Stories from Sunday, September 29, 2002

WASHINGTON -- Election-year politics are a chief reason for the Senate's impasse on creating a Homeland Security Department. Democrats are refusing to buck their allies in organized labor and give President Bush the broad power he demands to hire and fire agency workers...

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina -- Unemployed and hungry, Guillermo Guerrero yanks up his shirt sleeves and plunges his grimy hands into a trash bag bulging with old newspapers, bottles and rotting vegetables. Blocks away, Marisa Demitri and her 11-year-old son, Adrian, sift through trash piled up on a street corner, picking at discarded food and searching for anything to recycle, sell or eat...

SEATTLE -- A long-anticipated Nirvana song that's been the subject of much speculation and litigation finally surfaced on the nation's airwaves last week, more than eight years after singer Kurt Cobain killed himself. Cobain's estate closely guarded "You Know You're Right," making it one of the most legendary unreleased tracks in rock history. The band, which launched the early 1990s "grunge" movement, recorded it in late January 1994, less than three months before Cobain's death...

Oh, to be young, blond, handsome and royal. Britain's Prince William is all that. The actor portraying him in a new made-for-TV movie has the first three traits down and is the son of British pop royalty. Jordan Frieda gets his big acting break in "Prince William," airing at 6 p.m. today on ABC...

SAN DIEGO -- People with genital herpes who worry about passing the virus to others should be offered a prescription drug that has been shown for the first time to reduce transmission, a researcher says. The drug, called Valtrex, is already widely used to treat and prevent flare-ups of genital herpes. A study released Friday shows that it also cuts in half the chance that people will infect others through sexual contact...

LACKAWANNA, N.Y. -- Kamal Derwish once boasted to fellow Yemeni-Americans in this old steel town that he expected to take up arms for the Taliban in Afghanistan, according to federal authorities. A burly and ebullient Islamic activist, Derwish was born in nearby Buffalo but spent most of his 29 years in Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Neighbors say he promoted hard-core Muslim beliefs during periodic visits here over the last three years and enlisted a string of young adherents...

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The U.S. lacks an extradition treaty with Yemen, one reason why the six men suspected of belonging to a terror cell in western New York should be denied bail, according to prosecutors. "Given that the defendants have strong familial ties to Yemen, the defendants are provided an easy opportunity and incentive to go where they are free of the jurisdiction of this court," U.S. Attorney Michael Battle said in court papers Friday...

SAN FRANCISCO -- A judge dismissed all charges against a man who stormed the cockpit of an Alaska Airlines jetliner two years ago in a bizarre case blamed on encephalitis. U.S. District Judge William Alsup signed an order Thursday dismissing all charges against construction contractor Peter Bradley of Blue Springs, Mo., after confirming Bradley had completed a diversion program of medical treatment and 200 hours of community service...

Rocker Joan Jett performs for troops BAGRAM, Afghanistan -- Wearing black boots, camouflage pants and a fishnet top, American rocker Joan Jett performed for several hundred soldiers at the U.S. military headquarters in Afghanistan. About 500 coalition troops, mostly Americans, attended a concert Friday night in an airplane hangar with automatic weapons slung behind their backs...

ITHACA, N.Y. -- For 12 seconds on a blustery December morning in 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright kept their hand-built flying machine aloft on the wind over the North Carolina coast, a seminal event that opened the age of air travel and changed the world...

KASHIWAZAKI, Japan -- Hatsui Hasuike has gone over the night a million times in her head. Kaoru, her youngest son, was home on summer break from a university in Tokyo. In the early evening of July 31, 1978, he said he was going to the library. He did not bother to take his wallet and said he would not be out late since they had to get up early the next morning to watch his sister compete in a tennis tournament...

DEADLY MARITIME DISASTER By Edward Harris ~ The Associated Press DAKAR, Senegal -- Divers smashed the windows of the capsized Senegalese ferry MS Joola and hauled out victims of one of Africa's worst ferry disasters. At least 180 bodies have been recovered from among more than 730 people believed dead...

WASHINGTON -- There are more differences between a chimpanzee and a human being than once believed, according to a new genetic study. Biologists have long held that the genes of chimps and humans are about 98.5 percent identical. But Roy Britten, a biologist at the California Institute of Technology, said in a study published this week that a new way of comparing the genes shows that the human and chimp genetic similarity is only about 95 percent...

WASHINGTON -- Attempts to restore sight to people with damaged retinas are turning toward signaling the brain the way nature does it, using chemicals to deliver signals to nerve endings. Experiments already under way with retinal implants seek to use electrical signals to make the nerves send information to the brain...

OVERLAND, Mo. -- A teenager has been accused of trying to kill his diabetic aunt by putting gasoline in her insulin, saying she had been mistreating him, police in this St. Louis suburb said. The 45-year-old aunt, who has raised Lee Lloyd Gough III for the past 10 years, survived the alleged tampering July 31, when authorities allege Gough brought the contaminated medicine to her at her Overland apartment and watched her inject it...

MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. -- The Missouri Gaming Commission blames a shortage in officers for a nearly 25 percent decrease in arrests at state casinos. The Missouri State Highway Patrol says it doesn't have enough officers for the roads, let alone the boats...

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. -- A 400-pound Bengal tiger that held police at bay for much of Saturday was shot and killed as it attempted to flee the area. The tiger escaped from a trailer at a truck stop around 5 a.m. and fled to an overgrown field near a residential area, Bloomington Police spokesman Duane Moss said...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A Texas lawyer experienced in high-profile cases will mediate between two drug makers and cancer patients suing them over pharmacist Robert Courtney's drug dilution scheme. Susan S. Soussan has mediated thousands of lawsuits in the past two decades, including a $480 million settlement from Exxon Corp.'s insurers, led by Lloyd's of London, to pay for the cleanup of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska...

LINN, Mo. -- The unmarked, white-block building off the main road in this hilly Osage County seat, population 1,354, is an unlikely location for Huebler Industries. While it's a rather unique, aging structure -- a former dairy processing plant converted into a manufacturing operation -- it doesn't speak to the signature craftsmanship that takes place inside...

MIAMI -- American troops will train Colombian soldiers and police to help them take control of a region of the country crawling with rebels and paramilitaries, a senior U.S. military officer said. The training by U.S. special forces is part of a larger American effort to help Colombia battle insurgents who have waged war in the South American country for 38 years...

The Associated Press RABAT, Morocco -- A fundamentalist party that wants to apply Islamic law in Morocco, including chopping off robbers' hands, performed strongly in elections, government officials said. A party leader said they expected to double their seats in parliament...

LOS ANGELES -- Archaeologists have uncovered the remains of a Viking longhouse that many believe was the home of Snorri Thorfinnsson, thought to be the first European born in the New World. The 1,000-year-old ruins were found in a glacial valley in northern Iceland during a survey of Viking-era buildings led by archaeologists at the University of California, Los Angeles...

TOKYO -- Back in the 1980s, a wedding reception in Japan was something to see. Brides would go through two or three changes of dress. The guests -- and there were often hundreds -- would be treated to expensive French meals and then sent home with bags of lavish gifts...

WASHINGTON -- Finance leaders directed the International Monetary Fund on Saturday to develop a dramatic new approach to resolving debt crises that have engulfed countries from Asia to South America. The goal is creation of a process by which nations with unmanageable debt could declare bankruptcy and force creditors to negotiate more lenient repayment terms...

SUTTON COLDFIELD, England -- Tiger Woods teamed with Davis Love III for two victories Saturday, helping the United States pull into a tie with Europe after the second day of the Ryder Cup at The Belfry. The Europeans started the day with a 4 1/2-3 1/2 lead...

ST. LOUIS -- Chuck Finley's 200th career victory wasn't the first thing he thought about Saturday. "I'm more excited about going to the playoffs," he said after leading the Cardinals over the Milwaukee Brewers 3-1. "It's probably something in the offseason that I'll enjoy but, obviously, it was a big game for us. It meant something, so that's good."...

ST. LOUIS -- For a winless team that was supposed to contend for another Super Bowl, the Rams are holding up remarkably well. Though they've dug an early hole, they still believe. "A house divided cannot stand," tight end Ernie Conwell said. "Teams I've been on that have struggled and then continued to struggle, it's been finger-pointing, it's been dissension and bickering and jealousy and envy...

COLUMBIA, Mo -- After four games of this stuff, maybe no one should be surprised with Missouri's Brad Smith. But once again, the freshman quarterback who entered Saturday's game against Troy State leading the Big 12 in total offense, left the crowd in awe as he and the Tigers easily dispatched the Trojans 44-7...

Initially, B.J. Smith's players thought he was crazy. Now they seem to like the idea of carrying basketballs wherever they go. "I thought he was really crazy," senior LaShelle Porter said with a laugh. "But now I can see what it's for and I don't mind."...

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. -- Do you believe in miracles? Southeast Missouri State University football team apparently did. As a result, the Indians picked up what coach Tim Billings called "the biggest win in the history of our program." The Division I-AA Indians, prohibitive underdogs against Division I-A Middle Tennessee State Saturday night, pulled off a shocking 24-14 victory...

STE. GENEVIEVE, Mo. -- Scott City was in control for a quarter Friday, but that's when its game against Valle went sour in a 50-13 loss. The Rams (1-3) led 13-12 after the first quarter, but Valle (1-3) kept the Scott City offense in check and puts its passing game into high gear from there...

Time is slipping away from me these days. I'm trying to keep track of it, but it's getting harder and harder to do. Becca and Bailey now have a fully scheduled life, full of everything from gymnastics to Girl Scouts. Add in church functions, art club and choir and you've got a full plate of activities...

Want to go? What: City of Roses Music Festival When: Music begins at noon, Sunday, at the main stage. Headliners the Sitze Family play at 4:45 p.m. Where: Riverfront Park Admission $12 By Mike Wells ~ Southeast Missourian...

The Central Tigers have no other choice than to be quick healers this season. With a Thursday night game against Graves Co., Ky., looming, Central wasn't afforded much time Saturday to dwell on their first loss of the season, a 35-28 double-overtime defeat suffered the night before at North County...

Marijo Meade's alarm clock rings at 6 a.m. Monday through Friday, a jolting reminder that retirement isn't playing by her rules. The stock market has seen to that. "I really had planned to play golf and do my thing, but it hasn't worked out that way," said Meade, 69, who retired from a career in fund-raising three years ago, but recently took a temporary data entry job paying $8.50 an hour to help cover her bills. "I'm pinched."...

NEW YORK -- To most people, bankruptcy means failure, hitting the bottom and having no way out. For companies, it often spells the beginning of the end, and those that make it through are often stigmatized, shrunken and saddled with huge legal bills...

LAS VEGAS -- When Linda Pulido visited Las Vegas, she never expected to help decide who'd be the next anchor on a morning television news show. But Pulido found herself giving her opinion about who was hot, and who was not, during a screening at CBS' Television City, part of the network's market research operations that's located at the MGM Grand hotel...

The Associated Press MILWAUKEE -- OshKosh B'Gosh Inc., the children's clothing company once known most for its bib overalls and farm duds, is turning to SoHo for help coming up with new designs. The company is establishing a design team in New York City, hoping to mix the trendy fashion of Manhattan's SoHo district with the traditional styles created at its Oshkosh, Wis., headquarters...

More than 120 racers crowded downtown Cape Girardeau for the third annual Vicky Keller River Run. After holding the first two five-kilometer races at Health South, this year's race was moved downtown to try to gather more interest and crowd support with the help of the River City Music Festival, which also is held this weekend...

DEXTER, Mo. -- Former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole said Saturday that the United States should keep pressure on Saddam Hussein and encouraged Congress to pass a resolution backing military action against the Iraqi leader. "The resolution needs to pass the Congress," Dole said Saturday. "We need to get the U.N. to do something, and the president needs to make a judgment -- whether it's now, next month or four months from now -- when it's necessary to move."...

Worley Jr. and Cary score Fall Classic wins at ATPR BENTON, Mo. -- Tommy Worley Jr. of Bismarck, Mo., passed Indiana's Kraig Kinser for good on the 28th lap, then led Kinser from there to win the $5,000 top prize late Friday in the Motorsports Fall Classic sprint event at Auto Tire and Parts Racepark...

Baseball Rey Ordonez backed off comments calling Mets fans stupid, blaming the frustration of a last-place season on his outburst. In an interview published in Saturday's New York Post, the Mets shortstop said the treatment from the fans would lead him to want to leave the team when his contract runs out after next season...

The Rams' problem is ... EVERYBODY'S WONDERING what's wrong with the Rams this year. Well, what I've seen is that they don't have an offensive line to block and they don't have a defensive line to do anything. 'Hoosiers' and 'Rudy'...

The American version of Shangri-La comes with a white picket fence around the yard and a baked apple pie cooling on the windowsill. Small towns are the nation's favorite image of itself. The enduring popularity of Norman Rockwell's homey prints may be evidence enough of the national love affair with Main Street, U.S.A...

Cape Girardeau Sunday, Sept. 29 Firefighters responded Saturday to the following calls: At 12:24 a.m., emergency medical service at 2311 Jane Drive. At 12:26 a.m., alarm sounding at 3257 William Street. At 4:21 a.m., emergency medical service at 40 S. Sprigg...

Mr. and Mrs. Harold Sanders of Cape Girardeau observed their 55th anniversary Sept. 10, 2002. Sanders and the former Dorothy James were married Sept. 10, 1947. Sanders worked at A&P in Cape Girardeau 31 years, and retired from Schnucks in 1992. Mrs. Sanders worked at Montgomery Ward...

ST. LOUIS -- Jennifer Pancoast of Central placed eighth to lead local competitors in the Hancock Invitational, annually the biggest cross country meet in the state. Pancoast, a sophomore, covered the 3.1-mile course at Jefferson Barracks in 20 minutes, three seconds to finish among the top 30 medalists...

Faint cheers of a girls' softball game rose uphill to the veterans memorial wall in Jackson's Brookside Park on Saturday morning as veterans, auxiliary members, Boy Scouts and families walked between 129 burial flags of deceased U.S. veterans, each pole with its own nameplate...

There's not much money on Cape Girardeau's south side. Some of the homes are quaint and properly maintained. But others are run down, with high weeds, chipped paint and junk cars in the yards. Some neighbors there complain about loitering on the corners and suspected drug dealers...

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, census tracts generally have between 1,500 and 8,000 people, with an optimum size of 4,000. So it's unusual that Jackson, a city with a population of about 12,000, is considered one big tract by the bureau. Still, the numbers show that Jackson has seen a substantial growth in per-capita income since 1990...

CAIRO, Egypt -- German spies hid out on the Nile's floating abodes. Nobel Prize laureate Naguib Mahfouz used them as a literary backdrop for drug-hazed gatherings of Egyptian bohemians. Cairo's houseboats own a history steeped in truth and myth. The romance of watching the world's longest river flow north toward the Mediterranean -- below flocks of migratory birds and away from Cairo's grit and grind -- has lured locals and foreigners alike to live afloat on the Nile...

NORFOLK, Neb. -- The annual fall parade marched down Norfolk Avenue as planned Saturday. The usual garage sales opened for business, and at the Hy-Vee, a grocery store that doubles as a restaurant, neighbors sat down to their daily breakfast gatherings...

MISSOURI FESTIVALS If you're not interested in traveling outside Missouri to enjoy fall beauty and weekend fun, there are plenty of festivals right here. You can get a taste of Missouri-grown produce or toast the season at a winery by stopping in at some of the Show-Me state's festivals. Here's a sampling of what's happening during October:OCT. 5-6...

SAGINAW, Mich. -- Psst! There's a word in the English language that doesn't contain a vowel, and Tyler Mayle found it. The fifth-grader at Chester Miller Elementary School here answered a challenge posed by reading teacher Brenda Bell: find a word consisting only of consonants...

New York promises $14 million for ferry link ALBANY, N.Y. -- New York is putting up $14 million to help establish a high-speed, Lake Ontario ferry service between Rochester and Toronto. "The new Fast Ferry will have a tremendous impact on the Greater Rochester area -- boosting tourism, creating new jobs and establishing a quick and convenient transportation link with Canada," says Gov. George Pataki...

While the Southeast Missouri State University's budget plan is focused on keeping jobs, more than 30 employees will still be affected by it. A handful of those could get pink slips. Read more about it in Sunday's Southeast Missourian.

School president Dr. Ken Dobbins' cost-cutting plan announced last week left most of Southeast Missouri State University's approximately 900 employees sighing with relief. They won't lose their jobs or even be shuffled into new positions under the proposal, to be considered by the board of regents on Oct. 18 as the Cape Girardeau school copes with state funding cuts. It's perhaps the last $451,521 in $5.26 million worth of cuts this fiscal year...

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. -- If you're a Southeast Missouri State University football fan -- or player or coach -- forgive me for saying this. I figured the Indians would get creamed by Middle Tennessee State Saturday night. Not that I don't think the Indians are making steady progress under third-year coach Tim Billings and his staff. I believe they are...

WASHINGTON -- Environmental groups are running television ads that praise Democratic Sen. Jean Carnahan, but they don't mention the occasions when she has opposed them. The subject illustrates sharp difference between Carnahan and Republican challenger Jim Talent, except when it comes to policies that could harm Missouri jobs...

ST. LOUIS -- We will soon be off to war. President George W. Bush seems to prefer to conduct foreign and military policy on a unilateral, take-it-or-leave-it basis. If Bush is the Lone Ranger, British Prime Minister Tony Blair is Tonto. First, a little history...

Over the last three months, and especially since his forthright speech to the United Nations earlier this month, it has become increasingly clear that President Bush has resolved on a course that is leading to war with Iraq. The coming military action has an explicit goal: A regime change that topples the brutal dictatorship of Saddam Hussein...

I would like to respond to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle. Wednesday he took the Senate floor and used it as a personal soapbox of political vendettas under the guise of homeland security. He lashed out against the Bush administration and the Republican Party for trying to turn U.S. efforts toward protecting the American people into a political carpet ride...

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraq defiantly rejected a U.S.-British plan Saturday for the United Nations to force President Saddam Hussein to disarm and open his palaces for weapons searches, warning the Baghdad would stage a fierce defense if the allies attacked...

WASHINGTON -- Scientists have found genetic signs of West Nile virus in the breast milk of a new mother battling the infection. Her baby is healthy and there's no evidence yet that West Nile virus actually could be transmitted by breast-feeding, federal health officials stressed Friday -- but they are investigating that possibility...

Mosquitoes carrying malaria found in Virginia LEESBURG, Va. -- Malaria-carrying mosquitoes have been found near the homes of two infected teenagers. Authorities say it is the first case in at least two decades in which malaria was detected in mosquitoes and humans in a U.S. community...

Ten killed, 200 injured in Bangladesh explosion DHAKA, Bangladesh -- At least four bombs exploded Saturday in a packed movie theater and a crowded circus show in southwestern Bangladesh, killing at least 10 people and injuring 200, police said. The death toll was likely to rise since many of the injured were taken to hospitals in serious condition, a police official said on condition of anonymity...

CLAYTON, Mo. -- A teenager whose shooting by undercover St. Louis officers last year sparked claims of police brutality has been acquitted of charges he shot at officers who wounded him. A St. Louis Circuit Court jury on Friday cleared Jerome Johnson, 17, of three counts each of first-degree assault on an officer and armed criminal action, apparently believing his testimony that police wrongly accused him of firing at them on April 3, 2001...

Cape Girardeau Sunday, Sept. 29The following items were released by the Cape Girardeau Police Department. Arrests do not imply guilt. DWI Eric A. Kelley, 26, of 714 N. Sprigg was arrested Saturday on suspicion of driving while intoxicated and leaving the scene of an accident...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Most Missourians probably don't remember Saturday, April 20, a warm, sunny day that provided no earthshaking news and was unexceptional -- except for the state's estimated 2.8 million wage earners who on that date stopped working to pay taxes and started earning for themselves...

10 years ago: Sept. 29, 1992 First phase of construction of Veterans' Memorial in Jackson is scheduled to begin next week; Gwen Winningham, chairman of Memorial to Veterans of All Wars Committee, says 36-foot diameter concrete foundation for memorial will be poured next week, weather permitting...

Jewell Mae Kemp, 82, of Cape Girardeau died Friday, Sept. 27, 2002, at the Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau. She was born July 13, 1920, in Cape Girardeau, daughter of Raymond M. and Nellie S. Baker Jones. She and Marion H. Kemp were married Sept. 30, 1944, in Blytheville, Ark. He died Dec. 6, 1990...

Margy Huggins, 69, of Cape Girardeau died Friday, Sept. 27, 2002, at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis. She was born July 15, 1933, in Cape Girardeau, daughter of Hayward Joseph and Verna Ussery Poe. She and Herbert Huggins were married Aug. 17, 1952, at Cape Girardeau...

FAIRVIEW HEIGHTS, Ill. -- Howard Edwin Greer, 80, of Fairview Heights died Saturday, Sept. 28, 2002, at Memorial Hospital in Belleville, Ill. He was born Feb. 2, 1922, at Bessville, Mo., son of Tony C. and Dora Myers Greer. He married Gail James. He was the owner of Greer's IGA Foodliner in Marble Hill, Mo., before moving to Florida in 1978. ...

Norma J. James, age 54, of Marble Hill, Mo., died Friday, Sept. 27, 2002, as the result of an auto accident near Marble Hill. She was born Nov. 29, 1947, in the Trace Creek Community in Bollinger County, daughter of the late Harry and Mildred Opal Barrett Sitze...

Concerned about bridge I do not buy MoDOT putting a chain on a bridge member. The member was installed for a purpose, and it should be reattached. I understand why the bridge has to have movement or it would fail. Maintenance is the first thing that is cut when the economy goes negative. ...

To the editor: There is misinformation circulating in the community and being perpetuated by comments in FanSpeak regarding poor sportsmanship and taunting ocurring in a recent soccer game. The inaccuracies are resulting in much ill-will between schools where none is deserved. The game in question was not a game between Central and Notre Dame but was played at Notre Dame' Soccerfest. It did not include Notre Dame players or students...

The quiet life isn't for everyone. Sometimes the best place to be is in the middle of it all. The property at 10 South Spanish was right in the middle of it all when it was built in 1880. Even now the property is still in the middle of it all as Cape Girardeau's downtown undergoes a renaissance...

ALTENBURG, Mo. -- Kellie Renae Lynn and Michael Norman Engert exchanged wedding vows June 15, 2002, at Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg. The Rev. Ronald Paseur performed the ceremony. Music was by Tyson Wunderlich and soloist was Sally Buerck, both of Altenburg...

ORAN, Mo. -- Melonie Ann Cannon and Bobby Gene Phillips were married Sept. 14, 2002, at Delta. Cathy Medlin of Grassy, Mo., performed the ceremony. Nancy Phillips of Grassy, sister-in-law of the groom, played keyboards. Soloists were Barbara Kembel of Jackson and Kelli Kinder of Delta...

MCCLURE, Ill. -- Mr. and Mrs. Jimmie Baker of McClure will celebrate their 50th anniversary with an open house Oct. 6. The event will begin at 2 p.m. at their home. Baker and the former Patty Powless were married Oct. 4, 1952, in Corinth, Miss., by the Rev. J.T. Hill. Their attendants were Harold Thompson of Tamms, Ill., and the late Louise Goins...

BENTON, Mo. -- Ronald Lee Buck of Paris, Mo., announces the engagement of his daughter, Chrystal Aundria Buck of Benton, to Caleb Wade Brown. He is the son of Wayne and Sharon Brown of Oran, Mo. Buck is a graduate of Cape Girardeau Career and Technology Center. She is an assistant manager at Taco Bell in Cape Girardeau...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Mr. and Mrs. James Edward "Eddie" McDowell of Sikeston announce the engagement of their daughter, Merideth Anne McDowell, to Justin Michael Pobst. He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. J. Michael Pobst of Sikeston. McDowell is a 1999 graduate of Sikeston High School. She expects to receive a degree in mass communications and public relations from Southeast Missouri State University in May 2003...

ORAN, Mo. -- Jacqueline R. Stanley and Mark P. Hobbs announce their engagement. She is the daughter of Jack Stanley of Marion, Ill., and the late Joyce Stanley. Hobbs is the son of George Hobbs of Oran. Stanley is a 1999 graduate of Crab Orchard High School, and attended Southeastern Illinois College. She is employed at Williamson County Courthouse...

BENTON, Mo. -- Sharon Hennemann of Benton announces the engagement of her daughter, Jill Ann Todt, to Corey Dale Siebert, both of Oran, Mo. He is the son of Charles Siebert of Oran and Anita Sauceda of Morley, Mo. Todt is also the daughter of the late Garry Todt of Oran...

CHAFFEE, Mo. -- Janel Sue Guebert of Hoyleton, Ill., and James Thomas Blevins II of Chaffee announce their engagement. She is the daughter of Jim and Judy Guebert of Red Bud, Ill. He is the son of Jim and Kathy Blevins of Chaffee. Guebert is a 1988 graduate of Waterloo High School, and a 1992 graduate of Concordia University in Seward, Neb. She is employed at Trinity Lutheran School in Hoyleton...

Don and JoAnn Chism of Houston, Texas, announce the engagement of their daughter, Sherri Lyn Bernal, to Matthew David Jackson. He is the son of David and Kathy Jackson of Cape Girardeau. Bernal is a graduate of Alief Hastings High School in Houston, and a 1997 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. She is a military intelligence captain in the U.S. Army, stationed at Ft. Huachuca, Ariz...

LEOPOLD, Mo. -- Omer and Marie Seiler of Leopold announce the engagement of their daughter, Sandy Jones, to Rod Davis. He is the son of Sharon Davis of Cape Girardeau, and the late Jim Davis. Jones is a graduate of Leopold High School. She is employed at Co-Op Service Center Inc. in Whitewater...

Amanda Marie Chapman and John Charles Beaudean were united in marriage July 20, 2002, at Trinity Lutheran Church in Cape Girardeau. The Rev. Douglas C. Breite performed the ceremony. Organist was Ryan Meyer of Nebraska. Music was also provided by Matt Janssen of Iowa and Anne Middendorf of Nebraska on trumpets, Joe Lach of Minnesota on trombone, Ron Walker of Cape Girardeau on tuba, and Rachel Sattgast of South Dakota on french horn...

Editor's note: This column was first published on Oct. 10, 1999. Many years ago I purchased a set of the World Books. Along with it came a gift book titled, "Through the Year with the World Book." It listed things to do each month as if one size fit all. I did most of the things except some like "Make a sail for your boat," and "Make a telescope." The exercises were good for they caused me to make my own list of things to do each month...