Stories from Saturday, February 4, 2006

For Schnucks, Super Bowl Sunday effectively started Friday. Instead of waiting until Sunday, the organized Super Bowl partyers have already started coming in, stocking up on snacks, sodas and beer. Store manager Dennis Marchi isn't surprised by the buying spree. He said this Sunday is the biggest day of the year for per-capita food consumption...

A longtime symbol of American military strength will adorn to entrance to the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport following the delivery of a Douglas A-4 Skyhawk on Friday. The inoperative jet, which had been sitting at the Sabreliner plant at Perryville Municipal Airport, will become a showpiece at the entrance to Cape Girardeau Regional Airport, manager Bruce Loy said...

For 17-month-old Ella Kinder, five hours a week has been life-changing. That's how long the Cape Girardeau infant, who has Down syndrome, spends in physical, occupational, speech and developmental therapy each week. But a year ago, Ella's mom, Julia Kinder, was among thousands of Missouri parents unsure whether their disabled children would continue to receive those therapies through the state's First Steps program...

DETROIT -- For a decade, the people of Pittsburgh have embraced a Detroiter and called him one of their own. This week, Detroit is returning the favor -- on an even larger scale. Detroit is not just the hometown of Jerome Bettis. It has become Steeler Country...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- More than four years ago, Zacarias Moussaoui was arrested by the FBI while taking pilot training in Minnesota. He was still in custody when al-Qaida hijackers attacked on Sept. 11, 2001. After a torturous trip through the legal system, the 37-year-old Frenchman admitted last April that Osama bin Laden ordered him to train to fly a jetliner into the White House. He pleaded guilty to conspiring with the Sept. 11 hijackers but claimed not to know their plans...

WASHINGTON -- A Pentagon defense review Friday forecast shutting down C-17 production after the completion of the 180 planes currently planned, despite congressional objections to such a move when it became public several months ago. The C-17 is manufactured by Chicago-based Boeing Co. at a California plant. The Long Beach plant employs more than 6,000 workers...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Intuit Inc. is defending advertising of its TurboTax software against rival H&R Block Inc., which claimed its smaller competitor's campaign was misleading. Mountain View, Calif.-based Intuit filed court documents Thursday claiming H&R Block has made inconsistent statements on the number of tax returns it prepares. H&R Block says Intuit has muddled the numbers released by its Kansas City-based rival...

J.J. Henry birdied a tournament-record seven holes in a row en route to a 10-under-par 61 Friday and a four-stroke lead halfway through the FBR Open. The 30-year-old from Fairfield, Conn., was one stroke off the tournament-record round of 60, and he bettered his previous career-best round by three strokes. His string of birdies on the ninth through 15th holes fell one shy of the PGA Tour record of eight in a row...

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- Tens of thousands of angry Muslims marched through Palestinian cities, burning the Danish flag and calling for vengeance Friday against European countries where caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad were published. Early Friday, Palestinian militants threw a bomb at a French cultural center in Gaza City, and many Palestinians began boycotting European goods, especially those from Denmark...

SAFAGA, Egypt -- Spotlights probed the darkness as rescue boats mounted an increasingly desperate search for hundreds of people feared dead in the chilly Red Sea waters a day after the sinking of the aging ferry Al-Salaam Boccaccio 98. Of the 1,400 aboard -- mainly Egyptian workers returning from Saudi Arabia -- only 324 had been rescued by Friday night, plucked from inflatable lifeboats dropped by helicopters or pulled directly from the water in lifejackets...

Since founding the community-wide literacy program United We Read five years ago, Central High School librarian Julia Jorgensen has invited the authors of the books being read to Cape Girardeau. Until this year all either declined or had scheduling problems that prevented them from being here. This year two books were chosen, and both authors will give readings over the two-month course of the program...

Cape Girardeau...

DETROIT -- NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue is not expecting any sudden breakthroughs with the players' union on a contract extension. "We're not making the kind of progress we need to be making," he said Friday during his annual state of the league address. "I don't think negotiations are going very well."...

Cape Girardeau...

Basketball; Colleges; Tennis

To the editor: The following paragraph is taken from www.fallenheroesfund.org: "The Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund supports American military personnel who have been severely wounded in the operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The fund is constructing a world-class, state-of-the-art advanced training skills center at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, to aid in their treatment and recovery."...

To the editor: Samuel Alito has endured the tough questions and political abuse of the confirmation process. U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy, however, was as wrong as he always thinks he is right in his remarks. But that is politics. Did you ever see it run smoothly? I have not...

AUSTIN, Texas -- Lance Armstrong and Sheryl Crow have split, the couple announced in a joint statement Friday night. The seven-time Tour de France champion and the rock star announced their engagement in September. It would have been her first marriage and his second. He has three children from a previous marriage...

To the editor: The American Cancer Society has been an active member of Cape Girardeau County for many years, offering a number of patient and family services, cancer support groups, tobacco-control programs and lifesaving research. The society continues its mission thanks to the help of generous volunteers and dedicated staff...

Limited testing; Support for Israel; Student's concerns; Satellite option; Foreign domination; Looking for concerts; Blame feminists; Riverfront trails; Juvenile rehab; Church issues; Distorted reporting

John Mack Sanders, 91, an old-time country fiddler born Nov. 28, 1914, on the family farm near Commerce, Mo., died Thursday, Feb. 2, 2006, at Alexian Brothers-Sherbrooke Village Skilled Nursing Facility in St. Louis. He had lived in the Illmo-Scott City area all of his life, until just two years ago. ...

WOLF LAKE, Ill. -- John Clendenin, 66, of Wolf Lake died Friday, Feb. 3, 2006, at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born Sept. 24, 1939, at Wolf Lake, son of Dallas B. and Nancy Hamel Clendenin. He and Ada Craft were married May 16, 1959, in Anna, Ill...

Beussink; Sticht; Bloodworth; Altenthal; Osborne

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Helen R. Zahner, 74, of Perryville died Friday, Feb. 3, 2006, at Perry County Nursing Home. She was born Aug. 5, 1931, in Perry County, daughter of Sylvester and Ada E. Grass Moll. She married Raymond Zahner in September 1972. Zahner was a certified nurse aide. She was a member of St. Joseph Catholic Church at Highland, Mo...

Geraldine "Hi-Ho" Medlin, 89, of Bradenton, Fla., died Monday, Jan. 30, 2006, at Manatee Memorial Hospital in Bradenton. She was born June 18, 1916, in Dyer County, Tenn., daughter of William Bostic and Bennie Stephenson Chitwood. She married Joseph "Daddy Joe" Medlin Aug. 18, 1935. He died Oct. 16, 1997...

TAMMS, Ill. -- Ruth Allen, 82, of Tamms died Friday, Feb. 3, 2006, at her home. She was born Jan. 22, 1924, in Elco, Ill., daughter of John P. and Ethel Hammonds Brown. She and Donald C. Allen were married Feb. 7, 1941. Allen was employed 30 years at the U. S. post office in Tamms. She was a member of Tamms Methodist Church...

25 years ago: Feb. 4, 1981 Loretta Schneider and John M. Isbell, both of whom have made unsuccessful attempts in the past to be elected to the Cape Girardeau City Council, won Tuesday's primary election, thus advancing them to the April 7 general election; one of the two will be elected to the seat now held by Mayor Paul W. Stehr, who is completing his third term as a councilman and isn't seeking re-election...

VIENNA, Austria -- Iran warned Friday it no longer would consider a Kremlin proposal to move its uranium enrichment program to Russia if it is referred to the U.N. Security Council over suspicions it might be seeking nuclear weapons. If Iran's nuclear file goes to the Security Council, "there will be no way we can continue with the Russian proposal," said Javad Vaeidi, deputy head of the powerful National Security Council and a top nuclear negotiator...

A man who admitted to robbing another man at gunpoint was sentenced Friday to six months in the county jail. Dameon W. Oakley, 22, of 43 N. Henderson Ave., received the sentenced during an appearance at the Perry County Courthouse before Circuit Judge Benjamin Lewis. ...

CHICAGO -- Comedian Dave Chappelle told Oprah Winfrey he was stressed out and not crazy or on drugs when he abruptly left his hit Comedy Central show last spring during production. In his first television interview since ditching "Chappelle's Show" in May, Chappelle said that after he signed a $50 million deal for the third and fourth seasons in August 2004, too many people were trying to control him and his show...

HILLSBORO, Mo. -- A judge has imprisoned a man who remained behind the wheel despite at least 12 alcohol-related driving convictions, a stint in a prison treatment program and a fatal crash. Robert J. Pinson, 52, had his probation revoked on Thursday by Jefferson County Judge M. ...

A file-destroying computer worm set to activate Friday caused relatively little damage in Asia and Europe, although one Italian city shut down computers as a precaution. Hundreds of thousands of computers were believed to be infected, but many companies and individuals had time to clean up their machines this week after security vendors and media outlets warned of the "Kama Sutra" worm. ...

The leading rusher for the 2005 Southeast Missouri State football team is back in school and back on the squad. Southeast officials confirmed Friday that freshman Timmy Holloman was reinstated to the university for the second semester. Holloman and two other Southeast football players -- starting safety D'Eldrick Taylor and reserve linebacker Frederick Williams, along with former player Gerald Breedlove -- were barred from campus in mid-December after they were charged with misdemeanors for assaulting two students during an off-campus fraternity party on Dec. ...

Well past the midway point of the Ohio Valley Conference season, it's unusual that Southeast Missouri State still has not played every OVC team. But that is the case for the Redhawks (13-7, 10-3) entering today's 5 p.m. contest against Tennessee-Martin (6-14, 4-9) at the Show Me Center...

WASHINGTON -- Employers stepped up hiring in January, boosting payrolls by 193,000 and lowering the nation's unemployment rate to 4.7 percent, the lowest since July 2001. The fresh snapshot of the jobs climate, released by the Labor Department on Friday, suggested that the economy started the new year on fairly good footing. ...

DENVER -- For more than 150 years, messages of joy, sorrow and success came in signature yellow envelopes hand delivered by a courier. Now the Western Union telegram is officially a thing of the past. The company formed in April 1856 to exploit the hot technology of the telegraph to send cross-country messages in less than a day. It is now focusing its attention on money transfers and other financial services, and delivered its final telegram on Friday...

Southeast Missouri State's depleted Redhawks face a virtual must-win situation tonight if they are to maintain realistic hopes of making the Ohio Valley Conference tournament. The Redhawks (6-14, 3-11) hope their seven available scholarship players can pull off the trick against Tennessee-Martin (9-12, 6-9) in a 7:30 p.m. tipoff at the Show Me Center...

As used by the media, "global warming" refers to the theory not only that the earth is warming, but doing so because of human industrial activity. How can a reasonably diligent citizen assess this claim? Measuring average global temperature is not an easy matter. ...

The Central boys basketball team outscored Wentzville Holt by eight points in the fourth quarter and pulled out a 72-65 road victory Friday night. The Tigers (11-9) had a 20-12 advantage in the final period, thanks in large part to hitting 12 of 15 free throws...

Poplar Bluff's 19-game SEMO Conference winning streak ended Friday night when the Mules lost for the first time since 2003. Sikeston posted a 67-62 victory at home. Poplar Bluff, the two-time defending state champion in Class 5, last lost a SEMO Conference game Feb. 21, 2003, at Charleston, when the Bluejays won 86-82 overtime...

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Since his 40-point performance against Kansas last month, Missouri's Thomas Gardner is learning the frustration of being the guy everybody wants to stop. The open looks have been hard to come by since Gardner starred in Missouri's overtime upset of the Jayhawks on Jan. 16, and the Tigers have struggled along with him...

CHAFFEE, Mo. -- In any game which comes down to the wire, the hope is always that a call will not be the deciding factor in the outcome. Unfortunately, that was the case at the finals of the Mississippi Valley Conference tournament on Friday night. Saxony Lutheran senior Lauren Lueders hit two free throws with 4 seconds left to break a tie and give the second-seeded Crusaders a 78-76 win...

While water clarity in the Black River has improved following a breach at the Taum Sauk reservoir last year, officials Friday were uncertain how long until it would return to the crystal clarity it is known for. AmerenUE has been working to improve the damage done to the river and surrounding area since a Dec. 14 breach at the Taum Sauk hydroelectric plant...

ST. LOUIS -- Tony Ponturo will watch the Super Bowl on Sunday from a luxury suite in Detroit's Ford Field. Yes, he insists, it will be work. "It's always difficult to convince people of that," Ponturo joked. But a quick description of his time in Detroit conveys why it's no ordinary trip the ball game. Ponturo will be stationed next to the "red phone," a hot line he will use to monitor the game for his employer, Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc...

The United Way of Southeast Missouri has grown from a fund-raising organization into one that seeks to tackle community issues, its director said Friday. "We now define ourselves as a community impact organization," director Nancy Jernigan told a crowd of more than 200 people at the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce First Friday Coffee at the Show Me Center...

He came in wearing leather moccasins, his hair was tied back in a ponytail hanging down to his knees, and he wore an Indian-bead necklace. Louis Lorimier came to donate four acres of land to form a new city. Local history buffs gathered at the Common Pleas Courthouse Friday to celebrate the bicentennial of an event that Mayor Jay Knudtson said "began our history as a city."...

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. -- In an ancient neighborhood of Cairo, Egypt, in the Coptic Museum, April DeConick's academic pursuit reached a zenith. A professor at Illinois Wesleyan University, DeConick had been fascinated with the Gospel of Thomas since her undergraduate days in Michigan...

"What a morbid sentence to place on an automobile license plate!" I murmured to myself. My husband reluctantly slowed our van, allowing space ahead for a speeding vehicle. The other car swerved dangerously, passing us on the highway. As we inched closer, the writing on the license plate -- "Born to die" --stared back at me. Although I was stunned to see such words on the back of a car, I was forced to examine the reality of such a claim...

When was last time someone in your community thanked God for your church? That question -- posed at a conference a few years ago -- sparked the Rev. Derek Staples' interest. "If there's something that a church ought to be able to say, it's that it wants to have a godly influence in its community," said Staples, pastor at Lynwood Baptist Church in Cape Girardeau...

Vincentian Marian Youth to meet Feb. 12 and 16; Sunday; Tuesday; Wednesday; -- From staff reports