Stories from Thursday, December 5, 2002

COLLEGE STATION, Texas --Texas A&M president Robert Gates wouldn't confirm reports Wednesday that school officials received permission to speak with Alabama's Dennis Franchione about becoming the Aggies football coach. Told that Alabama athletic director Mal Moore said Wednesday that A&M officials asked for and received permission to talk with Franchione, Gates only replied, "That sounds reliable."...

WASHINGTON -- Aiming to increase safety for children, President Bush signed legislation Wednesday toughening seat belt requirements and trying to create an Internet haven for children. Surrounded at his Oval Office desk by family members of a Washington state 4-year-old who was killed in a car crash in 1996, Bush signed a measure requiring automakers to install shoulder belts in addition to lap straps in the middle rear seats of new vehicles starting in 2005...

A vast storm spread freezing rain and up to a foot of snow from the Texas Panhandle to Virginia on Wednesday, shutting down hundreds of schools, making highways dangerously slick and knocking out power to nearly 100,000 people. "Everybody needs to stay home," Oklahoma Highway Patrol Lt. Jerry Treadwell said...

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraq protested sharply Wednesday over U.N. weapons inspectors' surprise intrusion into one of Saddam Hussein's presidential palaces, accusing the arms experts of being spies and staging the palace search as a provocation that could lead to war...

P Police say no one detained so far in connection with the case has been named as a suspect. By Matthew Rosenberg ~ The Associated Press MOMBASA, Kenya -- Police investigating last week's coordinated attacks on Israelis in Kenya questioned three more men Wednesday, including one who said he recently sold the four-wheel-drive vehicle used in a deadly hotel bombing...

P President Hugo Chavez calls the protests a "desperate" effort to oust him. By Niko Price The Associated PressCARACAS, Venezuela -- Marches aimed at ousting President Hugo Chavez's leftist government spread across Venezuela on Wednesday, with tens of thousands of people banging on pots and waving flags to support an indefinite general strike...

UNITED NATIONS -- The Security Council voted unanimously Wednesday to extend the U.N. humanitarian program in Iraq for six months and review a list of goods that Baghdad needs approval to import within 30 days. The resolution represented a compromise between the United States, which wants to quickly add about 50 items with possible military uses to the list, and the other 14 council members, who wanted to renew the oil-for-food program for the usual six-month period...

The Associated Press JERUSALEM -- Israeli helicopters blasted a Gaza City building with missiles on Wednesday, killing a suspected militant, one of several violent incidents on a day also marked by Israeli statements about Palestinian statehood. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said that as part of the U.S.-sponsored "road map" for Mideast peace, Palestinians could set up a temporary state in part of the West Bank and much of Gaza. ...

SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea rejected a call by the U.N. nuclear monitoring agency for the communist country to abandon its nuclear weapons program and allow foreign inspections. North Korean Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun said the Nov. 29 resolution was "extremely unilateral," the North Korean official news agency KCNA reported Wednesday...

Africans, Australians, tourists cheer eclipse KRUGER PARK, South Africa -- Darkness fell over thorn trees, lions feasting on fresh kills and grazing elephants and giraffes Wednesday as the moon slipped over the sun in total solar eclipse over southern Africa...

JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Indonesian police said Wednesday they had arrested the operations chief of Jemaah Islamiyah, an al-Qaida-linked group widely blamed for attacks throughout Southeast Asia, including blasts that killed nearly 200 people on the resort island of Bali...

FESTUS, Mo. -- Federal investigators who found that an incorrect hose led to an August chlorine leak that sickened 63 people are calling upon other chlorine users nationwide to verify materials in their transfer hoses. In issuing Wednesday's safety advisory, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board said the hose blamed in the Aug. 14 leak at DPC Enterprises near Festus, about 85 miles north of Cape Girardeau, was built with braided stainless steel, a material not recommended for chlorine service...

WASHINGTON -- In a grim update on terrorism's global reach, President Bush said Wednesday he believes Osama bin Laden's network was involved in last week's Kenya attacks, and he complained that terrorists have been able to "stop the peace process" in the Middle East...

WASHINGTON -- United Airlines lost its bid for $1.8 billion in federal loan guarantees Wednesday, a major setback to the nation's second-largest air carrier in its efforts to avoid bankruptcy. The Air Transportation Stabilization Board said that despite efforts to pare costs, "the business plan submitted by the company is not financially sound."...

WASHINGTON -- An exercise to test the U.S. military's communications links during a conflict in the Persian Gulf region begins next week and will involve thousands of military personnel worldwide, military officials said Wednesday. The exercise, called "Internal Look," will test a portable headquarters compound set up in the Gulf nation of Qatar. Led by Gen. Tommy Franks of U.S. Central Command, the war game will start Monday and last through Dec. 16 or 17, officials said...

WASHINGTON -- The portion of doctors providing charity care is falling, a sign of tight times that makes it harder for the uninsured to get health care. Most doctors do some charity care but in most cases it represents a small fraction of their work. The portion spending more than 5 percent of their time with these patients is falling, however...

WASHINGTON -- Congress should look at the government's vast array of benefit programs -- which include Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid -- in its hunt for budget savings, the incoming chairman of the Senate Budget Committee said Wednesday. Slowing the growth of the huge benefit programs could bolster them for the looming retirement of the baby boom generation and help bring resurgent federal deficits under control, Sen. Don Nickles, R-Okla., said in an interview with The Associated Press...

WASHINGTON -- While Japanese automakers continue to make the most environment-friendly vehicles, one American company, Ford Motor Co., is making headway with its fuel-efficient sports utility vehicles, the Union of Concerned Scientists said Wednesday...

PULASKI, Pa. -- A wood- and coal-burning furnace started a fire that destroyed an Amish family's wood-frame home and killed five children sleeping inside, authorities said Wednesday. Rudy and Lizzie Wengerd escaped into the bitter cold with their four other children Tuesday night. A family friend said one of the boys leaped from the second floor and then caught his younger brother; the two other children climbed down a ladder before the fire became too intense for rescue...

CHICAGO -- Eating lots of nuts or peanut butter may help ward off diabetes, a study of more than 83,000 nurses suggests. Women who reported eating the equivalent of a handful of nuts or one tablespoon of peanut butter at least five times a week were more than 20 percent less likely to develop adult-onset, or type 2, diabetes than those who rarely or never ate those products...

Oasis reschedules concerts in Germany FRANKFURT, Germany -- Oasis will reschedule two remaining concerts in Germany because singer Liam Gallagher needs surgery on his front teeth, which were broken in a weekend brawl. Concerts scheduled this week in Dusseldorf and Bremen have been "reluctantly" postponed, the British rock band said Tuesday on its Web site. Oasis had canceled concerts in Munich on Sunday and Hamburg on Monday...

WASHINGTON eronica McClurg has a ball just by lying on a ball. "I could do it all day long," McClurg said. "It's like giving yourself a massage." Massaging tired, tight muscles by rolling them back and forth on balls of varying sizes is a common way to work the tension out. "You can do any muscle," said McClurg, a Pilates instructor in Surrey, British Columbia...

INDIANAPOLIS -- Maryland has four new starters, and Indiana has three. Yet if Tuesday night's game is any indication, last season's NCAA finalists aren't thinking about rebuilding. "We lost four really good players, and to come in here and play like this is a really good sign for our team and our program," Terrapins coach Gary Williams said after Indiana's 80-74 overtime win...

LUBBOCK, Texas -- Texas Tech coach Mike Leach has trumpeted quarterback Kliff Kingsbury's talents for the past three seasons. But Leach didn't just talk about how good Kingsbury was. The coach gave the 6-foot-4 senior quarterback plenty of opportunities to display his throwing ability with a pass-oriented offense...

ST. LOUIS -- A day after the wrong Warner made news, the Rams' quarterback was anxious for the controversy to die down. Brenda Warner called a radio station Tuesday to complain that her husband had his broken hand X-rayed at her insistence, and not at the insistence of coach Mike Martz. The tape of the wife's brief diatribe on KFNS, in response to a suggestion that perhaps Warner had violated a trust with Martz by holding out on the injury, has been replayed endlessly...

Southeast Missourian Notre Dame's boys and Jackson's girls encountered whiteouts in what were supposed to be season-opening basketball games Wednesday night in the Farmington Invitational Tournament. All tournament games scheduled for Wednesday were canceled because of bad weather...

Reggie Golson always seems to have a grin on his face anyway, but it was a lot bigger Wednesday night when Golson made his Southeast Missouri State University debut. And, although Golson may not quite be at full strength, he flashed plenty of skills during the Indians' 88-66 romp over Division II Oakland City in front of about 1,000 fans -- the announced attendance was 1,920, based on tickets sold -- who fought through heavy snow and made it to the Show Me Center...

It's only four games into her Southeast Missouri State University basketball career -- and already Yashika Sidbury has tucked an Ohio Valley Conference record into her pocket. Sidbury set the OVC single-game mark for most free throws without a miss when she connected on all 15 of her foul shots during Saturday's wild 93-87 double-overtime win over Quinnipiac in the third-place game of the Wisconsin-Green Bay Tournament. Previously, several OVC players were 14-for-14...

WASHINGTON -- U.S. companies' productivity grew more briskly in the summer than previously thought and orders to factories rose in October for the first time in three months, suggesting the struggling economy will avoid falling into a new recession...

Southeast Missouri continues to dig out from its first snowstorm of the season -- its earliest winter storm in 44 years -- which made roads slick and slushy for motorists and hills soft and slippery for out-of-school children Wednesday. It came on the same day when the National Weather Service scheduled a winter weather seminar in Cape Girardeau. The seminar was canceled...

CHESTER, Ill. -- Mental patient Rodney Yoder told a Randolph County jury Wednesday that, if he's freed after 12 years, they will be releasing him from a "psychiatric death sentence." "They told me I'd spend the balance of my natural life here," he said during the third day of his commitment hearing. "But I want to spend time with my son, mend my relationship with my daughter."...

Southeast Missourian Missouri is poised to receive a better share of federal money for road improvements and construction with Sen. Kit Bond's leadership as chairman of a Senate subcommittee on transportation. But residents have to speak out about the problems and needs around the state first...

ADELPHI, Md. -- The longer french fries and certain other starchy foods are fried or baked, the higher their level of a possible cancer-causing substance, new federal research suggests. The substance, called acrylamide, made headlines last spring when Swedish scientists discovered that it forms in fries, potato chips and other high-carbohydrate foods cooked at high temperatures...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- With additional budget cuts for public colleges and universities looming, Gov. Bob Holden on Wednesday called for the creation of new advisory commission to study the future of higher education institutions in Missouri. Holden will announce a more detailed framework for the commission in coming weeks but said it will include lawmakers, higher education officials, private business leaders and members of not-for-profit organizations...

Only the first question a ballet titled "Zaum: Beyond Significance" raises is, What does zaum mean? In Russian, za means beyond, um means mind. That is the landscape the Russian and European artistic movement called the Cubo-Futurists explored early in the 20th century. ...

Winter weather gave students in Southeast Missouri a break from school Wednesday, and most will have today off as well. Jackson, Woodland, Oak Ridge, Nell Holcomb, Perry County, Kelso and Scott County school districts all announced Wednesday afternoon that today's classes would be canceled...

By Amy Cole If you haven't already heard, the Southeast Missouri State University gymnastics program is in danger of being dropped. Chances are that you don't really understand why this is happening. Some assume our problems started because of the same budget cuts that have affected everyone on this campus. ...

Dec. 5, 2002 Dear Julie, The ground is covered in 5 luxurious inches of the first snow of winter. Few cars are trying the streets. The silence is exquisite. Oops, here comes a road grader. Now it's gone and all I hear are DC's birds gabbing in the front bedroom and Lucy giving herself a tongue bath...

Make a sweet holiday treat at the library All ages are invited to start a new tradition and make a sweet holiday treat at the Cape Girardeau Public Library this Saturday. The program will begin at 10 a.m. The library will provide graham crackers and icing for basic building materials. Please bring a bag of candy or sweets to share. Suggestions include miniature candies, pretzels, sticks of gum, marshmallows and chocolate chips...

A wreath was hung at Saint Mary's Catholic Cemetery in Cape Girardeau Tuesday in honor of loved ones who can't be physically present around the Christmas tree. "We hang the wreath because Christmas is a time for remembering both our natural families and our church families, and we have a lot of people here who were in our parish family, but are no longer with us," said Judy Stricker, president of the Council of Catholic Women (CCW) at St. Mary's Cathedral in downtown Cape Girardeau...

ALTO PASS, Ill. -- Mary Violet Wright, 79, of Alto Pass died Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2002, at her home. She was born Sept. 14, 1923, at Kennett, Mo., daughter of Leonard and Rosie Bell Cox Goss. She and Arthur Wright were married Oct. 4, 1941, at New Madrid, Mo...

CAIRO, Ill. -- Leler Clark, 86, of Lithonia, Ga., died Friday, Nov. 29, 2002, at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, Ga. She was born April 9, 1916, in Blytheville, Ark., daughter of the Rev. George and Mandy Orange Mains. She and Cary Clark were married April 10, 1932, in Luxola, Ark...

EAST PRAIRIE, Mo. -- Mildred Louise Hill, 59, of East Prairie died Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2002, at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis. She was born Sept. 4, 1943, at Hayti, Mo., daughter of Charlie and Zella Bruce Wilson. She and Alfred Hill were married Oct. 15, 1960, at Benton, Mo...

Billy Jean Carver, 42, of Zalma, Mo., died Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2002, in an automobile accident. Arrangements are incomplete at this time. The Morgan Funeral Home in Advance is in charge of arrangements.

Betty Guido, 70, of New Hartford, N.Y., died Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2002, at Faxton Hospital. She was born Oct. 7, 1932, at Dutchtown, daughter of Otto and Stella Obermann Koch. She and Nicholas L. Guido were married Aug. 4, 1951. He died Dec. 10, 1983. Guido retired from General Electric Co. in Utica, N.Y. She was a member of St. Anthony Catholic Church in Utica, and Loyal Order of Moose 450 in Marcy, N.Y., Sons of Italy, Eagles, and Whitestown Senior Citizens...

OLD APPLETON, Mo. -- Leander L. Buchheit, 88, of Old Appleton died Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2002, at Perry County Memorial Hospital in Perryville, Mo. He was born Sept. 19, 1914, at Old Appleton, son of Leo M. and Anna W. Ponder Buchheit. He and Loraine A. Wibbenmeyer were married Nov. 25, 1937, at Apple Creek, Mo...

Garl Goodpasture, 71, of Jonesboro, Ill., died Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2002, at his home. He was born April 28, 1931, in Jonesboro, Ark., the son of Alexander and Sylvia Price Goodpasture. He married Naomi Jean Showalter on Nov. 10, 1956, in Maywood, Ill. He is survived by his wife; one daughter, Dawn Trimble of St. ...

Goldie V. Bullard, 95, of Cape Girardeau died Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2002, at her home. She was born March 20, 1907, in Cape Girardeau, daughter of William R. and Mary A. Woosner Townsend. She and Ben H. Bullard were married Dec. 7, 1929. He died in February 1987...

Brett Isaac Moore, 3 months, of Dutchtown died Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2002, in a fire at his home. He was born Aug. 12, 2002, in Cape Girardeau, son of Rachel Skaggs and Tim Moore Jr. Survivors include his father of Dutchtown; paternal grandparents, Tim and Barbara Moore of Dutchtown; maternal grandparents, Joseph and Alanna Skaggs of Marble Hill, Mo.; and maternal great-grandparents, John and Freda Middleton of Williamsville, Mo...

Rachel Lynne Skaggs, 16, of Dutchtown died Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2002, in a fire at her home. She was born July 11, 1986, in Cape Girardeau, daughter of Joseph L. and Alanna M. Middleton Skaggs. Survivors include her parents; a brother, Joseph Skaggs; a sister, Alisha Skaggs, all of Marble Hill, Mo.; and maternal grandparents, John and Freda Middleton of Williamsville, Mo...

MOUNDS, Ill. -- Samuel Hayes, 102, of Mounds died Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2002, at Meridian Manor Nursing Home. He was born July 15, 1900, in Byhalia, Miss., son of Robert and Beatrice Garmon Hayes. Hayes was a retired welder. He was a veteran of World War II...

BENTON, Mo. -- James E. "Eddie" Brewer Sr., 64, of Benton died Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2002, at his home after an extended illness. He was born in Matthews, Mo., the son of Viola Mae Ditto Brewer and James Osby Brewer. He married Elizabeth Ann Higdon on June 14, 1959, in Portageville, Mo. She survives...

Christine Nelson, 84, of Cape Girardeau County died Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2002, at the Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau. Ford and Sons Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Charles J. Eastwood, 69, of Fruitland Park, Fla., formerly of Hannibal, Mo., died Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2002. He was born in Bertrand, Mo. Eastwood was a truck driver and an Air Force veteran. He was a Protestant. Survivors include his wife, Mildred Eastwood of Fruitland Park; three sons, Charles Chris Eastwood of Candler, Fla., Allen Eastwood of Fruitland Park, and Randy Eastwood of Fruitland Park; two daughters, Linda Herald of Daytona Beach, Fla., and Misty Brewer of Orlando, Fla.; one sister, Muriel Taylor of Benton, Mo.; one brother, George Hughes of Dawson Spring, Ky; six grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.. ...

In the Nov. 24 edition, an accident involving Linda G. Perkins of Jackson and Margaret A. Smith of Cape Girardeau should have listed Smith as receiving a summons for no proof of insurance. The Southeast Missourian regrets the error.

10 years ago: Dec. 5, 1992 As part of its approval and prioritization of projects on 15-year needs list, Missouri Highway and Transportation Commission has authorized funding for extending Nash Road into Southeast Missouri Regional Port; commission, meeting yesterday in St. Louis, also authorized completion of widening Highway 60 from Sikeston to Willow Springs...

DUTCHTOWN, Mo. -- A fatal fire in Dutchtown that killed a 16-year-old unwed mother and her 4-month-old son was accidental, caused by an overloaded electrical circuit in a makeshift house, Cape Girardeau County Coroner Mike Hurst said Wednesday. The fire also seriously injured the child's father, Tim Moore Jr., 21. Badly burned, he was airlifted to St. John's Mercy Medical Center in St. Louis on Tuesday. Moore was fighting for his life on Wednesday, a day after his 21st birthday...

Richard D. Davis, 56, of Wichita Falls, Texas, died Monday, Dec. 2, 2002, in Wichita Falls. He was born Aug. 9, 1946, in Cape Girardeau, son of Gilbert and Juanita Whittaker Davis. He and Mary Helen Garcia were married April 26, 1969, in Wichita Falls...

Teacher pay, MAP tests I'M AN educator, and I want to respond to two letters to the editor. Someone said he was a teacher with 22 years experience and only making $22,000. I wish that person would call back in and state what district he's in, because that doesn't fit with the salary schedule of any district in this immediate area. ...

Agnes Elizabeth Latimer, 84, of Kansas City, Mo., died Monday, Dec. 2, 2002, at St. Joseph Health Center. She was born Aug. 25, 1918, in Cape Girardeau, daughter of Edward C. and Clotilda Seib Wulfers. She married Charles Latimer. Mrs. Latimer was a member of St. Catherine of Seina Church, Altar and Rosary Society, and a volunteer at the church and school...

Missouri Veterans Home employees have a vested interest in conserving energy on-site, as saving money can ultimately save jobs, said Ken Lipps, a spokesman for the home. And now they could win a few dollars in prize money too. The veterans home in Cape Girardeau is holding a Conservation Contest in which staff members are invited to submit their suggestions for conserving energy...

Holiday music celebrating the joy of the season will return again in the seventh annual production of "A Christmas Story" on Sunday. Over the past six years, this benefit concert hosted by the Southeast Missouri Hospital Foundation has raised $50,000 to help support programs and services of the hospital's Regional Cancer Center. The program begins at 2 p.m. at Cape Bible Chapel, 2911 Kage Road in Cape Girardeau...

Volunteers with Southeast Hospice, a service of Southeast Missouri Hospital, were recently honored for their service to the program at the hospital's annual Southeast Hospice Awards Banquet. The Gabriel Award, the top award for hospice volunteers, went to Emma L. Sparks of Cape Girardeau for her representation of the hospice philosophy to patients, families and the community...

Jackson Primary PTO hosts Santa Breakfast The Jackson Primary Annex Parent Teacher Organization will be sponsoring a Santa Breakfast from 8 to 11 a.m. Saturday at Orchard Elementary. Children are invited to come eat breakfast and have their picture taken with Santa...

Snow and ice made for a nasty combination Wednesday, closing area schools, knocking out power and making travel risky across Southeast Missouri. Schools, nutrition centers and some governmental offices shut down and at least one area manufacturer -- U.S. Poly -- was closed due to the snow and ice...

Last spring in a dance called "Landscaping for Privacy," choreographers Josephine and Paul Zmolek asked uncomfortable questions about what American society values. The new ballet by the Zmoleks, "Zaum: Beyond Significance," has questions about what is meaningful as well, but the answers are less implied...

Robb McClary, director of the Cape Girardeau city inspections department, will speak at this month's First Friday Coffee. The event, hosted by the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce, will be held at 7:30 a.m. Friday at the Show Me Center. McClary will discuss proposed changes to building codes as well as the operation of the inspections department, chamber officials said...

BruggerDaughter to Tyson James and Christina Marie Brugger of Jackson, St. Francis Medical Center, 4:13 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2002. Name, Dalton Damieon James. Weight, 5 pounds 15 ounces. First child. Mrs. Brugger is the former Christina Herbert, daughter of Leanna Herbert and Michael Herbert of Cape Girardeau. She is employed at Ryan's Family Steak House. Brugger is the son of Carol Reddick and Richard Reddick of Cape Girardeau. He is self-employed...

Mrs. L suffers from a variety of ailments, though she hasn't lost her sense of humor. But she could use more cheer this holiday with some gifts from Christmas for the Elderly, a joint program of the Cape Girardeau Jaycees and the Southeast Missourian that provides holiday gifts to needy senior citizens in the community...

Some toys never go out of style and still are making the wish lists of area children whose families are in need. Toybox has received dozens of requests for Bob the Builder, SpongeBob SquarePants, Scooby-Doo, Spider-Man and Barbie toys this year. Toybox is a joint effort of the Southeast Missourian and Cape Girardeau Jaycees that provides Christmas gifts to needy children...

Cape Girardeau Thursday, Dec. 5 Firefighters responded Tuesday to the following items: At 6:56 p.m., emergency medical service at 230 Mill. At 11:32 p.m., emergency medical service at 609 Red Bud. At 11:54 p.m., emergency medical service at 1217 N. West End Blvd...

Cape Girardeau Thursday, Dec. 5 The following items were released by the Cape Girardeau Police Department. Arrests do not imply guilt. Arrests Bobby E. Reed, 38, of 627 Goldsmith, Malden, Mo., was arrested Tuesday on a Cape Girardeau County warrant for unlawful use of a weapon and domestic assault...

There are lots of ways this area is represented in our state capital. We elect representatives and senators. Honored individuals are introduced on the floor of the House or Senate. Several of our friends and neighbors serve in important positions of state government. We send delegations of interested citizens to represent us when legislators are considering important bills...

Today Blood drive from noon to 5 p.m. at University Center at Southeast Missouri State University. Donors should be at least 17 years old and weigh 110 pounds. Grief support group meets from 7 to 9 p.m. in conference room B at St. Francis Education Center. For information, call Denise Essner at 651-4617...

Should merchandise sold on the Internet be subject to state and local sales taxes? If there were a simple answer to that question, it's very likely customers would already be forking over the extra cash. Here's what we know: Much of what is sold online currently is not subject to state and local sales taxes. ...

To the editor: President Bush, Secretary of State Powell and Secretary of Education Page proclaimed the week of Nov. 15-22 as the second annual International Education Week, inviting postsecondary schools as well as secondary and elementary schools to explore their experiences with another culture. ...

To the editor: I am a teacher in the Cape Girardeau School District and want to take this opportunity to commend several individuals for taking an active interest in the education of our city's youths. The fifth graders I currently work with are participating in a unit called "Career Exploration." It was my hope that my students would have the opportunity to visit with professionals in their areas of interest. ...

Ron MacCubbin has been lifting weights for the last 13 years. It wasn't until four years ago that he decided he wanted to compete in the sport of bodybuilding. "I had a friend who was competing and he asked me if I would come to one of his shows," said MacCubbin of Cape Girardeau. "I went and I liked it and now that's what I do."...