Stories from Saturday, May 7, 2005

Construction crews will transform Cape Girardeau's Water Street into a scenic one-way road for tourists visiting the colorful floodwall mural, but the initial construction work involves water lines, not aesthetics. Workers with Alliance Water Resources, the company that operates the city's water system, are tearing up the pavement and installing two water lines: a 12-inch line to boost water pressure downtown and a 20-inch pipe...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- As the self-proclaimed Medicaid Militia gathered on the Missouri Capitol steps on a windy but warm Friday afternoon for a funeral procession marking the "death" of state health-care services for the poor, a leader of the rally walked the group through the basic rules of peaceful protest...

Missouri Department of Transportation officials have taken another step in the long-range plans to improve Highway 34 between U.S. 60 and Jackson. An engineering and consulting firm hired by MoDOT has wrapped up a draft environmental impact statement on the 85-mile stretch. The report concludes about five years of study...

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Illinois junior Dee Brown, the Big Ten player of the year, will submit his name for the upcoming NBA draft but has not signed with an agent, the school announced Friday. The decision to not hire an agent preserves Brown's ability to return to Illinois for his senior season...

DARLINGTON, S.C. -- A lot has changed at Darlington Raceway since NASCAR's first paved speedway was opened in 1950. What was the backstretch is now the frontstretch, the signature grandstand roof is gone, the traditional Labor Day Weekend Southern 500 is only a memory and the cars now run under the lights. Even the blacktop racing surface that gave the track one of its nicknames -- The Lady in Black -- has faded to gray...

CLAYTON, Mo. -- Rams defensive end Leonard Little was sentenced Friday to two years probation -- and a special condition that he not consume alcohol -- for highway speeding in St. Louis County last year. Little, who police said was driving 78 miles an hour in a 55-mph zone on Interstate 64 in Ladue, was convicted last month of misdemeanor speeding. ...

Sergio Garcia posed over a 9-iron that never reached the green. Vijay Singh felt the wind change in the middle of his swing. Tiger Woods watched a birdie chance disappear off the green and into the water. Blustery wind that swirled from all corners fooled some of the world's best players and turned the Wachovia Championship into a test of patience Friday in Charlotte N.C...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The day before the Kentucky Derby, everybody was curious about George. That would be George Steinbrenner, the New York Yankees boss and owner of the Derby's 5-2 favorite, Bellamy Road. All eyes will surely be on Steinbrenner today when he takes his place alongside other horsemen at Churchill Downs to watch his strapping colt take on 19 others in the world's most famous race...

WASHINGTON -- Yes, Washington, basketball life does exist beyond the first round of the playoffs. For the first time since 1982, the franchise is headed there. Confetti flooded the MCI Center floor Friday night as the Wizards broke a 23-year drought without winning a playoff series by defeating the Chicago Bulls 94-91 behind 19 points from each of their Big Three and a fluke turnover that led to the go-ahead basket...

Ste. Gen company faces fine for river pollution; Court orders defrocked priest freed on bond

CHAFFEE, Mo. -- After years of problems, Chaffee Elementary School's battle against a lack of space will end this summer. Construction will begin in June on a new elementary cafeteria/activity center that will include a lobby and space for events such as concerts and kindergarten graduation...

Rumsfeld: Fewer base closings than predicted; Man pleads innocent in Florida girl's death; CEO: Microsoft will back gay rights legislation

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- A Perry County man was seriously injured in a one-vehicle crash early Friday, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol. Kevin Zoellner, 25, of Friedheim was driving on Route A, just east of Perry County Road 424, when he failed to negotiate a curve, slid off the road and struck a tree before overturning and coming to rest in a pond. Zoellner was taken to a hospital in Ste. Genevieve, Mo...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Truckers on Missouri roads don't buckle up as much as other drivers, the state Department of Transportation said Friday. The agency said that while Missourians' overall seat belt usage is about 76 percent, a study conducted last fall determined that 59 percent of those driving big trucks across Missouri roads wore seat belts...

CARTHAGE, Mo. -- A plant that turns turkey byproducts into oil has agreed to improve its odor control systems following a lawsuit by state and city officials alleging the odors posed a public nuisance. Attorney General Jay Nixon and Renewable Environmental Solutions said Friday that the company had agreed to improve the emissions-control equipment at its plant as part of a consent order filed in Jasper County Circuit Court...

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Insurgent car bombs struck a market and a police bus Friday, killing at least 25 people, and a dozen bodies were uncovered in a garbage dump on the outskirts of Baghdad -- some victims blindfolded and shot execution-style. Also Friday, Iraqi militants holding an Australian engineer hostage issued a 72-hour ultimatum for Australia to start pulling its troops out of Iraq...

Scott City handed advance a 7-5 defeat ~ Southeast Missourian It took nearly two months and 15 games, but someone finally figured out a way to beat Advance's baseball team. Playing its fourth game in four days, Advance was not able to overcome a thin rotation and costly mistakes, as Scott City was able to collar the Hornets with their first loss of the season in a 7-5 victory at Scott City on Friday...

The Central boys track and field team topped the field at the SEMO Conference North Division meet Friday at Sikeston. Central finished with 98 points, followed by Jackson with 65. John Kipper won both the 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs for the Tigers, and the foursome of Hykeem Hammonds, Tyler Terry, Anwar Glenn and Allen Walker won both the 800 and 400 relays...

Missouri will join an Amber Alert system using the Internet to spread information more quickly about missing children, and allowing residents to get electronic notices about searches, Gov. Matt Blunt said Friday. Amber Alerts, which are issued when children are believed to have been abducted, are already in use in Missouri. Most people hear them on the radio, television or by reading them on electronic highway signs...

WASHINGTON -- There's fresh hope for jobseekers that companies will be posting more help-wanted signs. Employers boosted payrolls last month by a brisk 274,000 jobs -- roughly 100,000 more expected. The unemployment rate, meanwhile, held steady at 5.2 percent...

ST. LOUIS -- Trevor Hoffman became the third pitcher in major league history to reach 400 saves and Mark Sweeney had a two-run home run and three RBIs in the San Diego Padres' 6-5 victory over the Cardinals on Friday night. San Diego has won five in a row, including two straight in St. Louis for the first time since July 16-17, 1997. The Padres, who on Thursday ended an 11-game losing streak at Busch Stadium, have lost 19 of their last 23 in St. Louis...

WASHINGTON -- People buying the next generation of digital televisions will be able to record and then watch their favorite shows without any interference from Hollywood. A federal appeals court on Friday threw out government rules requiring built-in, anti-piracy technology to let broadcasters and studios prevent digital shows from being copied and being shown on other TVs, computers and video players...

BIG FLATS, Wis. -- A fast-moving forest fire destroyed 30 homes and forced dozens to flee as it spread to almost 4,000 acres before being contained overnight, officials said Friday. No major injuries were reported. The fire -- described as the largest wildfire in Wisconsin in 25 years -- swept across nearly 3,900 acres, Big Flats Fire Chief Dick Meyers said. About 125 families were evacuated...

BURLINGTON, Vt. -- Vermont, a famously liberal New England state that abolished capital punishment decades ago, is about to see its first death penalty trial in more than 40 years -- a case brought not by Vermont authorities but by federal prosecutors...

NEW YORK -- Police searched on Friday for possible witnesses, including an unidentified jogger and a cyclist, in the investigation of the early morning explosions outside a midtown Manhattan office building that houses the British Consulate. Murky images taken from security cameras showed the female jogger and perhaps two pedestrians passing near the entrance to the building on Thursday shortly before the blasts, police said. ...

Sections of Broadway will be closed for several hours after midnight on Tuesday and Wednesday to allow the contractor on the Southeast Missouri Hospital construction project to remove the boom from a large crane and relocate the crane, Cape Girardeau police said...

Explosion rocks Christian port city near Beirut; Hard-liners triumph in Northern Ireland election; Blair's new Cabinet keeps many longtime allies

The first-year Saxony Lutheran baseball team scored four runs unearned runs in the top of the seventh inning to post a 7-6 road victory Friday against Meadow Heights, a district opponent. Meadow Heights (7-8) led 6-3 after six innings but committed three of their four errors in the last inning and blew a seventh-inning lead for the fifth time this season...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Alger K. Stephenson, 88, of Sikeston died Thursday, May 5, 2005, at Missouri Delta Medical Center. He was born May 30, 1916, in Salt Lake City, Utah, son of Reno G. and Gertrude Calhoun Stephenson. He and Loretta Henley were married March 8, 1950, in Washington, D.C...

PAINTON, Mo. -- Donald Ray Wondel Sr., 63, of Painton died Thursday, May 5, 2005, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. He was born June 29, 1941, at Painton, son of Emory and Elizabeth Surface Wondel. He and Marvenia King were married Feb. 24, 1968, in Bell City, Mo...

Anita E. Haertling, 85, of Jackson died Thursday, May 5, 2005, at Jackson Manor. McCombs Funeral Home in Jackson is in charge of arrangements.

MOUND CITY, Ill. -- Ada F. Costellia, 94, of Benton, Ky., died Friday, May 6, 2005, at Lourdes Hospital in Paducah, Ky. She was born July 5, 1910, in Salem, Ky., daughter of Arthur and Ila Dickerson Mercer. Costellia moved to Mound City in 1927. Survivors include two daughters, Wilma Thomas of Benton, Patricia Crysler of Fort Meyers, Fla.; a son, Lee Costellia of Lake St. Louis, Mo.; a friend, Leroy Daily; 10 grandchildren; 21 great-grandchildren; and eight great-great-grandchildren...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Billy Ray Oakley, 72, of Sikeston died Thursday, May 5, 2005, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. He was born April 26, 1933, in Hayti, Mo., son of Walter and Allie Ingould Oakley. He and Ruth Weddle were married on Oct. 11, 1952, in St. Louis...

JONESBORO, Ill. -- Sophronia McRaven, 82, of Jonesboro died Friday, May 6, 2005, at Memorial Hospital of Carbondale, Ill. Hileman Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

All is forgiven; Social insecurity; Filling time; Cheaper to fly; Paid own way; New day at NBC ; What's going on; Tit for tat; Scoot over ; Live like Christ; God and science; Not fond of Fonda; Cuts necessary; Radar alert; Thanks to Dumey; Bush brothers; Help only deserving; Tobacco politics; Reverse Robin Hood; Waking up; Baccalaureate kudos; Medicaid murder

John David Pattillo, who coached the Poplar Bluff boys basketball team to the last two Class 5 state championships and a 157-90 record in nine seasons, announced Friday he was resigning his position. "I really want to spend my time with my family," Pattillo told the Daily American Republic...

New pastor named at Cornerstone Church Cornerstone Assembly of God in Cape Girardeau has a new senior pastor. The Rev. Darrell Jones and his wife, Vickie, will begin at the church later this month. Jones has been with the Assemblies of God since 1990. He is currently serving as presbyter of the Van Buren section, and as the president of the Ministerial Alliance in Winona, Mo. He has served as pastor of the Winona Assembly of God since 1996...

"You are God, who took me out of the womb; You made me hope and trust when I was on my mother's breasts. I was cast upon you from my very birth; from my mother's womb you have been my God." (Psalms 22:9,10) "God raised up for them David as king, to whom also he gave testimony and said, 'I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart, who will do all my will.'" (Acts 13:22)...

25 years ago: May 7, 1980 President Jimmy Carter swept all 10 Cape Girardeau County Democratic delegates to the party's district and state convention as the county group held its convention at Jackson last night; of 61 county delegates in attendance, all but one listed Carter as their presidential preference...

Cape Girardeau The Cape Girardeau Police Department released the following items Friday. Arrests do not imply guilt. DWI * Joshua J. Hathaway, 824 Bellevue St., Apt. 1, was arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated and driving without a valid license...

Cape Girardeau Firefighters responded to the following calls Thursday: * At 5:29 p.m., emergency medical service at 2200 W. Cape Rock Drive. * At 6:44 p.m., emergency medical service at 300 Kiwanis Drive. * At 7:05 p.m., emergency medical service at 2800 Quince St...

More than 36,000 pharmacies have agreed to help restrict sales of pseudoephedrine products used in the manufacture of methamphetamine. They represent nine major drug retailers, including Target, Walgreens, Wal-Mart and Kmart, that will place pseudoephedrine products behind the pharmacy counter and require that they be sold by a licensed pharmacist or pharmacy personnel...

Kidd; Stewart; Janzow; Hobbs

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Michael John Berkbuegler, 18, of Perryville died Thursday, May 5, 2005, from injuries received in a motorcycle accident in Perry County. He was born July 8, 1986, in Chester, Ill., son of Ronald and Marilyn K. Baudendistel Berkbuegler...

PUXICO, Mo. -- W.W. "Bill" King, 79, of Puxico died Thursday, May 5, 2005, at Puxico Nursing Center. He was born Dec. 15, 1925, in Clarkton, Mo., son of William G. and Hazel Leona Phelps King. He and Juanita Cookson were married Sept. 3, 1948, in Piggott, Ark...

Abigail Grace Kidd, 2 days, died Thursday, April 21, 2005, and Alexi Christina Kidd, four days, died Saturday, April 23, 2005, at the University of South Alabama Children's and Women's Hospital in Mobile. They are two of the triplets born April 19 at the hospital, daughters of Drs. Huey and Dee Dee Kidd of Millers Ferry, Ala...

Baseball...

A Cape Girardeau teenager was in jail Friday following his arrest on four felony charges and two misdemeanor charges stemming from two separate botched robbery attempts. Cape Girardeau police arrested Karnett Kenneth Redmond, 17, 419 S. Pacific St., after a two-hour chase that started near Sprigg and North streets at around 1 a.m. and ended at around 3:30 a.m. on top of a building at 718 Broadway...

Organizers of Cape Girardeau's Tunes at Twilight are expecting its sixth season to be the best yet, with a more diverse lineup and more public interest than ever. Tunes at Twilight is a summertime event -- minus a short break in July -- that features acoustic music every Friday night at the gazebo at the Common Pleas Courthouse on Lorimier Street...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A rise in overseas sales, due partly to concerns over the safety of beef, and the popularity of diets high in protein and low in carbohydrates have helped fuel big gains in the U.S. pork industry. The top three hog producers -- Smithfield Foods Inc. of Smithfield, Va., Kansas City-based Premium Standard Farms and Shawnee Mission, Kan.-based Seaboard Corp. -- each reported large jumps in sales and profits during 2004...

MUSKOGEE, Okla. -- The tipster who helped crack the case of a beheaded 3-year-old girl went to police with his suspicions nearly a year ago and recently tricked the child's mother into providing a hair sample that he mailed to Kansas City, a community activist said Friday...

QALQILIYA, West Bank -- The Islamic militants of Hamas won nearly a third of the West Bank and Gaza towns up for grabs in local elections, unofficial results said Friday, cementing the group as a significant political force as Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas tries to make peace with Israel...

WEST WENDOVER, Nev. -- A British team's attempt to establish a new speed record for electric-powered vehicles was scrubbed Friday, the second day weather and technical problems foiled efforts. The record attempt was scrapped because of a problem in the drive controller, the unit that controls the vehicle's electric motor, team members said. ...

NEW HAVEN, Conn. Founded by Congregational ministers in the 18th century, Yale University's Battell Chapel was this nation's first college-run church and, as recently as the Vietnam era, a Sunday morning gathering point. These days, however, only a few worshippers sit in the pews under Battell's sweeping Gothic arches, and now Yale is cutting its 248-year-old Congregational roots to try to re-energize the historic church by making services more welcoming...

Today Gospel singing at 7 p.m. at Shiloh Baptist Church in Villa Ridge, Ill., with the Gloryroad Travelers and the Gospel Three. Call (618) 995-2306. Sunday Vincentian Marian Youth Encounter at 6 p.m. at the Shrine Church in Perryville. Monday Cape Girardeau County Christian Women's Club meets at 11 a.m. ...

WASHINGTON -- The biblical name Jacob, the most popular choice for baby boys for the sixth straight year, also tops the first official ranking of names given to twins. Parents like to pair it with Joshua. Even more durable is the name Emily, which for the ninth year in a row claims the top spot among newborn girls, according to the Social Security Administration's tally for 2004, released Friday...

To the Editor: The Greater Poplar Bluff Area Chamber of Commerce wishes to express support for Three Rivers Community College and its ongoing efforts to provide quality, affordable education to the citizens of our region. TRCC's commitment to maintaining high standards and reasonable tuition is greatly appreciated by the people the college serves...

WASHINGTON -- New York prosecutor Richard Brown likes to bug criminal suspects. In fact, he uses about as many wiretaps as other prosecutors in the rest of New York state put together. Only one other state -- California -- bugs as much as he does in a single county...

RIGA, Latvia -- President Bush, ignoring Moscow's objections about his trip to former Soviet republics, said Friday that Russia should treat its neighbors with respect and not fear the rise of new democracies along its borders. Bush opened a fast-paced, four-country journey to mark the 60th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany. He planned to meet today with the leaders of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia...

Southeast Missouri State men's basketball coach Gary Garner has concentrated on making the Redhawks more athletic. He believes another step in that direction was taken Friday. Garner announced the signing of the Redhawks' fifth player for next season -- and fourth junior college transfer -- in 6-foot-4 guard Eric Burtin from Iowa Central Community College...

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. -- Southeast Missouri State track and field coach Joey Haines could not have imagined a much better start for his teams on the opening day of the Ohio Valley Conference Outdoor Championships. Southeast athletes won four of the 12 finals events held Friday and finished high in several others as both the men and women opened up solid leads. Action resumes at 10 a.m. today on the campus of Austin Peay as the meet concludes...

Three Southeast Missouri State freshmen who have been impressive all season were largely responsible for the Redhawks' ending their nine-game losing streak. Elaine Fisher, Megan McDonald and Michelle Summers sparkled as the Redhawks began a crucial four-game homestand to end the regular season with Friday afternoon's quick 3-1 win over Eastern Illinois...

Southeast Missouri State senior third baseman Eric Horstman realizes he and his teammates are probably beginning to sound like broken records -- but they still believe they are such a better team than what they have displayed this year. The Redhawks will get another chance to prove it this weekend when they host surprising Morehead State in a three-game Ohio Valley Conference series. There will be a 1 p.m. doubleheader today and a 1 p.m. contest Sunday...