Stories from Friday, February 13, 2004

WASHINGTON -- Barry Bonds' personal trainer and a coach for some of the world's top track stars were among four people charged Thursday with running a steroid-distribution ring that provided performance-enhancing drugs to dozens of athletes. A 42-count indictment returned by a grand jury in San Francisco described in detail how a nutritional supplements lab -- Bay Area Lab Cooperative or BALCO -- allegedly provided the drugs from December 2001 to September 2003 to major league baseball and NFL players, Olympics-caliber track stars and bodybuilders.. ...

Norman Leo Horrell, 56, of Newburg, Mo., died Monday, Feb. 9, 2004, at St. John's Mercy Medical Center in Creve Coeur, Mo., following an automobile accident. He was born Jan. 16, 1948, in Cape Girardeau, son of Leo and Ann Wubker Horrell. He married the former Nancy Kay Stahlschmidt...

CHAFFEE, Mo. -- Fred Junior Leeper, 50, of Chaffee died Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2004, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born Aug. 16, 1953, in Phoenix, Ariz., son of Fred Junior and Thelma Kiss-inger Leeper. He and Leann Foulk were married Sept. 15, 2001...

Thomas Emmanuel Melton, 79, of Oak Ridge died Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2004, at his home. He was born April 19, 1924, in Cape Girardeau, son of John L. and Carrie Hatcher Melton. He and Connie M. Blackwell were married Jan. 11, 1943, at Benton, Mo. Melton worked on the Mississippi River and at Marquette Cement Co. ...

EAST PRAIRIE, Mo. -- Everett J. Matthews, 71, of East Prairie died Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2004, at his home. He was born June 1, 1932, in East Prairie, son of Kilmer and Agnes Cooper Matthews. He and Mary Counts were married in October 1962. Matthews was a retired farmer...

APPLE CREEK, Mo. -- Mark S. Schnurbusch, 45, of French Village, Mo., formerly of Apple Creek, died Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2004, at St. Louis University Hospital. He was born Feb. 6, 1959, in St. Louis, son of Edgar and Alma Clements Schnurbusch. Schnurbusch had been a plasterer with Drury Corp. in Cape Girar-deau. He was a member of St. Joseph Cath-olic Church at Apple Creek...

BLODGETT, Mo. -- Lillie A. Williams, 96, of Blodgett died Thursday, Feb. 12, 2004, at Fountainbleau Lodge in Cape Girardeau. She was born Dec. 14,1907, at Bertrand, Mo., daughter of Lonzo and Rebecca Kernell Mott. She married Otis Williams, who died in April 1971...

Judy Ellen Terrazas, 57, of Cape Girardeau died Thursday, Feb. 12, 2004, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. She was born Sept. 4, 1946, in Two Rivers, Wis., daughter of Kenneth and Muriel Jann Zeh. She first married David Adler, and later married John Terrazas...

Rick W. McDonough, 46, of Webb City, Mo., died Sunday, Feb. 8, 2004, at his home, following a sudden illness. He was born Sept. 14, 1957, in Tulsa, Okla., son of Elmo and Sue McDonough. He and Pam Wilder were married June 16, 1979, in Joplin, Mo. McDonough was a 1975 graduate of Parkwood High School in Joplin, and received a degree in business administration from Missouri Southern State University. ...

Sarah A. Stout, 77, of Cairo, Ill., died Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2004, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. She was born June 28, 1926, in Fort Smith, Ark., daughter of Leo and Helen Beland Baudino. She married Harry T. Stout, who died in 2001...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Audrey Mae Mays, 89, of Sikeston died Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2004, at Missouri Delta Medical Center. She was born March 26, 1914, at Matthews, Mo., daughter of James J. and Tora Russell Baker. She and Edward Woodrow Mays were married Nov. 21, 1936, at Matthews. He died Jan. 6, 1973...

TAMMS, Ill. -- Virginia P. Tupper, 85, of Thebes, Ill., died Thursday, Feb. 12, 2004, at the home of her daughter, Rhonda Jackson, in Olive Branch, Ill. Funeral arrangements are incomplete with the Jones Funeral Home in Tamms, Ill.

10 years ago: Feb. 13, 1993 The Rev. Grant F.C. Gillard, new pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Jackson, is installed in afternoon service. Congregation of New Horizons Missionary Baptist Church celebrates its first anniversary with 3 p.m. service; guest speaker is Thomas Jones, pastor of Greater Leonard Missionary Baptist Church in St. Louis...

Greenlee Daughter to Raymond J. and Elizabeth Ann Greenlee of Advance, Mo., St. Francis Medical Center, 11:43 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2003. Name, Breanna Nicole. Weight, 2 pounds 7 ounces. Third child, second daughter. Mrs. Greenlee is the former Elizabeth Jordan, daughter of Phillip Jordan and Barbara Jordan of Marble Hill, Mo. Greenlee is the son of Roxanne Summers of Silva, Mo., and the late Herb Greenlee...

Basketball Scottie Pippen's sore left knee has landed him on the injured list again. Pippen went on the injured list for the second time this season Thursday because of knee problems. Pippen, 38, is averaging 5.9 points, three rebounds per game...

Cape Girardeau The following items were released by the Cape Girardeau Police Department. Arrests do not imply guilt. Arrests Leotis S. Allen, 18, of 123 N. Clark, Cape Girardeau, was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of possession of a controlled substance...

Tonight's boys high school basketball game between Poplar Bluff and Notre Dame should be eventful for a couple reasons. Notre Dame will be inducting its newest members into the Hall of Fame between the junior varsity and varsity basketball games. The ceremony also will include previous "Hall of Fame" honorees...

Newspapers across the state are making a special effort this week to inform their readers about the Missouri Sunshine Law. This special effort is being coordinated by the Missouri Press Association. Newspapers are writing stories and editorials about the law in an effort to make the public aware of what the Sunshine Law does for them...

Springfield News-Leader In 1996, the Springfield school district paid an architect to study the cost of renovating Central High School or replacing it with a new school. He completed his report, which immediately disappeared from sight. Steve Hoots wondered why. He wondered what was in the study. So he asked to see it and was turned down. For most people, that would have been the end of it. But not for Hoots. .....

Swimming at the state meet last year on a relay team, Notre Dame diver John Stoverink had to sit and watch as divers competed for the state crown. But after just missing the state cut last year, Stoverink came back with some more difficult dives and this year will be competing in the state diving event instead of watching it. The diving competition begins Saturday at the City of St. Peters Rec-Plex in St. Peters, Mo., with preliminary swimming events beginning today...

St. Louis Post-Dispatch editorial When the phone rings for the mayor at Portage Repair Service on Washington Street in downtown Portage des Sioux, owner Mark Warner steps from under the service rack and puts on his mayor's hat. Lately, the mechanic-mayor of the small northern St. ...

Feb. 13 always comes the day before Valentine's Day. Really. Look it up for yourself. But the day before Valentine's Day isn't always Friday the Thirteenth. Superstition is powerful -- even if we adore black cats. Most of us would say we give ladders on sidewalks a wide berth because of safety issues. But inside most of us is a fear of what might happen if we tempt fate...

DALLAS -- Chocolates are always nice, and a diamond necklace would be delightful. But a Dallas-based ministry thinks it has a better idea for Valentine's Day. "Her gift for Valentines? Stop looking at porn," proclaim billboards put up by NetAccountability, a nonprofit software company that aims to help Christians confront the "secret sin" of pornography...

BOSTON -- Massachusetts lawmakers defeated a ban on gay marriage Thursday, but quickly took up another compromise proposal that would establish civil unions while stripping gay couples of the right to full-fledged marriage. It was the third proposal rejected by lawmakers since the start of the historic session Wednesday. The first two amendments would have allowed for civil unions, while the third was solely an outright ban on gay marriage...

SAN FRANCISCO -- In an open challenge to California law, city authorities performed scores of same-sex weddings Thursday and issued a stack of marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples. Applause filled the marble passages under City Hall's ornate gold dome as jubilant same-sex couples breezed through brief ceremonies, promising to be "spouse for life" to partners some had loved without marriage for decades...

NEW YORK -- Prosecutors say they expect to rest their case against Martha Stewart and her former broker next week, and jurors are likely to begin deliberations in the stock-fraud trial in March. Lead prosecutor Karen Patton Seymour told the judge the government would finish presenting its witnesses before Feb. 20. She said she expected to have a more precise estimate Friday...

WASHINGTON -- A steep decline in car buying depressed sales at the nation's retailers by 0.3 percent last month, although consumers continued spending heartily in less expensive ways. The overall decline -- the first since September -- was reported by the Commerce Department Thursday. It largely reflected a sharp drop in sales of automobiles. When auto sales are removed, sales at all other merchants rose by a strong 0.9 percent in January -- the biggest gain in five months...

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- Militants crushed a rally against Haiti's president before it began on Thursday, setting up flaming barricades along the route of a protest march and hurling stones as demonstrators tried to gather in the capital. Opposition leaders accused President Jean-Bertrand Aristide of orchestrating the suppression, but the United States said it was standing by him as he confronts an armed rebellion affecting a dozen provincial towns...

MEXICO CITY -- Mexicans who worked in the United States during and after World War II intensified efforts to collect unpaid retirement funds, meeting Thursday with Mexico's interior secretary about millions of dollars that disappeared and never was paid out...

MOSCOW -- President Vladimir Putin used a campaign speech Thursday to declare the demise of the Soviet Union a "national tragedy on an enormous scale," in what appeared to be his strongest-ever lament of the collapse of the Soviet empire. Putin, a former agent of the Soviet KGB spy agency, has praised aspects of the Soviet Union in the past but never so robustly nor in such an important political setting...

FALLUJAH, Iraq -- Insurgents launched a brazen attack Thursday on an Iraqi civil defense outpost visited by Gen. John Abizaid, commander of all U.S. forces in the Middle East. Abizaid and his party escaped injury in the gun battle. Just moments after a convoy carrying Abizaid and his party pulled inside the cinderblock walls at the headquarters of the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps in this city west of Baghdad, an explosion rang out. ...

VIENNA, Austria -- U.N. inspectors sifting through Iran's nuclear files have discovered drawings of high-tech equipment that can be used to make weapons-grade uranium -- a new link to the black market headed by the father of Pakistan's atomic bomb, diplomats said Thursday...

LONDON -- A much-disrupted British Airways flight from London to Washington, D.C., has been canceled again over security fears, the airline said Thursday. British Airways said Flight 223 from Heathrow to Washington's Dulles Airport would not fly this Sunday. Monday's Flight 263 from London to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia also was scrapped...

WASHINGTON -- In the first year of a new law broadly banning "soft money" donations, political groups still managed to collect more than $100 million in big checks from companies, unions and wealthy individuals. Among the largest recipients are new groups like America Coming Together and the MoveOn.org Voter Fund, which want to help win the White House for Democrats, and the Republican State Leadership Committee, which is focusing on state and local races...

Cape Girardeau Firefighters responded Wednesday to the following item: At 10:11 p.m., extrication at Pacific and Broadway. Firefighters responded Thursday to the following items: At 9:07 a.m., emergency medical service at 104 Vantage Drive. At 11:11 a.m., emergency medical service at 402 S. Silver Springs Road...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The Cape Girardeau County treasurer could get a nearly $4,000 a year pay increase under legislation intended to bring the officeholder's salary closer in line with compensation given to other elected county officials. The bill would allow the county's salary commission to hold a special meeting this year to consider raising the treasurer's annual pay to $51,000 -- the base amount authorized in state law for treasurers in first-class counties. ...

Officials from the Missouri Department of Transportation are hopping around the state to tout a new airport system plan. Joe Pestka, MoDOT's aviation administrator, appeared at the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport Thursday to discuss forecasts for the industry with airport and business representatives from throughout Southeast Missouri...

Slowing down traffic CAPE GIRARDEAU police may put patrol officers on Highway 74, but I won't complain about the tactics. In my opinion the police are trying to slow us down by being seen. Their counterparts in Illinois will hide behind trees and signs to get you, which is an obvious form of revenue collection. I've never received a ticket in Cape that I didn't deserve...

My money is on George Foreman. If Foreman says he can fight again at his age and girth, he can do it. No one who witnessed his many transformations over the decades should doubt that Foreman can do anything he sets his mind to do. He is boxing's Buddha and America's favorite pitchman. ...

Cross-dressing comedies come in two categories: Stories about straight people in unusual circumstances ("Some Like It Hot" and "Tootsie") or stories about gay people struggling to be themselves ("La Cage aux Folles"). The River City Players production of "Love, Sex and the IRS" fits into the former group, thankfully without making jokes at the expense of the latter...

For a few Cape Girardeau County animal lovers, there's always room for one more four-legged house guest. Twenty area families currently are signed up with the Humane Society of Southeast Missouri to provide foster care for abandoned or abused dogs and cats and the occasional horse...

As the producer of the Show Me Center Championship Rodeo and several other rodeo events in the course of a year, Mark Johnson is not about to say anything derogatory about the International Professional Rodeo Association. One of his rodeo companies still produces shows with the IPRA...

Talent to speak at Court of Honor for Eagle Scouts U.S. Sen. Jim Talent, R-Mo., will be the class sponsor and principal speaker at the Court of Honor for Eagle Scouts to be held Saturday at Southeast Missouri State University. The event will honor 75 Boy Scouts from 19 Southeast Missouri and 10 Southern Illinois counties. All earned the Eagle rank during 2003. KFVS-TV anchor Mike Shain will present the scouts. The event will begin at 2 p.m. at Academic Auditorium...

WASHINGTON -- Defying a presidential veto threat, the Senate on Thursday overwhelmingly approved a highway spending bill that would bring jobs and billions of dollars in new construction money to states across the country. The Republican-controlled Senate voted 76-21 to pass a six-year, $318 billion highway and mass transit spending bill, replacing the current six-year program that expires at the end of this month. The vote margin would be enough to override a possible presidential veto...

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Opportunity rover has revealed new details about the finely layered rocks that partially ring the shallow crater cradling the spacecraft. New photographs of the rock outcrop, no taller than a curb, show the layers aren't always parallel to one another, NASA said. ...

The Missouri Department of Transportation has added a new wrinkle to the Highway 34-72 widening project in Jackson. On the suggestion of the Jackson schools, MoDOT plans to extend a median to block left turns from Missouri Street onto Highway 34-72 near the high school...

The Delta girls basketball team jumped out to a 11-3 first quarter lead at home Thursday night and cruised to a 62-42 victory against Woodland. The Bobcats (16-4) had three double figure scorers, led by freshman Shea Smith's 15 points. Kaci Menz added 12 points and Ashley Elliot had 11...

The Associatd PressWASHINGTON -- Erbitux, the drug at the center of the stock-trading scandal that brought Martha Stewart to trial, won government approval Thursday as a last-ditch treatment for advanced colorectal cancer. Doctors believe roughly 20,000 patients a year might benefit from Erbitux, one in a new type of cancer medicines that jam chemical signals that spur tumor growth...

Cape Girardeau's spring cleanup program would be eliminated and spending reduced on everything from park maintenance to recreation programs under a city council-backed plan that would cut $158,000 in annual spending and add about $61,800 in fee increases. The move comes as the council sets the stage for a June election on a fire sales tax to help fund public safety needs...

ST. LOUIS -- David Aebischer stopped 29 shots for his fourth shutout of the season and the Colorado Avalanche extended their point streak to 11 games Thursday night with a 4-0 victory over the slumping St. Louis Blues. Alex Tanguay and Peter Forsberg each had a goal and an assist for Colorado, 6-0-3-2 in the last 11 games. Steve Konowalchuk and Derek Morris also scored...

BELLFLOWER, Mo. (AP) -- A woman has been charged with abandoning the body of a man whose body was found in a cistern beneath the house where the two had lived, Montgomery County authorities said Friday. Sheriff's deputies and the Missouri State Highway Patrol found the body Wednesday after fielding a tip that it was being concealed at the house in this community, about 80 miles west of St. Louis...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- President Bush has nominated Missouri Supreme Court Judge Duane Benton to the St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Benton said Friday. Benton, who has served on the state's highest court since 1991, would replace Judge Theodore McMillian, who is becoming a senior, or semiretired, judge...

African-American artists to exhibit work Works by African-American artists will be showcased during an exhibit opening Monday at Southeast Missouri State University. The exhibit is sponsored by the Office of Minority Student Programs and is part of the university's month-long activities for Black History Month. ...

Four stars (out of four) "Miracle" is an exceptional movie about a heroic moment in history. This movie leads you through the highly emotional but true story of the USA's glory ride to the gold medal in the 1980 Olympics. From the opening credits, the emotions of the movie begin to reel you in. ...

'City of God' Starring Alexandre Rodrigues, Leandro Firmino da Hora, Phellipe Haagensen, Douglas Silva, Jonathan Haagensen, and Matheus Nachtergaele. A photographer named Buscape narrates short stories to recall his childhood growing up in one of the most crime-ridden areas of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. ...

Faulty wiring said to be cause of Sikeston blaze SIKESTON, Mo. -- Sikeston Department of Public Safety officers responded to a report of a fire at 7:46 a.m. Wednesday at 222 W. Gladys. Three minutes later, DPS firefighters arrived to find flames showing from the second story and heavy smoke. ...

Humane society offering mobile adoption Saturday The Humane Society of Southeast Missouri will hold a mobile adoption from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday at Petco in Cape Girardeau. Raffle tickets for a 2004 Jeep Wrangler Sport will also be available. Civil War Round Table on embalming Sunday...

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Seven middle school students were suspended and a school bus driver was placed on leave after the beating of a 12-year-old student was captured on a surveillance camera aboard the bus. The tape, which was broadcast on local and national television, shows several Landon Middle School students punching the boy for about 30 seconds last week as he cowers in his seat. ...

LIMA, Peru -- Mired in his worst political crisis since taking office 30 months ago, President Alejandro Toledo received support from abroad Thursday even as a new poll called him his own worst enemy. Toledo is expected to name a new Cabinet in the coming days after a chain of scandals sent his approval rating tumbling to an all-time low of 7 percent. ...

NEW YORK -- Investors apparently had their fill of Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan's continued upbeat congressional testimony Thursday, using the latest round of disappointing economic data as an excuse to gather profits and send stocks lower...

NEW YORK -- Just like J.Lo and Ben, the romance is over for Barbie and Ken. After 43 years as one of the world's prettiest pairs, the perfect plastic couple is breaking up. The couple's "business manager," Russell Arons, vice president of marketing at Mattel, said that Barbie and Ken "feel it's time to spend some quality time -- apart."...

NEWARK, N.J. -- A teenage boy posing as a banker duped an Ohio car dealership into delivering a $123,000 BMW to him at his high school, police said Thursday. A second order was never shipped after the dealership became suspicious, and the teen was arrested. ...

NEW YORK -- Under fire from abortion-rights groups, Attorney General John Ashcroft insisted Thursday that doctor-patient privacy is not threatened by a government attempt to subpoena medical records in a lawsuit over the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act...

FORT LEWIS, Wash. -- A National Guardsman was arrested Thursday and accused of trying to provide information to the al-Qaida terrorist network, the Army said. Defense officials speaking on the condition of anonymity said Spc. Ryan G. Anderson, 26, signed onto extremist Internet chat rooms and tried to get in touch with al-Qaida operatives, offering the organization information on U.S. military capabilities and weaponry...

STEVE ROBERTSON * photos@semissourian.com The Mazda 3 has electroluminescent gauges and a handsome interior with high-quality materials. The automatic transmission has a sequential shift feature, and the AM/FM sound system has a six-CD changer and six speakers. srobertson...

Sikeston narcotics officers investigating some marijuana sales found more than they expected when they checked into the background of two suspects. It was discovered that warrants had been issued for the men in connection with the 1999 murder of a Phoenix, Ariz., resident killed in Omaha, Neb...

SEATTLE -- In a clash of politics and science, the first successful cloning of a human embryo -- and the extraction of stem cells from it -- has ignited new calls for a ban on all forms of human cloning in the United States. The cloning announcement by South Korean scientists on Thursday prompted members of Congress and church leaders to ask for immediate legislation...

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Various universities in Missouri are reconsidering minority scholarships and other programs after being challenged by groups campaigning against racially targeted college programs. The assessment also comes months after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the University of Michigan could use race as one factor in deciding which applicants to admit, though the high court struck down a separate points-based admissions scheme at Michigan...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- House Speaker Catherine Hanaway said Thursday she was studying whether to propose a mandatory cap on school districts' administrative expenses. At a news conference, Hanaway invited educators and school boards to comment on the feasibility of limiting districts' administrative costs to 10 percent of their state and local school funding, "so that every possible dollar can be put into the classroom."...

NEW YORK -- As we all know, "Friends" is coming to an end this season after 10 years of being there for us. We know, too, that filming wrapped last month and that its finale will air in May with the accompanying hype of the Olympics and the Super Bowl combined...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- The state Senate is spending nearly $20,000 to equip a committee meeting room with a new, 61-inch plasma screen television. The equipment, which includes a videocassette recorder and DVD player, will allow legislators to view Powerpoint and other high-tech presentations. It can also be linked with the adjacent committee room, to allow overflow crowds to see and hear presentations...