Stories from Saturday, September 27, 2003

CHICAGO -- Here's how excited Chicago Cubs fans are these days: They were lined up outside Wrigley Field at 5 a.m. Friday hoping to get their hands on tickets for a game later in the day with, of all teams, the lowly Pittsburgh Pirates. Not to sit and watch the game, but to stand...

A coupon for $75 in gasoline and the opportunity to insult the town of Jackson were two incentives for contributing to the Central High School's fund raiser for Area Wide United Way this month. Central High School's student senate raised nearly $2,300 in a raffle for the coupon and the sale of T-shirts that malign their rivals at Jackson High School...

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Al MacInnis, who separated his shoulder in last season's playoffs, scored on his first shot of the preseason as the St. Louis Blues beat the Nashville Predators 4-1 Friday night. Dallas Drake also scored in his preseason debut for the Blues (3-1-1). St. Louis played its last home game until Oct. 18, with four exhibition games and three regular-season games before then...

PHOENIX (AP) -- Shea Hillenbrand's leadoff home run ignited a three-run sixth inning and the Arizona Diamondbacks eliminated the St. Louis Cardinals from the NL Central race with a 7-6 win Friday night. Manager Tony La Russa wasn't in the dugout to see his team fail to reach the postseason for the first time since 1999. He and catcher Mike Matheny were serving the first of two-game suspensions stemming from recent run-ins with umpires...

NEW YORK -- George Plimpton, the gentleman editor, literary patron and "participatory journalist" whose fumbling exploits included boxing, trapeze-flying and, most famously, quarterbacking for the Detroit Lions, has died at 76. Plimpton died Thursday night at his New York apartment, his longtime friend Elaine Kaufman said Friday. She had no information on the cause...

PARIS -- Robert Palmer, the well-tailored British rock singer who created one of the first iconic music videos with the look-alike models of "Addicted to Love," died Friday of a heart attack. He was 54. A two-time Grammy winner in the 1980s, the star behind the hit "Simply Irresistible" died of a heart attack at a Paris hotel during a stopover after a promotional tour in Britain, manager Mick Cater said...

WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. -- Gov. Gray Davis challenged Arnold Schwarzenegger to a debate "right here, right now," accusing the actor Friday of distorting his record. The Schwarzenegger campaign declined. Davis' challenge was the most direct confrontation the governor has made during the campaign leading up to the Oct. 7 recall election and came as his campaign planned to air his first television ad attacking Schwarzenegger in the final week and a half of the campaign...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Bedridden patients screamed for help and firefighters carried the elderly and disabled down ladders and stairs as a fire spread through a four-story nursing home with no sprinkler system, killing eight people and critically injuring 16...

CUCUTA, Colombia -- Steep mountains, thick jungles: U.S. government-contracted pilots are facing immense challenges and hazards as they fumigate drug crops at ground-hugging altitudes in their latest offensive in eastern Colombia. But the pilots' missions are made even dicier because they are flying beyond areas cleared of rebels by army troops, two senior Colombian army commanders told The Associated Press. ...

JERUSALEM -- A Palestinian gunman broke into a Jewish settlement in the West Bank on Friday and opened fire in a home where a family was marking the Jewish New Year, killing a man and a toddler and shattering Israel's efforts to maintain calm over the holiday...

UNITED NATIONS -- Progress in Middle East peacemaking depends upon having Palestinian leaders who will crack down on groups such as Hamas, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Friday as he met with U.S. partners in the peace process to assess progress on their "road map" peace plan...

BAQOUBA, Iraq -- Attackers ambushed a U.S. military vehicle with a rocket-propelled grenade in the northern city of Kirkuk, killing a soldier and wounding two others, officials said Friday. More U.N. employees left Iraq, a day after Secretary-General Kofi Annan slashed the already diminished foreign staff...

KUSHIRO, Japan -- The violent jolt threw Sachiko Katsuta back into bed when she tried to go downstairs to her restaurant, where dozens of rice bowls had crashed to the floor. Yet within hours of Friday's pre-dawn earthquake -- the world's most powerful in 2 1/2 years -- she and other residents of Japan's northern island of Hokkaido were counting themselves lucky and resuming life as usual. Aftershocks rocked the island again today. There were no reports of injuries or damage...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The presidents of Northwest Missouri State University and the University of Missouri system said Friday they will delay asking the legislature to consider a merger. However, the institutions will form what was dubbed a "strategic partnership" while officials continue to work out the details of making the Maryville campus the fifth campus of the University of Missouri system...

OSAGE BEACH, Mo. -- Confronting his political rivals Friday, Gov. Bob Holden accused leaders of the Missouri Chamber of Commerce of projecting a misleading, negative image about Missouri that is doing more harm than good to the state's business climate...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The U.S. Army has assigned a senior colonel to investigate whether state Sen. Jon Dolan violated any military regulations by returning on leave to Missouri to cast the deciding vote enacting a concealed-guns law. While the officer's involvement signifies an increased interest in Dolan's case, the Army has stopped short of launching a formal investigation, which would include judicial-style proceedings, Raul Duany, a spokesman for the U.S. ...

Local schools with poor reading scores may soon get a boost through $108 million in new federal funding earmarked for literacy programs. The U.S. Department of Education announced Thursday that Missouri will receive $29 million this year, and an additional $79 million over the next six years, to help fund the federal No Child Left Behind Act's reading initiative...

Heavy metal music has been played in the nightclubs since the City of Roses Music Festival began seven years ago, but the festival this year gave the genre its own venue for the first time. Part of the reason is that some club owners don't want to be hosts to the defiantly loud heavy metal bands...

WASHINGTON -- Segway scooters, touted as almost untippable when unveiled two years ago, are being recalled. It turns out they don't work so well when the batteries get low -- riders have fallen off and been injured. The Consumer Product Safety Commission announced the recall Friday of all 6,000 scooters that have been sold, saying three people had been hurt. One suffered a head wound and needed stitches...

TALLADEGA, Ala. -- Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s right foot was still hurting, but that wasn't the problem Friday. An illegal car ruined his qualifying run at Talladega Superspeedway. Earnhardt, who has won a record four straight Winston Cup races at the high-banked Alabama trioval, was set to start 10th in Sunday's EA Sports 500. Then his No. 8 Chevrolet didn't get by the inspectors, who discovered the right quarter-panel was too low...

SAN ANTONIO -- Tommy Armour III capped a 62 with a birdie on the 18th hole Friday and held a one-stroke lead over Dan Forsman, who hit three tee shots on his final hole, after the second round of the Texas Open. Armour's 14-under 126 on the La Cantera Golf Club course was the lowest two-round score on the PGA Tour this year...

Holt doesn't have to wonder about it any more. The Govs stunned Southeast Friday night at Houck Field House in the Ohio Valley Conference opener for both teams, rallying for a 19-30, 30-28, 30-22, 30-27 victory in front of about 100 fans...

Southeast Missouri State University hopes to spoil Samford's Ohio Valley Conference debut tonight when the squads begin OVC play in Birmingham, Ala. If the winless Indians don't, then coach Tim Billings figures they could be in big trouble. "This is a critical game for us," Billings said. "We really need to win it."...

DEKALB, Ill. -- Northern Illinois was off to its best start in years. The Huskies had upset Maryland, blown out Tennessee Tech and were on the verge of their first-ever national ranking. And, surprisingly, many were still unimpressed. "I had a lot of people grumbling to me, 'Boy, you guys didn't play very good,'" coach Joe Novak said following a 42-17 win over Tennessee Tech. "I knew then we'd arrived because we're grumbling and mumbling about a 25-point win...

LAWRENCE, Kan. -- Trudging away a loser while victorious fans whoop and holler and tear the goalposts down is bad enough. What Missouri did was worse -- much worse according to Kansas. To the disbelief of the defeated Jayhawks, victorious Missouri players actually jumped onto the crossbars and helped bring them to the ground at the of end of their 36-12 triumph last October in Columbia...

Southeast eighth after first day of Colonel Classic RICHMOND, Ky -- Southeast Missouri State University's golf team was in eighth place after the first two rounds of the Colonel Classic hosted by Eastern Kentucky. The Indians were 41 strokes behind Eastern Kentucky. Mark Schmitz was the Indian's top individual at two-over par. Brett Chambers of Longwood is the individual leader at seven-under...

Jack Hewitt's been in the seat of everything from a midget car to an Indianapolis 500 ride. Along the way he's won more than 300 feature races, broke his neck twice and wrote a 330-page autobiography. He's still in the driver's seat, only now it's off the track as the director of competition for the All Star Circuit of Champions sprint series, the tour that will make only its second-ever appearance today at Auto Tire and Parts Racepark...

By Jamie Hall ~ Southeast Missourian A pair of benefit runs could bring more than 200 runners to Cape Girardeau today and Sunday. The Vicky Keller 5K run is expected to attract about 80 runners for its 3.1-mile downtown course today. The fourth annual event starts at 4:30 p.m. and will send runners down Spanish Street, Broadway, Main Street and Good Hope Street. Runners will make three laps around the 1-mile course...

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- St. Louis Rams rookie linebacker Scott Shanle was suspended for four games without pay Friday for violating the NFL's policy on anabolic steroids and related substances. Shanle, a seventh-round draft pick from Nebraska, is eligible to return to the active roster after the Oct. 26 game against the Pittsburgh Steelers...

PHILADELPHIA -- The very definition of greatness has been on display by women's soccer's greatest player. Mia Hamm has been nothing short of magnificent in the World Cup. Scoring, assisting, playmaking, tackling, defending, Hamm has not missed a beat in the two United States victories. ...

Some of the top softball teams from St. Louis along with area teams Jackson, Notre Dame and Central will compete in the 16-team Jackson Tournament today. The field includes three teams ranked in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's top 10, a defending state champion and a state runner-up from last year...

NEW YORK -- Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who believes Osama bin Laden is hiding in the rugged mountain peaks that border Pakistan, said Friday that the al-Qaida terrorist network in his country has been wiped out. But Karzai warned that unless the world steps up its aid and sends more troops, Islamic radicals could regain control in Afghanistan and stage more terror attacks in the West. ...

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico -- Migrants caught in the deserts of Arizona are being put on planes by the U.S. Border Patrol and deported hundreds of miles away along Texas' southern border, in many cases to cities in Mexico they've never seen. U.S. officials say deporting migrants from Texas -- instead of at the border where they crossed -- reduces repeat attempts and cuts migrants' links to the smuggling networks in Arizona, the most popular route for undocumented crossings...

ST. LOUIS -- On draft day, Rams coach Mike Martz was so excited that defensive tackle Jimmy Kennedy was available that he did a dance at the podium. But just like the team's other first-rounders on the defensive line in recent years, Kennedy has had to learn patience. The 12th overall pick was inactive the first two weeks and saw limited action on special teams last week...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- A man escaped Friday from a southwest Missouri courthouse after his parole violation hearing. Michael D. Humphrey, 39, walked out of a Greene County courthouse before he could be booked for the felony violation, when "he would have been taken to the jail to be locked up," said Tom Martin, chief deputy of the Greene County Sheriff's Department...

WASHINGTON -- Telemarketers will be free to make sales pitches next week to people who registered for the national do-not-call list, the government said Friday. At the same time, the industry's largest association was urging its members to respect the wishes of the millions who say they don't want to be bothered...

WASHINGTON -- The tobacco farmer whose protest on the National Mall caused massive gridlock in the capital last March was convicted Friday of two federal felony charges. Dwight Watson, 50, of Whitakers, N.C., was convicted of making a false threat to detonate explosives and of destroying federal property. Each count could carry a prison sentence of as long as 10 years...

Dorilla M. "Billie" Rhodes, 82, of Hazelwood, Mo., died Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2003. She was born April 17, 1921, at Ancel, which is now part of Scott City. Survivors include her husband, Willard L. Rhodes; a daughter, Monica Dulap of St. Louis, and a son, Russell Rhodes...

Jean Rogers Williams Martin, 53, of Cape Girardeau died Friday, Sept. 26, 2003, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born June 26, 1950, at Poplar Bluff, Mo., daughter of Lewis and Ellare Hollingsworth Rogers. She was a member of the Community Church of Christ at Lowndes, Mo., and was a beautician and stylist at the J.C. Penney Styling Salon at Cape Girardeau...

10 years ago: Sept. 27, 1993 Beginning Oct 1, Cape Girardeau Public Library will begin assessing charge to some residents living within corporate boundaries of city but outside municipal library district; library director Elizabeth Ader says charge is nothing new to residents living outside city limits, but a must for those living outside municipal library district...

Daily American Republic POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- A new judge has been appointed to hear the third trial of a Poplar Bluff man accused of killing a teenager and her 73-year-old grandmother in 1996. On Tuesday the Missouri Supreme Court appointed Senior Judge Frank Conley, a retired circuit judge out of Boone County, to Cecil Barriner's case, according to Scott Holste, spokesman for the Missouri Attorney General's office...

Ansberry Daughter to William and Stephanie Ansberry of Cape Girardeau, born at home, 10:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 7, 2003. Name, Frances Margaret. Weight, 8 pounds 6 ounces. Seventh child, fourth daughter. Mrs. Ansberry is the former Stephanie Froemsdorf, daughter of Tom and Elizabeth Froemsdorf of Chaffee, Mo. Ansberry is the son of William and Ruth Ansberry of Cape Girardeau. He is a controller at Havco Wood Products...

WASHINGTON -- Four states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands will share $100 million in federal bonuses for reducing out-of-wedlock births, the Department of Health and Human Services said Friday. The District of Columbia had the largest decline in illegitimate births, 5.5 percent, and will receive about $19.8 million, as will Colorado, Maryland, Texas and Wyoming. The Virgin Islands will receive $888,000...

ZIGUINCHOR, Senegal -- Thousands of Senegalese wearing black sashes gathered Friday in this port city to mourn those who died a year ago in one of history's worst maritime disasters, the sinking of an overloaded seagoing ferry that killed nearly 2,000...

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands -- Faced with massive smuggling of Ecstasy, a U.S. official said Friday the Dutch government needs to give authorities the power to use wiretaps and infiltrate criminal gangs to crack down on its production. The Dutch government "isn't serious enough" about closing down laboratories that ship tons of synthetic drugs to the United States, said John Walters, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. ...

LUBBOCK, Texas -- A former undercover agent who faces perjury charges related to his part in the racially charged drug busts in Tulia says he's proud of what he did and is no racist, despite using a racial epithet "a lot." The epithet is "common slang" and "a greeting," Tom Coleman tells CBS' "60 Minutes" journalist Ed Bradley in Sunday's telecast...

STOCKHOLM, Sweden -- A judge on Friday gave investigators two more weeks to gather evidence linking a 24-year-old suspect with a history of mental problems to the stabbing death of Foreign Minister Anna Lindh. Mijailo Mijailovic, whose youth was marked by family disputes -- including a conviction for attacking his father with a kitchen knife -- was ordered held until Oct. 10 by Judge Goeran Nilsson...

YANGON, Myanmar -- Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been detained since May, was discharged from the hospital Friday after undergoing surgery and returned to her home. Her doctor said she will be held under house arrest. The 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate has been held in an unknown location since her arrest, disrupting a reconciliation process between Myanmar's military junta and the opposition and increasing the country's international isolation...

SEATTLE -- Investigators have arrested a juvenile in connection with the release of a variant of the "Blaster" computer worm, which crippled thousands of computers worldwide last month. It was the second arrest stemming from the release of variants of the worm, but detectives have yet to determine who created the main version...

FLANDREAU, S.D. -- Rep. Bill Janklow pleaded innocent Friday to second-degree manslaughter in the traffic accident that killed a motorcyle rider last month. The Republican former governor also pleaded innocent on three lesser counts, four days after he told reporters he "couldn't be sorrier" for the Aug. 16 crash that killed Randy Scott, 55, of Hardwick, Minn...

The $5.25 million project that calls for extending East Main Street in Jackson to a new Interstate 55 interchange appears on target, as the city starts to buy key property and the state wraps up its search for environmental and cultural problems. Officials working on the joint project say the much anticipated new entrance into Jackson is still on track to be finished in 2006...

Scott City's football team used a second half surge to cut Valle Catholic's lead to 16-14 in the fourth quarter Friday night at Scott City, but the Rams came up short for their third straight loss, a 23-14 setback. The Rams (1-3) trailed 9-0 at halftime before the offense began to click in the second half...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Elvis James McGhee, 46, of Sikeston died Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2003, at Missouri Delta Medical Center. He was born Oct. 4, 1956, in Sikeston, son of Hurley and Nelda McClaine McGhee. He and Barbara Overton were married Jan. 29, 1994...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- James R. Goyins, 68, of Sikeston died Thursday, Sept. 25, 2003, at St. Elizabeth Hospital in Belleville, Ill. He was born March 9, 1935, in Lilbourn, Mo., son of Myrkle and Lucy Jane Shaver Goyins. He and Emma K. Klauer were married March 23, 1955...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Lucille A. Thomure, 85, of Perryville died Friday, Sept. 26, 2003, at Perry Oaks Manor. She was born April 17, 1918, at St. Mary, Mo., daughter of William F. and Hazel P. Lawrence Giesler. She and Adrian J. Thomure were married July 9, 1936, at St. Mary. He died Nov. 4, 1979...

WASHINGTON -- U.S. forces in Iraq are holding 19 suspected members of the al-Qaida terrorist network, the American civilian administrator said Friday. The suspected al-Qaida members are among 248 non-Iraqi fighters being held by the Americans in Iraq, L. Paul Bremer said in a Pentagon news conference...

WASHINGTON -- An international investigation into child sex crimes and pornography, dubbed "Operation Predator," has resulted in more than 1,000 arrests since its inception July 9, federal authorities said Friday. The crackdown has brought arrests in nearly every state and most major U.S. cities, said Michael J. Garcia, director of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency of the Homeland Security Department...

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. economy, powered by a red-hot housing market and a huge dose of spending for the war in Iraq, grew at a surprisingly strong 3.3 percent clip last quarter and raised hopes for an even better performance the rest of the year. The increase announced Friday in the gross domestic product for the April-June period represented an upward revision from a 3.1 percent estimate a month ago, reflecting greater strength than previously thought in housing and several other sectors...

Cape Girardeau Saturday, Sept. 27 Firefighters responded Thursday to the following items: At 5:54 p.m., medical assist at 312 W. Lorimier. At 6:01 p.m., extrication at 17334 U.S. 61. At 7 p.m., alarm at 325 N. Sprigg. At 9:40 p.m., smoldering leaf pile at 1007 Themis...

Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department Saturday, Sept. 27 The following items were released by the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department. Arrests do not imply guilt. DWIs Troy D. Kramer, 40, or Oran, Mo., was arrested Sept. 20 on suspicion of driving while intoxicated...

Cape Girardeau Saturday, Sept. 27 The following items were released by the Cape Girardeau Police Department. Arrests do not imply guilt. Arrests Nathan S. Hill, 23, of 2843 Whitener, Apt. B4, Cape Girardeau, was arrested Wednesday on Cape Girardeau warrants for failure to appear...

The tension is thick at Southeast Missouri State University, as its board of regents prepares to go through the school and eliminate enough to recoup a $2.4 million shortfall in the current operating budget. In the end, some faculty members likely will be without jobs. ...

Stories about Jim and Billie Probst are so incredible, they come across like parables on generosity. "The Good Samaritan" might as well have been about them. When America is at its worst, the Probsts are at their best. They leave their home in Doniphan, Mo., and check in at the Southeast Missouri Chapter of the American Red Cross office in Cape Girardeau. Then it's off to assist wherever and however they are needed...

The Wall Street Journal A year after President Bush asked the U.N. to take seriously its numerous resolutions concerning Iraq, we were glad to see him return to the General Assembly yesterday without apology for the result: "The Security Council was right to demand that Iraq destroy its illegal weapons and prove it had done so. ...

Deceiving looks TO THE person who feels that people who ride motorcycles are just a bunch of Hell's Angels: Men and women ride for various reasons, not so that they look like a bunch of druggies. There are people from all levels of life out there. I feel that you are looking at them with a very narrow mind. ...

Russell Louis Bauer, 75, of Jackson died Thursday, Sept. 25, 2003, in Jackson. He was born Aug. 15, 1928, at Patterson, Mo., son of Joseph Louis and Laverta Russell Bauer. He and Johny Hazel Dickens were married Jan. 13, 1952, in Lordsburg, N.M. Mr. Bauer worked for General Motors in fire protection several years, and in parts at General Motors more than 30 years. He was a member of St. Charles Presbyterian Church in St. Charles, Mo., and United Auto Workers Union...

Roslyn Janet Vavak, 65, of Cape Girardeau died Thursday, Sept. 25, 2003, at her home. She was born July 19, 1938, in Cape Girardeau, daughter of Louis Christian and Elda Marie Lampe Kaufman. She and Johnny W. Vavak were married Aug. 15, 1956, in Hernando, Miss...

Ronald N. "Ron" Glass, 50, of Gordonville died Thursday, Sept. 25, 2003, at his home, after a hard-fought battle with cancer. He was born June 1, 1953, at Poplar Bluff, Mo., son of Roy L. and M. Iverne Lynxwiler Glass. He and Emy Kay Mirly were married Sept. 30, 1972, in Cape Girardeau...

Paul W. Rustige, 86, of Cape Girardeau, formerly of Jefferson County, Mo., died Thursday, Sept. 25, 2003, at St. Francis Medical Center. Ford and Sons Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Dorothy Crites Wachter passed away Friday, Sept. 26, 2003, at St. Francis Medical Center. Dorothy was born in Cape Girardeau, the daughter of Bern and Sarah Tucker Howard. She and "Cap" Crites were married Feb. 26, 1938; he preceded her on March 23, 1973. She and Bob Wachter were married Jan. 15, 1994. He survives...

WASHINGTON -- Poverty rose for a second straight year in 2002 as 1.7 million more people dropped below the poverty line, according to Census Bureau estimates released Friday that provided fresh evidence of the struggling economy's effect on Americans' pocketbooks...