Stories from Monday, August 15, 2005

Workers move out of the Kingshighway facility into larger structure on Southern Expressway. Tim Gramling admired his new office Friday, but it took a little imagination. The office was little more than an empty room. No desk, no chair, no phone. But by today, Cape Girardeau's public works director and about 100 employees planned to be settling into the new public works building at 2007 Southern Expressway...

An intentionally-set fire caused light damage to a Cape Girardeau building Sunday, according to Capt. John Ryan of the Cape Girardeau police department. At 4:41 a.m., firefighters responded to a call from CRS Gas and Liquor at 102 Mason St. There was light smoke damage to the inside of the building and some fire damage to the front wall, with an estimated loss of $4,000. ...

News of Japanese capitulation brought celebrations, nixed invasion plans. In his hands Robert Ruff holds a publication too thick to be a newsletter and too monochromatic to call a magazine. Its corners are curling up, and many are completely folded down. He tenderly turns the pages, revealing black and white photos, underlined text and printed notes in capital letters in the margins...

Q: Speak Out calls have taken both sides of the issue whether Central High School needs a new stadium. Besides football, what other Central teams compete at Houck? How much does the university charge the school system to use its stadium for games? Who gets the revenue from concession sales? Is it true that Central can't play games at Houck on Friday nights?...

In the end, the rain did win. The Kelso Klassic men's fast-pitch softball tournament, which had been postponed from June due to rain, ended with a bolt of lightning Sunday in Kelso. The tournament, in its 21st year, has been affected by rain 17 of the last 18 times, including earlier this year...

HELSINKI, Finland -- Fittingly, the last event of the world track and field championships went to the Americans. The 1,600-meter relay team, anchored by 21-year-old Jeremy Wariner, raced to victory Sunday night, a record 14th gold medal for the United States in the nine-day competition...

CHICAGO -- Mark Prior won for the first time in almost a month, getting help from Kerry Wood out of the bullpen to lead the Chicago Cubs over the St. Louis Cardinals 5-4 on Sunday night. Pinch-hitter Jose Macias hit a tiebreaking, two-run single in the sixth inning off Matt Morris, shortly after he'd been hit by a line drive...

Six of the nine coaches are in their first year with the Redhawks. Coming off a 3-8 season, Southeast Missouri State football coach Tim Billings figures some new blood in the program can't hurt. Billings has it, not only in the form of about 40 rookie team members -- counting freshmen who redshirted last year -- but also with a revamped coaching staff that counts six newcomers among nine assistants...

The Joplin Globe Everyone has his or her own idea why Hollywood is suffering through a downturn in theater attendance. Is it that Tinseltown continues to turn out films that fail to connect with the values of most Americans? Is there a dearth of imagination and originality? Are people happier staying home and watching television? Maybe this a moral issue for theatergoers. ...

The (Independence) Examiner The federal government is ready to move ahead and order millions of doses of vaccine to protect against the avian flu. This is good news. The bird flu poses a potentially huge risk. When a new type of flu makes the jump from animals to people, the results can be devastating. Around the world, 50 million people died in the flu pandemic of 1918...

Here at Biz Buzz, it's all restaurants, all the time, so let's get right to it. There are several new restaurants coming to the area and some changes to one of the major restaurants we have. So this installment of Biz Buzz is being almost exclusively devoted to fattening up the masses...

The growth in demand is unlike that of beef or pork because no marketing effort is behind it. WEST HAVEN, Vt. -- Talk about culinary irony -- rabbit meat is in short supply. Despite the critters' proclivity to reproduce, demand for rabbit meat has surged in recent years and breeders are struggling to supply the many trendy restaurants adding it to their menus...

COLLEGE PARK, Ga. -- A man was shot by police twice in the same shoulder at two different times on the same night. The girlfriend of 33-year-old Kenyatta Bostic called police with a domestic violence complaint early Saturday, but Bostic was gone when officers arrived, said Clayton County police Capt. ...

TEHRAN, Iran -- An increasingly defiant Iran called Sunday for Europe to open talks on Tehran's intention to enrich uranium, and dismissed a veiled Bush administration warning of military action against Iranian nuclear operations as psychological warfare...

WASHINGTON -- As U.S. officials pressed Iraqis to finish work on a new constitution, a leading Democratic lawmaker said Sunday the Bush administration is downgrading expectations for a flourishing Middle East democracy -- signaling a possible exit strategy...

Parliament scheduled a meeting for today to give negotiators time to agree on a draft. BAGHDAD, Iraq -- With one day left to finish Iraq's new constitution, Sunni Arabs asked Sunday that the divisive issue of federalism be put off until next year so the draft can be completed on time, warning they would not accept provisions for federated states...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Airline History Museum's star attraction can no longer fly -- and that might ground the museum for good, too. The museum at Kansas City's Wheeler Downtown Airport owns the only operational Lockheed Constellation in the United States. But catastrophic failure in one of the vintage airliner's engines last month has forced the cancellation of two scheduled air show appearances, including one set for Labor Day weekend in St. Louis...

ST. LOUIS -- An estimated 82,000 people remained without power late Sunday after a wave of powerful storms swept through the region, downing trees and electrical lines, snapping utility poles and flooding roadways. A line of thunderstorms began Saturday afternoon in southwestern Franklin County, traveling northeast with winds as high as 70 mph. ...

LIBERTY, Mo. -- Eleven-year-old Dylan Sanchez used to enjoy rides in his family's 17-foot motorboat. Not anymore. Speed reminds Dylan of the morning of May 9, when he was one of more than 50 elementary school students on a bus that crashed and killed two motorists and injured 23 young riders and their driver...

Jackson Municipal Band gives its last concert of season; SIgn up for Master Gardener classes beginning Sept. 13; Peace coalition requests donations to present speaker; Fund raiser will benefit Big Brothers Big Sisters; Conservation department helps fund firefighting equipment

MABALACAT, Philippines -- Even now, 60 years later, it's an arresting sight: a life-size statue of a Japanese kamikaze pilot next to a former U.S. Air Force base. Yet as the Philippines and the rest of east Asia remember the Japanese surrender on Aug. 15, 1945, the statue commemorating the first suicide pilots seems to sum up their ambivalence toward Japan's imperial era of aggression and brutal occupation...

Several hundred settlers vowed to stay in their homes and ignore orders to leave Gaza settlements. KISSUFIM CROSSING, Israel -- Israel lowered a road barrier sealing the Gaza Strip to Israeli civilians at midnight Sunday -- signaling the start of a historic withdrawal that will end its 38-year occupation, redraw borders and reshape prospects for Mideast peace...

TOKYO -- Japan's leader apologized for Tokyo's World War II colonization and invasions Monday, after other Asian nations marked the 60th anniversary of the Japanese surrender by honoring their dead and demanding compensation. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi pledged that Japan would never forget the "terrible lessons" of the war, and expressed his "deep reflections and heartfelt" sorrow for the damages...

Beef and fried chicken on the menu at St. Joseph picnic...

Joseph G. Cullen, 86, of Cape Girardeau died Sunday, Aug. 14, 2005, at his home. Friends may call from 4:30 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at Lorberg Memorial Funeral Chapel. Funeral mass will be held at 10 a.m. Wednesday at St. Mary's Cathedral. Lorberg Memorial Funeral Chapel is in charge of the arrangements...

Cape Girardeau...

SAN FRANCISCO -- Bud Werner and his wife are longtime movie buffs. For more than a year, he pined for a flat-panel television, thrilled by 60-inch screens thin enough to hang on a wall and turn his living room into a mini-movie theater. But he couldn't overcome sticker shock -- some flat panels were selling for as much as $20,000 at first. Like many fans of flat-panel TVs, Werner held off buying...

When Chuck and Laura McGinty decided to remodel their downtown Cape Girardeau jewelry store six years ago, they kept their mission statement in mind: to represent the artful side of fine jewelry. And, like more and more businesses, they went heavy on the art...

Veterans commission names program director The Missouri Veterans Commission has appointed James S. Baughn as the director of the Service to Veterans program. Baughn began his new position Aug. 1 in Jefferson City, Mo. He was first hired as a veterans service officer in Poplar Bluff in 1997. ...

Big River's demand for teleconferences booms Big River Telephone announced last week that it hit an all-time high in Teleconference Network Utilization two weekends ago. The Web-based teleconferencing system, complete with on-demand features and an interactive Web interface to control conference calls, was heavily used by the fantasy gaming market. The Big River Teleconferencing Center gives the user total control of the conference call by means of a Web-enabled interface...

Today is the 60th anniversary of V-J Day, the day the Japanese accepted terms of their surrender ending World War II. By mid-1945, victory over Japan was a foregone conclusion. How it would be accomplished was still in question. One option was an Allied invasion of Japan certain to cost many thousands of lives on both sides. Estimates of Allied losses ranged from 20,000 to 500,000. The Japanese stiff defense of Okinawa certainly demonstrated that they were not going to give up easily...

Ruby Rogers Reid, 82, of Scott City died Sunday, Aug. 4, 2005, at her home in Scott City. Arrangements are incomplete with Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel.

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Iva W. Keller, 91, of Perryville died Saturday, Aug. 13, 2005, at Perry County Nursing Home. She was born June 28, 1914, daughter of John and Annie Parker Wilkes. She and John Keller were married July 27, 1963. He died Feb. 15, 1992...

25 years ago: Aug. 15, 1980 CHAFFEE, Mo. -- The director of the North Scott County Ambulance Service says he and another employee are resigning because Scott County Court has failed to appropriate additional funding for the financially troubled service; James Smith of Chaffee says the court had promised additional funding from county sales tax revenue, and repeatedly has refused to appropriate it...

Consumers' blame; Tax follow-up; Sharing the cake; Consistent logic; Serious about energy; Not accidental; Precious moments; How many lanes?; Notable theories; Apt comparison; Religious science; Less compassion; Party actions; Creating matter; Mixed signals

Festus, Mo. -- Ray H. Braeuner, 76, of Festus died Sunday, Aug. 14, 2005, at Scenic View Nursing Center in Herculaneum, Mo. He was born April 24, 1929, in Wittenberg, Mo., son of Alvin and Clara Walther Braeuner. He and Jerine Stringer were married April 28, 1956. She died Aug. 8, 2002...

Hannah Kinder showed the state of Missouri her swimming talent last spring, capturing two state medals as a sophomore at Central High School. She has continued her excellence over the summer, taking home four first-place finishes at the AAU Junior Olympic Games that took place Aug. 2 through 5 in New Orleans. Competitors in the 15- to 18-year-old girls freestyle events simply could not compete with the soon-to-be junior, as Kinder won the 50 free, 100 free, 200 free and 400 free...

Travis Holder died in an auto accident near Hayti, Mo., in April 2000. A Texas woman searching for her late son's Cape Girardeau girlfriend may not succeed but she has already touched the heart of one area mother. P.J. Mobley of Marshall, Texas, placed an ad in the Southeast Missourian last weekend asking for help finding a woman she believes is named Carol Reynolds. Mobley's son, Travis Holder, died in an auto accident near Hayti, Mo., in April 2000 on his way to Cape Girardeau from Texas...

INDIANAPOLIS -- A couple convicted of reckless homicide in their newborn daughter's death must pay the hospital bill for another daughter who was kept in intensive care for 75 days despite their religious objections, an appeals court ruled. Dewayne and Maleta Schmidt now face a nearly $172,000 medical bill for 5-year-old Makalynn, along with a work-release sentence following their convictions in the 2003 death of their other daughter, Rhianna...

Bush's job approval in recent polls ranges from the low- to mid-40s. WASHINGTON -- President Bush's standing with an American public anxious about Iraq and the nation's direction is lower than that of the last two men who won re-election to the White House -- Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton -- at this point in their second terms...

GRAMMATIKO, Greece -- A Cypriot plane full of vacationers slammed into a mountainside north of Athens on Sunday after at least one pilot lost consciousness from lack of oxygen, killing all 121 people aboard, more than a third of them children. The cause of Greece's deadliest plane crash appeared to be technical failure -- resulting in high-altitude decompression -- and not terrorism, authorities said. ...

LONDON -- Secret trials. Curbing free speech. Three months in jail without charge. British authorities have hesitated to crack down in the past, largely because of human rights concerns and court actions that allowed radical Islamic activists to operate freely in Britain for years -- raising money, beaming satellite TV spots and running Internet sites that condemn America and support al-Qaida...

Cape Girardeau Firefighters responded to the following calls Saturday: * At 5:56 p.m., emergency medical service in the 1200 block of Perry Ave. * At 6:36 p.m., illegal burn in the 700 block of Normal Ave. * At 8:19 p.m., still alarm at 8028 William St...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Ginger Flower could only marvel at the medical miracles that changed other people's lives: restored hearing for the deaf, new hearts and kidneys for the dying, mechanical hands for amputees. There would be no miracles for her, doctors had said long ago...

Today, 7 p.m. ** City Hall, 401 Independence St. Study session at 5 p.m. Presentation * Presentation by Mitch Robinson regarding the Cape Girardeau Area MAGNET Association. Public Hearings * A public hearing to consider vacating an alley which runs from Good Hope Street to Bloomfield Road between West End Boulevard and Park Street...

SPRINGFIELD, N.J. -- Phil Mickelson soared and then stumbled, and somehow finished ahead of everyone else Sunday in the PGA Championship. But thanks to a band of storms that rolled into Baltusrol, his work is not done. In a dynamic final round that included everything but a winner, Mickelson went from three shots ahead to two shots behind Steve Elkington in a span of seven holes, only to recover when others got swallowed up by deep rough and the pressure of trying to win the final major of the year.. ...

The Heartland Nationals 12-and-under girls softball team fell to 0-3 in pool play at the Babe Ruth World Series being played in Cherry Hills, N.J. Heartland surrendered four runs in the fourth inning Sunday and lost 4-1 to Henderson, N.C. The Nationals scored their only run in the sixth inning. They finished the game with just two hits -- none against winning pitcher Jessica Rowland, who threw the first three innings...

ST. LOUIS -- First-round pick Alex Barron is ready to play catch-up after ending his two-week holdout with the St. Louis Rams. Barron watched the Rams' preseason opener, a 17-13 victory over the Chicago Bears on Friday night, from the sideline wearing jeans and a T-shirt. He agreed to a five-year contract two days earlier but didn't arrive in training camp until earlier on game day due to a problem with some lost luggage...

The driver of the No. 20 led a record number of laps en route to his fifth win in seven races. WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. -- A broken alternator couldn't keep Tony Stewart from blowing away the field one more time. Faced with a problem right at the end of a race he dominated, Stewart simply snookered the opposition on the final two restarts and cruised to his fifth victory in seven races. ...

A growing number of people are getting into the swing by buying a home at a golf course community. According to the National Golf Foundation, about 3.7 million, or 15 percent of all golfers, are permanent residents of a golf course community. This number is increasing each year...

Say what you will about the local media -- and I know some people don't look upon us kindly -- but you can't say we don't take our job seriously. In July, I participated in a panel discussion of Southeast Missouri media representatives, including Mike Smythe and Jeff Cunningham of KFVS, Faune Riggin of KZIM-960 and former Business Today editor Laura Johnston. (That's right, former editor. I'll get to that in a minute.)...

Golfing is a business that provides a way to relax, but it's still a business. A manager of a country club or a golf course worries about satisfying customers, making a profit, keeping things fresh and offering enough to keep customers coming back. Throughout Southeast Missouri, golf courses and country clubs all provide basically the same product, but each one is unique in its offering and outlook...

Hard-driving business conversations on the golf course are not typical, local golfers say. You can, however, expect to gain bits and pieces of information throughout the round. Some on the tee, some more while walking off the green and even more while waiting on the group ahead to hit...

Deadlines. Meetings. Presentations. More meetings. Dealing with the budget. You get the idea. It all adds up to stress on the job. And the more stressful circumstances people endure, the greater likelihood that an illness will follow. Medical experts say that people who are chronically stressed are more likely to take up smoking, frequently overeat and become less likely to exercise. This combination can put people at risk for heart attack or stroke...

In the game of golf, one size never fits all. Those who design and customize golf clubs say that a good quality golf club, fitted to the golfer, will improve his game. In the case of a beginning golfer, it might mean the difference between someone who loses interest and someone who really gets into the swing of things...

Cape Girardeau County Tax liens and lien discharges recorded at the office of Janet Robert, Cape Girardeau County recorder of deeds, during the month of July are filed by the Missouri Department of Revenue except as indicated by IRS designation. For information concerning the dollar amount of the liens, contact the recorder's office at 243-8123...

Business licenses recorded at the Cape Girardeau Collector's Office during the month of July. Edward Bernard Gallery, 107 W. Drive, Suite D, Cape Girardeau Steve's Auto Etc., 2769 E. Jackson Blvd., Jackson Indoor Air Advantage, 3806 Valley View Lane, Cape Girardeau...

Cape Girardeau Commercial building permits recorded at the Cape Girardeau Division of Inspection Services Office during July. FSI Heartland, 629 Good Hope #A, Peder Leth, remodel, $40,000 Creative Exteriors, 823 Broadway, Creative Exteriors, remodel, $6,000...

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- Last January, representatives of about 50 Bollinger County businesses, the county Chamber of Commerce and the city met to discuss how to increase tourism. A big idea was generated -- a large billboard on Interstate 55. "We are really excited," said Eva Dunn, president of the Bollinger County Museum of Natural History board of directors...

The decade of the 1980s started off with a bang -- Who shot J.R.? During the next nine years, Post-It Notes were introduced by 3-M. Brooke Shields asked and answered: "You know what comes between me and my Calvins? Nothing." And Ted Turner started CNN, the first 24-hour TV news station...

For nearly two decades, Pete Poe has been the man behind the magic of the SEMO District Fair. Curious thing, too, considering that before Poe became involved with the fair 18 years ago, he rarely went. "It wasn't something that I did very often," said Poe, the president of the fair board. "It wasn't until I got there and met the people who put it on. Then, I realized they were some of the greatest people in the world. I knew immediately it was something I wanted to be a part of."...

When we hear the word "addiction," most people instantly think of someone with a dependency on drugs, gambling or even shopping. However, there is a new epidemic sweeping legislatures across the country and that is the addiction to sales tax holidays. Legislatures on both sides of the party fence support the holidays. Republicans like them because the concept fits their agenda of cutting taxes. Democrats use them to show their support for the working class...

The question here is simple: Is the money you earn your money or is it the government's money? I answer the question with a resounding -- It is your money! Why is it always the case that when policy is made that reduces the enormous tax burden, we hear that the government screams "you are costing me money?"...

Bankruptcies filed through July for the Southeastern Division of the Eastern District of Missouri's U.S. Bankruptcy Court are listed below with their corresponding case number. The Southeastern Division includes the counties of Bollinger, Butler, Cape Girardeau, Carter, Dunklin, Madison, Mississippi, New Madrid, Pemiscot, Perry, Reynolds, Ripley, Scott, Shannon, Stoddard and Wayne. Court is held in Cape Girardeau...