Stories from Wednesday, December 29, 2004

The gym sits on the west side of Fourth Street, "get fit and save today" and "$0 sign up for the new year" signs out front catching my eye, but not as much as the thin people working out . It took another year of up and down weight capped off by a holiday month of pure binge eating to get me in there. Just one example: The Other Half's grandmother gave us a tin of her homemade bonbons on his birthday, Dec. 9. By my birthday, Dec. 18, Mr. Half had eaten three, and I'd eaten 18...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A woman accused of killing an expectant mother and cutting the baby from her womb asked for a public defender Tuesday in one of her first steps of what's likely to be a long legal journey. Federal prosecutors have charged Lisa Montgomery, 36, of Melvern, Kan., with kidnapping resulting in death. She is accused of strangling eight-months-pregnant Bobbie Jo Stinnett and cutting the baby from her womb during a Dec. 16 attack at Stinnett's home in Skidmore...

ANNA, Ill. -- At VFW Post 3455 just north of Anna, one chair at the post's bar has sat empty since Monday. Larry F. "Bo" Hardin, 64, of Anna always sat in that chair, but Hardin was killed when a snow-laden awning fell on him and a fellow VFW member just after midnight Monday...

The past 365 days were more beginning than end, more question than answer for Southeast Missouri school districts. The full impact of 2004's biggest local events in education is still to come: the controversy surrounding Cape Girardeau's superintendent; another shot at a new high school in Jackson; the uncertainties of Missouri's school funding system...

Lucille E. Singleton, 81, of Cape Girardeau died Sunday, Dec. 26, 2004, at her home. She was born April 16, 1923, in Bristol, Tenn., daughter of Sercie Estel and Naomi Eral Sparkman Smith. She and James T. Singleton were married in 1963. He died June 8, 1993...

Mounds official faces domestic battery charge MOUNDS, Ill. -- The Mounds city clerk accused of shooting her husband Christmas Day was charged in Pulaski County Circuit court Monday with aggravated discharge of a firearm and aggravated domestic battery. ...

U.S. soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are finding that a military background can help land them a job -- quicker than they might have expected. Several national companies have developed aggressive recruiting programs for recently discharged soldiers. Maytag Corp. is hiring recently returned soldiers as repair technicians. Home Depot Inc. has an Operation Career Front program. And Toyota North America started a Hire a Hero program -- all within the past few years...

SHREVEPORT, La. -- Stevie Hicks and quarterback Bret Meyer each had more than 100 yards in a revived running game that carried Iowa State to a 17-13 victory over Miami of Ohio in the Independence Bowl on Tuesday night. Meyer's weaving 23-yard run set up the go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter and Iowa State (7-5) held on to win a bowl game for just the second time and spoil Terry Hoeppner's final game as Miami's coach...

To the editor: What is happening to my beloved Cape Girardeau? I was born in Sikeston and grew up in Cape until I moved to California in 1965. Some of my family still lives there. I come home every year I can. I love Cape and all that is Cape. I've never gotten it out of my heart...

Ruth J. Fluegge, 76, of Pevely, Mo., died Tuesday, Dec. 28, 2004, at Jefferson Memorial Hospital in Crystal City, Mo. She was born Aug. 9, 1928, in Chaffee, Mo., daughter of George and Emma Laurentius Beel. She and Elmer W. Fluegge were married Feb. 28, 1948. He died Dec. 6, 1986...

BENTON, Mo. -- Catherine Louise Halter, 80, of Benton died Monday, Dec. 27, 2004, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. She was born Feb. 10, 1924, at Ancell, Mo., daughter of Benjamin John and Dorothy Theresa Heuring Enderle. She and Leon George Halter were married March 9, 1943, at Kelso, Mo. He died Jan. 21, 2002...

CHAFFEE, Mo. -- Elizabeth "Beth" Dooley, 43, of Chaffee died Tuesday, Dec. 28, 2004, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. She was born Feb. 26, 1961, in Cape Girardeau, son of Bob and Janet Steger Sullivan. She and Pete Dooley were married July 8, 1998...

To the editor: For those of you Christians who are one-sided as usual, "holiday shakes" and "holiday sales" are for those who aren't Christians and do not believe in Christmas. America, being the melting pot it is, would like to include everyone. Since "Chrismanukkwanzaa" hasn't made it into the dictionary yet, "Happy holidays" will do just fine...

To the editor: I had the understanding that the retail price of gasoline was based on the current price of crude oil. If I am not mistaken, the price of crude oil has been coming down for the past few days (down almost $2 a barrel Dec. 27). As I drive around Cape Girardeau, I notice that the price of gasoline has gone up. How can that be? Some retailers have seen fit to stick it to the customer again. Some stations have raised the price 6 cents a gallon...

Laura G. Whittaker, 56, of Creve Coeur, Ill., formerly of Cape Girardeau, died Monday, Dec. 27, 2004, at Proctor Hospital in Peoria, Ill. She was born in Cape Girardeau Aug. 18, 1948, to Harry F. and Anola Burris Gill. She was a member of the old St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church on Main Street, the Sheet Metal Workers Union Local 202 and the River City Blues Society...

Steve Mahfood, director of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, has announced his resignation, which will be effective Friday. Mahfood has been at the department for the past 20 years and has been director for seven. He said he plans to continue to work to protect the country's natural resources...

PHUKET, Thailand -- A 2-year-old boy who was found dazed and alone on a roadside in the wasteland of a tsunami-devastated Thai resort was reunited Tuesday with his uncle, who spotted the child's picture on the Internet. The boy, identified by his uncle as Hannes Bergstroem, was found Sunday night on a road in Phang Nga province near the beach resort of Khao Lak, about 60 miles from the island of Phuket. ...

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- With car bombs, assassinations and raids on police stations, insurgents killed at least 25 people, including Iraqi policemen and a deputy governor, across the volatile Sunni Triangle on Tuesday, and a militant group claimed it executed eight Iraqi employees of an American security company...

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia -- Thousands of bodies lay rotting and unidentified on lawns and streets of battered Sumatra island Wednesday and authorities called out bulldozers to dig mass graves, as the number killed in a mammoth earthquake and tsunami soared above 58,000 with tens of thousands still missing. The U.N. health agency warned that disease could double the toll yet again...

CLEVELAND -- LeBron James used to bring his birth certificate along to AAU games to prove his age. "They questioned me because of the level of my game," the Cleveland Cavaliers forward recalled last week. "I've always played the game above my age."...

ST. LOUIS -- The St. Louis Rams still have high playoff hopes. The Philadelphia Eagles just hope the playoffs get here before anyone else goes down. By beating the Eagles' junior varsity 20-7 Monday night, the Rams (7-8) ensured their season finale against the New York Jets wouldn't just be meaningful for the opponent. Behind rookie Steven Jackson's best performance of his brief pro career, St. Louis stayed alive for the NFC West crown or for a wild-card berth...

After going 19-13 and winning an NIT game last year -- and returning many of its key players along with a solid recruiting class -- this had the look of a strong season for St. Louis University. But the Billikens (2-8) are struggling big-time entering tonight's 7:10 p.m. tipoff against Southeast Missouri State University (3-6) at the Savvis Center in St. Louis...

EDINBURGH, Ind. -- As American soldiers attempted to tow a Humvee hit by a fake roadside bomb, Saleh Thanon, an Iraqi national, taunted them with insults. "Criminal, get out of my country!" Thanon yelled in Arabic, heckling the troops in a mock Iraqi village. "I don't want you in my country. You're killing people."...

Yet another familiar school-days object may be going the way of the inkwell and the slide rule. Encouraged by a milk industry study that shows children drink more dairy when it comes in round plastic bottles, a growing number of schools are ditching those clumsy paper half-pint cartons many of us grew up with...

The Associated Press RICHMOND, Va. -- A 55-year-old woman acting as a surrogate for her daughter gave birth to triplets Tuesday. Tina Cade delivered her own grandchildren -- the two boys and one girl -- by Caesarean section at Bon Secours St. Mary's Hospital. ...

This is a comfortable soup to slurp down, for lunch, or any chicken-soup moment of need. Beyond the usual gratification of the old favorite, this streamlined version is fast to make, has warm seasoning and a low fat content. Don't be misled by the "soup" label: The recipe includes enough protein and substance to make it a meal-strength dish. Serving suggestion: Baked tortilla chips and a garden salad would be excellent accompaniments to round out the meal...

CONCORD, N.H. -- No knife needed? The claim certainly got my attention. Especially when it was followed by the declaration that you wouldn't need graters, mixers, blenders or food processors, either. It's at the heart of Donna Klein's recent cookbook, "The PDQ Vegetarian Cookbook" (HP Books, 2004, $18.95), in which the acronym stands for "Pretty Darn Quick."...

DALLAS -- Blockbuster Inc. said Tuesday it will launch a hostile bid for Hollywood Entertainment Corp. next month if the rival's directors won't negotiate a deal. Blockbuster, the nation's largest movie-rental chain, said it would offer stockholders of its top rival $11.50 per share in cash, or about $700 million, plus the assumption of $300 million of Hollywood debt, in mid-January. That's the same offer that Blockbuster made to Hollywood management in November...

NEW YORK -- Improving labor market conditions and cheaper energy prices led to a sharp increase in a widely watched indicator of consumer confidence in the economy in December, a good sign for growth heading into the new year. The Conference Board, a New York-based business research group, reported Tuesday that its index of consumer confidence leapt by nearly 10 points to 102.3 in December from 92.6 in November, following four months of declines. ...

Lloyd Eugene Zimmerman, 72, of Scott City died Monday, Dec. 27, 2004, at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born Nov. 17, 1932, at Fornfelt, Mo., son of Theodore Roosevelt and Anna Lee Cambron Zimmerman. He and Willa Lee Swindell were married April 7, 1956, in Hernando, Miss...

Dorothy Laureen St. Clair, 78, of Scott City died Tuesday, Dec. 28, 2004, at the Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau. She was born March 21, 1926, at Kelso, Mo., daughter of William Theodore and Emma Bertha Goetz Leible. She and John Grover St. Clair Jr. were married Nov. 6, 1954, at Kelso...

LONDON -- When the BBC recently announced it would air "Jerry Springer: The Opera," the West End hit famous for its vulgarity and a cast of characters including transsexuals and a man wearing a diaper, no one batted an eye. In Britain, after all, the biggest-selling daily newspaper carries a photograph of a bare-breasted woman every day...

LONDON -- Back problems have forced Nathan Lane to quit the London West End run of "The Producers" almost two weeks earlier than planned. Lane has pulled out of five performances of the Mel Brooks musical since Dec. 16 after suffering two slipped discs. The 48-year-old actor has been advised to cancel his remaining performances, the musical's producers said Tuesday. He was told he should recover in about six weeks...

Former Central High School standout athlete Scott Chestnutt has completed the jail sentence he received Dec. 13 after pleading guilty to peace disturbance in a plea bargain reducing the original felony charge of unlawful use of a weapon. Chestnutt was sentenced to 30 days in the Cape Girardeau County Jail with credit for time served and was ordered to pay $804.50 by March 14. The payment is for costs, jail board and late fees...

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers doesn't yet know exactly how much a Hubble Creek erosion control project will cost, but it has warned Cape Girardeau County officials that it may be $170,000 more than the original engineer's estimate. If so, that may mean the county would have to come up with $15,000 to $30,000 more to cover its portion of the project's costs...

Halfway around the world from the death and destruction, a jolt of fear coursed through Ismeth Abbas as he watched the results of Sunday's tsunamis play out on television. "It was scary," said Abbas, a Cape Girardeau doctor. "I saw on the news the pictures, and I knew it was India by the cars and the people."...

Never mind about the unstoppable force meeting the impenetrable object. Tuesday's consolation bracket game between Chaffee and Notre Dame at the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament was more like the gang that couldn't shoot straight running into a team that likes to play defense...

The long Christmas holiday took on a whole new look following the big snow. Our children loved every minute of it. During the course of the first day of the snow, it seemed like all I did all day was put clothes on children, take them off and get them in and out of the clothes dryer. And yes, in between I made numerous cups of hot cocoa. What a great way to start a Christmas break...

Interstate is cleared; Helping the poor; Clear the roads; Something to do; More hypocrisy; Show compassion; Clear runways; Sad statement; Clearing the roads; Need stop signs

For 24 minutes Tuesday afternoon at the Show Me Center, top-seeded Jackson looked like it could be the second team to be upset by No. 9 Scott County Central at the 60th annual Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament. Jackson led by seven points after three quarters, but the Indians wore down the Braves in the final period. By the time the final 8 minutes had ticked off, Jackson walked away with a 93-64 victory...

The seventh-seeded Hawks stopped the tournament's most decorated team in the quarterfinal round. Charleston boasts the most Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament titles of any team in the field with 15, but for the second straight year the Blue Jays will not be making an appearance in the finals...

After top-seeded Jackson made its way into the semifinals of the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament with a rout of No. 9 Scott County Centra,l the first piece of a rivalry showdown with Central fell into place. Central upheld its end of the bargain with a 65-40 rout of No. 5 Bell City on Tuesday at the Show Me Center. Central and Jackson will meet in a rematch of last year's final at 6 p.m. tonight. Bell City (6-3) will face Scott County Central in the fifth-place semifinals...

JAKARTA, Indonesia -- The massive earthquake and tsunamis that devastated Asia raised hopes for change in two of the world's longest-running civil wars. But while warring sides in Indonesia's Aceh province immediately agreed to put hostilities on hold, government and rebel spokesmen in ethnically divided Sri Lanka accused each other of mishandling the response to the disaster...

KIEV, Ukraine -- Viktor Yushchenko, fresh from his victory in Ukraine's disputed presidential race, called on his supporters Tuesday to blockade the Cabinet of Ministers building to prevent his opponent from holding a government session. Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, the Kremlin favorite who has come under increasing pressure to concede defeat to Yushchenko, returned to work Tuesday after taking a vacation to campaign ahead of last Sunday's vote...

CHARLESTON, Mo. -- Pauline Lucretia Scheffer, 75, of Charleston died Monday, Dec. 27, 2004, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. She was born Jan. 25, 1929, in Charleston, daughter of Clem and Emma Gibbear Scheffer. Scheffer lived in Charleston all her life. She was a member of St. Henry Catholic Church, Daughters of Isabella, and had been a special caregiver at St. Henry School...

DONGOLA, Ill. -- Charles Oliver Cruse, 80, of Dongola died Tuesday, Dec. 28, 2004, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. He was born Dec. 4, 1924, in Union County, son of Harry G. and Melle Bartsch Cruse. He and Leota Smith were married Oct. 18, 1947, in Union County...

CAIRO, Ill. -- Reatha Dolores Carter, 77, of Eldorado, Ill., formerly of Cairo, died Monday, Dec. 27, 2004, at Western Baptist Hospital in Paducah, Ky. She was born Sept. 6, 1927, in New Madrid, Mo., daughter of Flavey and Edith Cook Helsel. She married Lowell R. "Red" Carter...

25 years ago Dec. 29, 1979 Another of the candidates who failed to win election to a Cape Girardeau City Council seat last April has entered the race for two council seats to be filled next spring; Peter F. Daniels Jr., a production manner for Procter & Gamble Paper Products Co., Friday became the third candidate...

Basketball Jeff Bzdelik was fired Tuesday as coach of the Denver Nuggets, who are on a six-game losing streak and struggling despite the addition of Kenyon Martin this season. Assistant Michael Cooper was appointed interim coach. Denver was expected to move near the top of the Western Conference after signing Martin, an All-Star power forward. So far, however, the Nuggets have been hurt by injuries and inconsistency...

No doubt the new year will feature renewed resolve by homeowners hell-bent on improving rooms they had no time (or inclination) to redo in 2004. But like the more traditional resolutions to lose weight, acquire a new hobby or read more books, the best of home improvement intentions can fall by the wayside in a hurry for all the wrong reasons...

The holidays are slowly but surely lagging farther and farther behind us. All the stores are having their best sales of the year and nature is making sure that wind, rain and snow make it impossible to maintain anything at the exterior of our home. However, you may be missing the boat when it comes to advance planning and good prices if you don't think ahead. They say that you should make hay while the sun shines. We say that you can make even more when it's raining. Here's how...

Cape Girardeau Firefighters responded to the following items on Monday: * At 5:27 p.m., emergency medical service in the 200 block of North Park Street. * At 9 p.m., emergency medical service in the 600 block of Broadway. * At 10:09 p.m., emergency medical service in the 400 block of South West End Boulevard...

WASHINGTON -- U.S. intelligence analysts believe Osama bin Laden has shifted from outright calls for violence to political arguments in recent taped messages in hopes of driving a wedge between the United States and its allies, officials said Tuesday...

WASHINGTON -- The earthquake and tsunamis that hit Asian countries will deal a fresh blow to the tourism industry there but aren't expected to produce crippling economic problems in the region or in the United States, economists say. Private economists were scrambling to assess the economic toll of Sunday's deadly natural disaster. ...

ROLLA, Mo. -- When the U.S. Army asked for a chaplain to serve alongside soldiers in battle zones in Afghanistan, they got much more than a spiritual leader. The 325th Army Field Hospital and the people of Afghanistan got Capt. Richard Krenning and the support of two central Missouri towns...

The Kelly girls basketball team defeated Kennett 59-43 on Tuesday night to place third in the Twin Rivers Tournament. Kelly Essner scored 19 points to lead Kelly (8-1). Britney Ponder added 10 points. Dexter defeated Doniphan for the tournament title...