Stories from Friday, November 14, 2008

25 years ago: Nov. 14, 1983 Dedication of the Charles N. Harris Lodge at the Otahki Girl Scout Council camp was held Sunday; the lodge honors the late Cape Girardeau businessman, who was an active supporter of Girl Scouting. Jim Lohr, who said he wouldn't consider resigning until the season was over, wasted no time; the 10-year head coach of the Southeast Missouri State University football program told his team yesterday that he was leaving the program following the 1-9 season...

BEIJING -- A dirty brown haze sometimes more than a mile thick is darkening skies not only over vast areas of Asia, but also in the Middle East, southern Africa and the Amazon Basin, changing weather patterns around the world and threatening health and food supplies, the U.N. reported Thursday...

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- Dr. Devin Stephenson will become the fifth president in the 41-year history of Three Rivers Community College beginning July 1. The 55-year-old Alabama native signed a contract and mailed it in before he was hired by the college trustees at Wednesday's board meeting...

The Missouri State University women's basketball team is in a rebuilding mode after experiencing two down seasons. But Southeast Missouri State coach John Ishee believes the tradition-rich Bears are fast on their way back up. The Redhawks will see how much the Bears have progressed when the teams tip off their seasons at the Show Me Center tonight...

Taylor Matlock, a 15-year-old sophomore on the Jackson High School cheerleading team, took a few minutes before practice Wednesday to chat with the neXt page. How long have you been cheering? This is going to be my fourth year. When I was in 5th grade I kind of started wanting to do it...

The gleaming hardwood floors, gauzy curtains, scattered candles, leather sofa set and brick fireplace in the three-story house at 219 N. Henderson Ave. mirror the ambience of a bed and breakfast or a day spa. The women who live at Mending Hearts Recovery haven't come for manicures, though. They have applied to enter the substance abuse recovery program, many times as a last resort...

Grab a diaper and dissect it to discover a special ingredient that keeps babies dry. Materials n Baby diaper n Resealable bag Instructions STEP 1: Remove all of the cotton from the inside of the diaper and place the cotton into the resealable bag...

WASHINGTON -- The auto industry and business groups mounted a lobbying onslaught Thursday to thwart GOP opposition to a Senate vote next week on Democrats' plan for a $25 billion emergency loan plan for U.S. carmakers. Senior Democrats are drafting legislation that would carve out part of the $700 billion Wall Street bailout for loans to the three major U.S. auto companies in exchange for a government ownership stake in the companies...

Friday n New movies "Quantum of Solace" Rated PG-13 @ Town Plaza Cinema n "Charming Billy" dinner theater presented by River City Players @ River City Yacht Club, Port Cape, dinner at 7 p.m., show at 8 n Faculty Showcase Series featuring Brandon Christensen @Shuck Recital Hall, 7:30 p.m...

DAMASCUS, Syria -- Archaeologists in central Syria have unearthed the remnants of an eighth-century church, an antiquities official said Thursday. A Syrian-Polish archaeological team recently discovered the church in the ancient city of Palmyra, said Walid al-Assaad, the head of the Palmyra Antiquities and Museums Department. He did not say specifically when the church was discovered or the exact date the church was built...

Cape Girardeau The Cape Girardeau Police Department released the following items. Arrests do not imply guilt. Arrests n Joseph W. Hogeland, 29, of Scott City was arrested on a Cape Girardeau warrant for failure to appear for improper registration. n Two subjects are in custody pending formal charges for stealing...

To the editor: November is National Homeless Awareness Month. Homelessness is an issue that most of us probably do not think about very often. It is an issue that, in many instances, is unrecognized in our community. The annual statewide homeless count tells us that the face of homelessness in Cape Girardeau County is made up of mostly women and children. ...

In the Bible Belt, the 70th anniversary this week of Kristallnacht didn't get a great deal of attention. Veterans Day is the holiday we focus on in early November. I don't think I ever heard of Kristallnacht until I was an adult. Growing up in the Ozarks over yonder, this was not a part of history I was taught. My wife, growing up in a small town in west-central Missouri, was exposed to the vast German heritage of that area, but she didn't know much about the pogroms of the 1930s...

The two men accused of pocketing almost $500,000 from a mortgage fraud scheme pleaded poverty Thursday in seeking a low bond while they await trial. U.S. Magistrate Judge Lewis Blanton set the bond at $20,000 each for Robert Wrolstad, 59, and Russell T. McBride, 46, after the attorneys for each man said they were unemployed and could not afford the higher $50,000 bond sought by assistant federal prosecutor Paul Hahn...

FARMINGTON -- Notre Dame keeper Ryan Bass did it all against St. Mary's in a Class 2 quarterfinal contest Thursday night. The senior even drilled a pass about 70 yards in the air downfield to set up the Bulldogs' first goal. Bass stopped 18 shots, added an assist and posted his 15th shutout this season and his 45th of his high school career...

LINCOLN, Neb. -- The mother was running out of more than patience when she abandoned her 18-year-old daughter at a hospital over the weekend under Nebraska's safe-haven law. She was also running out of time: She knew that state lawmakers would soon meet in a special session to amend the ill-fated law so that it would apply to newborns only...

David Archuleta, "David Archuleta" (Jive) h 1/2 Why do "American Idol" fans consistently reward male pop singers for being entirely sexless on the show? Pouty lips and flirty lashes are practically entrance requirements for female singers, and "rocker" guys can bellow and strut to their heart's content. But there's a kind of elfish contestant who always does well despite the possibility of vanishing in a cloud of unicorn glitter were he to sing something arousing...

The Dingeldein Award for Excellence, given by the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri, is named for Otto F. Dingeldein, founder of the arts council. This year's recipient is Dodie Eisenhauer, whose creations using screen wire have become a local and national sensation. Eisenhauer's business, Village Designs, and her gift shop, Grandma's House, are in Daisy, and she has mentored other artists over the years through the Best of Missouri Hands organization...

NEW YORK -- The post-election transition is not just tough on politicians. It's also hard on the people who worked tirelessly to get them elected. Some volunteers say they are experiencing a post-campaign letdown, whether they were winners or losers on Election Day...

PUEBLO, Colo. -- An explosion flattened a restaurant and damaged an adjacent building Thursday, sparking a stubborn fire and sending at least six people to hospitals as crews prepared to search for anyone trapped in the rubble. It took firefighters more than an hour to extricate one of the injured, said fire department spokesman Woody Percival...

NEW YORK -- Cliff Lee won the American League Cy Young Award in a runaway on Thursday, capping a dominant comeback season that made him the second consecutive Cleveland Indians lefty to earn the honor. Demoted to the minors last year, Lee went a major league-best 22-3 this season with a 2.54 ERA. He received 24 of 28 first-place votes and 132 points in balloting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America...

To the editor: The Southeast Missouri State University Department of Communication and MBA program are co-sponsoring this year's Weiss Lecture. The lecture will take place in Rose Theatre at 7 p.m. Nov. 18. The speaker, Michael Long, is a high-stakes communication professional who has written for top government officials, including four presidential candidates, CEOs of major national and international companies and entertainment celebrities like Ben Stein and Jerry Seinfeld...

CANNES, France -- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Thursday that U.S. President-elect Barack Obama's move to the White House is a chance for a fresh start between the two powerful, nuclear-armed nations, whose ties have deteriorated over the past decade...

WASHINGTON -- Earth seems to have its first fuzzy photos of alien planets outside our solar system, images captured by two teams of astronomers. The pictures show four likely planets that appear as specks of white, nearly indecipherable except to the most eagle-eyed experts. All are trillions of miles away -- three of them orbiting the same star, and the fourth circling a different star...

One of three men charged with violating a new Missouri state law regarding registered sex offenders will have his case dismissed and his name removed from the list of registered sexual predators, according to a news release from Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle...

PUXICO, Mo. -- John Wiley Glenn, 80, of Pebble Beach, Calif., passed away Thursday, Nov. 6, 2008, at Community Hospital of Monterey Peninsula, Calif., due to complications of cancer. He suffered a major stroke Oct. 30, 2008, during a surgical procedure and lapsed into a coma. His family was at his bedside when he passed away...

To the editor: Operation Christmas Child launches National Collection Week beginning Nov. 17 at the official relay center at St. Andrew Lutheran Church in Cape Girardeau. Through an outpouring of generosity from our community, 2,874 shoe boxes were collected in 2007. These shoe boxes are delivered to children living in desperate situations around the world, sending the message of hope by the means of a simple shoe box...

HAYWOODCITY, Mo. — The Rev. Roosevelt "Deddy" Johnson, former mayor of Haywood City and longtime area minister, died Monday at his home following an extended battle with Alzheimer's disease. He was 81. Johnson was a minister, civic leader, member of NAACP and the Masons, a farm laborer for J. Handy Moore Farms for more than 30 years, as well as a truck driver.¿...

Cape Girardeau Firefighters responded to the following calls Wednesday: n At 10:56 p.m., an alarm at 1000 Towers Circle. n At 11:13 p.m., a call in the 300 block of Mill Street. Firefighters responded to the following calls Thursday: n At 2:39 a.m., emergency medical service in the 3000 block of Mimosa Drive...

To the editor: Now is the opportunity to rediscover America. We have said, "We will try." Nice try. Do we know what we are saying? Are we really ready? Barack Obama and John McCain said, "We are." Obama told us, "It's about you." Will we as democratic republicans cross the aisle as the first nation builders (Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe and others) did?...

Extremely offensive I'M GLAD the university is going to offer refunds for those who bought tickets to the play "Sister Mary Ignatius." That was offensive. The short play "The Actor's Nightmare" was not really that enjoyable, either, although I could see there was artistic merit in it. ...

By Billy (Bo) Bragg I think there needs to be a policy change at Central High School in Cape Girardeau. On Sept. 30 my son, who is 14 years old, was in gym class. The students were in the locker room dressing out. At that time another student hit my son in the stomach and started choking him...

Joseph A. Kulenguski, 87, of Cape Girardeau died Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2008, at Missouri Veterans Home. He was born June 23, 1921, in St. Louis, son of Joseph and Frances Gibson Kulenguski. He first married Janet Ruth Korslund in 1945 in Hastings, Neb. She died in 1988. He then married Wanda Payne in July 1991...

TAMMS, Ill. -- Randy E. Cain, 40, of Tamms died Thursday, Nov. 13, 2008, at his home. He was born March 27, 1968, in Cape Girardeau, to Herman Eugene and Mary Kay Pasdertz Cain. He and Susan Kirby were married Oct. 24, 1987. Cain was a member of Sandy Creek Baptist Church in Tamms. He was a manager at Havco Wood Products. He loved animals and the outdoors, enjoyed woodworking and cooking...

Southeast Missourian A man accused of setting fire to a Cape Girardeau law firm over the summer pleaded guilty on Thursday in Poplar Bluff, Mo. Jeffrey V. Mirgeaux, 48, of Cape Girardeau pleaded guilty to second-degree arson in charges stemming from a fire July 4 at Lowes and Drusch law firm...

LOS ANGELES -- It's mayhem on the set of ABC's "Desperate Housewives." Most of the cast is attempting to flee a crowded nightclub that's slowly catching fire. Thick layers of smoke are quickly filling the room. Flickering flames are streaking up the walls. Pushy extras are hurrying to the nearest exit. And someone is still in the bathroom!...

Property tax bills in at least three counties may arrive a bit later than they have in the past. According to county collectors, the company contracted to assemble the massive mailing had equipment problems. Normally, bills for Cape Girardeau County taxpayers get to the post office within the first few days of November, according to Collector Diane Diebold. Scott and Perry counties' bills are scheduled to arrive close to Veterans Day each year...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Lois J. Coffelt, 51, of Perryville died Thursday, Nov. 13, 2008, at Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis. She was born May 3, 1957, in Perryville, daughter of Eugene C. and Ruth Ann Hudson Coffelt. Coffelt was an administration assistant at Perry County Memorial Hospital...

JOPLIN, Mo. -- St. John's Regional Medical Center is eliminating 160 jobs as part of a plan to cut $30 million in expenses and preserve the hospital's core services. St. John's also is closing its primary-care clinics in Girard, Kan., and Grove, Okla., and changes are pending at its Neosho, Mo., clinic...

CLAYTON, Mo. -- Two Illinois brothers were charged Thursday in the shooting deaths of a waitress and cook at a Steak 'n Shake restaurant where the suspects had worked, authorities said. Anthony Akins Jr., 20, and Oundr'e Akins, 19, each was charged with two counts of first-degree murder, one count of first-degree robbery and three counts of armed criminal action...

ST. LOUIS -- Missouri's largest electric utility, AmerenUE, and St. Louis University said Thursday they've teamed up to create a new weather monitoring system to help utility crews respond to outages more quickly. The move comes two years after severe thunder and ice storms battered much of the region in the summer and winter, leading to power outages that affected hundreds of thousands of customers...

NEW YORK -- Investors did an abrupt turnaround Thursday on Wall Street, muscling the Dow Jones industrial average up more than 550 points after driving it down to its lows for the year on a stream of negative economic and corporate news. After three days of selling that wiped out about $1 trillion in shareholder value, many investors, though nervous about the economy, appeared convinced the market had priced in enough bad news. ...

Ford Daughter to Keller Watson and Kara Rae Ford of Cape Girardeau, Saint Francis Medical Center, 8:15 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 1, 2008. Name, Sydney Raye. Weight, 8 pounds, 13 ounces. First child. Mrs. Ford is the former Kara Fulkerson, daughter of Ray and Sonnie Fulkerson of Cape Girardeau. She is manager at Ruby Tuesday. Ford is the son of Robyn Fisher and Jerry and Margaret Ford of Cape Girardeau. He is general manager of River Ridge Winery...

HAYWOOD CITY, Mo. -- The Rev. Roosevelt Johnson, 81, died Monday, Nov. 10, 2008, at his home. He was born Nov. 30, 1927, in Helena, Ark., to the late Willie and Sally Benford Johnson. Johnson had lived in Missouri since the early 1950s. He was a farmer and served as pastor of several churches within the Mississippi County area. He served more than 30 years as pastor of Ollie Grove Missionary Baptist Church in Wyatt, Mo., before retiring...

Deborah Young is tired of seeing declining graduation rates. She's tired of hearing about crime or drugs on the south side of town. But most of all, she's tired of the minority community not having a unified voice. "Do we have a voice here now? No, we don't. I'm talking about our county government. They haven't paid much attention to what's going on with us. We know it's up to ourselves to make a difference," she said...

NEW YORK -- Seven years in the making, the Flaming Lips' new "Christmas on Mars" is a lo-fi feat of obsession and endurance. The sci-fi movie -- which frontman Wayne Coyne calls "a freakout" -- was created with amateur compulsiveness, patched together on self-made sets in Coyne's Oklahoma backyard. One recalls another spacey film: "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," in which Richard Dreyfuss maniacally constructs giant mounds to satisfy his vision...

The Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team begins a rugged early schedule tonight at the University of New Mexico. While acting coach Zac Roman knows the Redhawks face difficult challenges, he also believes playing tough competition will make them better in the long run...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- A former Sikeston Department of Public Safety police officer will soon be the chief law enforcement officer for Missouri's fastest growing county. Joey Kyle, 47, a 1980 graduate of Sikeston Senior High School, received 65 percent of the votes during the Nov. 4 general election in the race to be Christian County's next sheriff...

Willard Leon Klaus, 83, of Jackson passed away Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2008, at Heartland Care Rehab Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born Nov. 10, 1925, in Friedheim, son of Alvin F. and Lydia Dickman Klaus. He and Jane Slinkard were married Aug. 27, 1948, in Piggott, Ark...

FENTON -- The Saxony Lutheran Crusaders weren't happy about their play in the first 40 minutes of Thursday night's Class 1 state quarterfinal game. But it was the last 10 minutes that proved to be heartbreaking for the Crusaders. Trinity's Jordan Stretch scored on a bouncing ball in the box with 4:27 to play, lifting the Titans to a 2-1 victory...

SCHOLARSHIPS n Travis Roth of Jackson received a President's Scholarship and a Missouri Leadership Award to attend Southeast Missouri State University next year. HONORS n Catharine Goeke, Garion Lovig, Quitman McBride III and Nathan Nall of Central High School made the All-State Choir...

Saturday November 15th from 10 am - 3 pm. (Tomorrow) Father's Arms Fellowship's Ladies Group, 1400 Main Street in Scott City is having a CHRISTMAS BAZAAR to raise funds for the needy at Christmastime. Included in the event: Homemade Chili and Chicken Noodle Dinner with desserts, White Elephant Sale and Raffle. ...

Baby Kennedy enjoying a nice fall day amid the pumpkins!

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. — Area residents who wanted to hear Charlie Daniels and donate food to the United Gospel Rescue Mission are disappointed the Nov. 21 event had to be canceled. ...

It's been a long wait for the conclusion of the saga that began in August 2005, when 4-year-old Ethan Williams died of a staph infection. Now his mother and step-father, who were charged with manslaughter in connection to his death, have been cleared of manslaughter and are expected to plead guilty to lesser charges.Click here to read the full story...

Manslaughter charges will be dropped against a Perry County couple who were charged more than three years ago with medical negligence in the death of a 4-year-old boy from a drug-resistant staph infection. Emily and Michael Altom were charged with voluntary manslaughter and three counts each of felony child endangerment in early September 2005. ...

Hello Southeast Missouri! You are invited to attend the second Christmas in the Foothills Festival in Marble Hill Missouri on November 29th. This festival will have craft and food vendors, fresh roasted chestnuts, eight fun and exciting "reindeer games" for the young and young at heart, a Santa'a workshop with crafts,hot chocolate & cookies for the kids and wonderful local voices raised up in celebration of the beginning of the Christmas season. ...

Tomorrow marks the start of Missouri's deer season, which runs from Nov. 15 to Dec. 21. The firearms season is broken down into five portions: teens only, urban, November, muzzleloader and antlerless only. Last season, hunters took 260,162 deer in Missouri, according to the Missouri Department of Conservation...

NEVADA, Mo. (AP) _ Flooded country roads. Roving packs of dogs with no owners in sight. Overgrown weeds as far as the eye can see. Leaving Southern California for the sprawling Midwest plains was a no-brainer for Dale and Marilyn Johnson, retired occupational therapists who moved to Fort Scott, Kan., last year to be closer to their daughter and five grandchildren. The 22-acre farm they now call home was a return of sorts for Dale Johnson, 68, who lived on a northern Wisconsin farm as a boy...

Kelli Schenimann has been an asset to Capetown Assisted and Independent Living for the past two months. Kelly Bryant, Senior Lifestyle Coordinator, tells me, "Kelli will do whatever is asked of her. She has a willing spirit and it's been great to have a college student working with the seniors - they really enjoy her." As Director of RSVP and VIC, I am so glad Kelli decided to become a part of the Volunteer Intergenerational Center. ...

Three teens were arrested this week for their connection to 14 incidents of property damage in Cape Girardeau, according to police. Austin A. Abernathy, 17, Derek W. Menz, 19, and a 16-year-old male, all of Cape Girardeau, were charged with allegedly using spray paint graffiti to deface walls at various locations in the city...

Highway 177 in Cape Girardeau County will continue to be reduced to one lane with a 14-foot restriction on Monday through Friday while Missouri Department of Transportation crews perform concrete repairs. This section of roadway is located at the intersection of Highways 177 and 61 near Fruitland and extends to Route V.Weather permitting, traffic will be reduced to one lane from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. next week...

Tomorrow marks the start of Missouri's firearms deer season, which runs from Nov. 15 to Dec. 21. The firearms season is broken down into five portions: teens only, urban, November, muzzleloader, and antlerless only. Last season, hunters took 260,162 deer in Missouri, according to the Missouri Department of Conservation...

Beautiful canopy of colorful leaves enjoyed while hiking Springdale Bird Sanctuary north of Cape Girardeau.

DEXTER, Mo. — The amount of solid waste going into the recycle bins in Dexter that is not recyclable is causing problems for city officials. In this past week alone, city workers have seen an increase in solid waste that must be sorted, divided and then loaded on trucks bound for the landfill at the city's expense. ...

JOPLIN, Mo. (AP) -- The Missouri Department of Natural Resources and the federal Environmental Protection Agency are at odds over which bodies of water in the state should be identified as impaired. After reviewing the list, which was created for 2006, the EPA agreed with the state that 61 streams and rivers should be listed as impaired, and that 42 should be delisted. ...

BLOOMFIELD, Mo. — It was two years ago today when shots rang out on a farm east of Bloomfield. Sixty-four-year-old Don McCollough lay dead and within days, a 13-year-old neighbor boy, Owen Welty, was charged with his murder. Charged with the Class A felony of first-degree murder and the unclassified felony of armed criminal action, Welty was certified to stand trial as an adult in December 2006, a month following the murder. ...