Stories from Tuesday, September 5, 2006

Everyone has a bad day now and then. But you don't expect it to revolve around cooking pot roast. That was the case in Vail, Colo., recently when a 72-year-old woman's culinary skills attracted some uninvited guests -- a bear and her cub. The woman walked into her kitchen and found the bear standing six feet away. The bear hissed at her and swatted her chest and arm, resulting in some minor scratches, the Associated Press reported...

Jackson is among 30 other cities in the Missouri Public Energy Pool experiencing electric rate increases, but officials say joining the consortium is the best option for purchasing power. City administrator Jim Roach challenges anyone to find a better deal...

Cape Girardeau and Jackson high school graduates from the class of 2006 are better prepared for college classes than their fellow graduates statewide and even nationally, ACT test scores show. Students at Cape Girardeau Central High School had an average composite score of 23.5, the highest it's been in 11 years, said principal Dr. Mike Cowan...

In front of the cameras and bright studio lights, 10 volunteers worked the phones as people from throughout Southeast Missouri pledged money on Monday. But the on-screen volunteers were only a small part of the fund-raising efforts at West Park Mall that brought in more than $500,000 for the Muscular Dystrophy Association...

"We miss you, Sgt. Bob Davis." "Welcome home, Cpl. Andrew Jackson." Banners displayed in front of several Jackson businesses tell two kinds of war story -- one of heart-breaking grief over a fallen soldier; the other of immense relief of another's safe return...

Two teenagers were charged with beating up a physically disabled man with his own prosthetic leg. The 18-year-old victim was jumped in a parking lot at 921 Hackberry St., Cape Girardeau police spokesman Jason Selzer said. Alexander Harris, 17, was charged with felony assault, a hate crime, and a 16-year-old boy was cited into juvenile court for assault...

WASHINGTON -- A near no-hitter? Yeah, that's worth smiling about. A first career home run? Now, there's a reason to celebrate. Ramon Ortiz came within three outs of pitching the majors' first no-hitter in more than two years Monday, but it was his eighth-inning shot to the bullpen beyond the left field fence that had him practically giddy after the Washington Nationals' 4-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals...

ST. LOUIS -- Three of the five known female Torah scribes in the world will be in the St. Louis area in coming months, working on different projects. Shoshana Gugenheim already is in the area, working on the Torah scroll at Congregation Shaare Emeth in Ladue. She also is holding morning and evening workshops at B'nai Amoona Congregation in Creve Coeur and will be in the area through Sunday...

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Police found the tortured, blindfolded bodies of 33 men scattered across the capital Monday and the U.S.-led coalition reported combat deaths of seven servicemen, a day after Iraqi leaders said the capture of a top terror suspect would reduce violence...

LOS ANGELES -- Immigration protests that drew hundreds of thousands of flag-waving demonstrators to the nation's streets last spring promised a potent political legacy -- a surge of new Hispanic voters. "Today We March, Tomorrow We Vote," they proclaimed...

SUNRISE BEACH, Mo. -- Until a few years ago, residents say, the cove near the 18-mile marker on the Shawnee Bend side of the main channel of the Lake of the Ozarks was a pretty quiet place, where families could enjoy the water. Today, boats can be heard roaring around, and the water is littered with beer cans and other items people decide to toss overboard...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Ryan Newman won a series-high eight races in 2003, yet never contended for the NASCAR championship. He finished a distant sixth in the standings -- seven DNF's that year probably contributed to Newman never challenging Matt Kenseth for the title -- but found little fault with a points system that failed to reward his numerous visits to Victory Lane...

NORTON, Mass. -- Tiger Woods needed only three holes to make it a fair fight. Before long, it was no contest. Woods made two eagles in his first seven holes to turn a rally into a rout, matching the best final round of his career with an 8-under 63 to win the Deutsche Bank Championship on Monday and stretch his PGA Tour winning streak to five tournaments...

After several months of uncertainty, a plan to use some of the assets of the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority appears to be back on track. Gov. Matt Blunt and legislative leaders have announced an agreement that would allow $350 million from MOHELA assets to be used for construction projects at state-supported colleges and universities across Missouri. ...

Financial planner earns estate certificate John H. Wolpers has earned a certificate in estate planning and taxation from the American College in Bryn Mawr, Penn. To receive the certificate, Wolpers, a certified financial planner, completed graduate-level courses in the college's curriculum for a master's degree in financial services. Wolpers also is a certified fund specialist and a chartered retirement planning counselor with Ameriprise Financial Services Inc. in Cape Girardeau...

WASHINGTON -- Don't tell your cell phone any secrets. It might not keep them. Secondhand phones purchased over the Internet surrendered credit card numbers, banking passwords, business secrets and even evidence of adultery. One married man's girlfriend sent a text message to his cell phone: His wife was getting suspicious. Perhaps they should cool it for a few days...

MINER, Mo. -- Drury Inns Inc. has finalized its purchase of the Raudmont Inn in Scott County, with plans to raze it and build a new 120-room Drury Inn & Suites on the property. The deal closed Aug. 25 and will also include a new restaurant, said Joe Pereles, vice president of development at Drury Inns. A Drury Inns affiliate, Drury Development Corp., intends to build a Steak 'n Shake on the ground the Charles L. Drury family owns adjacent to the site, Pereles said...

The Red House Interpretive Center announces its events for this month. n 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Saturday, historical family reading for children presented on the porch by Cape Public Library and the Red House. Each session is 30 minutes. Children from the Boys and Girls Club will read stories about African Americans...

St. Joseph fall dinner to be held Sunday...

More than 30 residents at the Lutheran Home Alzheimer's Unit got a chance to shine Tuesday when they performed in a first-time variety show for family and friends. Preparation for the event included discovering what the residents' talents were and helping them remember material to produce a successful variety show. ...

FONTANA, Calif. -- Kasey Kahne figured that winning the NASCAR Nextel Cup race at California Speedway was the one way he could assure himself of remaining in the fight for the upcoming playoffs. "I came here telling myself, 'You've got to win. You've got to win. You have to go out there and lead laps,"' Kahne said. "That's all you can do if you want to make this Chase."...

CHICAGO -- Investigators on Monday were still going through debris from a weekend fire that swept through an apartment, killing six children, a fire department official said. A preliminary investigation indicates candles used for light in an apartment without electricity caused the fire, Chicago Fire Department Cmdr. Will Knight said...

The Chaffee Red Devils had no shortage of players worthy of the game ball in Friday night's victory at Grandview that snapped the program's 34-game losing streak. There was junior running back Andrew Hendrix, who had 91 yards and three touchdowns on 12 carries...

Tower Rock Winery wins gold medal Tower Rock Winery in Altenburg, Mo., has won a gold medal in Missouri's Wine Competition for its 2004 Cynthiana Reserve. Tower Rock's Bob Breuer said the winery won the best of class for dry red wine in the state also and is also a finalist for the Governor's Cup, to be announced Sept. ...

Charles "Allen" Henderson, 86, of Delta died Monday, Sept. 4, 2006, at the Missouri Veterans Home in Cape Girardeau. Arrangements are pending with McCombs Funeral Home in Jackson.

25 years ago: Sept. 5, 1981 Lindsay W. Simmons, who watched Cape Girardeau's financial community grow for well over half a century, dies at his home in Cape Girardeau at age 82; Simmons organized what is now First Federal Savings and Loan Association here in 1927 and served for many years, and up until the present, as its president; he was also associated for many years with First National Bank...

CHAFFEE, Mo. -- William "Ed" White, 90, of Chaffee died Sunday, Sept. 3, 2006, at the Chaffee Nursing Center. He was born Jan. 20, 1916, in Chaffee to William Henry White and Virgin Minnie Slinkard. He and Dessie Jones were married June 21, 1941. She died on March 1, 2002...

Joseph Wolsey, 88, of Cape Girardeau died Thursday, Aug. 31, 2006, at Heartland Care and Rehab in Cape Girardeau. He was born May 1, 1918, in Cape Girardeau, son of Joseph and Minnie Schneeler Wolsey. He and Demova Reed were married in Jonesboro, Ark. She died in June 1992...

TAMMS, Ill. -- Mary Ruth Honey, 78, of Tamms died Saturday, Sept. 2, 2006, at her home. She was born Aug. 11, 1928, in Columbus, Ga., daughter of the late James Henry and Birdie Irene Millsap Quinn. She was married to Lorn R. "Pod" Honey Sr., who died in 1999. She was a member of Sandy Creek Baptist Church in Tamms...

DIEHLSTADT, Mo. -- Mary Elizabeth Claycomb, 72, of Diehlstadt died Saturday, Sept. 2, 2006, at her home. She was born June 30, 1934, in Lilbourn, Mo., daughter of the late Bill and Eva Copeland Inman. She was a member of the Unity Baptist Church in Benton, Mo. On June 19, 1954, she married Emmett Claycomb...

Ivan Summers, 85, of Cape Girardeau died Monday, Sept. 4, 2006, at the Missouri Veterans Home. Arrangements are pending with Ford and Sons Mount Auburn chapel.

Roy E. Robins, 84, of Jackson, passed away Sunday, Sept. 3, 2006, at the Missouri Veterans Home in Cape Girardeau. He was born Jan. 24, 1922, in Bessville (Bollinger County), Missouri. He and Audell Mabuce were married Nov. 22, 1941. She passed away Nov. 1, 1974. He and Juanita Parsons Mabuce were married Feb. 14, 1976...

Standing up; Gas is still better; Pet problem; Religious killing; County business; Misleading info; Welcome to PTA; Shoes and socks; Bible preaching; Good church food; Little solace; Presidential success; Safety comes first; Separate agendas; Highway safety; Sweet deal; Safety sense; Give 'em heck; Clean and neat; Let government do it; Lack of response; Rights on the line; Chuckling smokers; Practice your faith; Need godly values; World record; Real terrorists

Keesee earns rank promotion in Air Force; Area student completes ROTC training course

401 Independence St. Public hearings Consent ordinances New ordinances Resolutions Appointments Other...

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Me and the Tilt-a-Whirl go back a ways, but it had been a while. When I was younger, the whirling, twirling, hurling machine was a regular piece of my carnival experience -- alongside a scarfed-down corn dog and the sticky fingers left behind by a pink tuft of cotton candy. In the years that followed, I had done without the ride. I wasn't avoiding it; we just never sort of met again...

Cape Girardeau...

Cape Girardeau...

US Bancorp Foundation makes donation US Banks in Cape Girardeau and Jackson presented a donation to Teen Challenge and Eagle Ridge Christian School Inc. from US Bancorp Foundation. Each received $500. The Scott County Women in Agriculture will meet at 7 p.m. ...

JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia -- U.N. chief Kofi Annan said Monday he would appoint a mediator for indirect talks between Israel and Hezbollah on the release of two abducted Israeli soldiers, the first public word of negotiations between the bitter enemies since fighting in Lebanon ended...

Man opens fire on tourists in Jordan, killing one AMMAN, Jordan -- A gunman opened fire on Western tourists at Roman ruins in the heart of Jordan's capital Monday, killing a British man and wounding six people before being overpowered. Police said the attacker came from the same area as the slain leader of al-Qaida in Iraq. ...

Ruben Quesada wants you to try his wife's cooking. Really. "Oh, my goodness, believe me, I don't get tired of it," Quesada said last week. His wife, Gracie, and her sisters are from Mexico, and Quesada has been eating their food for years. The family recently relocated to Southeast Missouri from Southern California...

They can be found in the Southeast Missouri towns of Benton, Bernie, Charleston, Dexter, Perryville and Sikeston. There are even two of them in Hayti. And by the end of the year, a gas station offering E85 -- the blend of ethanol and gasoline that is hyped as the answer to everything from high gas prices to global warming -- will arrive in Cape Girardeau...

Top 25 scores Gary Cismesia's 33-yard field goal with 8:06 left lifted the 11th-ranked Seminoles to a 13-10 win over No. 12 Miami on Monday night. Michael Ray Garvin intercepted Kyle Wright's final pass with 29 seconds left, sealing the victory. Louisville's senior running Michael Bush broke his right leg early in the third quarter of the 13th-ranked Cardinals' 59-28 win over Kentucky on Sunday night...

The Assocaited Press LOS ANGELES -- Mark Wahlberg remained invincible at the box office over the long Labor Day weekend. Disney's "Invincible," with Wahlberg as a pro football rookie who makes the team in open tryouts, was the No. 1 movie for the second straight weekend, taking in $15.2 million from Friday through Monday, according to studio estimates. The movie lifted its 11-day total to $37.8 million...

NEW YORK -- With a rebuilt newsroom behind her and new theme music from an Academy Award-winning composer, Katie Couric is set to make the most talked-about debut of the fall television season today on the "CBS Evening News." CBS hopes that many of the viewers who watched Couric in the morning during her 15 years at NBC's "Today" show will stay with her in the evening, lifting a broadcast that has spent several years in the ratings basement...

You slam the steering wheel, curse the timid driver in front of you and turn up the music full blast to drown out the rage. You're seeing red, both literally and figuratively. But the traffic signal is not interested in your anger. It's calibrated to keep traffic moving throughout the city, and that means it can't keep everyone happy all the time...

WASHINGTON -- It's the nation's most troublesome lifesaver. Every day, 2 million Americans swallow a blood thinner called warfarin that puts them on a tightrope: Too little, and they won't be protected from lethal blood clots. Too much, and they can bleed to death...

ST. LOUIS -- Albert Pujols homered in his first three at-bats to end a prolonged slump, leading the St. Louis Cardinals over the Pittsburgh Pirates 6-3 Sunday. Pujols connected with the bases empty in the first, and hit two-run drives in the third and fifth, all off Ian Snell (12-9). He is 4-for-6 with four homers and seven RBIs against Snell, and with 42 homers reached the 40-mark for the fourth straight season. It was his third three-homer game, his second of the season...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Doctors say a new option for breast-cancer patients might help persuade more women, particularly in rural areas, to complete their radiation treatments. CoxHealth radiation oncologist Ibrahim Abdalla said MammoSite radiation therapy is as safe and effective as traditional therapies -- and is more convenient. ...

NEW YORK -- The last match of his 21-year career played and lost, Andre Agassi coaxed himself into his courtside chair and buried his face in a towel. Then he looked up through tear-filled eyes at the more than 20,000 people standing and cheering for him in Arthur Ashe Stadium, a tribute that lasted four minutes. Agassi rose and moved to the center of the court for a second round of bows and kisses to the four sides of the arena, gingerly bending his bad back...

The display the Notre Dame boys soccer team put on during its Soccerfest left coach Brad Wittenborn happy that he didn't have to devise a defense against his team. "We have probably the best shooting team we've ever had," Wittenborn said Saturday. "It's not just one or two guys, its six or eight guys that hit the ball. If I had to coach against us, I don't know who I'd focus on."...

Annika Sorenstam went on a run that took her all the way to an LPGA record and a victory at the State Farm Classic in Springfield, Ill. Down five strokes at the start of play, Sorenstam tied the LPGA record for the lowest final-round score by a tournament winner with a 62. She shot 10 under for the day to finish 19 under, two strokes ahead of Cristie Kerr (67)...

MIAMI -- A tropical depression brewing over the open Atlantic was nearing tropical storm strength Monday night, forecasters said. At 10 p.m., the depression had sustained winds of 35 mph, 4 mph shy of becoming a tropical storm and the sixth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season...

PITTSBURGH -- Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger had an emergency appendectomy after becoming ill before practice Sunday and will miss Thursday night's season opener against Miami. Coach Bill Cowher said Roethlisberger will be evaluated each week, and he is not certain how long the quarterback will be out...

CHICAGO -- Pudgy toddlers face a good chance of becoming overweight 12-year-olds, according to government research that shoots down the notion that children just naturally outgrow early chubbiness. Children who were overweight at age 2 or later during their preschool years faced a five times higher risk of being overweight at age 12 than youngsters who were not overweight early on, the study found. ...

CHICAGO -- Men who become fathers in their 40s or older are much more likely to have autistic children than younger dads, a new study released Monday shows, bolstering evidence that genetics contributes to the mental disorder. The research involved about 130,000 Israeli Jews born in the 1980s. ...

The Southeast Missouri State women's soccer team suffered its first loss of the season Sunday afternoon as Missouri State posted a 1-0 victory at Houck Stadium. Southeast, which beat visiting Arkansas-Little Rock by a similar score in its only previous game, fell to 1-1. The Bears from Springfield, Mo. improved to 3-2...

CAIRNS, Australia -- He stalked lions. He faced off with poisonous snakes. He wrestled with crocodiles. When the end came for television's beloved "Crocodile Hunter," it was in an encounter with a stingray and its venomous tail barb. Perhaps it wasn't surprising. Steve Irwin died doing what he loved best, getting too close to one of the dangerous animals he dedicated his life to protecting with an irrepressible, effervescent personality that propelled him to global fame...