Stories from Saturday, July 12, 2003

KENNETT, Mo. -- It used to be said that America never lost a war or won a peace. But times change, and there was Vietnam just waiting to amend the belief. Since then America has engaged in numerous wars of liberation, motivation and salvation that the conventional wisdom has lost its efficacy and, well, whatever wisdom is may have provided once upon a happier era...

Cape Girardeau police say a man was hit in the head with a brick and robbed by two unidentified men Friday at about 2 p.m. in the south part of town. After a brief struggle, the men took $130 from the victim and fled on foot, police said. The victim went to the police station to report the incident. He refused ambulance service, but went on his own for medical treatment. An investigation continues...

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration is engaged in frantic finger-pointing as it tries to explain how its handling of faulty intelligence on allegations of Iraqi nuclear smuggling produced so few red flags. CIA director George Tenet tried to end the finger-pointing Friday night by pointing the finger at himself, taking responsibility for allowing into President Bush's State of the Union address an erroneous claim that Iraq had tried to buy nuclear material in Africa...

Despite numerous engineering and construction problems, the $17.5 million Cape Rock water plant expansion project began to pay off this week as a record 7.1 million gallons of water were supplied to the city on Thursday by only one plant. Never before has the water plant been able to distribute so much to the city without dipping into its reserve supply or using its second plant, located near the Diversion Channel and Interstate 55. ...

Whether it was a story about life on the farm or a tale about the bumblebees buzzing about her flower gardens, Jean Bell Mosley could spin a story that kept her audiences captivated. "She was able to notice the little things, the truly important things in life and weave them all together in a tapestry of larger meaning," said her son, Steve Mosley...

Today and Sunday 9 a.m. -- Gates open Noon -- Veterans tribute 12:15 p.m. -- T-28 formation taxi with horses and model T's 12:45 p.m. -- Missing man formation 1 p.m. -- F-16 demonstration 1:20 p.m. -- Heritage flight 1:35 p.m. -- Yellowbook Aerobatics...

Southeast Missourian The plane pull scheduled for today was yanked from the Cape Girardeau Regional Air Festival lineup after too few teams signed up for the event. The Area Wide United Way and Special Olympics were recruiting teams of 20 to attempt to pull a 155,000-lb. Federal Express Boeing 727 for a distance of 12 feet. The event was a fund raiser for the organizations...

ST. LOUIS -- The feeling has lingered for years among faculty and staff at the University of Missouri-St. Louis -- the campus lacks the clout needed to pull in money for instruction and research. So when Elson Floyd, president of the four-campus University of Missouri system, told them Friday about a possible administrative shake-up aimed at cutting costs, they listened politely, then fired back searing questions...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri began looking Friday at whether the state should offer medical malpractice insurance to doctors unable to afford rapidly raising private insurance rates. The Department of Insurance public hearing on the creation of a state malpractice insurance program came just two days after Democratic Gov. Bob Holden vetoed Republican-backed legislation that sought to address the problem by imposing new limits on malpractice lawsuits...

A couple of hard-luck incidents may cost the city of Jackson $74,000 and cause a six-week delay in the construction of a new water well on Highway 61 near the city's industrial park. First a drill bit broke 236 feet below ground as Midwest Hydro, a subcontractor, was in the process of drilling...

Cape Girardeau Saturday, July 12 Firefighters responded Thursday to the following item: At 8:21 p.m., citizen assist at 3016 Aspen. Firefighters responded Friday to the following items: At 12:30 a.m., odor investigation at 615 Boxwood. At 2:21 p.m., medical assist at 40 S. Sprigg...

Cape Girardeau County Saturday, July 12 The following items were released by the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department. Arrests do not imply guilt. DWIs Jason K. Parsons, 25, of Jackson, was arrested July 4 on suspicion of driving while intoxicated and possession of a controlled substance...

The fifth time wasn't the charm, either -- but just barely. The Riverdogs lost to the Craftsman Union Capahas -- their Cape Girardeau rivals -- for the fifth straight time Friday, but the Capahas had to hold on for a tense 2-1 victory in the opening round of the National Baseball Congress Mid-South Regional at Capaha Field...

Laws recently added to the books are intended to ease government restrictions on doing business, jump start downtown redevelopment and set aside millions in tobacco settlement money for life sciences research. After Missouri's worst budget crisis in 70 years, Cape Girardeau area business leaders were reminded Friday morning that some good did come from the recent legislative session...

The Olymp-hick movement is alive and well in East Dublin, Ga., home of the Redneck Games, even if Tonya Harding was a no-show for this year's hubcap-throwing competition. "At one time, I think 'redneck' had a bad connotation," Frank Fraser, founder of Redneck World magazine and redneckworld.com, told the Macon Telegraph. ...

INDIANAPOLIS -- Larry Bird and Isiah Thomas shook hands on their first day as boss and coach. Neither smiled. Bird, hired as the Indiana Pacers' president of basketball operations Friday, said he looked forward to working with Thomas, who succeeded Bird as coach three years ago...

By The Associated Press Here is some background on celibacy in the Roman Catholic Church: The requirement that priests remain celibate is church discipline, not dogma, and therefore can be changed. It was not always observed in the early history of organized Catholicism and has always been a contentious issue...

Traffic on northbound Interstate 55, one mile north of Route E near Oak Ridge, will be reduced to one lane from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday as Missouri Department of Transportation maintenance crews make concrete repairs. MoDOT urges motorists are urged to use caution while traveling the area...

With BC-Celibacy-History By Rachel Zoll ~ The Associated Press Tom McMahon lived with the woman he called his wife and their two sons just 10 miles from where he worked in Northern California. But he hoped his boss would never find out: McMahon was a Roman Catholic priest, torn between his calling -- which required celibacy -- and love for his family...

LYON, France -- Monsters for some, manna for others, the mountains of the Tour de France offer Lance Armstrong a chance to power away from rivals as he goes for a fifth straight title. Armstrong was second overall, behind a teammate, after Friday's 142.6-mile sixth stage from Nevers to Lyon...

HOUSTON -- Randall Simon was suspended for three games and fined $2,000 by major league baseball Friday for hitting one of the Milwaukee Brewers' sausage mascots with his bat. The Pittsburgh Pirates first baseman did not play Thursday against Milwaukee, so that game will count as one of the three games, a club spokesman said...

JOLIET, Ill. (AP) -- Tony Stewart pulled off a surprise and got his first pole this season in qualifying Friday at Chicagoland Speedway. The Winston Cup champion, struggling through a difficult season and not known as a strong qualifier, turned a track-record lap of 184.786 mph on the 1 1/2-mile oval to pick up the seventh pole of his career and first since last August in Indianapolis...

Winning basketball games was only half of Jim Hall's job when he arrived at Advance five years ago. Befriending the community was a challenge in itself. "For 27 years I was sort of a hated individual in Advance," said Hall, who coached at Dexter, an Advance rival, for 27 years. "There were several people who weren't quite sure they wanted Jim Hall at Advance."...

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) -- Jason Kidd picked the New Jersey Nets over the defending champion San Antonio Spurs in hopes of winning his first NBA title. Kidd ended 11 days of free agency angst for the resurrected Nets when he spurned an offer from the Spurs on Friday and agreed to a six-year, $99 million deal with New Jersey...

The Los Angeles Lakers have assembled a dream team! Yeah, if your dream is four giant men fighting over one small ball. The Lakers are guaranteed the NBA championship! Yeah, and a triangle has four sides. Excuse me if the idea of Karl Malone dressing like Magic Johnson and Gary Payton pretending to be Jerry West doesn't make me want to do handstands into next June...

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- Larry Bird returned to the NBA and the Indiana Pacers on Friday, taking a front-office job with the team he coached to the league finals three years ago. The Hall of Famer will be president of basketball operations, taking over day-to-day decision-making from Donnie Walsh, who led the franchise since 1986 and will stay on as its chief executive...

Cape Girardeau Saturday, July 12 The following items were released by the Cape Girardeau Police Department. Arrests do not imply guilt. Arrests Joey D. Weaver, 18, of 2545 Hilltop Lane, Cape Girardeau, was arrested Thursday on a Cape Girardeau warrant for failure to appear...

Just a year into its work in the Cape Girardeau County area, Success by 6 is about to lose its funding. Success by 6 is doing something with proven, scientific results, something not all grant-funded agencies can say. The program provides college scholarships, salary reimbursements, travel stipends and other incentives for employees of day-care centers in Cape Girardeau County and Scott City that want to become accredited...

Hoping to beat the summertime blues, many parents search for activities to keep their children busy during the break from school. And churches are finding that summer gives them ample opportunity for ministry to families and children. Vacation Bible schools, camps, field trips and other summer programs are in full swing throughout Southeast Missouri, and all are outreach opportunities for churches to draw in children and families...

The whispered hints at the Missouri Department of Transportation earlier this year have steadily increased into a shout to cities and counties: Take financial responsibility for all these roads! But the matter of who should maintain thousands of miles of roads built years ago by counties so farmers could get their crops to market -- and then voluntarily taken over in the 1950s by the state -- is a quandary not likely to end soon. ...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Four people were killed in traffic accidents Thursday and early Friday, including a bicyclist who was struck by a pickup that was being pursued by police. Toni Sena, 46, was riding her bike with two other people when she was struck by the pickup Thursday...

In a story in Friday's edition, The Associated Press should have reported that a mosque opening this week in Spain was the first to open in the town of Grenada in 500 years, but others previously have opened elsewhere in Spain.

Cruise beat disability thanks to Scientology NEW YORK -- Tom Cruise said he learned to overcome his learning disability through Scientology. "When I was about 7, I had been labeled dyslexic," he told People magazine for its July 21 issue. "I'd try to concentrate on what I was reading, then I'd get to the end of the page and have very little memory of anything I'd read. I would go blank, feel anxious, nervous, bored, frustrated, dumb."...

ST. LOUIS -- A federal lawsuit filed Friday accuses the regional transit agency that operates St. Louis' light rail system of discriminating against minority companies. Three groups -- the Concerned Citizens Coalition, MoKan and the St. Louis Minority Contractors Association -- say Metro has failed to hire enough minority construction firms to work on its $550 million expansion of the MetroLink system into central St. Louis County...

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- Swirling and sipping, a dozen judges sampled their way through the best wines Illinois has to offer. Finally Friday, they settled on the champion -- a dry red wine from a brand-new winery. But despite all the good wines, there was a sour flavor to the contest...

The reasons pilots fly are as different as the flying machines in this weekend's Cape Girardeau Regional Air Festival. Aerobatic biplane pilot Eddie Merchant got his pilot's license before he could drive. He soon shocked his father, also a pilot, by doing a roll and loop and was performing in air shows when he was still in high school. That was 30 years ago...

ST. LOUIS -- Struggling Cardinals ace Matt Morris will remain in the rotation and pitch in the team's first game after the All-Star break. Morris allowed six runs, five earned, in five innings of a 9-4 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday and said afterward he might need a medical checkup for peace of mind. Morris (8-6) has been fighting mechanical problems brought on by shoulder soreness the last month or so, and has given up 38 earned runs in his last 41 innings covering eight starts...

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Woody Williams showed why he's an All-Star for the first time in his career. Williams didn't allow a baserunner until the sixth inning and had a sacrifice fly in a decisive two-run seventh as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the San Diego Padres 4-2 to snap a four-game losing streak Friday night...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Cape Girardeau County and a handful of others around the state will soon have stronger local governments under a bill Gov. Bob Holden signed into law Friday. The measure greatly expands the authority of Missouri's larger counties to enact local ordinances...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Gov. Bob Holden cleared his desk of bills Friday, inking into law everything from a state grape to an abduction alert system and new restrictions on annoying e-mail solicitations. The governor also signed bills providing more oversight of the Department of Transportation and more public notification about the whereabouts of sex offenders...

Saturday St. John's United Church of Christ west of Fruitland will host the Singing C's, a gospel group from Camden, Tenn., at 7 p.m. There is no admission charge but an offering will be collected to help defray the group's costs. ...

Holding the line I AGREE with the person who said remember the Republicans on Election Day. I will definitely remember them. I'll vote for every darn one of them. They did a real good job. It's time for somebody to hold the line on spending. Useless road work...

Guardado Daughter to Brenda May Guardado of Sikeston, Mo., St. Francis Medical Center, 5:43 p.m. Wednesday, July 2, 2003. Name, Destiny Lynn. Weight, 4 pounds 6 ounces. Ms. Guardado is the former Brenda Brant, daughter of Vicky Brant of Canalou, Mo., and Terry Brant of Michigan. She is employed at Hunter Acres Caring Center...

Close to 70 runners expected for annual 5K Dozens of area runners will pound the streets of Cape Girardeau today for the annual Capaha Classic 5K. The event will start at 8 a.m. at Capaha Park, with the route taking runners on West End Boulevard and Perry Avenue before ending back at Capaha Park. The field has nearly 30 preregistered runners, with another 30 to 40 runners expected to register today...

To the editor: I was deeply offended by Jennifer St.Clair's recent letter. Her use of the term "Bush defenders" as those who "overlook the killing of 3,500 Iraqis civilians" reeked of pure partisan propaganda. She deftly forgot to mention the millions that Saddam Hussein killed and tortured during his reign of terror. Also omitted was the fact that Iraq was a breeding ground for terrorists who murdered 3,000 Americans in 2001...

To the editor: Our fine governor vetoed the concealed-carry bill -- the very successful experience of 32 other states with similar laws be damned. Contrary to the unsubstantiated claims of increased crime in states with concealed-carry laws, not a single state with such laws has taken steps to increase its restrictions on or requirements for getting a concealed-carry permit. ...

Elvie E. Rutherford, 68, of Jackson died Friday, July 11, 2003, at his home. He was born Aug. 26, 1934, in Perryville, Mo., son of Everett W. and Sina Hendrix Rutherford. Rutherford did maintenance work on rental properties. He was a member of Whitewater Christian Church in Perry County...

Helen Marguerite Marie Swan, 65, of Cape Girardeau died Thursday, July 10, 2003, at St. Francis Medical Center. She was born July 26, 1937, in Missouri, daughter of Wilson and Pearlie Mae Mitchell. She and Fred Irvin C. Swan were married in October 1956. He died in 1972...

CAIRO, Ill. -- Willie Brown Sr., 98, of Cairo died Thursday, July 10, 2003, at Community Care Nursing Home in Anna, Ill. Friends may call after 12 Sunday at Klondike Holy Trinity Church of Deliverance in Cairo. The funeral will be at 2 p.m. at the church. Burial will be in Spencer Heights Cemetery...

Estelle Muller, 87, of Cape Girardeau died Sunday, July 6, 2003, at Chateau Girardeau Health Center. She was born March 15, 1916, in St. Louis, daughter of Samuel and Ida Cartun Shear. She and Irving Muller were married Nov. 10, 1935, in St. Louis. He died Jan. 19, 1996...

Alvin Dunn, 75, of Cape Girardeau, formerly of Whitewater, died Friday, July 11, 2003, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. Ford and Sons Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Jean Bell Mosley, 89, of Cape Girardeau died Friday, July 11, 2003, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. Friends may call from 4 to 8 p.m. Sunday at Ford and Sons Mount Auburn Funeral Home. The funeral will be at 2 p.m. Monday at the funeral home, with Dr. Clayton Smith officiating. Burial will be in Cape County Memorial Park...

Irene Hite, 64, of Pulaski, Ill., died Friday, July 11, 2003, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. Funeral arrangements are incomplete at Barkett Funeral Home in Cairo, Ill.

10 years ago: July 12, 1993 Relief efforts throughout Cape Girardeau area have intensified as flood waters steadily rise, forcing more people to abandon their homes; about 56 area homes and nine businesses have been affected to some degree by surging floodwaters...

DOVER, Del. -- The number of reported cases of Legionnaires disease has risen sharply this year, baffling federal and state health officials. The number of cases of legionellosis reported to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this year totaled 624 as of last week, compared to 436 for the corresponding period last year...