Stories from Friday, January 23, 2009

CHICAGO -- Facing almost certain defeat in a Senate impeachment trial, Gov. Rod Blagojevich may ask the courts to step in and block a proceeding that he considers "a sham," a lawyer for the Democratic governor said Thursday. Attorney Samuel E. Adam said a lawsuit challenging what he called "completely unfair" Senate trial rules is being prepared and could be filed with Illinois Supreme Court within days, pending a final decision on whether to move forward...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- An explosion of a circuit breaker inside one of Sikeston Power Plant's substations caused a power outage for two-thirds of the city Wednesday evening and Thursday morning. At 8:12 p.m. many Sikeston residents felt a large explosion in the northwest part of the city. A circuit breaker blew and caused a malfunction, which started a fire in the substation, according to Sgt. Jim McMillen of the Sikeston Department of Public Safety...

MARTIN, Tenn. -- The good news for Southeast Missouri State was that Lester Hudson didn't explode for 38 points this time. The bad news was that Tennessee-Martin's All-American senior guard had all kinds of help in handing the visiting Redhawks their ninth straight loss...

LA QUINTA, Calif. -- Pat Perez shot a 9-under 63 on Thursday to become the first player in PGA Tour history to play a 36-hole stretch in a tournament in 20 under, keeping him two strokes in front in the Bob Hope Classic. After opening with a 61, Perez had nine birdies during a bogey-free second round and was at 124 through the first two days of the 90-hole tournament. ...

Lucy Gateley CHAFFEE, Mo. -- Lucy Marie Gateley, 95, of Chaffee went to be with the Lord Thursday, Jan. 22, 2009, at Chaffee Nursing Center. She was born Feb. 19, 1913, in Zalma, Mo., daughter of Marvin B. and May Back Moore. She and Elvis Guthrie "Gup" Gateley were married June 30, 1934, in Cape Girardeau. He passed away March 17, 1986...

The Cape Girardeau Police Department released the following items. Arrests do not imply guilt. Arrests n Darcell C. Moore, 21, 1080 S. Ellis St, was arrested on Cape Girardeau warrants for no operator's license, no proof of insurance, seat-belt violation, failure to appear for probation revocation hearing and prohibited acts...

Gary Evans ANNA, Ill. -- Gary Evans, 68, of Anna died Friday, Jan. 16, 2009, at City Care Center in Anna. He had worked in the maintenance department of Union County Hospital. Survivors include his wife; his mother, Eileen Robins of Marion, Ill.; a brother, Mark Miles of Chicago; and a sister, Michele Moore of Centralia, Ill...

Lester Chapman GRASSY, Mo. -- Lester Connell Chapman Sr., 60, of Grassy died Jan. 21, 2009, at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born May 9, 1948, in Wenatche, Wash., son of Harley James and Flossie E'Lois Walker Chapman. He and Charmaine Gloria James were married July 1, 1967, in St. Charles, Mo...

The name of the band that will perform at the American Legion Hall in Jackson on Saturday is The Reminisce Band. The incorrect name was given to the Southeast Missourian.

WASHINGTON -- Amid new evidence of economic weakness, legislation at the heart of President Obama's recovery plan advanced in Congress Thursday over the opposition of Republicans seeking deeper tax cuts. "We are very pleased with the progress," said Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., after $275 billion in tax cuts cleared the House Ways and Means Committee on a party-line vote of 24-13. Democratic leaders have promised the measure will be ready for Obama's signature by mid-February...

Looking for escape IT is a fact that during economic hard times the entertainment and movie industries are profitable. It was during the Great Depression that the Golden Age of the movie industry and the first amusement park boom took place. It is simple to understand. It is escapism...

MELBOURNE, Australia — Olympic silver medalist Dinara Safina reached the fourth round for the first time in seven trips to the Australian Open, beating Estonia's Kaia Kanepi 6-2, 6-2 earlier today. The 22-year-old Russian took 4-1 leads in each set and ousted the 25th-seeded Kanepi in 66 minutes...

Meadow Heights jumped ahead early and slowly built on its lead Thursday. The Panthers downed Woodland 62-37 behind 13 points from Jillian Mills in girls basketball action. Ashley Doublin chipped in 11 and Heather Dietiker tallied 10 for the victors (10-4)...

Three Scott County men pleaded guilty Wednesday to federal charges of malicious damage by fire. Joshua Lee Dennis, 24; Anthony L. Rogers, 28; and Rondall L. Rogers, 32, each entered pleas of guilty to one felony count of the charge before U.S. District Judge Henry E. Autrey, according to a news release from federal prosecutor Catherine L. Hanaway...

BAGHDAD -- Iraq's government will have dramatically less money to spend this year than expected because of plunging oil prices -- a situation that's already forced the country to slash rebuilding plans by 40 percent, The Associated Press has learned. As the U.S. seeks a timetable for withdrawal, cutbacks on spending and jobs could trigger heightened violence...

Virgil Henry Elfrink, 81, of Cape Girardeau died Thursday, Jan. 22, 2009, at the Lutheran Home. He was born April 14, 1927, in Leopold, Mo., son of Anthony and Gertrude Tenholder Elfrink. He and Martha Elizabeth Jansen were married Oct. 1, 1949, in Glennon, Mo...

Lindel Thurston CHAFFEE, Mo. -- Lindel O. "Buck" Thurston, 71, of Greenville, Mo., died Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2009, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. He was born May 8, 1937, in Hiram, Mo., son of the late Gilbert and Mae Hancock Thurston. He and Linda Dildine were married June 11, 1960...

The Southeast Missouri State softball team was voted to finish seventh in the Ohio Valley Conference's preseason poll. The coaches picked defending champion Jacksonville State to top the nine-team conference standings for a third straight year. The Gamecocks collected eight first-place votes, while Tennessee Tech received the other first-place vote and finished second...

Kamaria Pearson has done the band thing. The senior at Central High School has played the clarinet in school bands since the seventh grade. She's marched on countless football fields during halftimes and competitions and stayed in line down streets for homecoming and Veterans Day parades, but Jan. 13, she witnessed her first gubernatorial inauguration after marching in the inaugural parade in Jefferson City, Mo...

MARTIN, Tenn. -- The Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team breathed a collective sigh of relief after escaping with a win Thursday night. Southeast was hammered on the boards and saw a 15-point halftime lead cut to five twice, including with under 5 minutes remaining...

Rotary Lake in Jackson City Park will be fully stocked with trout when the season for the cold-water fish opens Feb. 1. The Missouri Department of Conservation pinpointed the private hatchery where the fish were raised as the source of a parasite problem that killed nearly 500 of the 1,300 trout that were stocked in the lake Oct. 30...

Southeast Missouri has been a haven for makers of methamphetamine, an illegal drug that is extremely addictive, has devastating and sometimes deadly side effects and is easy to produce, especially in sparsely populated rural areas. One effort to hamper meth production has been a 2005 Missouri law that limits the sale of over-the-counter medications with pseudoephedrine as an ingredient. ...

A Stoddard County man pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court in Cape Girardeau to conspiring to possess pseudoephedrine. Gary D. Mann, 30, pleaded guilty to one felony count of conspiracy to possess pseudoephedrine, knowing it would be used to manufacture methamphetamine, before U.S. District Judge Henry E. Autrey, according to the Federal prosecutor's office...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri's top two college presidents delivered a message state lawmakers were eager to hear Thursday: higher education is an economic engine with few peers. University of Missouri system president Gary Forsee and Missouri State University's Michael Nietzel spoke at the final of several seminars for state senators on hot topics in the new legislative session...

MeLena Broglin ST. LOUIS -- MeLena Zerlinda Broglin, 31, of St. Louis died Thursday, Jan. 15, 2009, in St. Louis. She was born Aug. 26, 1977, in Hayti, Mo., daughter of Beverly Jean Shankle Halford and David Hale of Cape Girardeau. MeLena loved working with people. She had a gift of being able to talk to and relate to people and, as a result, was a top salesperson two years in a row...

Robert Hopmann Robert E. "Bob" Hopmann, 79, of Cape Girardeau was born to eternal life Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2009. He was born Feb. 17, 1929, in East St. Louis, Ill. Bob was beloved husband of Loveda F. Falter Hopmann; loving father to Lyn DeMarinis, Brenda Dunn, John Geggus, Mark Geggus and Dianna Powell; dear grandfather and great-grandfather...

In all my years of column writing — I've been doing it since 1971, longer than most folks wait to throw out socks with holes or saggy underwear — I don't think I've ever written a two-parter. Last week, as faithful readers already know, my column was about getting my driver's license at age 16 pretty much on a whim — and certainly unprepared in the eyes of everyone except the uniformed exam officer who signed off on my right to steer more than 3,000 pounds of metal, glass and chrome down twisting Ozarks roads at speeds considerably faster than a Ferguson tractor in high gear.. ...

The first female lawyer elected to a judicial post in Missouri was given the R.A. Fulenwider Meritorious Community Service Award during the Jackson Chamber of Commerce and Jackson Industrial Development Authority banquet Thursday night in Jackson. Marybelle Mueller, who was chosen for the award based on her credentials and community involvement, said she was grateful for the warmth and hospitality of Jackson's residents and businesses...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The Missouri Supreme Court is taking a second look at the way the state adopted its procedures for executing condemned inmates. In a somewhat unusual move, the state's high court heard a second round of arguments Thursday on claims that Missouri's execution protocol is invalid because it was not adopted as an official rule by the Department of Corrections...

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- A Marble Hill man faces child molestation and statutory rape charges in connection with an incident that occurred in October, according to a probable-cause statement. Brandon E. Johnson, 20, was arrested Wednesday after Bollinger County Prosecuting Attorney Stephen Gray filed charges in the case...

GREENVILLE, N.C. -- Authorities at a North Carolina college say a huge snowball fight got out of control. Campus police were called to a dormitory at East Carolina University three times Tuesday as hundreds of students pelted each other with snow. The college is in a part of the state which doesn't get snow often, but a rare storm dropped several inches on campus that day...

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. -- "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" is the Academy Awards heavyweight with 13 nominations, yet the shadow of Batman loomed large with the absence of "The Dark Knight" in the best-picture race. An epic romance that earned a best-actor nomination for Brad Pitt and a directing spot for David Fincher, "Benjamin Button" was joined in the best-picture category Thursday by the Richard Nixon tale "Frost/Nixon," the chronicle of gay-rights leader Harvey Milk in "Milk," the Holocaust-themed drama "The Reader" and the rags-to-riches crowd-pleaser "Slumdog Millionaire.". ...

Using a few ingredients from the kitchen you can make glue. Ingredients n Bowl n Spoon n Flour n Water Instructions STEP 1: Pour one cup of flour into the bowl. STEP 2: Add half a cup of water and mix. Explanation This is a chemical reaction, which occurs when a substance is changed into one or more new substances...

MARTIN, Tenn. -- Tarina Nixon never has cared much about individual accomplishments. But Southeast Missouri State's senior guard acknowledged that joining the 1,000-point club was a good feeling. Nixon became only the 16th player in the history of Southeast women's basketball to reach that career milestone...

NEW YORK -- Mark McGwire's youngest brother says in a book proposal that he injected the former baseball star with steroids, according to Deadspin.com. Jay McGwire is circulating a manuscript titled "The McGwire Family Secret: The Truth about Steroids, a slugger and Ultimate Redemption," the Web site reported Wednesday. Jay McGwire, a body builder, said his brother started using steroids in 1994 and that he injected Mark with Deca-Durabolin...

NEW YORK -- John Thain resigned under pressure from Bank of America on Thursday after reports he rushed out billions of dollars in bonuses to Merrill Lynch employees in his final days as chief executive officer there, while the brokerage was suffering huge losses and just before Bank of America took it over...

Clyde Montgomery ZALMA, Mo. -- Clyde "Pee-Wee" Montgomery Jr., 63, of Zalma died Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2009, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. He was born Aug. 21, 1945, in St. Louis, son of Clyde "Pee-Wee" and Louise White Montgomery Sr. He and Cherie Lynn Dismang were married Nov. 5, 1975, in House Springs, Mo...

Greens There is little doubt, the small, crowned greens at Jaycee are from a different era. The green's Bermuda grass thrives in the scorching heat but withers in the cooling months. Advisory board member Kenny Bramlett said as far as he knows, Jaycee is the northernmost course in the area with Bermuda greens. The four other courses in the county -- Bent Creek, Kimbeland Country Club, Cape Girardeau Country Club and Dalhousie Golf Club -- all have bentgrass...

WASHINGTON -- President Obama moved Thursday to reshape U.S. national-security policy, ordering the Guantanamo Bay prison camp closed within a year, forbidding the harshest treatment of terror suspects and naming new envoys to the Middle East and Afghanistan-Pakistan...

Friday n New movies "Inkheart," Rated PG @ Town Plaza Cinema "Last Chance Harvey," Rated PG-13 @ Town Plaza Cinema "Revolutionary Road," Rated R @ Cape West 14 Cine "Slumdog Millionaire," Rated R @ Cape West 14 Cine...

The Cape Jaycee Municipal Golf Course has been the site of many golfing firsts in Cape Girardeau County. The first swings for many. A place where the first bogey, par and possibly eagle occurred. The first time to drive a cart, and maybe the first round with Dad. And quite likely the resting place of the first lost ball -- possibly in a pond...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A neo-Nazi group has adopted a half-mile section of highway in Springfield as part of the state's litter prevention program. The Springfield unit of the National Socialist Movement has committed to cleaning up trash along the section of Highway 160 near the city limits in west Springfield...

Farmington will begin defense of its SEMO Conference wrestling title today when the two-day event begins at Central High School. Wrestling begins 6 p.m. today with the first two rounds. The event continues 10:30 a.m. Saturday. Semifinals are expected to start around 2:30 p.m. with the finals around 5 p.m...

ST. LOUIS -- Lung transplant surgeons at Washington University in St. Louis reached, then surpassed, a milestone this week. They performed the 1,000th adult lung transplant at Barnes-Jewish Hospital on Wednesday, then did another one just a few hours later...

Cape Girardeau Firefighters responded to the following calls Wednesday: n At 5:26 p.m., citizen assist in the 500 block of South Sprigg Street. n At 6:37 p.m., emergency medical service in the 1000 block of North Middle street. Firefighters responded to the following calls Thursday:...

ST. LOUIS -- Cardinals third baseman Troy Glaus will be sidelined for about three months after arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder. The 2002 World Series MVP will begin physical therapy next week following Wednesday's surgery in Los Angeles. He likely will miss the Cardinals' opener on April 6...

G.W. Bond CHAFFEE, Mo. -- G.W. "Pete" Bond, 89, of Chaffee died Thursday, Jan. 22, 2009, at Landmark Hospital in Cape Girardeau. Friends may call after 10:30 a.m. Saturday at First Baptist Church in Chaffee, Mo. Funeral will be at 2 p.m. Saturday at the church...

Most of the city of Sikeston was without power for some time Wednesday night when an electrical circuit at a power substation exploded. The Standard Democrat newspaper captured the amazing image of the fire that you see here.But Mark Baker caught the action on video. He submitted the video to us, and you can view it now in the video player on the homepage of our website...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri's unemployment rate hits its highest mark in 25 years, increasing by more than half a point to 7.3 percent in December. Jobless numbers released Friday by the state Department of Economic Development show that 2008 was a difficult year for workers. The state lost 26,500 jobs during the year, which includes 9,500 in transportation manufacturing and 4,700 in financial activities...

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- A top environmental lobbyist is joining forces with utilities trying repeal a 1976 Missouri law that bars charging electric customers for power plants under construction. The debate over the law is triggered by St. Louis-based AmerenUE's application to build a second mid-Missouri nuclear reactor...

Deliver us, O God, from those who intend to do us harm or promote evil deeds. Amen.

Shannon Buford, marketing director of the Show Me Center, said 25 people were in line to purchase tickets for the Feb. 11 Scott County Central-Sikeston basketball game at the Cape Girardeau arena. The box office opens at 9 a.m. Tickets to the 7:30 p.m. matchup, which also includes admission to the 6 p.m. Saxony Lutheran-Oran game, cost $5 for students and $7 for adults. Tickets may also be purchased by calling 651-5000. Look for more on this story later in the day at semissourian.com...

High school basketball fever has hit Southeast Missouri. During the first hour today of first-day ticket sales for the upcoming Scott County Central-Sikeston and Oran-Saxony Lutheran boys' basketball doubleheader, Show Me Center Director David B. Ross reported that 1,500 tickets had been sold. Ross estimated that as many as 2,000 tickets could be sold by the end of today...

For the second year in a row, monster truck "Big Dawg" may defend its Missouri terrain against out-of-state challenger "Rock Star." The Big Dawg truck, driven by Dale Gerding, of Union, Mo., won Friday's drag racing event during the first portion of a two-day Mega Promotions Monster Truck event at the Show Me Center...

MUMBAI, India -- India's film industry basked Friday in the glow of 10 Oscar nominations for "Slumdog Millionaire" as the rags-to-riches story finally hit theaters to rave reviews and predictions of blockbuster sales. The film, set amid the fetid alleys of Mumbai's notorious slums, continued its surprise run of success since it swept four categories at the Golden Globes, including the prize for best drama...

A wreck occurred on U.S. 60 about 2 miles east of Grayridge, Mo., early Friday morning. The driver, who remained unidentified at press time, told authorities that he witnessed an object in the roadway causing him to swerve and leave the highway. The truck overturned in a ditch and the trailer, carrying yogurt, was demolished, spilling cartons of yogurt alongside U.S. 60...