Stories from Friday, April 29, 2005

A Cape Girardeau bank branch was robbed Thursday for the fifth time since 1998. About 3 p.m., witnesses said, a 5-foot-8-inch man weighing about 160 pounds entered the Bank of America at Kingshighway and Cape Rock Drive and yelled for everyone to get down. The thief did not show a gun but left a big piece of evidence -- the getaway car...

Despite rumors that this year's Relay for Life has changed locations due to rain, officials with the local American Cancer Society have said the event will still be in the same location. The Relay for Life will take place starting at 6 p.m. at Cape County Park North as originally scheduled, rain or shine. For more information contact, the American Cancer Society at 334-9197...

BENTON, Mo. -- Convicted murderer Richard Yang has been returned to Scott County to face sentencing nearly seven years after the murder of his wife. Yang stabbed to death his estranged wife, Louise Yang, on July 4, 1998, at her home in Sikeston. After entering a guilty plea in January 2000, he fled from authorities while out on bond. ...

~ The equipment must be purchased by the county by Nov. 30 and then reimbursed by Homeland Security. No local matching funds are required. Currently located in Morley, the service is planning a move to Benton in order to share communications capability with the Scott County Sheriff's Department. The Morley center handles communications for fire and emergency medical services, while the sheriff's department handles calls for law enforcement...

An early evening fire caused extensive damage to a house on Ellis Street Thursday but resulted in no injuries. The house at 325 S. Ellis St. was believe to be vacant. Cape Girardeau firefighters responded to the fire call at 5:54 p.m. As a few bystanders watched, the fire department worked to contain the blaze...

The new 2005-2006 edition of the Missouri road map, featuring the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge on its cover, will be unveiled at a ceremony today at Riverfront Park. In case of rain, the ceremony will be held at the Cape Girardeau Convention and Visitors Bureau, 100 Broadway. ...

Motorists who throw soft-drink cups and other trash out their car windows as they drive along streets and highways may end up getting letters from a local anti-litter committee warning them to stop trashing the landscape. A committee of law enforcement officials from the Cape Girardeau, Jackson and Scott City police departments and the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department proposed the idea Thursday as a way to combat the litter problem...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- A House committee on Thursday killed a bill to overhaul Missouri's system for funding public schools, but a resurrection appears likely heading into the final two weeks of the legislative session. After spending several days recrafting the bill, the House Special Committee on Education Funding voted 14-9 to reject it. ...

When our older son was almost a year old, we were living in New York and getting ready to move to Idaho -- in January, no less. We were on a family outing and waiting in the ferry terminal on Staten Island. The terminal was not a particularly inspiring place, unlike Grand Central Station or the old TWA terminal at JFK airport...

CHAFFEE, Mo. -- This summer, residents of Chaffee will celebrate a milestone in the history of their community. Founded in 1905, this is the year the town of about 3,000 will celebrate their history with a slate of centennial events. H.B. Rice, who is helping organize the centennial events, said the reasons for celebrating life in Chaffee are simple, much like the small community itself...

In 96 hours, the house lights will go down and a child's voice will cry "Momma, mommeeee" through the darkness. At that moment, the potential for both greatness and disaster will suspend evenly over the dimly lit stage. Will the actors remember their lines or stumble over the words? Will the stage crew roll out the right props or forget Miss Hannigan's chair backstage again? Will the microphones work smoothly or pop with static during Annie's solo?...

CAIRO, Ill. -- Ralph D. "Mousie" Allison, 70, of Cairo died Wednesday, April 27, 2005, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. He was born Oct. 13, 1934, in Paducah, Ky., son of Hubert and Mildred Wooten Allison. He married Janet Kaye Hodges...

Kelly outlasted visiting Scott City 3-2 in 10 innings Thursday in an opening-round game of the SEMO Conference baseball tournament. The Hawks, the eighth seed, led off the bottom of the 10th with a pair of walks and loaded the bases on an error before Kendal Deason delivered the game-winning hit...

The drama and emotional highs and lows involving 200 performers in a production of the popular Broadway musical "Annie" have affected a large segment of the Cape Girardeau community in recent weeks, as described in a three-part series of stories by staff writer Callie Clark Miller. ...

Cape Girardeau Firefighters responded to the following calls Tuesday: * At 4:26 p.m., a motor vehicle accident at 885 N. Kingshighway. * At 7:22 p.m., an alarm at 3203 Blattner Drive. Firefighters responded to the following calls Wednesday: * At 6 a.m., emergency medical service in the 1900 block of Delwin Street...

Cape Girardeau The Cape Girardeau Police Department released the following items on Friday. Arrests do not imply guilt. Arrests * Rebecca Lynn Johnson, 23, 1141 Easton Drive, Jackson, was arrested on four counts for stealing cash from Pier 1 Imports, 3051 William St...

The Salvation Army will open its second store today at 1969 E. Jackson Blvd., Jackson, located between Nearly Perfect Shoes and Dollar General Stores. The hours of operation are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday to Saturday with expanded summer hours. For more information, call 335-7000...

WASHINGTON -- Congress narrowly passed a $2.6 trillion budget Thursday that would cut back spending on the Medicaid health care program for the first time since 1997 in a step toward trimming federal deficits. The Senate voted 52-47 to approve the blueprint of tax and spending priorities just hours after the House passed it by a similarly close 214-211. ...

WASHINGTON -- Ventria Bioscience is giving up plans to grow genetically modified rice in Missouri this year, saying the company can't get a permit from federal regulators in time for the growing season. Scott Deeter, president of the Sacramento, Calif.-based company, said Thursday that he still remains committed to growing the rice in Missouri next year if the U.S. Agriculture Department issues a permit...

WASHINGTON -- Cramped by high energy prices, consumers and businesses tightened their belts in the first quarter, causing the economy to log its slowest growth in two years. That's raising new questions about the nation's economic strength and the prospects for better job creation in the months ahead. Stocks slid...

ST. LOUIS -- Rick Ankiel, the St. Louis Cardinals' pitcher turned outfield prospect, was activated by Class AA Springfield on Thursday after being sidelined by a back injury since the end of spring training. Ankiel played a handful of games at extended spring training in the last week before the team cleared him for action. He was in the lineup for a home game Thursday night against the Corpus Christi Hooks and went 1-for-4 at the plate...

Chris DiMarco got off to a fast start in his first event since losing the Masters in a playoff, shooting a season-best 7-under 65 on Thursday for a share of the first-round lead in the Zurich Classic in Avondale, La. India's Arjun Atwal also opened with a 65, birdieing six of his final nine holes on the TPC of Louisiana, the Pete Dye-designed course in its first year as the tournament site after 16 years at English Turn...

JACKSONVILLE, Ala. -- The Jacksonville State softball team continued in the right direction Thursday, while Southeast Missouri State remained in its funk. The Gamecocks recorded their 13th straight victory, completing a midweek three-game sweep of the Redhawks with a 4-0 decision...

The Southeast Missouri State women's tennis team, coming off its winningest season since 1997, is giving back to its supporters with a free tennis clinic Sunday. Current and former members of the team will assist in the clinic, which will feature drills, competitions and prizes...

25 years ago: April 29, 1980 The Jackson Chamber of Commerce has endorsed a $500,000 bond issue proposal which, if approved by two-thirds of the Jackson voters June 3, will be used to help finance construction of the new Jackson public safety building; plans are to build the 13,000-square-foot facility on the northwest corner of the highways 61, 72 and 25 intersection...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Dennis Ray Jones, 50, of Perryville died Tuesday, April 26, 2005, at St. Anthony's Medical Center in St. Louis. He was born Dec. 9, 1954, at Malden, Mo., son of James W. and Velma Marie Lizenbee Jones. Jones was employed at Gilster-Mary Lee. He was formerly of Malden and was a member of Kimball Baptist Church...

KELSO, Mo. -- Edward Simon Enderle, 95, of Kelso died Wednesday, April 27, 2005, at the Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau. He was born April 8, 1910, at Kelso, son of Peter and Katherine Gosche Enderle. He and Hilda Philomena Schaefer were married July 30, 1935, at Kelso. She died Nov. 26, 1985...

Barbara Musgraves I am home in heaven dear ones; Oh, so happy and so bright! There is perfect joy and beauty, In this everlasting light. Barbara Ann Musgraves, 67, of Cape Girardeau died Wednesday, April 27, 2005, at her home after a long battle with cancer...

Good lesson; Liberal rally; Money for sidewalks; Help the fish; Attract more business; Sharing the street; Breeding mosquitoes; Raising money

To the editor: Workers Memorial Day is held each April 28 to mourn workers killed and injured on the job. It is also the day we rededicate ourselves to the fight to make our workplaces safer. We still have a long way to go. Every year, nearly 6,000 people are killed at work. Another 50,000 workers die annually from occupational diseases. Millions more are injured...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Donald E. Williams, 76, of Perryville died Wednesday, April 27, 2005, at his home. He was born Sept. 27, 1928, at Herculaneum, Mo., son of Leroy S. and Eloise Ann Easter Williams. He and Linda M. Medley were married Oct. 22, 1960, in East St. Louis, Ill...

SEDGEWICKVILLE, Mo. -- Robert G. Carque, 67, of Sedgewickville died Wednesday, April 27, 2005, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. He was born Sept. 11, 1937, in St. Louis, son of George and Mary Ann Oster Carque. He and Ruth L. Rutherford were married Jan. 4, 1962, in St. Louis...

Folsom; Hurd; Moore; Lovelady; Woods; Warren; New; Miller

To the editor: A while back, the news media reported that "cows in California contribute to the smog condition because they burp." I thought about all those buffalo that once roamed from Kentucky to the Western plains and down into Texas. Millions and millions of buffalo must have burped, and the smog must have been thicker than a rainy April day in Gipsy...

Basketball; Football; Miscellaneous

ST. LOUIS -- The St. Louis Rams added depth to their secondary on Thursday, signing Terry Fair and Corey Ivy to one-year contracts. The Rams also signed fourth-round pick Jerome Carter, a safety from Florida State, to a three-year deal. Fair, a first-round pick of the Detroit Lions in 1998, last played in the NFL in 2002 for the Carolina Panthers. He sat out the 2003 season and last year he was in training camp with the Pittsburgh Steelers...

Baseball wants to paint the town red. Way back when, major league teams nearly always wore white jerseys at home and gray on the road. Now, some teams have so many kinds of uniforms that players can hardly keep track. In their search for sartorial splendor, not to mention dollars from extra sales, Colorado, Houston and the New York Mets each will use five sets of uniforms this year. That makes for some confusion...

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- Telephone users in Southern Illinois may soon have a new area code under a new order from the Illinois Commerce Commission. The ICC order would impose the new code, 730, within the existing 618 area code when the 618 numbers start to run out. The earliest the new code will be used is 2008 and will only be assigned to new land lines, cell phones and fax machines, officials said...

NEW YORK -- Stocks sagged Thursday as the latest gross domestic product reading came in below expectations and raised more questions about the strength of the economy -- in spite of robust earnings and higher forecasts from Procter & Gamble Co. and other companies. The Dow Jones industrial average slid more than 125 points...

The AssociatedPress DULUTH, Ga. -- A 32-year-old bride-to-be vanished just days before her wedding, and more than 100 volunteers joined police Thursday in an all-out search of her wooded suburban neighborhood. Authorities said they were considering the case of Jennifer Wilbanks a criminal investigation...

SANTA ANA, Calif. -- A jury convicted a factory worker Thursday of kidnapping and killing 5-year-old Samantha Runnion, an Orange County girl whose 2002 death prompted a massive public outcry. After deliberating for less than nine hours over two days, jurors convicted Alejandro Avila, 30, of kidnapping, murder and sexual assault. In the upcoming penalty phase, the jury will decide whether to recommend a death sentence or life in prison without parole...

WASHINGTON -- President Bush urged Congress to enact contentious Social Security and energy legislation and confirm his controversial court nominees Thursday night, prodding lawmakers to act on an ambitious second-term agenda. "I'm not surprised that some are balking at doing hard work," Bush said of the Republican-controlled Congress...

One of the luckiest bounces of Vince Carter's career -- five or six bounces, actually -- couldn't keep the New Jersey Nets from falling behind 3-0 to the Miami Heat. Carter forced double overtime with a shot that danced all around the backboard and rim before dropping through, but there was no more magic for the Nets after that in a 108-105 double-overtime loss at home to the Heat on Thursday night...

ATLANTA -- Former partners in pranks as Oakland teammates, Tim Hudson and Mark Mulder may feel as if the joke is on them when they face each other tonight. Teammates in Oakland the last five years as two of the starring jokesters -- with Barry Zito -- in the Big Three pitching rotation, Hudson was traded to Atlanta and Mulder was sent to St. Louis after the 2004 season...

ST. LOUIS -- A pitcher who had been winless since August helped the Milwaukee Brewers find a way to beat the St. Louis Cardinals. Chris Capuano gave up just two runs in 6 1/3 innings and also doubled to lead the Brewers to a 4-3 victory Thursday that avoided a three-game sweep by the Cardinals...

The Jackson girls soccer team had one thought on their minds Thursday when they hosted Notre Dame: revenge. Jackson, which had lost to the Bulldogs 4-3 on April 4, exacted its revenge with a 5-1 win at home Thursday. All-state forward Molly Hartmann scored two goals and assisted on another in Jackson's win...

ST. LOUIS -- Charter chairman Paul Allen was aware of an accounting scandal at the nation's third-largest cable television provider, according to a former executive convicted in the scheme. Former Charter vice president James "Trey" Smith III has filed a counterclaim against the suburban St. Louis company in a dispute over legal fees related to the accounting scandal...

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Deep within Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, Iraq's prime minister-designate hailed the formation of a new Cabinet as the "first step toward building a new Iraq." But the lawmakers had failed to agree on names for key posts such as oil and defense, and disagreement remained about whether to include officials who served in Saddam Hussein's regime...

LONDON -- In an embarrassing about-face ahead of elections, Prime Minister Tony Blair on Thursday released a secret memo warning of the legal consequences of invading Iraq without a second U.N. resolution. Blair had long refused to publish the March 7, 2003, document from Attorney General Lord Goldsmith, saying it was confidential. ...

LONDON -- The most convincing research so far suggests that being fat in your 40s might raise your risk of developing dementia later in life. In a study that followed more than 10,000 Californians for almost 30 years, researchers found that the fatter people were, the greater their risk for Alzheimer's disease or other forms of dementia. The results were published online today by the British Medical Journal...

BELLEFONTAINE NEIGHBORS, Mo. -- Nearly 700 students at a north St. Louis County high school walked out of classes Thursday for the second day in a row to protest the firing of their principal. The school board voted April 12 not to rehire principal Glem Ukaoma. District officials would not say specifically why Ukaoma was let go, only that he did not meet expectations...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- First the state granted an income tax break to middle- and low-income seniors and the disabled. Then last year, it enacted a property tax break for seniors and the disabled confronted by rising home values. On Thursday, the House passed legislation that would provide a third way for the disabled and seniors to save on their taxes: an income tax credit that could offset part of their property taxes...

JERUSALEM -- He waded through the painful past at a heartrending Holocaust museum. He presented a monument to victims of that "monstrous crime" as a gift to Israel from the Russian people. And he met with Jewish veterans of the Soviet army who fought Nazi Germany...

ST. LOUIS -- Flying Missouri highway commissioners and other Department of Transportation employees around the state over the past 21 months has cost taxpayers more than $475,000, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Thursday. The flights have been taken since state Auditor Claire McCaskill criticized the department for using planes inefficiently and for not having a written policy. ...

HAYWOOD CITY, Mo. -- Two Scott County residents received moderate injuries in a crash Thursday morning at the intersection of Route U and U.S. 61, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol. ...

This past Monday the Missouri Senate passed Senate Bill 402, a bill identified on the official Senate Web site as: "SB 402 -- Creates and modifies provisions relating to underage drinking." It sounds like a good idea, but it is much more. And in it are many troublesome surprises...

Congress struggling to finish war-spending bill

WASHINGTON -- Like a voice from the past, the two-note tap-tap of the ivory-billed woodpecker is ringing again in America. The striking bird, last seen in 1944, has been rediscovered in the Big Woods area of Arkansas, scientists and conservationists reported Thursday...

'THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY' Starring Martin Freeman, Mos Def, Sam Rockwell, Zooey Deschanel, Alan Rickman and Bill Nighy. Just before the Earth is destroyed in order to build an intergalactic hyperspace bypass, Arthur Dent learns that his friend Ford Prefect is an alien. ...

It's no secret that most people dread shopping for a car. There are exceptions, of course, like me and my gearhead friends. To us, nothing is more fun than a day of tire kicking, peering under hoods, and getting down on one knee to read the fine print on the sidewalls...

Only one fully healthy quarterback and some nagging injuries means Southeast Missouri State won't hold its normal intrasquad game to conclude spring practice. But fans are still invited to Houck Stadium Saturday when the Redhawks wrap up spring drills with a scrimmage at 6:30 p.m. The scrimmage will mark Southeast's 15th and final workout of the spring, as allowed under NCAA guidelines...

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. -- Krystal began using heroin when she was 14, and soon hit bottom. But at 18, she says she is drug-free, holds down a job, attends beauty school and cares for her toddler son. She credits a relatively new medication called buprenorphine with freeing her from heroin's grip...

I expected to enjoy "Kung Fu Hustle" just as much as listening to everyone's favorite 1970s hit, "Kung Fu Fighting" (yuck). Instead, this movie does have some fairly good qualities. This movie is a combination of Walker, Texas Ranger; Billy Jack; Bruce Lee; Bugs Bunny; and Roger Rabbit. The movie producer made sure the action scenes are intense (but not very well choreographed), no English is spoken and everyone needs to see the orthodontist...

TULSA, Okla. -- Eleven-year-old Thomas Adams thought Warner Bros. had gone daffy when he saw the company's plans for a new cartoon called "Loonatics," based on Bugs Bunny and his Looney Tunes pals. The grimacing, hollow-eyed, power-fisted prototypes of a futuristic Bugs, Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner struck the boy as dark and scary. In the words of Daffy Duck, he found them "dethh-picable."...

BELKNAP, Ill. -- Along the Cache River in Southern Illinois, the geographic properties of four regions of the United States meet. In this unique spot, the landscape, animals and plants of the north, south, east and west converge. The result is a mixture of landscapes, with Ozark mountains, gently rolling hills, hardwood forests and bottomland swamps filled with tupelo and cypress trees...

Southeast's exhibition of seniors opens today...

Dear Tom and Ray: We recently had our family's 2003 Honda Odyssey in for the 30,000-mile service at a Phoenix Honda dealer. During the visit, the service adviser counseled us that the coolant system contained acid and would require a complete flushing, at a cost of $199. ...