he scored from 5 yards with 8:05 remaining in the fourth quarter. Platte County's defense stifled New Madrid County Central (12-2) on their last two possessions by not allowing a first down...

As far as Southeast Missouri State University coach Ed Arnzen is concerned, it's about time the Otahkians and Southern Illinois played each other. The regional institutions have not met in women's basketball for 20 years, but that will change tonight at the Show Me Center as the Otahkians (2-1) and Salukis (1-1) square off...

The contrasts in the Southeast Missouri State University and Southwest Missouri State basketball teams are glaring. While the Indians lost their top four scorers from last season, the Bears returned their top three point-producers and four of their top five scorers overall...

BOULDER, Colo. -- Punished by an unprecedented scoring onslaught, Nebraska tumbled out of the national title chase. A 32-point deficit -- and Chris Brown's record-setting six touchdowns -- proved too much even for the powerful Cornhuskers to overcome...

COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- Texas finally got the wind and Cedric Benson going in the same direction. Working with their backs to wind gusts up to 20 mph, the No. 5 Longhorns broke up a tight defensive struggle with Benson's two touchdown runs for a 21-7 victory over Texas A&M on Friday...

After spending countless hours renovating a rescue boat they'd come to think of as their own, Cape Girardeau firefighters were forced to scramble to find funding to keep it. A recent ultimatum from the Missouri State Water Patrol nearly put serious limitations on the fire department's ability to perform water rescues...