Stories from Thursday, March 9, 2006

March 9, 2006 Dear Pat, We were watching the Academy Awards on TV with our friend Robyn when DC decided to take the dogs for a walk. Some minutes later, she burst through the front door with Hank and Lucy and distressedly announced "I need help." Our beagle Alvie had run out the door before she'd gotten his leash on him. First he'd paused on one of the front porch steps to stretch like a sprinter. When DC tried to grab his tail and missed he was off for Broadway -- the street, not the stage...

With tornado season approaching, the National Weather Service is taking steps to prepare itself and the public. A tornado warning drill is scheduled to be broadcast over television, radio, and weather radios throughout Missouri at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, according to the weather service...

ST. LOUIS -- Several environmental groups, following on the heels of a forest products group, have appealed the federal government's plan to manage the 1.5-million-acre Mark Twain National Forest. The Missouri Forest Alliance, Heartwood and the Sierra Club are among half a dozen groups that claim the forest plan, a management road map for the next 10 to 15 years, doesn't provide sufficient environmental protection for the forest that covers much of southern Missouri...

A request by Pat LaFont of LaFont Auto Sales to rezone property on Chesley Drive for commercial use was unanimously rejected Wednesday by the Cape Girardeau Planning and Zoning Commission. In a show of neighborhood solidarity, 30 residents from the area attended the meeting and voiced their objection to the plan. ...

Three men were charged over the weekend with beating up a 44-year-old man in Scott City. David A. Turner, 21, of Scott City; Kelly Church, of Chaffee, Mo.; and Trent Tancheck, 27, of Scott City, were each charged with first-degree robbery, first-degree assault and tampering with a witness. A $150,000 bond was set for all three...

Cape Girardeau lifted a no-burn order issued last week when high wind conditions made flames hazardous. Burning inside the city limits is permitted when it is confined to tree limbs, leaves and other yard waste. The pile of waste must be no larger than 5 feet in height and width...

By Peter Kinder For most of us who have not yet filed our income taxes, we know the April 15 deadline is rapidly approaching. As you fill out your forms, keep in mind how you can help your neighbors who are away from home fighting for our freedoms and their families. By completing a check-off donation on your state income tax return, you can conveniently contribute to the Missouri Military Family Relief Fund...

Concordia Men's Club planning Sunday supper...

To the editor: I recently heard about House Concurrent Resolution 12 which deals with making Christianity the majority religion of Missouri. I just wanted to say how disgusted I am that the Missouri Legislature is wasting its time on such pointless nonsense when there are real issues to tackle such as poverty, high unemployment and an increased number of individuals who are being denied Medicaid coverage...

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Gunmen wearing commando uniforms of the Shiite-dominated Interior Ministry on Wednesday stormed an Iraqi security company, spiriting away 50 hostages. The ministry denied involvement and called the operation a "terrorist act." The security company reportedly relied heavily on Sunni ex-military men from the Saddam regime...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dipped in January to its lowest level since September 2001, the state Department of Economic Development said Wednesday. The jobless rate of 4.7 percent was down one-half percentage point from the revised rate of 5.2 percent for December, due partly to unusually mild weather in January, the department said...

ST. LOUIS -- Monsanto Co.'s full-year earnings for fiscal 2006 will be at the upper end of its previously stated range of $2.35 per share to $2.50 per share, the St. Louis-based biotech company said Wednesday. Still, Monsanto's stock fell nearly 4 percent...

ST. LOUIS -- The war on meth will shift from busting clandestine rural labs to fighting shipments of the drug from Mexico, White House deputy drug czar Scott Burns said Wednesday during a stop in St. Louis. Burns said that as he hears success stories from around the country, and with a new federal law to monitor the sale of meth's key ingredient, the fight against meth needs to be refocused...

To the editor: It seems to be appropriate to respond to several Speak Out comments concerning the recent university production of "The Tender Land" by Aaron Copland, a joint endeavor by the Departments of Theatre/Dance and Music. First, I wish to express my appreciation to our community patrons for their support for this and other productions by our departments. We also appreciate the feedback we get from patrons...

When looking at ways to save lives, cost should not be the only consideration. At this point, a convincing argument has yet to be made that adding seat belts to school buses in Missouri would save lives, but estimates are that it would take an additional $60 million to do so...

Zonta Club celebrates Yellow Rose Day; Kelso holds kindergarten registration on March 27

DALLAS -- When the Big 12 tournament was first played in Dallas three years ago, the league was establishing itself as a power basketball conference. After its first tournament outside of Kansas City ended in 2003, the Big 12 had two No. 1 seeds and a No. 2 for the NCAA tournament. And the conference sent six teams, matching the Southeastern Conference for the most, for the fourth straight year...

OPEC says production will remain steady VIENNA, Austria -- OPEC said Wednesday it would keep pumping at current levels to ensure adequate supplies as extremists target oil facilities from the Middle East to Nigeria and a confrontation escalates over Iran's suspect nuclear program. The output quota is 28 million barrels a day...

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Thousands of Florida home and condominium owners will lose their insurance policies in June after one of the state's largest property insurers said it will stop issuing new policies and drop some customers because of hurricane losses. The move by Poe Financial Group likely means higher insurance rates for everyone in the state...

WASHINGTON -- Fraudulently obtaining and selling a person's telephone records would become a crime under legislation approved Wednesday by a House committee. The bill also would require telecommunications companies to get consumers' permission before sharing information about their calling records with business partners...

Easy pickings; Student impact; Government checks; Feedback on issues; Starting to wake up; Taking cheap shots; Don't eat the flowers; Selling our forests; Don't lump together

To the editor: To the person responsible for the "No comparison" Speak Out comment: Many years ago homosexuality was hidden. History also says God does not accept it. You do not know God's word. Read Genesis 19 about Sodom and Gomorrah and Leviticus 20:13. ...

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Three college students, including two aspiring actors known around campus as pranksters, were arrested Wednesday in a string of nine church fires that spread fear across Alabama last month. Federal agents said the defendants claimed that the first few blazes were set as "a joke" and that the others were started to throw investigators off the track...

To the editor: The purpose of the Medicare Part D prescription insurance program is to help reduce the amount spent on prescription medications for our seniors. This program won't eliminate the total cost of these medications, but it can help defray some of the cost for many people. I have written policies recently that will help seniors save $2,000 to $3,000 a year. This program will cost these people $366 a year to reap these savings, and this makes financial sense to our seniors...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- A bizarre legal misstep by confessed al-Qaida conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui came back to haunt him Wednesday as he helped confirm for jurors at his sentencing trial that he had said Osama bin Laden ordered him to fly a plane into the White House...

25 years ago: March 9, 1981 The traffic signals at the intersection of Broadway and Caruthers in Cape Girardeau are scheduled to be removed today and replaced with stop signs, while construction crews prepare for the installation of new signals in about three weeks...

Howell; Mangels; Hornberger; Mehrhoff; Martin

CHAFFEE, Mo. -- Jewell Marie Elsperman, 78, of Chaffee died Wednesday, March 8, 2006, at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born July 25, 1927, at Morley, Mo., daughter of Thomas Johnathan and Myrtle Mae Cruse Jackson. She and Norman Elsperman were married Aug. 15, 1942...

Karen L. Webster, 49, of Jackson passed away Tuesday, March 7, 2006, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. She was born Feb. 26, 1957, in Sikeston, Mo., daughter of Albert and Doris Ramage Sullenger. She and Jeffery G. Webster were married Oct. 15, 1978, in New Madrid, Mo...

Mary Beth Ziegler, 38, of Jackson passed away Tuesday, March 7, 2006, in her home. She was born Oct. 28, 1967, in Perryville, Mo., daughter of Frank and Bettilee Cook Emmendorfer. She and Rick Ziegler were married July 11, 1992. Mary was a 1986 graduate of Notre Dame High School. She received a bachelor's degree from the University of Missouri, and a master's degree in elementary education from Southeast Missouri State University...

CAIRO, Ill. -- Charles E. Booth Jr., 44, of Cairo died Sunday, March 5, 2006, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston, Mo. Friends may call at Heavenly Gates Funeral Home from 11 a.m. to service time Saturday. The funeral will be at 2 p.m. Saturday at the funeral home. Burial will be in Spencer Heights Cemetery at Mounds, Ill...

The tree-line silhouette of Burnham Island is a giant, rising high above the pebbles and sand of the now-dry channel bed that runs along its eastern side. In times of higher water the island's 1,136 acres of nearly untouched forest across the river from Commerce, Mo., would be surrounded by water, a huge landmass in the middle of a huge river, the Mississippi...

VIENNA, Austria -- Iran threatened the United States with "harm and pain" Wednesday if the U.S. tries to use the U.N. Security Council as a new and potent lever to punish Tehran for its suspect nuclear program. Washington warned that Tehran has enough nuclear material for up to 10 atomic bombs...

Briefly Southeast Missouri Hospital's Wellness Center will offer a Heartsaver CPR class for the general public Saturday from 8 a.m. to noon at the Main Street Fitness Center in Jackson. The course covers adult, infant and child CPR and procedures for handling choking and the AED (automatic external defibrillator). Participants will receive American Heart Association two-year certification after fulfilling course requirements. To register, call 243-2211...

Cape Girardeau...

Cape Girardeau...

NEW ORLEANS -- Six months after Hurricane Katrina, President Bush got a close-up look Wednesday at the mountains of debris, the abandoned homes and the boarded-up businesses that are shocking reminders of the "pain and agony" New Orleans endures still...

WASHINGTON -- The White House has spent more than three weeks trying to calm bipartisan outrage in the House and Senate over a Dubai-owned company's efforts to operate some U.S. port terminals. But opposition to DP World's plan has not just persisted -- it has grown...

WASHINGTON -- Two-thirds of people in the United States say Iraqis are better off now than under Saddam Hussein, but many longtime U.S. allies are less optimistic, AP-Ipsos polling found. Iraq is struggling to form a government, and the trial of Saddam is in its fifth month. A surge in violence after the Feb. 22 bombing of a sacred Shiite shrine in Samarra raised fears that Iraq could descend into civil war...

WASHINGTON -- The State Department called the human rights records of key Arab allies poor or problematic on Wednesday, citing flawed elections and torture of prisoners in Egypt, beatings, arbitrary arrest and lack of religious freedom in Saudi Arabia, and floggings as punishment for adultery or drug abuse in the United Arab Emirates...

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- Advance's boys basketball team has used its depth to wear down opponents. It won its first district title since 2000 last Thursday with a 22-point scoring edge in the fourth quarter. The Hornets' depth played a key in Wednesday's Class 2 sectional at the Bess Activity Center, but it was the play of senior guard Daryl Wade which came to the forefront...

A proposed Missouri House resolution that supports prayer in school and recognizes a "Christian God" is generating a variety of opinions among Christians and non-Christians, but local legislators say it has no binding effect in the state. The House resolution No. ...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Special transportation tax districts are proliferating around Missouri, generating a projected $800 million in taxes -- often without a public vote or even public awareness, State Auditor Claire McCaskill said Wednesday. "For a state that prides itself on voter approval of tax increases, this is a unique situation and one that bears a lot of scrutiny," McCaskill said...

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Bud Selig wants to read the book before making any decisions about Barry Bonds. On a day when Bonds was in California for a child custody hearing, baseball kept buzzing about him Wednesday -- specifically, about an upcoming book that describes in vivid detail the slugger's alleged steroids use...

VIERA, Fla. -- General manager Jim Bowden was angry at the Washington Nationals following their 7-4, 10-inning loss to the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday. Center fielder Marlon Byrd's 10th-inning error allowed the tiebreaking run to score, and the Nationals dropped to 1-6 in spring training with one tie. On Tuesday, the Nationals were routed by Florida 22-12...

PHOENIX -- The country where hockey is king stole America's pastime on a chilly Arizona afternoon. Adam Stern, a young backup outfielder for the Boston Red Sox, hit an inside-the-park homer, drove in four runs and made two sensational catches in center to lead Canada over the United States 8-6 Wednesday in the World Baseball Classic...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Children and spouses of military veterans killed in recent combat could get a free ride to college under legislation that won initial approval in the House on Wednesday. The legislation would provide tuition, a $2,000 room and board allowance and up to $500 for books per semester for children and spouses of Missouri veterans killed or 80 percent disabled while serving in the military since the Sept. 11 terror attacks. Up to 25 grants a year could be awarded...

SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea test-fired two short-range missiles Wednesday, an unsettling reminder of the reclusive communist regime's ability to cause instability in the region where a standoff persists over its nuclear program. The development underscored the dangers posed by the country's longer-range missiles and professed nuclear weapons program...

One week after Southeast Missouri State announced that it would not extend the contract of men's basketball coach Gary Garner, athletic director Don Kaverman said the university has had no shortage of coaches looking into the situation. "There is an endless amount of interest," Kaverman said Wednesday. "We're getting it from all levels, from community college up to Division I, from head coaches and assistants...

GRAPEVINE, Texas -- Labor peace was restored to the NFL when the owners agreed to the players' union proposal Wednesday, extending the collective bargaining agreement for six years. There were no further details on the accord, including whether it includes expanded revenue sharing...

Southeast Missouri State's softball fellow below .500 with a pair of losses at Southern Illinois on Tuesday. The Redhawks fell 8-4 and 4-0 to the Salukis to fall to 4-6. In the opener Southeast managed just one hit off Salukis starter Cassidy Scoggins. Scoggins struck out 10 and did not walk a batter in seven innings...

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- After 32 years and 634 wins as Missouri basketball coach, Norm Stewart has earned the right to speak his mind. Right now, he doesn't like what he sees. "People in Missouri took a great deal of pride" in the program, said Tuesday. "It became part of the way of life. Now, I see that deteriorating."...

The Kelly Lady Hawks ran into a hot team in the Doniphan Donettes at Poplar Bluff High School on Wednesday night. Behind early hot shooting and pressure defense, Doniphan cruised to the 58-23 sectional win over Kelly and will move on to the quarterfinals on Saturday night. The Donettes will take on Career Academy at 6:30 p.m. at the Farmington Civic Center...

Area breast cancer survivors now have a place to buy lingerie and swimwear that affirm their femininity at a time when they feel less than feminine. The Mastectomy Boutique opened Feb. 27 at 60 Doctors' Park. It is a branch of Home Medical Supply and is owned by Steve Caldwell, according to Joane Whitledge of Fruitland, one of two certified mastectomy fitters who work there. Jeanna Weatherby of East Cape Girardeau, Ill., is a fitter and a wig stylist...

Let's face it. Sleep is one of those issues that is not so easily dispatched with images of puppy dogs and tropical islands. We need our restorative sleep in order to fight the battle, and there are times when only a pill will do. Now and then an Aging Warrior needs to remember what Jefferson Airplane and the Door Mouse said: "Feed your head, feed your head!"...