Stories from Saturday, December 1, 2001

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA will try again Tuesday to launch space shuttle Endeavour on a flight to the international space station after two cosmonauts aboard the orbiting outpost go out on a spacewalk to clear away a piece of junk. The long, cordlike piece of debris is preventing an unmanned Russian supply ship from latching securely to the space station, a problem that is keeping Endeavour waiting on the launch pad...

FORDLAND, Mo. -- A 1,560-foot television tower collapsed in southwest Missouri Friday, cutting power to dozens of homes and taking three broadcast stations off the air. There were no injuries, and the cause of the collapse was under investigation. Between 50 and 75 homes served by Webster Electric lost power, but the homes were expected to be online before noon Friday, utility spokesman Phillip Ragsdale said...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Gov. Bob Holden is planning to appoint a Bootheel banker and river port overseer as the next member of the state Highways and Transportation Commission, The Associated Press has learned. Duane Michie, 62, of Hayti said he is excited to serve on the commission, where he could emphasis the importance of barge traffic on the Mississippi and Missouri rivers...

ST. LOUIS -- A former eastern Missouri postmaster was sentenced Friday to six months in a halfway house and ordered to repay $88,000 to the U.S. Postal Service and a postmasters group she defrauded. U.S. District Judge Jean Hamilton also ordered Tina Emery, 47, of St. Charles, to spend five years on probation...

ST. LOUIS -- When it comes to bearing burdens, Don and Terry Rogers quietly -- and without intent or pretense -- make most sufferers look like lottery winners and most hardships like a walk in the park. Don, 59, is a soft-spoken surveyor for the city of St. Louis and a Boy Scout leader. Terry, 52, is an animated social worker for an adoption agency. She was born blind. They had four children, all boys...

ST. LOUIS -- In the left seat for the last time, Capt. Bill Compton will spend today bringing home the airline with which he spent his entire career. He was a fresh-faced rookie barely old enough to drink when he joined Trans World Airlines as a flight engineer in 1968. Today, TWA's last president completes a 33-year career with Flight 220 from Kansas City, Mo., to St. Louis: the conclusion for both Compton and Trans World Airlines...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- In a $1.2 million mistake over the Thanksgiving break, the state double-issued about 7,500 child-support checks that it is now scrambling to get back. The state, in a letter sent Friday and obtained by The Associated Press, is asking parents to voluntarily pay back the money or allow the government to deduct the overpayment from future checks...

TIMBERLINE LODGE, Ore. -- Bill Johnson remarkably returned to the slopes Friday, skiing down Mount Hood just eight months after a frightening crash left the 1984 Olympic downhill champion in a coma with a brain injury. "It felt great. I turned a lot," Johnson said after a warmup run...

NEW YORK -- Jeff Gordon and the still-vibrant memory of Dale Earnhardt Sr. dominated Friday night's NASCAR Awards. While Gordon was honored for his fourth Winston Cup championship and raked in a record payoff of $10,879,757, the sport gathered for a black tie gala that also was a tribute to Earnhardt, its biggest star who died in a crash in the Daytona 500...

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Baseball's plan to eliminate two teams by next season was dealt a severe blow Friday when Minnesota courts put off until Dec. 27 an appeal of the injunction that forces the Twins to play in 2002. First, the Minnesota Supreme Court refused to grant the request by baseball and the Twins for a speedy review, sending the case to the Court of Appeals...

WASHINGTON -- Federal agents recommended 76 percent fewer criminal cases for prosecution in the weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, a computer analysis of Justice Department records shows, in a sign of one cost of the war on terrorism. The sudden shift of thousands of federal agents to the terrorism investigation came at the expense of traditional crimefighting against drugs, bank robberies, illegal immigration and white collar crime, the analysis conducted for The Associated Press showed...

ST. LOUIS -- When the St. Louis Rams drafted two defensive tackles in the first round in April, the situation looked iffy for Brian Young. Now, it's Young who's still standing. Young, a fifth-round pick last year, split time with Damione Lewis, the 12th overall pick this year, most of the year before Lewis was lost with a broken foot two weeks ago. But Young has been the starter all year, and that again will be the case Sunday at Atlanta...

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. economy, battered by the terrorist attacks, turned in its worst performance in a decade during the third quarter, shrinking at a rate of 1.1 percent. Many economists expect an even steeper drop in the current quarter but are hopeful for a turnaround next year...

The St. Denis Home and School Association will host a winter craft sale today from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. and again from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday in the school gym in Benton, Mo. Crafts, specialty food items, candles and woodworking items will be offered. Door prizes will be awarded. Chili, chicken noodle soup and ham and beans will be served...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- The idea for the photo exhibit GIFTS: In Celebration of Women, which opens here Sunday, goes back to 1993 when Susan Tesseneer-Street assembled an exhibit featuring some of her favorite portraits of men. "There are certain photographs that really touch my heartstrings," Street explained...

ST. LOUIS -- An eastern Missouri fireworks plant where three workers were severely burned in a June explosion should pay $242,000 in fines, federal workplace safety investigators said Friday, citing two earlier accidents that killed two other workers at the site...

ROLLA, Mo. -- University of Missouri campuses in Kansas City and St. Louis may soon offer in-state tuition to their neighbors across the state lines. The university system's board of curators is considering whether to offer the lower rates for some Kansans and Illinoisans...

BRANSON, Mo. -- For decades, Branson's quaint old lakefront resorts and restaurants have closed for the winter. This time, though, some of them won't reopen. The city plans a convention center to replace the Salvation Army Thrift Shop, high-rise condominiums where retirees now park their campers, and a boardwalk instead of a blacktop trail frequented by foraging geese. The whole project will cost an estimated $150 million...

DECATUR, Ga. -- A former sheriff was arrested Friday in the assassination last December of his successor, who was gunned down in his driveway before he could make good on a campaign promise to clean up corruption. Sidney Dorsey and two other men were arrested before dawn and charged with murder in the slaying of Sheriff-elect Derwin Brown, who was ambushed and shot 11 times, days before he was to be sworn in...

LOSANGELES -- Paul McCartney called him "my baby brother." A fan thought him "quiet and nice and powerful." Musicians and music lovers on Friday mourned the death of George Harrison, the "quiet Beatle" who fit in famously, if not always happily, alongside his more colorful bandmates...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Robert Tools, the first person to receive a fully self-contained artificial heart, died Friday of internal bleeding and organ failure after living with the device whirring in his chest for 151 days. He was 59. The death was announced by Drs. Laman Gray Jr. and Robert Dowling, who implanted the softball-sized device at Jewish Hospital on July 2...

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- Not only is Butler County at a crossroads of state and federal highways, it is, according to a recently-finished study, at a crossroads of opportunity. That's the name of the retail study which surveyed the retail, manufacturing, health care, recreation and education statistics of Butler County and the eight-county trade area. The eight counties include Butler, Reynolds, Wayne, Stoddard, Carter, Ripley, and Dunklin in Missouri and Clay County, Ark...

PHILADELPHIA -- When infantryman Donald Morehouse awoke at a military field hospital in 1953, surgeons told him a bullet had missed his heart by an inch. On Tuesday, the 70-year-old Korean War veteran underwent bypass surgery and received a different diagnosis: the slug hadn't missed at all. It passed directly through his heart...

HARTFORD, Conn. -- Traces of anthrax were found on a letter in Connecticut for the first time Friday, prompting the governor to suggest the 94-year-old woman who died mysteriously of the disease last week might have gotten it from her mail after all...

For at least one man, this Christmas season brings a sense of deja vu, with many boys and girls requesting the same kinds of toys they asked for in the 1940s and 1950s. This year, fire-engine red paint is definitely in short supply. "The elves haven't painted this many fire trucks in decades," said Santa Claus, interviewed Friday at Westfield Shoppingtown West Park...

MEXICO CITY -- As he sought the presidency in Mexico, Vicente Fox was an impatient crusader who made "Today! Today! Today!" a campaign slogan. A year after overturning seven decades of political history, Fox is pleading for patience as he struggles with a sluggish economy and a hostile Congress...

The director of admissions and financial aid at Jefferson College in Hillsboro, Mo., has been hired as admissions director at Southeast Missouri State University. Deborah Below will begin duties at Southeast on Jan. 7 at an annual salary of $68,000. School officials announced the hiring on Friday...

JERUSALEM -- The U.S. special Mideast envoy said Friday his peace mission will not be spoiled by increasing violence and threats by militants, and he will stay "as long as it takes" to secure a truce. The mediator, retired Marine Corps Gen. Anthony Zinni, made the pledge a day after an Islamic militant blew himself up on a bus in Israel, killing himself and three passengers...

MADRAS, India -- Illegal homemade liquor laced with methanol killed at least 27 people in southern India and hospitalized 120 others, police said Friday. It was the third mass liquor poisoning in the area since September. At least 89 people have died despite a government ban on shops selling such liquor...

MILAN, Italy -- The men spoke in code of a mysterious "drug" they wanted to try on people. One referred repeatedly to the substance as "tomato cans" and said he wanted to see what effect it would have on someone breathing it in. The conversation between suspected members of Osama bin Laden's terrorist network was cryptic, but authorities in Italy think they know what the men were talking about: obtaining cyanide, a poison used to make deadly chemical weapons...

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Anti-Taliban tribesmen said they seized tanks and heavy weapons Friday from Taliban militiamen who gave up without a fight near the airport outside Kandahar. An American general said the battle will go on until the Taliban stronghold is a "free city."...

KOENIGSWINTER, Germany -- Talks on Afghanistan's political future deadlocked Friday after the northern alliance leader in Kabul insisted an interim administration be elected and objected to plans for international peacekeepers. The impasse came amid a rift between the alliance's leadership in Afghanistan and its delegation at the U.N.-sponsored conference here outside Bonn...

A Scott City police officer was served two restraining orders Thursday and accused of stalking and harassing a fellow employee and her husband. The ex parte orders, issued by Associate Circuit Judge David C. Mann, prohibit Lt. Roy Butler from contacting the woman, a dispatcher at the police department, or her husband in any way...

A set of Cape Girardeau parents won't be able to provide gifts for their daughter and son because they've been out of work with health problems. The father is disabled and cannot work, and the mother is recovering from foot surgery. The family is relying on donations to Toybox, a joint program of the Cape Girardeau Jaycees and the Southeast Missourian that provides holiday gifts to children of needy families...

Hatred is ugly SO THE Bible states that homosexuality is a sin. Doesn't it also have something to say against greed and gluttony? Does this mean all fat people are sinners who will be eternally damned if they don't slim down? I think it does. We need to strip fat people of their civil rights until they all go on diets and save their souls. Hatred is ugly, isn't it?...

Bill Graham, 56, of Cape Girardeau died Thursday, Nov. 29, 2001, at St. Francis Medical Center. He was born Oct. 2, 1945, in Mine LaMotte, Mo., son of Walter H. and Inez A. Mullins Graham. Graham was a graduate of Fredericktown High School in Fredericktown, Mo. He moved to the Cape Girardeau area in 1971 and operated an auto body restoration business...

CAIRO, Ill. -- Harley S. McKee, 68, of Cairo died Thursday, Nov. 29, 2001, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. He was born Dec. 19, 1932, in Olive Branch, Ill., son of Clarence and Mary E. Bedwell McKee Sr. He and Virginia Mayberry were married Jan. 28, 1987...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Heartsill Daniel, 86, of Sikeston died Friday, Nov. 30, 2001, at his home. He was born Oct. 11, 1915, in Lamar, Ark., son of Jess and Mable Holman Daniel. He and Helen Mae Ziegenhorn were married Nov. 2, 1939, at Dexter, Mo. Daniel was a retired self-employed farmer and carpenter. He attended Community of Christ Church...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Betty B. McFarland, 71, of Sikeston died Friday, Nov. 30, 2001, at Missouri Delta Medical Center. She was born May 31, 1930, in Goobertown, Ark., daughter of August Martin and Luie Elmertie Shell McFarland. McFarland owned a childcare business and was a member of Ladd's Chapel Church...

LeRoy Cecil, 80, of Cape Girardeau died Friday, Nov. 30, 2001, at Fountainbleau Lodge. Cecil was born Aug. 27, 1921, in Owensboro, Ky., son of William Roscoe and Della McCann Cecil. He and Lillian Gray were married June 11, 1960. She died Aug. 28, 1992...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Edna L. Wachter, 86, of Perryville died Friday, Nov. 30, 2001, at Perry County Nursing Home. She was born Feb. 2, 1915, at Shawneetown, Mo., daughter of Benjamin K. and Anna Gerler Scholl. She and Eldor Oscar Wachter were married Oct. 25, 1936. He died Nov. 10, 1983...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Mary Lucille Carson, 69, of Sikeston died Friday, Nov. 30, 2001, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born May 12, 1932, in Sikeston, daughter of Grover Cleveland and Magdalene Cantrell Heath. She first married John H. Pobst Jan. 9, 1950, in Piggott, Ark. He died May 3, 1998. She and Jackie Lee Carson were married Oct. 26, 1998, in Mesa, Ariz...

JACKSON, Mo. -- Delbert N. Parker, 71, of Jackson died Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2001, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born Nov. 26, 1930, at Seventy-Six, Mo., son of Fred and Hazel McLain Parker. He and Joanne Kimbel were married June 23, 1951...

CAIRO, Ill. -- Floyd E. Fair, 84, of Cairo died Friday, Nov. 30, 2001, at his home. He was born Oct. 3, 1917, at Kennett, Mo., son of Alfus and Lydia Fair. He married Edith Fair, who died Dec. 27, 2000. Fair was a retired pipefitter. He was a member of First Christian Church, Pipefitters Union Local 562 in St. Louis, United Organization of Pipefitters and Construction Workers, Royal and Select Masters, Knights Templar, KIM Shrine Club of Cairo and Ainad Shrine Temple of East St. Louis, Ill...

Gantt Son to Jeffery Scott Gantt and Danielle Nichole DuBois of Jackson, Mo., Southeast Missouri Hospital, 3:34 p.m. Monday, Nov. 19, 2001. Name, Kobe Scott. Weight, 7 pounds. First child. Ms. DuBois is the daughter of Pierre and Becky DuBois of Jackson. Gantt is the son of Judy and Randy Cagle of Cape Girardeau...

10 years ago: Dec. 1, 1991 The Rev. Marcus Zill is guest preacher at worship services at Trinity Lutheran Church; Zill is director of development for Missouri District of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod; his theme for first Sunday in Advent is "Here He Comes! Ready or Not!"...

DE SOTO, Mo. -- Senior guard Matt Cardin came off the bench to score 22 points as Cape Central defeated De Soto 70-65 Friday to give new coach Derek McCord his first victory. De Soto jumped out to an 18-10 first quarter lead, behind 6-3 leaper Rodney Kelly's 11 points, before the Tigers went to a full-court press...

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) -- Israeli helicopter gunships fired nine missiles near the headquarters of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on Monday, witnesses said, in apparent retaliation for weekend suicide bombings by Islamic militants. A large fire could be seen burning at the site, sending a plume of smoke rising over the city. Palestinian security personnel ran away from the area under attack as ambulances raced to the scene, sirens blaring...

To the editor: As an Internet reader of the Southeast Missourian I want to say that Art Matthews is wrong on his views of homosexuality. Being homosexual is not a sin against man. It is a sin against God. When homosexuals practice their belief, they take from our heavenly Creator the opportunity to create a person with a free will. A person with a free will has the choice to give his unconditional love to God. Homosexuality takes away from God. That is why it's wrong...

To the editor: The Missouri Mentoring Partnership works with at-risk youths under the age of 22 to develop the skills needed to become self-sufficient adults. In our Worksite Program, youths complete job-readiness training and are placed in employment with one of our 158 corporate partners who provide workplace mentors. ...

IRVING, Texas -- The last time Gary Barnett was in Texas Stadium was in July, when he and two players stopped by on their way to the airport following Big 12 media day. The visit was Barnett's way of getting them to visualize their dream of returning to the stadium for the league championship game. It was a stunning move considering the Buffs were coming off a 3-8 season. It seemed even wilder when the Buffs lost their opener...

Life for Mrs. F. is getting lonelier as her relatives die. A sister recently died, and her son was killed in a car accident several years ago. The holidays can be difficult times for her now that there are few relatives here. Mrs. F. survives on a minimum food-stamp subsidy and Medicaid and Medicare coverage. She is diabetic and needs medications...

Cape Girardeau Saturday, Dec. 1 DWIVann Ray St. Clair, 2048 Anthony, was issued a summons Thursday for driving while intoxicated. James Holloway Blasingame Jr., 20, of Florissant, Mo., was arrested Thursday for driving while intoxicated. ArrestsMichael Anthony Fischer, 21, of 47 S. Park was arrested Thursday for failure to appear...

Nobody is arguing that both last winter's weather and the accompanying natural-gas bills were brutal. Cape Girardeau County was iced over and at near-record low temperatures for weeks in December. Meanwhile, low inventories of gas in a volatile market left local customers paying two and three times what they would have in a normal winter...

Cape Girardeau Saturday, Dec. 1 Firefighters responded to the following calls Thursday:At 8:49 p.m., a motor vehicle accident at Mount Auburn and Highway 74. At 10:44 p.m, an emergency medical service at 224 Independence. Firefighters responded to the following calls Friday:At 12:22 a.m., an emergency medical service at 3115 Bloomfield...

The Sikeston Charter Commission is to be congratulated on months of hard work writing Sikeston's potential future. The commission members met faithfully and agonized over every detail. They invited, and even pleaded, for public input. The members of the commission have scripted every detail of the city's potential government, including a change to a city council elected partially by ward. It is now up to voters to pass or reject their work on April 2...

Roman Catholic and conservative Protestant leaders condemned the first reported cloning of a human embryo, while other Christian and Reform Jewish leaders supported using the procedure to cure diseases. Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, of the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, said Massachusetts scientists who announced Sunday that they had cloned a six-cell embryo were playing God and reducing humans to spare parts...

Walk around the campus at Cape Girardeau Central High School at noon and you're likely to see James Green hanging out with the students, eating lunch or talking about sports. He can talk about last night's basketball game because he was there. He knows who's starting or sitting the bench with an injury. He's seen the Tigers win some and lose some. Like any loyal fan, he's devoted to the team...

BETHLEHEM, West Bank -- A white stone monument rises from Manger Square, dedicated to a 17-year-old Palestinian killed on the spot by Israeli weapons fire. Mile-long Nativity Street is lined with a gutted five-story hotel, piles of rubble from shops knocked down by bulldozers and buildings with bullet-pocked facades. They're all reminders of Israel's 10-day occupation of the biblical town in October...

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Southeast Missouri State's women's basketball team improved to 4-1 Friday night with a 70-57 victory over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the Unilever Lady Tiger Tournament semifinals. The Othakians improved to 4-1 and led in nearly every statistically category. Southeast shot 46 percent compared to TAMUCC's 34 percent...

Western Illinois coach Jim Kerwin can sympathize with what Gary Garner, Kerwin's counterpart at Southeast Missouri State University, is going through. Last year, fielding a young and inexperienced squad, Kerwin's Leathernecks lost their first 16 games on the way to a 5-23 record. While things aren't nearly so bad for Garner's squad at this point, the young and inexperienced Indians are 0-3 for the first time since the program's inaugural Division I season in 1991-92...

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- It's no longer a case of shoot first and ask questions later for Clarence Gilbert. A gunner without a conscience his first three seasons at No. 3 Missouri, Gilbert suddenly is just as happy dishing the ball off as he is launching 3-pointers...

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Michigan State has a chance to win a game to be bowl eligible -- again. The Spartans (5-5) were a win away from qualifying for postseason play after they beat Michigan, but they have lost three straight since then. "Every week it's been in our hands and we haven't come through," running back T.J. Duckett said. "We have no choice but to win now. If we don't, the season is over."...

One win for Miami, two for Florida -- that's the formula for a national championship game in the Rose Bowl featuring two fierce rivals. Sounds great, but games still have to be played, conference titles must be decided and the Bowl Championship Series computer has to calculate the final numbers...

To the editor: Am I the only one to be struck by the ludicrous nature of the debate on allowing airline pilots to carry guns in cockpits? Let's see: It is insane and too dangerous to arm the pilots so they can defend their planes and passengers because in the event of a hijack attempt an innocent passenger may be injured. ...

Smallpox could be the biggest bioterrorism threat facing Cape Girardeau, Missouri's top security official said Friday. Tim Daniel, homeland security special adviser to Gov. Bob Holden, said terrorists could wreak havoc around the world with the deadly smallpox virus...