Stories from Saturday, August 5, 2006

Cape Girardeau Central High School's incoming freshmen picked up their textbooks and got acquainted with everything from their class schedules to their lockers and cafeteria food during an all-day orientation Friday. Most of the students were accompanied by their parents who dutifully wrote checks to pay for everything from yearbook pictures to lunch money...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Merle Nipper may not think of himself as a hero, but Friday night he was honored as one. On March 23, 2005, Nipper, 56, rushed into his neighbor's burning home off Route D in Perry County to rescue the elderly couple. He braved smoke and flames to pull Fred and Kathleen Reinwald from the basement of their home. At the time, and even now, Nipper doesn't think anything of it...

The final public pitch for Proposition 1 Friday sounded familiar themes of better roads and improved county law enforcement. With only a few days remaining before Tuesday's vote, Cape Girardeau County officials seeking the half-cent sales tax increase made their case before the biggest audience so far, about 175 people attending the monthly Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce breakfast gathering...

CARUTHERSVILLE, Mo. -- The lettering on the T-shirts summed up the sentiment: "We survived." More than 3,000 people turned out Friday night for the "Meat on the Mississippi" festival, the first time the people of Caruthersville came together as a community since an April 2 tornado ravaged more than half the town...

LAS VEGAS -- With a sensational debut behind them, the American players lingered on the court for a few extra moments to soak up the last of the "USA!, USA!" chants. It'll be a while before they see or hear from the home fans again. Hours after closing their second training stint here Thursday night by overwhelming Puerto Rico 114-69 in their lone exhibition on home soil, the Americans departed Friday for a month in Asia, culminating with the world championships in Japan...

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- Arkansas' high school football classifications are staying the same for now. A Pulaski County judge on Thursday denied a motion that would have reduced the state's multiplier for the upcoming football season -- and would have forced at least a few teams to change their schedules...

Michelle Wie walked off the course at Royal Lytham pleased with her par saves on the final two holes. Then she got to the recorders' office and realized her effort was all for naught. The 16-year-old Wie was penalized two strokes for making contact with a piece of moss behind her ball during her backswing while hitting out of a greenside bunker at the 14th. ...

ST. LOUIS -- To win the St. Louis Rams' punter job, Andy Groom knows he's going to have to approach it like a challenger fighting a champion in the champion's hometown. To beat out 12-year NFL veteran Matt Turk, he's going to have to score a knockout...

NEW YORK -- Chase Utley's hitting streak ended at 35 games in the Philadelphia Phillies' 5-3 win against the New York Mets on Friday night. Utley went 0-for-5, striking out twice. He hit a bouncer to the right of second base in the seventh inning but Jose Valentin backhanded it and threw him out in a close play at first...

INDIANAPOLIS -- Matt Kenseth has been entrenched in NASCAR's top 10 all season, holding strong in second place the last nine weeks. Despite the solid footing, Kenseth in no way considers himself a lock to make the Chase for the Nextel Cup. With only six races left to ensure a spot in the playoff field, Kenseth can either play it safe and ease his way in or run hard and risk blowing it all...

ST. LOUIS -- Chris Carpenter failed to prevent the St. Louis Cardinals' losing streak from reaching eight games, matching a slump they endured in June. The 2005 National League Cy Young winner left Friday night's game with an injury to the thumb on his pitching hand that put a scare into a team already on the skids. His right thumb was swollen, although X-rays indicated no break, after a 4-3 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers...

WASHINGTON -- Young workers, Wall Street, a couple of airlines and U.S. taxpayers could come out as winners in the pension changes made by Congress. Some older employees, as well as truck drivers and construction workers hoping to retire early, might not fare as well...

A hybrid car stolen from a Cape Girardeau motel was found Friday morning ablaze in Twin Trees Park. A patrol officer came upon the 2004 Toyota Prius on fire around 4 a.m. off East Cape Rock Drive, according to police spokesman Jason Selzer. "There's no way to salvage this car, it's melted," Selzer said of the damage...

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Creating a system of driving trails to bring historic Missouri Civil War sites to life might sound like a lofty goal, but the president of Missouri's Civil War Heritage Foundation said it's not that groundbreaking. Really. "We're not inventing the wheel here," Greg Wolk said. "It surprises me no one tried to do a Jesse James trail yet."...

BEIRUT, Lebanon -- Israel and Hezbollah fought bloody ground battles and exchanged fierce air and missile strikes Friday -- including bombing raids that severed Lebanon's last major supply link with Syria and the outside world, and the guerrillas' deepest rocket attack inside Israel to date...

SAN DIEGO -- Six Marines accused of injuring civilians in the Iraqi village of Hamdania in April were charged Thursday with assault. Half of the men were already being held on murder charges in an unrelated case. Military officials said that the assaults were uncovered during an investigation into that slaying...

BOSTON -- Safety repairs to a portion of the Big Dig tunnel where a motorist was killed by falling ceiling panels have been completed and the section will reopen once federal authorities give the OK, Gov. Mitt Romney said Friday. Romney gave no estimate when federal authorities would finish their review, but said they were aware of the urgency of addressing traffic congestion that would be partially relieved once the so-called "Ramp A" is reopened...

MONTPELIER, Vt. -- The state Supreme Court ruled Friday that Vermont courts, and not those in Virginia, have exclusive jurisdiction over a case involving two women battling for custody of a child they had while they were in a lesbian relationship. The unanimous ruling conflicts with a series of decisions in Virginia, where courts ruled the state's anti-gay-marriage laws controlled the case...

SHANGHAI, China -- For the second time in days, Chinese authorities have ordered a mass slaughter of dogs to curb a rabies outbreak -- drawing criticism from animal lovers but also support from many who say it's the only way to contain a disease that kills more than 2,000 Chinese a year...

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- Tropical Storm Chris weakened into a depression Friday morning in the eastern Caribbean. At 7 a.m. Friday, the storm had maximum sustained winds of about 35 mph, 4 mph below the threshold for a tropical storm. Forecasters said it might creep up to tropical storm strength again but wouldn't go much farther than that...

I watched a balloon one day. A child released it to fly high into the sky. The string once holding it back had lost its power, and the graceful colorful balloon was free to pursue its dreams at last. I learned a lot from watching that balloon that day...

To the editor: In response to Monty W. Keesee's letter, I would like to ask where did he find his information concerning the heath/environment after-effects of engaging an operational ethanol plant? Can he please divulge the origins of his research to the unknowing public?...

Thanks for checking ; Switch to wood; Wasting gasoline ; Unaffordable cab ; Tossing litter ; Hiring concerns; Hospital smoking; Coffeepot power; Cotton welfare; Fuel from sugar; Experience counts; Futility over Iraq; High expectations; Aging tattoos

Vincentian Marian Youth holds events at church; Churches hold vacation Bible schools in August; Southeast professor to portray Clarence Jordan; Today ; Sunday

Ethel L. Teichman, 92, of Cape Girardeau died Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2006, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. She was born Nov. 17, 1913, in Allenville, daughter of Lyman and Emma Harmon Hayden. She and August F. Teichman were married Feb. 25, 1935, in Chester, Ill. He died Jan. 12, 1982...

A lifelong love of sports indirectly led Jayson Santos to Southeast Missouri State. Santos now hopes to help the university's coaches and athletes, if not find a love for NCAA rules and regulations, at least understand them better. The 27-year-old Santos is less than a week on the job as Southeast's new assistant athletic director for compliance. He believes his basic task is relatively simple...

Arthur Herman Siemers, 86, of Cape Girardeau died Thursday, Aug. 3, 2006, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. He was born Feb. 13, 1920, in Cape Girardeau, son of August H. and Edna I. Schwab Siemers. He and Mary Jane Miller were married Sept. 25, 1942, in Cape Girardeau. She died June 11, 1959. He later married Meta Koechig June 24, 1961, in Cape Girardeau...

WICHITA, Kan. -- A masterful pitching performance by Chad Bogenpohl helped the Plaza Tire Capahas again stave off elimination in the National Baseball Congress World Series. The Capahas, who dropped their opening game in the 42-team tournament, posted their second consecutive losers bracket victory Friday, beating the Rock City Red Sox of North Carolina, 8-5...

ADVANCE, Mo. -- Sarah Nell Hurt, 77, of Advance died Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2006, at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born Aug. 5, 1928, near East Prairie, Mo., daughter of Jim and Mabel Thompson Munson. She and Jack L. Hurt were married July 6, 1948, in Osceola, Ark...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Lillian Alma Thompson, 82, of Perryville died Thursday, Aug. 3, 2006, at her home. She was born Feb. 23, 1924, in Detroit, Mich., daughter of Noel Everett and Hazel Eugas Johnson. She and Ralph M. Thompson were married Jan. 1, 1943, in St. Louis...

Gilberte F. Malone, 84, of Dixon, Ill., formerly of Cape Girardeau, died Friday, Aug. 4, 2006, at her home. Lorberg Memorial Funeral Chapel is in charge of arrangements.

Scroggins; Cox; Koch

25 years ago: Aug. 5, 1981 It is a somber scene at the Cape Girardeau Municipal Airport at 10 a.m., when striking air-traffic controllers learn they might be unemployed; more than an hour later, however, the four striking Professional Air Traffic Controllers members here are informed the government has apparently extended the back-to-work deadline using a formula based on the times controllers were scheduled to report for duty...

A hidden treasure became the basis for a children's sermon at St. John's United Church of Christ near Fruitland. Vernon and Bonnie Ludwig have a 79-year-old quilt that was handmade for Vernon in 1927 and has remained tucked away in a trunk ever since. His first-grade teacher's mother made the quilt for him...

Some scholars are busily debunking the Bible's account of the great King David, asking: Was he really all that great? Was he largely legendary, Judaism's version of Britain's legendary King Arthur, or totally fictional? These matters are crucial not only for Jews but for Christians, since Jesus' biblical identity as the messiah stems from David's family line...

The 1140th, the Missouri National Guard battalion based in Cape Girardeau, has had a busy couple of years. In March 2005 the battalion returned from a year in Iraq, where the dangerous mission in part involved clearing improvised explosive devices and unexploded ordnance from roads. In Iraq, members of the battalion completed more than 3,700 combat patrols. All 476 guardsmen who went to Iraq returned...

Cape Girardeau...

Cape Girardeau...

The Kraemers hope to meet members of the family when they travel here this fall. Southeast Missourian Descendants of the Bruening family of Germany are hoping to re-establish ties with the Bruening family of Cape Girardeau and plan to travel here in October...

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- The University of Missouri's flagship campus is embracing a plan to guarantee admission and offer full scholarships to talented but needy fourth-graders. The project, which remains in the formative stages, would initially focus on students from the Kansas City public school system but hopefully expand statewide, University of Missouri-Columbia chancellor Brady Deaton said...

COMMERCE, Mo. -- A century-old home in this Scott County town was one of six Missouri properties recently added to the National Register of Historic Places. "From when first moved in, we knew there was a lot of historical significance to it," Susan Bailey said...

BENTON, Mo. -- A Sikeston, Mo., woman was charged Friday for having oral sex with a 16-year-old girl. Jennifer Foreman, 31, was charged with two counts of felony statutory sodomy. Bond was set at $25,000. The defendant is accused of performing oral sex with the girl in her Benton home on seven occasions between April 5 and the end of June, according to a probable-cause statement. ...

The Stoddard County Republican Central Committee filed new disclosure reports this week detailing transactions that earlier reports claimed never occurred. The two reports, originally due April 15 and July 15, reported a total of $8,095 in fund-raising and $8,032 in spending since the beginning of the year. Those totals include $6,000 received from a Dexter, Mo.-based political action committee that was moved to Gov. Matt Blunt's campaign fund...

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Hundreds of thousands of Shiites chanting "Death to Israel" and "Death to America" marched through the streets of Baghdad's biggest Shiite district Friday in a show of support for Hezbollah militants battling Israeli troops in Lebanon...

BOGOTA, Colombia -- Leftist rebels were blamed for two attacks Friday as Colombia prepares for President Alvaro Uribe's second-term inauguration -- a car bomb that killed four officers outside a Cali police station and an attack that killed two soldiers in a western province...

HAVANA -- Park cleaner Froilan Mezquia sleeps in the shed where he stores his supplies and hasn't had a real meal in three days. The 62-year-old also received years of free medical treatment for throat cancer. In Cuba's communist society, where every day is a struggle but survival is practically guaranteed, Mezquia's story helps explain why people didn't flood the streets clamoring for change when Fidel Castro stepped down for surgery this week...

PHOENIX -- Police on Friday said that two men captured at a gated apartment complex were responsible for a string of apparently random late-night killings that have terrorized residents across this sprawling city for months. Authorities gave no details about why they believe Dale S. Hausner and Samuel John Dieteman are responsible for the three dozen shootings investigators had labeled as the work of the "Serial Shooter," or whether they believed both men or just one pulled the trigger...

SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea urgently needs food after devastating floods and is willing to accept aid from the South Korean government, a North Korean official said Friday. North Korea earlier this week refused to accept flood relief from the South's Red Cross society, apparently in anger over Seoul's decision to suspend food aid because of the North's missile launches last month. The North's about-face underscored the seriousness of the floods, which began in mid-July...