Stories from Sunday, April 26, 2009

A regular meeting of the Excelsior Masonic Lodge, beginning with a 6 p.m. meal, is set for Monday at the Masonic Hall in Jackson. A special 50-year recognition will be given to Bill Bollinger at 7 p.m., with the meeting to follow at 7:30 p.m.

Gov. Jay Nixon pressed for passage of autism-related insurance legislation today in Cape Girardeau. The legislation would require health insurance providers to cover treatments and therapies for Missourians with autism. He toured the Judevine Center for Autism with state Sen. Jason Crowell, (R-Cape Girardeau), who earlier this year convinced Nixon to reinstate $2.4 million for construction of a new autism treatment facility planned for the campus of Southeast Missouri State University...

NEW HAMBURG, Mo. -- Schindler's Tavern, the starting point for golf balls passing over a cow pasture onto the adjoining St. Lawrence Parish portion of a makeshift golf course, was swamped with golfers Saturday at the 24th annual Kow Pasture Klassic Golf Tournament...

The Cape River Heritage Museum kicked off its 2009 season Saturday morning with new exhibits, an expanded gift shop and a performance by The Jerry Ford Orchestra. About 35 people visited the historic site at Independence and Frederick streets to celebrate the new season...

The Cape Comic Con is a place where fans can find accessories for a Star Wars costume or a copy of a classic comic to complete a collection. But it is also a place where visitors can find ambitious artists willing to put their own money behind their creations as they seek recognition in the comic world. Adventurous readers can step into a superhero world set in St. Louis, a post-apocalyptic Japan with armored female ninjas or read about a satirical world where ninjas are on strike...

Evidence in the 1992 homicide of Angela Mischelle Lawless is currently in Holland awaiting a relatively new form of forensic analysis known as touch DNA testing, said Scott County Sheriff Rick Walter. Walter said the testing, the same type experts say cleared JonBenet Ramsey's family of involvement in her murder, will be used on the clothing worn by Lawless the night of her murder...

As Drew Thomas practiced for the state basketball tournament, he thought a lot about how he struggled to score in his team's only two regular-season losses. They were to Memphis (Tenn.) Central and Sikeston. The senior guard averaged 9.5 points per game -- 15 points below his season average -- in those two games...

By: Candi Murphy Amber & Kaitlyn really had a wonderful time today! I thought this pic. was really cute because they both had that "what are we gonna get into next?" look on their faces! What a great day!!!

By: Candi Murphy My daughter Amber & her best friend Kaitlyn helping Jason Lindsey with an experiment using toilet paper & a leaf blower... it was pretty cool to watch all the toilet paper go flying!!!

By: Mallory Dockins and Marty Dames Marty and Mallory heading to Prom

By: Rachel Moore Oran Senior Prom 2009

Larger water, sewer and trash bills could be the biggest changes Cape Girardeau residents would see as city officials look for ways to balance the budget for the coming year. When the Cape Girardeau City Council meets at 6:30 p.m. Monday at city hall for a budget work session, members will hear that the city can survive the economic slowdown cutting into tax receipts without layoffs, interim city manager Ken Eftink said. ...

Rodney and Teresa Meyr of Jackson announce the engagement of their daughter, Ashley Nicole Meyr of Sikeston, Mo., to Quentin Robert Kelley of Carbondale, Ill. He is the son of Terrence and Kim Kelley of Cape Girardeau. Meyr received a bachelor's degree in elementary education from Southeast Missouri State University in 2008. She is a fifth grade teacher at Hearnes Elementary in Charleston, Mo...

Chelsey Elaine Allsop and Jason Michael Banaskavich were united in marriage March 7, 2009, at the Foundry Art Centre in St. Charles, Mo. Judge William Camm Seay performed the ceremony. Pianist was Christine Erickson of Kirksville, Mo., sister of the groom...

Tim and Annita Layton of Kelso, Mo., announce the engagement of their daughter, Tasha Marie Layton, to Matthew Stephen Cardin. He is the son of Stephen and Donna Cardin of Cape Girardeau. Layton is a 2005 graduate of Notre Dame Regional High School. She is pursuing a degree in business from Southeast Missouri State University. She is employed by the National Call Center for Drury Hotels...

Julie Moore and Maynard Abney of Park Hills, Mo., and Wayne Knickmeyer of Wentzville, Mo., announce the engagement of their daughter, Tonya M. Moore, to Danny R. Shy III, both of Scott City. He is the son of Becky Jones of Scott City, Danny Shy II of Oran, Mo., and the late Doug Jones...

Brenda Stone of Scott City and Keith and Christal Thompson of Chester, Ill., announce the engagement of their daughter, Kristin Kay Thompson, to Christopher Dennis Hoey Jr., both of Cape Girardeau. He is the son of Christopher and Trudy Hoey of St. Louis...

James and Gail Lichtenegger of Jackson announce the engagement of their daughter, Sarah Elizabeth Lichtenegger, to Staff Sgt. James Edward Simmons. He is the son of Jody Simmons and Jimmy LaGrone of Cape Girardeau. Lichtenegger is a 2003 graduate of Jackson High School. She received a bachelor of science degree in business administration from Southeast Missouri State University in 2008. She expects to receive a master's degree in business administration from the university in May 2010...

BENTON, Mo. -- John and Lisa Spalding of Benton announce the engagement of their daughter, Katie JoHanna Spalding, to Brandon Ramon Cruz of Benton. He is the son of Ramon and Aileen Cruz of Victoria, Texas. Spalding received a bachelor of science degree in social work from Southeast Missouri State University in 2008. She is employed at Bootheel Counseling Services...

Claire Jones Karnes and Mark Joseph Kneer of Cape Girardeau announce their engagement. She is the daughter of Gerald and Joan Jones of Cape Girardeau, and George and Caroline Thompson of Boulder, Colo. Kneer is the son of Buddy and Ann Kneer of Santa Monica, Calif., and the late Patricia Kneer...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Lewis "Al" and Lois Dirickson Jr. of Sikeston announce the engagement of their daughter, Shavonna Darlene Dirickson, to Jason Rollie Hust. He is the son of Steven and Linda Oakley and Stephen Hust of Sikeston. Mrs. Oakley and Hust are formerly of Cape Girardeau...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Mr. and Mrs. Edward Daume of Perryville celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary with a dinner April 5 at Country Kettle in Biehle, Mo. Hosts were their children. Daume and Ruth Graden were married April 3, 1949, at Christ Evangelical and Reformed Church in Cape Girardeau...

Mr. and Mrs. Ben Bollinger of Cape Girardeau celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary with an open house and reception April 19, 2009, at The Cove. Hosts were their daughters. Bollinger and Glenda Westrich were married April 11, 1959, at St. Mary's Cathedral, by Monsignor Marion Forest...

Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth L. Siebert of Jackson celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary with a dinner March 14 at Jackson Senior Center. Approximately 125 guests attended from Cape Girardeau, Jackson, Scott City, Oak Ridge and Perryville, Mo. Siebert and Ella Mae Nitsch were married March 15, 1959, at Emanuel Evangelical Church in Jackson, by the Rev. M.A. Tobitzky...

Mr. and Mrs. Doug Koch of Cape Girardeau will celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary with an open house May 2 at Good Shepherd Lutheran Chapel. Hosts will be Shelly McCoy, Todd Koch, Misty Koch-Dunning, and Julie Fiehler. Koch and Linda Fiehler were married May 3, 1969, at Good Shepherd, by the Rev. Walter Loeber...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Children danced and sang not far from a wooded area where a 3-year-old girl was found slain eight years ago. Community members have said they want this site to move past the "dumping ground" image it has fought to shake in the years since Erica Green's death. The scene Saturday seemed a fitting start to their wishes...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The city attorney for Kansas City is claiming that Mayor Mark Funkhouser lacks the legal standing to challenge an ordinance prohibiting his wife from volunteering full time in his office. The mayor filed a lawsuit in November asking the court to void the section of the law barring family members who provide the mayor with "consulting or advisory" services. The ordinance was motivated in part by the presence in the mayor's office of Funkhouser's wife, Gloria Squitiro...

HARRISON, Ark. -- A Home Depot in northern Arkansas has someone new looking out for mice in the garden center. Someone with wings. A great horned owl flew inside the Harrison store's garden center during a January ice storm and built a nest atop a pallet of merchandise. Over time, two baby owls poked their heads out. One fell to its death, but the other survived...

NEW YORK -- In his first days as head of the Roman Catholic Church in New York, Archbishop Timothy Dolan celebrated Mass in prison, talked baseball in the Yankees and Mets broadcast booths, visited the World Trade Center site and nibbled matzo at a symbolic Seder...

NEW YORK -- At least two cases of the human swine influenza have been confirmed in Kansas and one more in California, bringing the U.S. total to 11. At least eight more cases are suspected in students at a New York City high school, but health officials said Saturday they don't know whether they have the same virus that has killed 20 people in Mexico...

TEHRAN, Iran -- An American journalist jailed in Iran for allegedly spying for the U.S. was on her fifth day of a hunger strike Saturday and does not plan to stop until she is freed, her father said. Roxana Saberi, a dual American-Iranian citizen who turns 32 today, was convicted more than a week ago and sentenced to eight years in prison after a swift, one-day trial behind closed doors. She began her hunger strike Tuesday to protest her imprisonment, her father said...

NAIROBI, Kenya -- Pirates have seized a German-owned ship in the pirate-infested waters between Somalia and Yemen, a U.S. Navy spokesman said Saturday. Pirates captured the Maltese-flagged MV Patriot early Saturday in the Gulf of Aden about 150 nautical miles southeast of the coastal Yemeni city of Muqalla, said U.S. Navy 5th Fleet spokesman Lt. Nathan Christensen...

WASHINGTON -- The World Bank said Saturday it would provide poor countries with more than $55 billion for public work projects left in limbo when the recession dried up capital investment. The goal is to create jobs and lay the foundation for future economic growth and poverty reduction. Africa is expected to see a large proportion of the investments, given the continent's needs...

My wife Victoria and I welcomed a new daughter last week. Born April 14, at 7:12 a.m., Ekaterina Ava Rust arrived -- singing. By this I'm not trying to create a pleasant description of her crying, because she does plenty of that, especially between 11 at night and 5 in the morning. ...

ATHENS, Ga. -- Authorities were on a nationwide manhunt for a University of Georgia professor in the shooting deaths of three people, including his ex-wife, Saturday at a community theater near campus. Athens-Clarke County Police Capt. Clarence Holeman said authorities were searching for a suspect, 57-year-old George Zinkhan, who has been a marketing professor at the university in Athens since the 1990s, and lived about seven miles from campus...

LOS ANGELES -- Beatrice Arthur, the tall, deep-voiced actress whose razor-sharp delivery of comedy lines made her a TV star in the hit shows "Maude" and "The Golden Girls" and who won a Tony Award for the musical "Mame," died Saturday. She was 86...

Cape Girardeau: DWI; Arrests; Assault; Thefts; Property damage; Miscellaneous; Jackson: Summons; Thefts; Burglary; Miscellaneous

Cape Girardeau Firefighters responded to the following calls Friday: Firefighters responded to the following calls Saturday: Jackson Firefighters responded to the following call Friday: Firefighters responded to the following calls Saturday:...

BELL CITY, Mo. -- Judy Ann Scheible Henson, 64, of Bell City died Saturday, April 25, 2009, at her daughter's home in Oran. She was born March 1, 1945, at Lutesville, Mo., daughter of Bill and Donna Ester Tankersley Cook. She and Herman Scheible were married Aug., 1964. He died May 11, 1988...

Barbara Martha Sullivan, 81, of Cape Girardeau died Thursday, April 23, 2009, at the Lutheran Home. She was born Friday, Feb. 3, 1928, daughter of Franz and Martha Stanke Bartsch in Selesia, Germany, in what is now Poland. She grew up there. She and Harry A. Sullivan were married at Old St. Vincent's Church in Cape Girardeau in 1953...

WOLF LAKE, Ill. -- Martha I. Treece, 74 of Wolf Lake died Saturday, April 25, 2009, at her home. Visitation will be from 5 to 8 p.m. Monday at Rendleman and Hileman Funeral Home in Jonesboro, Ill. The funeral will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday. Interment will be in Jonesboro Cemetery...

Magdalene Martha Hovis, 92, of Hiram, Mo., died Tuesday, April 21, 2009, at the Lutheran Home at Cape Girardeau. A funeral was held Saturday at Ruegg Funeral Home in Greenville, Mo. Burial was in Twidwell Cemetery in Clubb, Mo.

Notre Dame romped its way to the championship at the Mississippi County wood bat baseball tournament Saturday. The Bulldogs beat West County 5-1 in the title game. That came after a 22-0 win over Twin Rivers and a 24-0 victory against Charleston on Friday...

The Southeast Missouri State baseball team missed out on a chance to move into first place in the Ohio Valley Conference. After surviving the nine-inning opener of Saturday's doubleheader at Austin Peay 12-9, the Redhawks couldn't hold an early five-run lead in the seven-inning nightcap...

It wasn't long ago when the Southeast Missouri State softball team seemingly could do nothing right. Now the Redhawks can do no wrong. Southeast extended its winning streak to 10 with Saturday's doubleheader sweep of visiting Eastern Kentucky, 4-3 and 8-5...

A special ceremony honoring officers who have died in the line of duty will be May 15 Law enforcement officers who have died in the line of duty will be remembered during the annual Southeast Missouri Law Enforcement Officers Memorial. The ceremony will begin at 10 a.m. May 15 at the Cape Girardeau Conservation Campus auditorium at Cape County Park North...

Mass effort; Classroom idea; Paving the way; Clean out ditches; Democracy; Brink of insolvency; Go after the GSA; Downtown parking; Having an impact

25 years ago: April 26, 1984 The 19th-century architecture of many of Cape Girardeau's downtown buildings would be stressed under a proposed redevelopment plan that would include erection of a reproduction of an old street clock at Themis and Main streets and construction of an open-air market...

The Missouri Bar A proposed Missouri constitutional amendment that has passed the House and is expected to come before the Senate any day would put the Missouri Non-Partisan Court Plan in the hands of the state legislature, giving politicians complete control over the future of the Plan. ...

The Wall Street Journal The Missouri plan for choosing judges may be the law of the land in some two dozen states, but its home court is having second thoughts. Recently, the Missouri House of Representatives approved a ballot measure that would modify the state's namesake selection process. The measure is one step toward junking a system that has made state courts less accountable...

ST. LOUIS -- Here's one bright spot of the troubled economy: It's forcing construction firms to cut costs, helping Missouri and Illinois get more for their road-building dollars. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Saturday that Missouri Department of Transportation figures show the average cost for state highway construction has shrunk about 14 percent since last July. That's saved the state $108 million on 346 jobs...

WASHINGTON -- Think you can do better than your federal boss? President Obama wants to know how. Obama on Saturday announced a plan for federal workers to propose ways to improve their agencies' and departments' budgets. The president said employees' ideas would be key as his Cabinet officials try to cut millions from the budget and trim the deficit...

Rainy spring weather brings out good close up photo opportunities in our mid-America woods. The North American forest snail is a land snail that likes cool wet weather. These snails eat various types of vegetation, although I've seen no evidence that they will eat the Jack-in-the-Pulpit...

Army Pvt. Frank J. Richardet recently graduated from Army Basic Combat Training at Fort Sill, Lawton, Okla. During the nine weeks of training, the soldier studied the Army mission, received instruction and training exercises in Army history and protocol, military justice, physical fitness, first aid, marksmanship and weapons use, map reading and land navigation, armed and unarmed combat, field maneuvers and tactics. He is the son of Jan Snyder and Dave Richardet, both of Perryville, Mo...

Army Pvt. Brent A. Sauceda graduated from Army Basic Combat Training at Fort Sill, Lawton, Okla. During the nine weeks of training, he studied the Army mission, received instruction and training exercises in Army history and protocol, military justice, physical fitness, first aid, marksmanship and weapons use, map reading and land navigation, armed and unarmed combat, field maneuvers and tactics. ...

Kelly High School members of the Family Career and Community Leaders of America group recently attended the 2009 Missouri Family, Career and Community Leaders of America State Leadership Conference in Columbia, Mo. The theme, "Level Up Your Leadership," included speakers and workshops on careers, recycling, traffic and personal safety, personal development and technology plus leadership training, honors and recognition. ...

Tyler Lappe of Oak Ridge, a nine-year member of the Arnsberg 4-H Club, was chosen to serve as one of the teen representatives on the National 4-H Congress Planning committee. Eligibility for the award includes 4-H membership, winning at the state level to attend the National 4-H Congress and serving as a delegate. ...

By TAMMY WEBBER The Associated Press CHICAGO -- The messages come from everywhere: Save the planet. Reduce your carbon footprint. Be eco-wise. But how do consumers decide which product or action is healthier or more environmentally friendly? Sometimes the choices are clear; other times they're more murky. Here are some examples:...

Sing praises to our God, for we are part of his great creation. Amen.

Helping others learn to grow is the mission of the Missouri Master Gardeners Extension Program. The work of certified Master Gardeners in the Southeast Region -- which includes Cape Girardeau, Bollinger, Madison, Iron, Wayne, Scott, Mississippi, Pemiscot and Butler counties -- is recognizable not only in the community landscapes they create and maintain. Proceeds from their annual plant sale fund scholarships for horticulture students and community betterment through donations...

MEXICO CITY -- Mexico's president assumed new powers Saturday to isolate people infected with a deadly swine flu strain as authorities struggled to contain an outbreak that world health officials warned could become a global epidemic. Swine flu has killed up to 81 people in Mexico and likely sickened 1,324 since April 13, according to figures updated late Saturday by Mexico's health secretary...

It's the final day of the 19th annual Mississippi River Valley Scenic Drive.

By: Debbie Bradley This is the life I always wanted.

By: Clint E. Lacy Upon listening to T Warren's latest CD, entitled: "Fight on My Hands" the first thing the listener hears is the very distinctive sound of John Russell's pedal steel guitar on the first track "Little Satilla". As Mac Aston recently stated so aptly in his own review of T's latest release (published at: http://www.fireeater.org ):...

By: Debbie Bradley Is it morning already?

By: Debbie Bradley Where is my food?

By: Marty Dames and Mallory Dockins Prom Queen at the Country Club

Egyptian Junior & Senior High High Honor Roll 7th grade: Hannah McClarney, Elizabeth Rundles, Justin Prewitt, Jeri McKee, Katherine Eatmon. 8th grade: Kaitlyn Heinrich, Austin Murphy, Skylar Morgan. 9th grade: Cedar Buero, Shyah Buero, Tyler Holshouser, Austin Caldwell, Ricky Strong...