Stories from Monday, December 3, 2001

$$$Start By Sam McVay JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Regarding your Nov. 27 editorial, "Deserving vets still at war -- with red tape," it is clear that I have not done my job in providing adequate information for you, and I would like to do so now...

ST. LOUIS -- Missouri vs. St. Louis appears to be every bit the mismatch of the Tigers' last two games, which they won by an average of 31 points. The Billikens are hoping the rivalry factor in the series, tied at a game apiece since the teams resumed playing two years ago after a nearly two-decade break, will help in tonight's game against the nation's third-ranked team. ...

CHICAGO -- Leon Johnson scored on a 1-yard run with 5:34 left, and the Chicago Bears won another tight game Sunday, beating winless Detroit 13-10 and surviving when the Lions' Jason Hanson missed a 40-yard field goal with 21 seconds to go. It was the third miss of the day for the normally reliable Hanson, who had made 13 of 16 field goals entering the game. Again, the Lions (0-11) couldn't find a way to win a close one -- their last eight losses have been by a total of 35 points...

ATLANTA -- The St. Louis Rams showed just how dominating they can be when they don't turn the ball over. Kurt Warner, Marshall Faulk and Co. thoroughly overwhelmed the Atlanta Falcons, cruising to a 35-6 victory Sunday. Warner threw four touchdown passes and had his seventh 300-yard game of the season. Three of his scoring passes went to Faulk, who got his 100th career TD...

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The St. Louis Blues weren't about to let a three-goal rally go to waste. Al MacInnis scored on a slap shot with 2:01 left in regulation to lift the Blues to a 4-4 tie with the Minnesota Wild on Sunday night. MacInnis' goal came just 42 seconds after Andrew Brunette gave Minnesota the lead...

Some college football fans prefer the season to end in an orderly fashion. Others enjoy complete chaos. Three breathtaking two-point games involving the nation's top teams, though, has fans pondering the same question: How will the national title chase play out after the final big game of the regular season next Saturday?...

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- When Bob Davie was hired by Notre Dame in 1996, he got some advice from former Irish coach Ara Parseghian. "He said, 'There's a lot of things to worry about. Worry about one thing -- and that's winning,"' Davie said. He didn't win often enough and Notre Dame fired him Sunday, a day after the storied football program completed its second losing season in three years...

WASHINGTON -- People stood shoulder-to-shoulder outside the White House in anxious vigil. Washington hostesses dashed off notes canceling teas. The zoo made contingency plans to kill its poisonous snakes. A note scrawled on cardboard outside the Soldiers, Sailors and Marines Club told the story: "All servicemen are due in camp at reveille tomorrow. Signed, Secretary of War."...

WASHINGTON -- Attorney General John Ashcroft said Sunday the addition of several hundred National Guard members and military helicopters at U.S.-Canadian crossings will improve border security and speed the flow of trade. Tighter security since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks meant the U.S. government had to transfer Immigration and Naturalization Service agents from other duties to man checkpoints along the 4,000-mile border...

WASHINGTON -- Somewhere between America's spies and commandos is a small group of men and women like Johnny "Mike" Spann, the CIA paramilitary officer killed by rioting prisoners in Afghanistan. Part intelligence operative, part combat trooper, these officers were among the first Americans to cross the border into Afghanistan after the Sept. 11 -- even before military commandos began reconnaissance missions...

WASHINGTON -- American military forces in Afghanistan, now numbering up to 2,000 troops, may resort to extraordinary measures to crush the Taliban militia and root out al-Qaida terrorists from fortified cave and tunnel hide-outs, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Sunday...

Christmas events at Cape public library At 3:30 p.m. Dec. 5, children ages 3-7 are invited to celebrate and learn about reindeer at the Cape Girardeau Public Library's Reindeer Animal Roundup. There will be stories, crafts and games. All ages are invited to the library at 3:30 p.m. Dec. 11 to learn about old and new holiday traditions through games, stories and discussions. Refreshments will be served...

Private graduates National Guard training Pvt. Curtis Ackman has graduated from basic military training at Fort Sill in Lawton, Okla. He is assigned to the National Guard 1140th Engineers Brigade headquartered in Perryville, Mo., and Jackson, Mo. Ackman is a senior at Jackson High School. He is the son of David and Janet Ackman of Jackson...

Stephen E. Strom, who is in charge of building the Red House replica in Cape Girardeau to commemorate the Lewis and Clark expedition, will speak today at the monthly meeting of the Historical Association of Greater Cape Girardeau. Meriwether Lewis dined at Cape Girardeau founder Don Louis Lorimier's Red House on his way up the Mississippi River enroute to the Pacific Ocean. Strom will talk about the Red House and the Lewis and Clark expedition...

Toys and games based on popular cartoon characters, television shows and movies are wildly popular with children. This year is no exception. Toybox, a joint program of the Cape Girardeau Jaycees and the Southeast Missourian, needs toys with Powerpuff girls, Scooby Doo, Monsters, Inc., Harry Potter, Power Rangers and Barney characters to distribute to children...

Mrs. H. lives with her husband, who helps with her care. Their two daughters also come to check on the couple but both live out of town and aren't close by. Mrs. H. has gone without her medications so that the couple could pay all their expenses. She suffers from congestive heart failure and has a history of strokes...

Exerpt from Chapter One of "A Painted House" by John Grisham, published by Doubleday & Company, Inc. The hill people and the Mexicans arrived on the same day. It was a Wednesday, early in September 1952. The Cardinals were five games behind the Dodgers with three weeks to go, and the season looked hopeless. ...

SUN CITY, South Africa -- Sergio Garcia made a 20-foot chip shot from the fringe on the first playoff hole Sunday to beat Ernie Els and win the Nedbank Golf Challenge. Garcia forced the playoff by shooting a 9-under-par 63 after starting the day six stroke behind Els, the third-round leader...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Streaks of brilliant light that were spotted from Texas to Nebraska on Saturday night apparently were caused by space debris breaking up, authorities said. A dispatcher at the Kansas Turnpike Authority in Wichita said callers reported the lights from the Oklahoma border to near Kansas City. In Hastings, Neb., meteorologist Larry Wirth of the National Weather Service reported calls from Kearney and Clay Center...

NEW YORK -- For reasons of national security and national pride, government officials in countries like China, France and Germany are increasingly adopting the free, open-source computer operating system known as Linux. In some cases, the software being replaced is produced by the Microsoft Corp., which, users say, is more prone to viruses and hackers...

Parker Bowles, Prince Charles raise profile LONDON -- Camilla Parker Bowles, the longtime companion of Prince Charles, attended church Sunday with the heir to the British throne as they continued to raise their public profile. The couple were among a group of guests at Queen Elizabeth II's Sandringham estate in eastern England. They walked from Sandringham House to St. Mary Magdalen Church for morning service...

HONOLULU -- Just eight minutes passed from when the duty officer woke Clark J. Simmons from his bunk on the USS Utah until the ship sank from Japanese torpedoes on Dec. 7, 1941. In that time, the 20-year-old mess attendant scrambled to the deck, jumped into Pearl Harbor and swam to safety on Ford Island...

PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii -- Nancy Lynne Wagner died three days after she and her twin sister, Mary, were born in 1937. Her body was cremated and her ashes stayed with her father, Chief Yeoman Albert T.D. Wagner, through tours of duty in China and then aboard the USS Utah at Pearl Harbor as he waited for a Navy chaplain to perform a burial at sea...

HONOLULU -- The basic layout of the Navy's base at Pearl Harbor -- the drydocks, the ship repair shop and Ford Island -- hasn't changed much in the 60 years since the Japanese surprise attack that thrust America into the Pacific battles of World War II...

Envoy: Russia opposes U.S. attacks on Iraq CAIRO, Egypt -- Russia would oppose a U.S. military strike against Iraq and thinks diplomacy is the only way to solve the arms inspections impasse between Washington and Baghdad, a Russian envoy visiting the Middle East said Sunday...

HOUSTON -- With the negative and often ferocious campaigning behind him, newly re-elected Mayor Lee Brown on Sunday asked the city to coalesce during his final two years in office. "This is a city I love. I want to make sure I do everything I can to see it progress," Brown said. "I believe when we work together as one city, we have a very bright future."...

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Gabriela Pingarron and her three daughters live, like many Hispanic families, in Oakland's bustling flatlands. They share a house with two other families and shop for tortillas on a busy commercial street, where Pingarron also wires money to her mother in Mexico...

NEW YORK -- Beleaguered energy company Enron Corp. has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for itself and 14 subsidiaries, the company said Sunday. Enron also filed a lawsuit against would-be suitor Dynegy Inc. for wrongful termination of its $8.4 billion proposed merger. Both actions were filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York...

SENDAI, Japan -- There was a brief buzz about it last summer when the latest version from Hollywood hit the theaters. Then came the terrorist attacks on the United States, and it was once again on Japanese minds. For Americans, Sept. 11, 2001, has joined Dec. 7, 1941 as a date after which their world would never be the same. But in Japan, as the 60th anniversary of Pearl Harbor nears, there is silence...

JERUSALEM -- After a series of suicide bombings against Israel that killed 25 people and wounded nearly 200, Yasser Arafat ordered dozens of Islamic militants arrested and promised harsh action. But Israel was deeply skeptical, with hard-liners calling for the removal of the Palestinian leader...

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- Secretary of State Colin Powell and other NATO foreign ministers will take a new look this week at the way the alliance does business with Russia. Since Sept. 11, the allies believe they have detected a new, more cooperative Russia under President Vladimir Putin, a potential partner rather than the confrontational adversary of old...

SOUTHERN AFGHANISTAN -- U.S. Marines have been joined by a handful of British, German and Australian officers ahead of a possible push on Kandahar, the Taliban's last stronghold in Afghanistan. So far there are only five non-American officers at the U.S. base in southern Afghanistan. But their presence, and the fact that more were expected, may mark a shift in the importance of the anti-terror coalition the United States began building following the September attacks...

JERUSALEM -- The wave of attacks against Israelis confronts Yasser Arafat with a wrenching choice: Act swiftly and decisively against the violent extremists who have flourished during 14 months of fighting, or risk facing the full wrath of Israel. Reining in the Hamas and Islamic Jihad groups would require the arrest of hundreds of militants and could lead to fighting between Arafat loyalists and the militants and their growing numbers of supporters -- as well as elements of Arafat's own increasingly radicalized Fatah movement.. ...

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Relentless U.S. airstrikes pummeled the defenders of Kandahar Sunday with anti-Taliban forces within 20 miles of the last militia stronghold. A U.S. Marine officer said his troops might join the assault. In the east, a provincial military official said U.S. warplanes bombed an anti-Taliban headquarters Sunday, killing at least eight people. The claim came a day after the official reported similar bombings killed scores of civilians nearby...

MARYVILLE, Mo. -- Health officials at Northwest Missouri State University report a surge of student interest in the meningitis vaccine after a classmate died of a rare bacterial infection on Thanksgiving Day. "It scared a lot of people," said freshman Lauren Pickett, who made an appointment to get the vaccine when she returned to campus after Thanksgiving break. "I wasn't really that worried about it before."...

Cape Girardeau, Monday, Dec. 3 Firefighters responded to the following calls Saturday:At 3:42, a mutual aid response at Highway 25 and County Road 216. At 4:07 p.m., a citizen assist at 512 S. Hanover. At 8: 13 p.m., an emergency medical service at 211 West Park Mall...

Cape Girardeau County Sheriff Monday, Dec. 3 DWIDenny C. Cook, 41, Dexter, Mo., was arrested Nov. 24 for driving while intoxicated. Stephen M. Kilhafner, 24, Marble Hill, Mo., was arrested Nov. 24 for driving while intoxicated. Cory L. Nugent, 22, Cape Girardeau, was arrested Thursday for driving while intoxicated...

The nation and the state may be mired in a recession, but the economic downturn hasn't stopped commercial growth in Cape Girardeau. The city's building permit records show businesses undertook fewer but larger construction and renovation projects this year...

In John Grisham's book "A Painted House," 7-year-old Luke Chandler picks cotton all day in sweltering heat on the farm his family leases outside the town of Black Oak, Ark. Luke marks the passage of days by how many games his beloved St. Louis Cardinals are out first place and dreams of playing baseball for them one day. His mother's dream is to live in a painted house, a yearning that stands for all the dreams a poor family of 1950s cotton farmers might have...

Boys Swimming Parkway South 142, Cape Central 46 Parkway South, state champions the past three years, handed Cape Central its second dual-meet loss. It was the inexperienced Tigers second straight meet against a top-ranked state swimming program. Lafayette, seventh in state in 2000, was Cape Central's first opponent...

Girls basketball DONIPHAN 59, PERRYVILLE 58 PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Doniphan outscored Perryville 17-12 in the final quarter as it overcame a fourth-quarter deficit to edge the Lady Pirates. Doniphan, last year's Class 3A state runner-up, improved to 2-0 on the season. The loss was the first for Perryville (2-1)...

Local Taco John's restaurants will contribute 100 food baskets to the Salvation Army during this holiday season. In addition, each restaurant will encourage customers to donate their change from any order to Salvation Army kettles places on the counters of each restaurant. ...

For Missouri's 2000 tax season, AARP volunteers helped more than 53,000 people with their tax returns. Each year, the demand for assistance goes up and volunteers must be added. AARP is seeking more volunteers to serve as tax-aide counselors during the 2001 tax-filing season...

and MARK LAVIE Associated Press Writers GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) -- Prime Minister Ariel Sharon declared war on terror Monday, and Israeli airstrikes destroyed two of the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's helicopters in Gaza and hit West Bank security installations...

Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Bush administration wants Americans to remain on a high state of alert at least through the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, government officials said Monday. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge would make the announcement at the White House. The alert was based on threats received by law enforcement, the officials said...

AP Diplomatic WriterWASHINGTON (AP) -- As Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon declared war on terror Monday, the White House pressed Yasser Arafat to crack down on Palestinians whose suicide bombings killed at least 26 people over the weekend...

AP Business WriterNEW YORK (AP) -- A mix of economic data Monday left stock investors puzzling over how long the economy will take to recover and prompted many market players to cash in recent profits. The selling was minor compared with how strongly stocks have rallied for two months as Wall Street has grown more confident of an economic turnaround in 2002. ...

Associated Press WriterBALTIMORE (AP) -- The Adam's Mark hotel chain will pay $2 million to settle claims it discriminated against black guests during a 1999 Florida college reunion, NAACP president Kweisi Mfume said Monday. The settlement ends an ongoing boycott by the civil rights organization against the company and legal action by the company against those who canceled contracts as part of the boycott...

AP Aerospace WriterCAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) -- Two spacewalking cosmonauts successfully removed a rubber seal Monday that had jammed a docking mechanism at the international space station and forced a shuttle launch delay. The obstruction had disrupted NASA's plans last week to send space shuttle Endeavour on a space station delivery mission. Liftoff is now scheduled for Tuesday evening, five days late...

Associated Press WriterWASHINGTON (AP) -- FBI Director Robert Mueller is poised to announce a reorganization to strengthen the bureau's ability to fight terrorism. Mueller is expected to dismantle the FBI's investigative services division, which does analysis and threat assessments, and redeploy the section's analysts to the FBI's counterterrorism, criminal, national security and other divisions...

AP Diplomatic WriterWASHINGTON (AP) -- As Israeli airstrikes rained on the Gaza Strip, the White House pressed Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on Monday to crack down -- in actions, not just words -- on the terrorists in Israel's sights...

Associated Press WriterWASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court agreed Monday to decide whether older people may use a civil rights lawsuit to claim that company layoffs targeted them more heavily than younger workers. The court said it will hear an appeal from fired Florida utility workers who claim that company layoffs fell disproportionately on older workers...

AP Economics WriterWASHINGTON (AP) -- Spending on construction projects, which had posted five consecutive monthly declines, advanced by 1.9 percent in October, the biggest monthly gain since January, the Commerce Department reported Monday...

Cape Girardeans were treated to a rare combination of crayons and chamber music Sunday. The Arts Council of Southeast Missouri sponsored the concert at Old St. Vincent's Church as part of the annual Children's Arts Festival. Musicians from the Southeast Chamber Players performed in the sun-kissed sanctuary. Children and seniors in their Sunday best mingled with denim-clad teen-agers and tousled university students...

10 years ago: Dec. 3, 1991 Jackson - Although filing period doesn't open for another month, one Jackson alderman says he will file for re-election to third term; Ward E. Alderman Glenn Oldham made that announcement after Monday's meeting of Jackson Board of Aldermen...

MONTEZUMA, Kan. igh above the Kansas prairie, a huge crane slowly lifts a tubular section of the last windmill going up at the Gray County wind farm, then gingerly lowers the 70-foot-long piece on the tower as workers inside the base bolt it down. It's relatively still on this usually windy stretch of land 30 miles west of Dodge City, a perfect day for assembling the tower sections...

Dietiker receives state CPA license Frank Dietiker Jr. of Cape Girardeau has received his state license as a certified public accountant. He is a Cape Girardeau native and graduated from Southeast Missouri State University in 1998 with an accounting degree. He has been an associate of the CPA firm of Stanley, Dirnberger, Hopper and Associates, LLC, since October 1999...

NEW YORK -- Early retirement, the way Howard Worzel and Nancy Lovely pictured it, would be sweet -- severance checks would ease the move to Arizona and health insurance would ease their worries, particularly given Lovely's treatment for breast cancer, once they got there...

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Never mind that Sean Walton already owns 150 movies on videotape. The movie enthusiast is quickly building a new collection -- this time, on DVD. It's been only a month since the Redwood City man invested $170 in a DVD player, and he already owns 25 DVD movies. "I love the extra stuff they throw in that you don't get on video," Walton said, clutching three DVDs on his way out of a movie rental store...

Cape Girardeau County for years has enjoyed financial stability that most other counties in Missouri can only envy, and its financial condition looks better with the passing of every year. A combination of revenue sources has helped Cape Girardeau County gain that stability. ...

Since 1993, Dr. C. John Ritter and his wife, Marcia Southard-Ritter, have given up their comfortable lives in Cape Girardeau to carry out medical missions in which they have helped the sick in Third World countries. Ritter, 64, says they carried out the work because it needed to be done, and it has given a different meaning to his life...

P Notre Dame falls to Poplar Bluff in tough Farmington event. FARMINGTON, Mo. -- The Farmington Invitational girls basketball tournament lived up to its billing. In an eight-team field featuring several of the state's premier teams, top-seeded Poplar Bluff captured the championship by slipping past second-seeded Notre Dame 53-50 Saturday night...

7:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 3 City Hall Action Items Power and Light Committee Consider a motion approving the mayor's appointment of Rodney Bollinger, Alderman Larry Hall, Alderman Larry Cunningham and Wayne Maupin to serve on the Zoning Amendments Committee...

Sikeston tourney opens play today SIKESTON, Mo. -- The 30th annual Sikeston Invitational boys basketball tournament will tip off today, with two-time Class 3A state champion New Madrid County Central looking to defend its title. New Madrid is seeded first, followed by Charleston, Poplar Bluff, Sikeston, Blytheville (Ark.), Doniphan, Kennett and Cape Girardeau Central...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Clyde E. "Gravy" Cassoutt, 89, of Perryville died Saturday, Dec. 1, 2001, at the Perry County Nursing Home. Born July 21, 1912, in Rockwood, Ill., he was the son of Lucien and Margaret Booker Cassoutt. On March 29, 1939, he was married to Rose Ann Seifert. She died Dec. 29, 1953...

Usable team name HAVE ANY other SEMO students been to the bookstore lately? There is nothing at all for sale containing the name of our athletic teams. Everything just says "Southeast." Apparently the university isn't proud to have the name "Indians," and I understand that. ...

Freeda Crain, 91, of Cape Girardeau, formerly of Dexter, Mo., died Saturday, Dec. 1, 2001, at the Lutheran Home. Born Aug. 26, 1910, in Diehlstadt, Mo., she was the daughter of Perly and Laura Ann Hogg Collier. On July 2, 1938, she was married to Rufus "Doc" Crain in New Madrid, Mo. He died Oct. 11, 1992...

ADVANCE, Mo. -- Brenda Kaye Pickett, 56, of Advance died Sunday, Dec. 2, 2001, at her home. Born March 26, 1945, in Sturdivant, Mo., she was the daughter of Paul and Mary Moore Hamlin. On Aug. 30, 1963, in Zalma, Mo., she was married to Don Pickett. He died Sept. 30, 1980...

KARNAK, Mo. -- Leta Meyer, 66, of Karnak, died Saturday, Dec. 1, 2001, at Western Baptist Hospital in Paducah, Ky. Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Wilson Funeral Home in Karnak.

SIKESTON, Mo., -- Alice A. George, 77, of Sikeston, formerly of Bertrand, Mo., died Saturday, Dec. 1, 2001, at the Clearview Nursing Center. Born Sept. 8, 1924, in Hot Springs, Ark., to Clark Braden and Corya Broyles Spiller. She lived on Route 1 in Bertrand most of her life and was a member of the New Bethel Baptist Church...

EAST PRAIRIE, Mo. -- Rita Myers, 41, of Morehouse, Mo., formerly of East Prairie, died Saturday, Dec. 1, 2001, at Missouri Delta Medical Center. Born Jan. 31, 1960, in Cairo, Ill., she was the daughter of Joe B. and Kathleen Couch Myers. Survivors include a son, Randall Johnson, of Morehouse; two daughters, Chastity Houseman of Steele, Mo., Rockelle Harris of Troy, Mo.; a brother, Gary Myers of Morehouse; six sisters, Vicki Sanders and Shirley Chance of East Prairie, Betty Chapman and Marie Myers of Centralia, Ill., Penny Houston of Troy, and Joetta Blumenberg of Wright City, Mo.. ...

ST. LOUIS -- Census figures showing sharp declines in racial disparity in Missouri's largest cities during the 1990s may be tied to blacks migrating to suburbs after benefitting from the nation's robust economy during much of that decade, observers theorize...