Stories from Tuesday, March 4, 2003

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraq crushed missiles, sliced casting chambers, unearthed bombs and sent scientists to talk with U.N. weapons inspectors Monday, all in a desperate effort to prove it is disarming before a crucial U.N. report at the end of the week...

Southeast women hope to convert their best-ever OVC finish into trip to Nashville. By Marty Mishow ~ Southeast Missourian Southeast Missouri State University's women had little trouble winning both games against Eastern Illinois during the regular season...

MIKE WELLS * mwells@semissourian.com John P. Heisserer, center, was sworn into office Monday as the new circuit judge for Division II of the 32nd Circuit Court District by Missouri Supreme Court Chief Justice Stephen Limbaugh. Heisserer's children, Tess and Jed, held the Bible he placed his left hand on while taking the oath of office at the Court of Common Pleas in Cape Girardeau.By Mike Wells ~ Southeast Missourian...

In 1972, a New York dance company led by choreographer Steve Paxton created a dance form that became known as contact improvisation. It is a kind of dancing that relies on sensed communication with other dancers, on balancing with partners and working with their momentum...

In 1972, a New York dance company led by choreographer Steve Paxton created a dance form that became known as contact improvisation. It is a kind of dancing that relies on sensed communication with other dancers, on balancing with partners and working with their momentum...

Anastacia to undergo treatment for cancer NEW YORK -- Anastacia is scheduled to undergo radiation therapy after having surgery to remove cancer from her breast, her publicist said Monday. The 30-year-old pop singer, who also had reconstructive surgery on her breast, underwent a seven-hour operation last month at an undisclosed hospital in New York. Her cancer was detected during a routine checkup in January...

The Associated Press NEW YORK --In a scheme prosecutors described as pure greed, ImClone Systems founder Samuel Waksal admitted Monday to dodging $1.2 million in sales taxes on nine paintings he bought from a New York art gallery. Waksal, 55, pleaded guilty in federal court to wire fraud and conspiracy, admitting he ducked the city and state taxes by having bills for the paintings sent to an ImClone office in New Jersey and the art shipped to his Manhattan apartment...

JERUSALEM -- Israeli troops arrested reclusive Hamas ideologue Mohammed Taha on Monday in a deadly raid, signaling a change in Israeli strategy that until now had not targeted the Islamic militant group's leadership. Backed by attack helicopters and tanks, troops blew up Taha's home and three others in the Bureij refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. Eight people died in the raid, and besides the 65-year-old Hamas co-founder, his five sons -- all Hamas activists -- were arrested...

New U.S. Embassy opens in Kenya NAIROBI, Kenya -- A new, heavily fortified U.S. Embassy was inaugurated Monday in Nairobi, 4 1/2 years after a terrorist attack on the complex killed 219 people. The four-story building is the first U.S. mission to be built from scratch since Congress authorized upgrades to diplomatic missions around the world after the Aug. 7, 1998 bombing...

ST. LOUIS -- A Texas man was charged in federal court Monday after a routine traffic stop on Interstate 44 led sheriff's deputies in southwest Missouri to 1,000 pounds of marijuana in the back of a tractor-trailer. Pascual del Angel, 51, of Bridgeport, Texas, was charged with possession with the intent to distribute more than 100 kilograms of marijuana, said spokeswoman Jan Diltz of the U.S. attorney's office in St. Louis...

ASHBURN, Va. -- The Washington Redskins have been signing free agents so quickly that owner Dan Snyder had to rotate the pilots who fly the new players in on his jet. "You don't know what day it is," director of player personnel Vinny Cerrato said Monday. "We've been just going and going. The kids are coming in, you're working, taking them to dinner at night...

SOUTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. -- Rhode Island is investigating allegations that players received money from former basketball coach Jim Harrick's staff and boosters and had their grades changed. University spokeswoman Linda Acciardo said last month the school was investigating alleged violations outlined in a lawsuit it settled with former athletic department employee Christine King...

WASHINGTON -- Babies and toddlers have a 10 times greater cancer risk than adults when exposed to certain gene-damaging chemicals, the government said Monday, in proposing tougher environmental guidelines that would take into account the greater hazards to the young...

Southeast faces OVC co-champion Morehead State in opening round of OVC Tournament. By Marty Mishow ~ Southeast Missourian Southeast Missouri State University coach Gary Garner plans to give the Indians a motivational blast from his past as they prepare for the first round of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament...

Oakland pitcher Tim Hudson knows he's supposed to be excited about opening the major league baseball season in Japan. And if the world situation were less precarious, he probably would be. Instead, with the United States preparing for war, Hudson is worried about the March 25-26 games against Seattle...

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- In the first games of spring training, players aren't the only ones getting ready for the season. Fans have made their pilgrimages from the white, wintry North, grateful enough to thaw out, twice blessed by a return to the rhythms of the game after five months away. Others are year-rounders down here, coming to the cozy ballparks on a break from work, school or the golf course...

Old Man Winter seems to have a strong grip on Southeast Missouri, but area schoolchildren are delighted he's still around. With more than 20 inches of snow since November, some school districts have had to cancel classes almost once a week. And last week was no exception: Schools were out for snow days on Monday and plenty had expected to be out Thursday because of weather forecasts that called for more snowfall...

As one set of black robes was set aside by a man who gave nine years to public service, another was donned for the first time Monday by a new judge coming to the bench from 21 years in private practice. Raising his right hand and placing his left on a Bible held by his son and daughter, John P. ...

CHESTER, Ill. -- When Canadian Millie Strom married Rodney Yoder, the mental patient who recently fought and lost a battle to be released from the Chester Mental Health Center after 12 years, she said she was "sentencing him to a lifetime of love."...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The latest review of compliance with the state Sunshine Law by public bodies yielded good news and bad news, State Auditor Claire McCaskill said. McCaskill's audit, released Monday, focused on how public bodies handle closed meetings...

Jackson city administrator Jim Roach calls them small projects, but little projects like these can go a long way, he said. The Jackson Board of Aldermen acted on two infrastructure improvements Monday night involving the extension of utilities in two separate industrial parks...

In the two years that people have been gathering on the first Tuesday of the month for prayer, the group has met in nearly every church in Cape Girardeau. Today the First Tuesday Noon Worship group will meet at noon at the Cape Girardeau schools office, 301 N. Clark. Future meetings are being scheduled on the Southeast Missouri State University campus and possibly at a veteran's hall...

The career Jeff Markland had planned was cut short by a sports injury and a 20-year addiction to drugs. But now, Markland, a former NFL player for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Miami Dolphins, says he's enjoying true success. "I'm doing good things with my life and I know who I am and what I want to do with my life," he said...

Cape Girardeau School District officials have added March 21 to the makeup days students will attend as a result of winter weather cancellations earlier this year. Originally, the day could not be used as a makeup day because of a district music competition that was scheduled to take place at Central High School. The competition has been rescheduled for March 22...

Basement sleeping rooms in Cape Girardeau will have to meet new safety requirements designed to prevent fatal fires. The city council on Monday approved the first reading of a measure adopting the 2000 building codes and the 2002 electrical code on a 6 to 1 vote with Councilwoman Marcia Ritter casting the lone dissenting vote...

Saxony Lutheran High School freshman Trey Maevers took special care getting ready for school Monday morning. First came the blue hair gel, which he used to flattened hair on one side of his head. Then came the gold hair gel, which he used to make hair on the other side of his head stand up...

Cape Girardeau's Convention and Visitors Bureau wants to spend an estimated $650,000 in surplus motel and restaurant tax money to help develop attractions that would draw tourists to the city. CVB and chamber of commerce officials say they don't have specific plans yet, but they want the council to allow the chamber-operated agency access to the money and use a small amount of the money to pay for a tourism study...

The Associated Press JUPITER, Fla. -- Jason Simontacchi and Dustin Hermanson each pitched two scoreless innings and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the New York Mets 7-1 Monday. Soon after the game started, St. Louis manager Tony La Russa left for his home in Oakland to attend the trial of a defendant accused of assaulting one of his daughters...

WASHINGTON -- Manufacturing barely grew and consumers cut spending amid worries about a possible war with Iraq. The Institute for Supply Management's index of manufacturing activity fell to 50.5 in February, a marked deterioration from January's reading of 53.9...

WASHINGTON -- Four armed North Korean fighter jets intercepted a U.S. reconnaissance plane over the Sea of Japan and one of the Korean jets used its radar in a manner that indicated it might attack, U.S. officials said Monday. Lt. Cmdr. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said it was the first such incident since April 1969 when a North Korean plane shot down a U.S. Navy EC-121 surveillance plane, killing all 31 Americans aboard...

WASHINGTON -- FBI and CIA experts dug through piles of information Monday from the Pakistani home of alleged Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, searching for clues that new strikes might be imminent. U.S. authorities also questioned Mohammed on Monday, seeking information about safe houses and hideouts used by the al-Qaida terror network, a Pakistani intelligence official said. Mohammed's exact whereabouts were unclear...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- John Waldron, 72, of Hardin, Ky., died Friday, Feb. 28, 2003, at Murray Calloway County Medical Center in Murray, Ky. He was born March 2, 1930, in Pocahontas, Ark., son of Marvin and Tula Caldwell Waldron. He and Billie Jean Larker were married Nov. 19, 1950. She died Nov. 4, 2002...

BENTON, Mo. -- Marcus Aron Slinkard, 25, of High Ridge, Mo., died Saturday, March 1, 2003, at his home. He was born Sept. 20, 1977, in St. Louis, son of Louis and Sharon Turman Slinkard. Slinkard was equipment manager with Washington Inventory Service...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Mildred Robinson, 92, of Sikeston died Saturday, March 1, 2003. She was born Feb. 4, 1911, in Meadowview, Va., daughter of Solomon Lee and Victoria Davenport Logan. She and William Henry Robinson were married in May 1942. He died in 1952...

CAIRO, Ill. -- Freda Valeria Ice, 93, of Union City, Tenn., died Monday, March 3, 2003, at Beverly Nursing Home in Union City. She was born Sept. 26, 1909, in Karnak, Ill., daughter of Claude and Delsie Miller Bolen. She married Bill Ice, who died Jan. 22, 1963...

BLOOMFIELD, Mo. -- Stella M. Pikey, 88, of Bloomfield died Saturday, March 1, 2003, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born Sept. 13, 1914, at Portageville, Mo., daughter of Tom and Laucinda Hawkins White. She and Cecil Pikey were married Jan. 3, 1934, at New Madrid, Mo. He died June 8, 1972...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Leona R. Pillars, 75, of Perryville died Sunday, March 2, 2003, at her home. She was born Feb. 3, 1928, at New Wells, Mo., daughter of Charles Erwin and Hilda Rozena Bodenschatz Hoffman. She and Charles A. Pillars were married March 25, 1944...

The funeral for Henry W. "Hank" Ueleke of Dixon, Ill., was held Monday at Preston-Schilling Funeral Home in Dixon. Dana LaBerge officiated. Burial was in Oakwood Cemetery, with full military graveside service by combined veterans organizations. Ueleke, 73, died Thursday, Feb. 27, 2003, at his home...

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- Kimberly Lynn Haynes, 41, of Nashville, Tenn., died Saturday, March 1, 2003, at St. Thomas Hospital in Nashville. She was born Aug. 22, 1961, in Cape Girardeau, daughter of Jerry and Sue Underwood Haynes. She was formerly of Marble Hill...

Sidney James Holder, 68, of Woodbridge, Va., died Thursday, Feb. 27, 2003, at Potomac Hospital in Woodbridge. He was born March 18, 1934, at Fornfelt, Mo., son of Ardell A. and Margaret Holder Sr. Holder was a member of VFW Post 1503 in Dale City, Va., and VFW Post 7916 in Occoquan, Va...

ANNA, Ill. -- Flora B. Baggott, 93, of Greenville, Miss., died Monday, March 3, 2003, at Mississippi Care Center. Crain Funeral Home in Anna is in charge of arrangements.

CAIRO, Ill. -- Falvyn Dewayne Grice, 38, formerly of Cairo, died Sunday, March 2, 2003, at Pinckneyville Correctional Center in Pinckneyville, Ill. Friends may call at Massie Funeral Home in Cairo after 11 a.m. Wednesday. The funeral will be at noon Wednesday at the funeral home, with the Rev. Ronnie Mack Sr. officiating. Burial will be in Spencer Heights Memorial Park in Mounds, Ill...

ADVANCE, Mo. -- Billy Joe Harris, 41, of Belleview, Mo., formerly of Advance, died Saturday, March 1, 2003, at his home. He was born April 22, 1961, son of J. Paul and Margaret Richardson Harris. He married Kelly Jo Hopper on Aug. 23, 1979, at Eufaula, Ala...

10 years ago: March 4, 1993 Convention and Visitors Bureau will reconsider whether city should sponsor "town hall" meeting regarding riverboat gambling in Cape Girardeau; CVB Advisory Board last week voted to hold three informational meetings to discuss riverboat casino, cost of which wasn't to exceed $1,500; however, group will reconsider its actions because of public concerns over expenditure of city funds for what might be considered promotion of riverboat gambling in city...

BELL CITY, Mo. -- Jesse Michael Barnes, 62, of Bell City died Sunday, March 2, 2003, at his home. He was born July 30, 1940, in Jackson, Tenn., son of Jesse and Inez Holloway Barnes. He and Vivian Lee were married Aug. 21, 1965. Barnes was a teacher at Bell City Schools 14 years and principal at Bell City High School three years. He had worked the past 24 years at Missouri Division of Employment in Sikeston, Mo...

Weather statistics IN REGARD to your weather forecast, I really appreciate you listing the normal highs and lows, and it's also interesting to know what the record high and low were. I appreciate it. Thank you. Wrong generation I WASTED my time in watching the Grammy awards show. ...

Judge: Sniper suspect may face death penalty FAIRFAX, Va. -- A judge rejected defense arguments Monday that Virginia's death penalty law is unconstitutional and barred cameras in the courtroom for the trial of teenage sniper suspect Lee Boyd Malvo...

Public hearings * Held a hearing on plans to improve an alley running from Fifth Street to Johnson Street between Main Street and Water Street. * Held a hearing on plans to improve that part of an alley running from New Madrid Street to Mississippi Street between West End Boulevard and Illinois Avenue. Consent ordinances...

Cape Girardeau Tuesday, March 4 The following items were released by the Cape Girardeau Police Department. Arrests do not imply guilt. DWI Timothy H. Ainley, 38, of 283 Graphite Lane, Cape Girardeau, was arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated, possession of drug paraphernalia and failure to stop.Arrests...

Cape Girardeau Tuesday, March 4 Firefighters responded to the following call Saturday: At 10:08 p.m., an emergency medical service at 20 S. Sprigg.Firefighters responded to the following calls Sunday: At 6:02 a.m., an alarm at 1025 N. Sprigg. At 6:22 a.m., an alarm at 400 N. Frederick...

Picture a cross between Dennis the Menace and Freddy Krueger and you'll have some idea of what you're dealing with when you sit down to play the darkly amusing "Vexx." The star of this new Xbox title, from Acclaim, has a mischievous look in his eyes and a set of amazingly evil slasher claws like the "Nightmare on Elm Street" movie monster...

It seems as if it has been forever since I have written my last article -- vacation can do that to you! For this week, and the previous week, my "region" has its last half of a two-week winter break. Scholar regions are split into three groups: A, which is my region and includes Alsace, Normandy/ Brittany, the Rhône Valley and the southernmost part of France; B, which includes the French Riviera, Champagne country, Burgundy and the Loire Valley; and C, which includes Paris and the surrounding area, also known as "Île de France," and Bordeaux. ...

With Cape Girardeau's budget such as it is -- tight -- city firefighters could simply have complained about there not being enough money for a tool they truly need: a thermal-imaging camera that would help them find people trapped in burning, smoke-filled homes...

P Laws in Indiana and other states requires face-to-face counseling with medical professionals as well as a waiting period before having an abortion. Women need to be informed in making this decision. For decades, the issue of abortion has created an embroiling debate, a hot-button issue unlike any in American history...

Fourth-seeded Meadow Heights' boys basketball team used a halftime buzzer beater to shift the mometum its way and dispose of fifth-seeded South Iron 77-70 in the first round of the Class 2, District 2 tournament Monday at Black River Coliseum in Poplar Bluff, Mo...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Two of Missouri's top players say they plan to return to school for their senior seasons to play for the Tigers. Arthur Johnson has drawn attention after leading the Big 12 with 15 double-doubles this season, while Rickey Paulding has been projected as a first-round NBA draft pick...

To the editor: On Feb. 18, the Missouri House of Representatives voted in favor of legislation that affects the welfare of all Missouri residents. House Bill 390 (and its companion bill, Senate Bill 300) would license anesthesiologist assistants to practice in this state. SB 300 will soon be debated...

To the editor: I am an 18-year-old senior at Oak Ridge High School. I have a question dealing with the school at Oak Ridge. I have a Mohawk haircut cut close on the sides and about 2 inches long on the top. I wear it spiked on the top. The principal of the school instructed me today to put my Mohawk down because it was a distraction. ...

To the editor: I have been hearing all weekend about Gov. Bob Holden wanting to balance the Missouri budget. I am all for a balanced budget, but how does he figure on doing this? By taking money from our schools. That will hurt our kids in the future, and they will be put further behind later in life when a good education is needed in the job market. I can see a job applicant saying, "No, I didn't graduate because my governor cut our education taxes."...

ST. LOUIS -- The first thing that strikes you as you walk into the new Busch Stadium is the view beyond the outfield walls. Unlike the completely-enclosed old Busch, the new stadium features an open plaza in center, and the view is spectacular. In left-center, nestled among downtown hotels and office buildings sits the Old Courthouse where the Dred Scott slavery case was heard. ...