Stories from Sunday, May 18, 2008

Mr. and Mrs. Bill Waggoner of Alvin, Texas, and Mr. and Mrs. Michael Roles of College Station, Texas, announce the engagement of their daughter, Stephanie Lee Roles, to Cpl. Luke David Meystedt, both of Oceanside, Calif. He is the son of Denise Meystedt of Cape Girardeau and David Meystedt of Millersville...

Marcia Re'Ann Warren and Mark Patrick Pirtle were married Feb. 29, 2008, at Mount Auburn Christian Church. Wes Wright performed the ceremony. The bride is the daughter of Margaret Felton of Lake Ozark, Mo., and James Phegley of Cape Girardeau. The groom is the son of Jerry and Shirley Pirtle of Randles...

Rachel Hope Schwiesow and 2nd Lt. Joshua Matthew Bohnert were married Jan. 5, 2008, at Zion Lutheran Church in Gordonville. The Rev. David Dissen performed the ceremony. Organist and pianists were Kimberly Reimann and Connie Kettner. Vocalists were Beth Glaus and Matthew Petzoldt...

Stephen and Sharon Shelton of Jackson announce the engagement of their daughter, Erin Stephanie Shelton, to Patrick Christopher Losson, both of St. Louis. He is the son of Christopher and Deanna Losson of St. Joseph, Mo. Shelton is a 2002 graduate of Sikeston High School in Sikeston, Mo. She received a bachelor of science degree in architectural studies from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 2006. She is a contract interior designer in St. Louis...

Stephen and Debbie Thieret of Perryville, Mo., announce the engagement of their daughter, Jenna Sue Thieret, to Randy Joseph Schario, both of Tulsa, Okla. He is the son of Mark and Janice Schario of Jackson. Thieret is a 2006 graduate of Perryville High School. She is a junior at Oral Roberts University. She is employed at The Buckle in Tulsa...

David and Donna Stamp of Kelso, Mo., announce the engagement of their daughter, Tara Marie Stamp, to David Allen Tingle II, both of Cape Girardeau. He is the son of Nancy Harrison of Villa Rica, Ga., and David Tingle of Olive Branch, Ill. Stamp is an in-home health CNA with Covenant Care Services, LLC...

Tom and Linda Essner of Chaffee, Mo., announce the engagement of their daughter, Marissa Renee Essner, to James Cory Johnson, both of Cape Girardeau. He is the son of Jim and Janice Johnson of Cape Girardeau. Essner is a graduate of Kelly High School at Benton, Mo., and Maryville University in St. Louis. She is a registered nurse at Saint Francis Medical Center...

LEOPOLD, Mo. -- Joe and Patty Bohnsack of Leopold announce the engagement of their daughter, Mary Beth Bohnsack, to Bradley Morris Adams. He is the son of Tim and Lora Adams of Patton, Mo. Bohnsack is a 2005 graduate of Leopold High School. She is pursuing a secondary education degree in mathematics at Southeast Missouri State University...

Mr. and Mrs. Jerome Westrich of Cape Girardeau celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary with a reception May 17, 2008, at Deerfield Lodge. Hosts were their children. Westrich and Ruth Joyce were married May 25, 1938, at Charleston, Mo. Their children and spouses are: Glenda and Ben Bollinger and Larry and Stephanie Westrich of Cape Girardeau, Carol and Clyde Vaughn Jr. ...

Howard Lively Howard Scott Lively, 99, of Cape Girardeau died Thursday, May 15, 2008, at The Lutheran Home. He was born Sept. 6, 1908, in Murphysboro, Ill., son of Connie and Alma Bolby Lively. He and Loretta Siebert were married Oct. 1, 1938, in St. Louis. She died Dec. 25, 1990...

Mary Jestus Mary Ella Jestus, 82, of Cape Girardeau, formerly of Cairo, Ill., died Thursday, May 15, 2008, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. She was born July 24, 1925, in Barlow, Ky., daughter of Doug and Julia Baker Moore. She and Charles Lewis Jestus were married in 1945. He died in August 1975...

This year's Relay for Life started much earlier than previous relay fundraisers. Instead of being held from sunset to sunrise, representing the stages a cancer patient goes through after initial diagnosis, Saturday's event started with a cancer survivor brunch at 9 a.m. and wrapped up by midnight...

Capaha Park was soaked with sun and creativity at the eighth annual ArtsCape community arts festival Saturday. More than 3,000 people attended the festival, according to Delilah Tayloe, director of the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri. Although that figure is down from last year's estimated 5,000, Tayloe said she is still optimistic about the future of ArtsCape...

JEFFERSON CITY -- No question that senior D.D. Gillespie was the team leader this winter for the Scott County Central boys basketball team. He also has been the heart of the Braves track team in its two years of existence. When asked Saturday if he preferred a state championship individually or as part of a relay, Gillespie answered, "The 4-by-2, because that's team."...

KIRKWOOD -- Kirkwood tennis coach Art Stout calls his 2008 team his best ever. That statement has a lot of weight considering that Stout is in his 51st season as the Pioneers coach. Kirkwood ended a strong season by Central with a 5-0 win in the Class 2 sectional round Saturday at Kirkwood Park...

JEFFERSON CITY -- Kelly sophomore Londyn Backfisch and Scott City sophomore Stephanie Essner say they don't keep track of their head-to-head meetings. They don't even know how many times they've squared off this season. But following Saturday's finals at the Class 2 state meet, their personal count in state championships is tied 1-1...

Jackson and Central had multiple state qualifiers on both the girls and boys sides during Saturday's Class 4 sectional meet at Eureka High School. The top four finishers in each event at the sectional advanced to the state meet Friday and Saturday at Lincoln University in Jefferson City...

STE. GENEVIEVE -- Notre Dame senior Shane Judd still clearly remembers the disappointing conclusion to his junior track and field season, when at the district meet he fouled on all three of his attempts in the shot put by throwing out of the sector...

MOREHEAD, Ky. -- The Southeast Missouri State baseball team will make its 14th consecutive appearance in the Ohio Valley Conference tournament, a league record. But the Redhawks are not heading into next week's six-team event in Paducah, Ky., with momentum...

JEFFERSON CITY -- Cassie Simpher was having a good day Saturday at the Class 1 state track meet. Despite a spill that caused some lacerations, a sore hip and a sore right shoulder. Third place in the 100 meters. Second in the 400. Fourth in the 200...

JEFFERSON CITY -- Saxony Lutheran has brought some potent teams to the state track meet the last two years, but there always had been one school that was better. Until Saturday. The Crusaders, runners-up to Polo the last two years, squeaked past Worth County 52-49 for the Class 1 boys track and field team championship, the first state title in the program's five-year history...

Cape Girardeau Firefighters responded to the following calls Friday: n At 8:25 p.m., emergency medical service in the 100 block of South Benton Street. n At 9:11 p.m., emergency medical service in the 300 block of North Sprigg Street. n At 9:28 p.m., alarm sounding at 2717 Peach Tree Street...

DONGHEKOU, China -- Two rivers blocked by landslides threatened to flood towns hit by China's massive earthquake, sending thousands of survivors fleeing Saturday in a region still struggling with the country's worst disaster in 30 years. A mountain sheared off by the tremor cut the Qingzhu river and swallowed the riverside village of Donghekou whole, entombing an unknown number of people inside a huge mound of earth...

To the editor: Recently I learned Missouri House Speaker Rod Jetton of Marble Hill, Mo., will speak at the Three Rivers Community College's commencement. Three Rivers president John Cooper heralded Jetton by saying he has been "an advocate for our state's community colleges." I disagree...

The Cape Girardeau School Board will meet at 6 p.m. Monday in the administrative offices at 301 N. Clark Ave. Business items on the agenda are to consider the approval of 2007-2008 budget amendments, bids for fire protection, waste disposal and pest control, and a resolution for a renovation contract for metal buildings and an IT room at the junior high...

LOS ANGELES -- A man with a semiautomatic rifle opened fire at a church festival Saturday, wounding his ex-wife and two bystanders before attendees grabbed him and held him for police, authorities and a church official said. Witnesses described a chaotic scene, with people screaming and running for the exit after gunfire rang out on a grassy field where the festival was being set up at the St. John Baptist de la Salle Roman Catholic parish...

BOSTON -- Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, the lone surviving son in a famed political family, suffered a seizure at his Cape Cod home Saturday morning but was recovering well enough by afternoon to watch a Red Sox game from his hospital room. The 76-year-old Kennedy did not suffer a stroke, as was first feared, and doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital said he is not in any immediate danger...

Husband-and-wife journalists Bob Miller and Callie Clark Miller use this space to offer their views on everyday issues. SHE SAID: I worried a lot about giving birth when I was pregnant with Dawson. A lot. You see, I don't handle pain all that well. My threshold is low, nearly nonexistent based on the way I carry on when I get a paper cut or stub my toe...

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Growing up in Southern Illinois, Karen Ratay Green had her heart set on attending the University of Missouri. Her mother thought otherwise. So after finishing high school in 1980, Green embarked on a journey that included a semester of nursing school, junior college in South Carolina, six years of active military duty, one year working on a cruise ship, marriage, three children and then divorce...

DEKALB, Ill. -- Hundreds of students ran screaming from the lecture hall three months ago to escape a gunman who had opened fire inside. On Saturday, while much of the rest of the campus celebrated graduation, a somber Laurel Dubowski stood outside the building's glass doors...

Keeping us informed HERE WE go again. When elected officials' actions are questioned, they rebel. Jay Purcell, Cape Girardeau County's 2nd District commissioner, seems to be one of the few -- maybe the only one -- who wants the taxpaying public to know what is really going on. ...

WASHINGTON -- When President Bush, once a Texas oilman, asked Saudi Arabia to pump more crude, he may have forgotten that the Saudis have a long memory. And that made it a good bet his mission this past week would produce a dry hole. In the 1990s the OPEC cartel was eager to pump more oil in a grab for cash as prices -- like today -- were going up, passing what then was viewed as a healthy sum in the $20-plus range. ...

ATLANTA -- A single player in Ohio has won the grand prize from the latest Mega Millions lotto drawing. Lottery officials said the winning ticket from Friday night's drawing -- worth $196 million -- was sold in Amelia, Ohio. In addition to the grand prize winner, 17 players, including two from Illinois, matched all five numbers but not the Mega Ball number. They will receive second prizes of $250,000 each. The Illinois tickets were sold at shops in the Chicago suburbs of Alsip and Oak Park...

To the editor: It's almost like they are striking all Missourian's in the face. We objected very loudly when the speaker of the Missouri House of Representatives intentionally slipped a change into a bill that authorized the so-called Village Law. Other members of his party amazingly have supported him. We don't need this in the government of Missouri. It's too much like Tom DeLay in Texas...

POKHARA, Nepal -- Two centuries later, young men are still being drawn from their poverty-stricken Himalayan hills by the thousands to fight -- and die -- with legendary valor for another man's country far away. In an era when the world's armies are hard pressed to fill their ranks, the Gurkhas are a recruiter's dream: Last year 17,349 applied to join the British military, and after grueling physical, medical and mental tests 230 were accepted -- just one in 75...

Eva Johnson KARNAK, Ill. -- Eva Lee Cheek Johnson, 82, of Karnak died Saturday, May 17, 2008, at Metropolis Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Metropolis, Ill. She was born Nov. 26, 1925, at Karnak, daughter of John E. and Willie Mae Basham Cheek. She married Wesley F. Johnson...

David Fulton ARLINGTON, Tenn. -- David C. Fulton, 51, of Arlington suffered a heart attack May 4 and died May 16, 2008 at St. Francis Hospital-Bartlett (Tenn.). He was the director of operations at Power Express Inc. and was a member of Gloria Dei Lutheran Church...

Some important deadlines are approaching for people dealing with damage from the floods that followed the massive rainstorms of March 18 and 19. Monday is the last day to file a 2007 tax return without penalty for people in 35 counties designated as disaster areas following the storms. The IRS and the Missouri Department of Revenue pushed the deadline back from April 15 for those counties, which include Cape Girardeau, Bollinger, Scott and Stoddard...

YANGON, Myanmar -- Myanmar's junta kept a French navy ship laden with aid waiting outside its maritime border Saturday, and showed off neatly laid out state relief camps to diplomats. The stage-managed tour appeared aimed at countering global criticism of the junta's failure to provide for survivors of Cyclone Nargis, which left at least 134,000 people dead or missing...

Women working at the Cape Girardeau County administrative building say Auditor David Ludwig's behavior has created an uncomfortable working environment. Saturday marked the end of a monthlong sick leave for Ludwig -- he took the leave after being pressured to resign -- and county officials are at a loss as to what to do when he returns. Al Lowes, Ludwig's attorney and spokesman, said he plans to meet with Ludwig early this week, adding that resignation is not an option...

Rosalie Moeller Rosalie Moeller, 83, of Jackson died Friday, May 16, 2008, at the Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau. McCombs Funeral Home in Jackson is in charge of arrangements.

Baseball n Capahas tryouts: The Plaza Tire Capahas baseball team will hold tryouts for the upcoming season today at 1 p.m. at Capaha Field. Basketball n Southeast Missouri State girls camps: The Southeast Missouri State women's basketball program will host three camps conducted by Southeast coach John Ishee, his assistants, Redhawks players, and other coaches and players from the region. ...

Cape Girardeau The Cape Girardeau Police Department released the following items. Arrests do not imply guilt. Arrests n Sonya J. Taylor, 38, 219 N. Henderson Ave., was arrested on a Scott County warrant for failure to appear. n LaToya A. Horton, 22, of Murphysboro, Ill., was arrested on a Scott County warrant for failure to appear for a traffic offense and failure to appear for driving while intoxicated...

Set on three-quarters of an acre, this five-bedroom brick home includes a 20-by-40-foot heated in-ground pool with automatic cover plus a separate 9-by-9-foot children's pool. A nearby playground defined by landscape timbers and gravel adds to the appeal for potential homeowners with families...

LAFAYETTE, La. -- Six cars of a freight train derailed Saturday, including one that began leaking hydrochloric acid, causing thousands of people to evacuate homes, businesses and a nursing home within one mile of the wreck. The spilled acid sent a toxic cloud over the area, and at least five people were taken to a hospital and treated after complaining of skin and eye irritation, said Lafayette Parish sheriff's Lt. Craig Stansbury...

Weissmuellers earn postseason honors Alana Weissmueller, a Notre Dame alumnae, was named to the NCAA Division III softball Rock Island regional all-tournament team. Weissmueller, a sophomore at Maryville University, batted .231 with three hits, including a double, and an RBI. She also was named to the All-St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference first team...

BAGHDAD -- In the eyes of Iraqi justice, Yahya Ali Humadi is a free man. To the U.S. military, he's another of the detainees in yellow jumpsuits held at the sprawling Camp Bucca in southern Iraq. Humadi -- ordered released nine months ago after an Iraqi judge dropped all charges -- now spends his days in a legal limbo. It's one that has confronted and confounded thousands of other Iraqis since 2003 who have been freed by their nation's courts but remained in U.S. custody...

Keith Ford PUXICO, Mo. -- Keith Allen Ford, 40, of Puxico died Thursday, May 15, 2008, from injuries sustained in a car accident in Bollinger County, Mo. He was born May 16, 1967, at Monroe, La., son of Larry and Louise Ford. He and Tori Schrader were married Dec. 31, 2005, at Marble Hill, Mo...

Dear Dr. Dobson: My husband died three years ago, leaving me to raise my son and daughter alone. For the past year I have been dating a wonderful man who has three children of his own. We have recently begun to talk about marriage, which really excites me. ...

LOUISIANA, Mo. -- For bottomland farmers, the fine line between a good year and a poor one can be gauged by whether they're pumping or planting. The answer for seventh-generation farmer William "Shep" Sheppard can be found in the vehicle he reluctantly was driving Wednesday...

It is hard to fathom the thinking of the military leaders of Myanmar in the wake of a typhoon that has left more than 77,000 people dead and nearly 56,000 still missing. All the more tragic is knowing that, unless aid offered by nations around the world reaches the typhoon victims, thousands more will die...

Rev. Leonard Bond PUXICO, Mo. -- The Rev. Leonard E. Bond, 77, of Puxico died Saturday, May 17, 2008, at the Puxico Nursing Center. He was born Sept. 13, 1930, son of Harvey and Beulah Tolbert Bond. He and Cynthia Isaac were married April 12, 1954, at Piggott, Ark. She died Sept. 6, 1980...

NEW YORK -- When the Pentagon closed the Brooklyn Navy Yard in 1966, it became an obsolete facility awash in history but torpedoed by time. Yet within the past 15 years, the 40-plus buildings behind the nondescript facade have been filled with activity...

To the editor: Carlos M. Gutierrez, U.S. secretary of commerce, says in Thursday's op-ed that as immigrants we're proud of America and the strength it derives from being open to trade. As a legal immigrant I'm proud of America as it once was. I find it pitiful and ironic that the secretary is extolling the virtues of the Hitachi plant and hundreds of overseas firms that are doing business in America. ...

Another meet, another record. Make that two records. Jackson sophomore Jill Rushin improved her school records in the shot put and discus on Saturday in the Class 4 District 1 meet at Hillsboro. She posted a mark of 43 feet, 4 inches in the shot put and 142-4 in the discus to win both events. Rushin's efforts were part of Jackson's runner-up finish as a team...

Pop quiz: The above photo was taken in which state? Colorado? No. Montana? No. West Virginia? No. Missouri? Oh, yes. This is Millstream Gardens along the St. Francis River, between Fredericktown and Arcadia. Here the river cascades down Tiemann Shut-ins in the middle of a huge canyon. During the winter and spring, when the water is high, Millstream Gardens could easily stand in for a mountain stream in Colorado. Later in the year, when the water level drops, the area turns into a serene garden...

John Cleary ST. MARY, Mo. -- John A. Cleary, 88, of St. Mary died May 17, 2008, at Perry County Memorial Hospital. He was born May 20, 1919, at St. Mary, son of John and Ima (Beare) Cleary. He and Lillian Kiefer were married July 21, 1962, at Perryville, Mo. She died Sept. 9, 2006...

Scott County Sheriff Rick Walter said today that a 38-year-old Stoddard County man is in custody following the theft of gas from Scott County farm, early this morning. According to a news release, Shawn William Yount, 38, 25071 Plum St. in Bell City, has been charged with three counts of misdemeanor stealing, with a bond set at $1,000.00 cash only...