Stories from Friday, September 28, 2012

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- The nation's worst drought in decades consumed a larger portion of the lower 48 states last week with the Midwest corn harvest in full swing, according to the latest update by a drought-tracking consortium released Thursday. The U.S. ...

A federal judge's ruling on Thursday will allow the Ku Klux Klan to place fliers on unoccupied cars during a planned visit to Cape Girardeau today, despite the city's longtime ban that local leaders insist was intended to prevent litter, not free speech.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- A conservative fundraising group backed embattled Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin with a much as $290,000 for his campaign Thursday. A few hours later, Akin handed new fundraising fodder to his foes by suggesting that Sen. Claire McCaskill had behaved in a less "ladylike" manner than she has in the past...

Things have mostly gone right for the Notre Dame volleyball team this season. The Bulldogs dropped just one of their first 20 matches heading into Thursday night's matchup against Jackson, but not much went right at the end of Game 1 against the Indians...

Former Missouri Court of Appeals and circuit court judge Stanley A. Grimm of Cape Girardeau died Thursday morning at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis. Grimm, 79, passed away shortly after undergoing heart surgery. A graduate of Northeast Missouri State Teacher's College (now Truman State University) and the University of Missouri Law School, Grimm was in private practice in Cape Girardeau for 13 years until he was elected circuit judge for the 32nd Judicial District in 1972. ...

A Jackson woman was cited for failing to stop at a red light Thursday afternoon after a rollover crash on one of Cape Girardeau's busiest streets sent her and the occupants of another vehicle to the hospital with minor injuries, police said.

Halloween in the dark at the Schaefer house 2012!

What's 16ft long and 14 ft tall, why a Pirate ship of course! Built by Chris Schaefer for Halloween 2012. Each year we do a different theme. We hope everyone enjoys!

People thinking of moving their business or their home downtown had many options to consider Thursday during the Downtown Commercial Open House. Commercial property owners showcased eight properties available for sale or lease on Broadway and Main Street as part of the event put on by Old Town Cape, Realty Executives and Banterra Bank...

The Bank of Missouri recently announced the winners of the "Select and Win Grand Slam Giveaway." The promotion which was sponsored by The Bank, offered clients who opened a Select or Student Select Checking account the chance to win one of four prizes...

The Power of Positive Thinking Conference Facilitator: Dr. Maude Harris Date: Friday, October 19, 2012 Time: 8:00 a.m. until 3.30 p.m. Location: Tanner Street Church of God, 619 Tanner St. in Sikeston, MO Free admission ~ Continental breakfast~ Lunch is provided at no cost ~ Special speakers ~ Breakout sessions ~ Lots of booths to visit & Door prizes...

With the search for the next top cop set to begin in earnest, the Cape Girardeau Police Officers Association doesn't want to be brushed aside -- as it claims to have been in years past -- and this time be allowed to help pick the person members will work for...

ROSEVILLE, Mich. (AP) -- Jimmy Hoffa is presumed dead, cocooned in mystery and innuendo and missing for the past 37 years. Patricia Szpunar just hopes that if the former Teamsters boss' remains do turn up, they're not in her backyard. Over the years, authorities have dug up a Michigan horse farm, looked under a swimming pool and pulled up floorboards in their quest for Hoffa...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- The Sikeston Department of Public Safety is searching for a man involved in Wednesday's shooting in the 1400 block of West Murray Lane. Ricky Dewayne Davis Jr., 26, of Sikeston, is being sought by Sikeston DPS for allegedly wounding his victim with a gunshot to the abdomen...

PATTON, Mo. -- A Toyota Camry struck a tractor-trailer head-on Thursday afternoon in Bollinger County. The driver of the car, Lucas K. Shrum, 18, of Patton, was taken by ambulance to Saint Francis Medical Center with serious injuries, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- The Missouri Supreme Court will not hear a legal challenge to Springfield's smoking ban, officially ending a lawsuit filed by a bar owner. Attorney Jonathan Sternberg said the state Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to hear a legal challenge by Jean Doublin, owner of Ruthie's Bar in Springfield...

ST. LOUIS -- A federal appeals court has overturned the life sentences given to a former Illinois sheriff convicted of trafficking marijuana and a foiled plot to have witnesses against him killed, citing a misunderstanding by the judge in applying federal sentencing guidelines...

A group opposed to bowhunting for deer in Cape Girardeau met Thursday night for a final time before a city council vote on whether to repeal the ordinance allowing the hunt. As the vote has neared, members of Keep Cape Safe are concerned with what they call possible "legal gray areas" with the city's first-ever referendum. ...

Today is Friday, Sept. 28, the 272nd day of 2012. There are 94 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On Sept. 28, 1787, the Congress of the Confederation voted to send the just-completed Constitution of the United States to state legislatures for their approval...

So look, here's the thing about "The Casual Vacancy": This. Is. Not. A. Children's. Book. If you're looking for what made Harry Potter magical -- wizards! spells! flying broomsticks! -- you're not going to find it. If you're looking for what makes J.K. Rowling magical -- emotion, heart -- you will...

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- The manufacturer of the anesthetic blamed for Michael Jackson's death said Thursday it won't sell the drug for use in executions, a setback for Missouri and other states looking for an alternative after other drugmakers also objected to their products' use in lethal injections...

Though we just entered the fall season, Christmas is around the corner. Family and friends will reunite over the holiday season for church services, meals, gift giving and other traditions. For many of our men and women in the armed forces, and their families, Christmas will be spent apart. However, thanks to the efforts of the Jackson VFW Post 10495, American Legion Post 158 and the Jackson Noon Optimist Club, several local families will be connected...

I've been a Democrat most of my life, but there's no way I can vote for these clowns that are in office now. The president is just inept, and the vice president is -- what can I say? He's just a clown. Thank you. Government programs I would like to respond to Romney's remark that 47 percent of the American people want the government to help. ...

Late September brings welcome relief from this summer's scorching heat. Thank goodness. In these parts, it's always a pretty sure bet that the last half of September will be far more enjoyable than those weeks of summer. The SEMO District Fair, which usually includes a good rain sometime during its weeklong run, pretty much escaped moisture, which would not have been unwelcome, considering our lingering drought...

SPARTA, Ill. -- Southern Illinois Country Fest will be held Oct. 5 to 7 at the World Shooting and Recreation Complex in Sparta. Headlining acts for the event are Trace Adkins, Dierks Bentley and Tim McGraw. Other artists scheduled to perform are Corey Smith, Colt Ford, LoCash Cowboys, The Cadillac Black, Little Big Town, Casey James and The Farm. For more information, go to www.sicountryfest.com...

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- Retired judge Bill Hopkins took some of his experience on the bench in Bollinger County, wove into it some stories he has heard people tell for years, and the result is the first of a series of three mystery novels with Judge Rosswell Carew...

The Community Counseling Center's benefit wine festival has long been a popular local event. Now the not-for-profit wants to take that success and branch out to beer. On Oct. 6 the organization will host its first Cape Girardeau Craft Beer Festival at Arena Park, inside the 4-H and Bank of America show arenas...

Come join the Cape Girardeau Roller Girls for a screening of the documentary "Derby, Baby!" at Port Cape Girardeau. Doors open at 7 p.m. Saturday with the film beginning at 8 p.m. The cost is free, but donations will be accepted to offset the cost of the film. There will be a full-service bar and $5 appetizer buffet. After the movie, stay and dance the night away with your favorite roller derby league. For more information about the film, go to www.derbybabythefilm.com...

O Father God, we cast our cares upon you, for you care for us. Amen.

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Christian activists attempted Thursday to deliver a petition to Hobby Lobby criticizing its challenge to a portion of the new federal health care law, but guards at the company's headquarters turned them away. "I thought they'd let me drop off the package," said the Rev. Lance Schmitz, pastor of the Capitol Hill Church of the Nazarene in Oklahoma City...

NEW YORK -- South Korea's foreign minister said Thursday that Japan's wartime past will overshadow relations between the two staunch U.S. allies until Japan educates its people about crimes committed during colonial rule. In an interview with The Associated Press on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan said: "We are victims of Japanese colonial rule."...

LOS ANGELES -- The California man behind a crudely produced anti-Islamic video that has inflamed parts of the Middle East was arrested Thursday for violating terms of his probation, authorities said. Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, 55, has been on probation for a 2010 federal check fraud conviction that brought a 21-month prison sentence. Under terms of his probation, he was not to use computers or the Internet for five years without approval from his probation officer...

BILLINGS, Mont. -- A proposed standard for federal cleanup of asbestos contamination in a Montana town concludes that even a tiny amount of the material can lead to lung problems -- a benchmark far more rigorous than any in the past and one that the industry says could force expensive and unnecessary cleanups across the country...

CAIRO -- As Egypt's new president Mohammed Morsi strikes an assertive pose on the world stage, some Egyptians fear they may have replaced one authoritarian leader with another. Critics say Morsi -- the nation's first democratically elected president -- seeks a monopoly over decision-making and has accepted an aura of invincibility bestowed by the official media...

VATICAN CITY -- There was a time when a Vatican trial could end with a heretic being burned at the stake. Paolo Gabriele doesn't risk nearly as dire a fate, but he and the Holy See face a public airing over the gravest security breach in the Vatican's recent history following the theft and leaking of the pope's personal papers...

UNITED NATIONS -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Thursday that Iran will have enough enriched uranium to make a nuclear bomb by next summer and urged the world to draw a clear "red line" to stop it in its tracks. Saying it was getting "late, very late" to stop Iran, Netanyahu flashed a diagram showing the progress Iran has made toward creating a bomb. ...

BEIRUT -- Cellphones in Syria rang, buzzed and chirped Thursday with an ominous text message from the military to members of the armed rebellion: "Game over." The rebels provided their own response to the regime's warning to surrender and disarm by launching new attacks to drive government troops out of the largest city of Aleppo...

WASHINGTON -- Get in line, Medicare and Social Security. Seniors, like just about everyone else, have money on their minds. Who wins the trust of seniors, a group that votes at a higher rate than any other, will be a deciding factor in the presidential election. That should be good news for Mitt Romney, because those 65 and older have backed the Republican candidate in both of the last two presidential elections...

CHAFFEE, Mo. -- Joseph H. LeGrand, 64, of St. Louis went home to be with our heavenly Father on Thursday, Sept. 20, 2012. He was born Nov. 25, 1947, to Clarence and Alma LeGrand of Chaffee. LeGrand was a veteran of the U.S. Army. He was the loving brother of Mary Ann (Bill) Jones, Germaine (Monroe) LeGrand, LaVern (Bernard) Kiefer, Helen (Mike) Harris, and Doug (LeAnn) LeGrand; and loving uncle to many nieces, nephews, great-nieces and great-nephews. ...

Lillian F. Brown, 72, of Cape Girardeau died Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2012, at Fountainbleau Lodge. She was born March 3, 1940, in Murphysboro, Ill., to Milo S. and Florence A. Blackwell Rains. She and Jerry Douglas Brown were married June 26, 1963, in Belleville, Ill. He preceded her in death May 24, 1979...

Roy Edwin Petzoldt, 70, of Jackson passed away Monday, Sept. 24, 2012, at his home. He was born June 22, 1942, in Altenburg, Mo., son of Russell and Aleida Hemmann Petzoldt. He and Mary E. Brown were married Feb. 6, 1960. Roy attended Immanuel Lutheran School at New Wells. He enjoyed playing the guitar at local nursing homes and churches and was willing to help anyone any way he could...

CHAFFEE, Mo. -- Fred Lindy, 78, of Chaffee died Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2012, at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born Nov. 5, 1933, in Hayti, Mo., to Charles Jacob and Ruby Lee Mizzell Lindy. He and Marilyn Lawson were married Feb. 14, 2008, in Chaffee...

CHAFFEE, Mo. -- Jack Allan Whitlock, 63, of Chaffee passed away Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2012, at his home. He was born Dec. 2, 1948, in Philadelphia, Pa., son of Robert C. and June Neumann Whitlock. He and Naomi Wicker were married Jan. 16, 1970. Jack received his high school diploma from Kenwood High in Maryland...

JONESBORO, Ill. -- Lorene Morgan, 91, of Jonesboro died Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2012, at Jonesboro Rehab and Health Care Center. Visitation will be from 1 p.m. until time of service today at Rendleman and Hileman Funeral Home in Jonesboro. The funeral will be at 2:30 p.m. today at the funeral home, with the Rev. John Cripps officiating. Burial will be in Jonesboro Cemetery...

JONESBORO, Ill. -- Stanley C. Hileman, 73, of Jonesboro died Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2012, at St. Louis University Hospital in St. Louis. Visitation will be from 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday at Rendleman and Hileman Funeral Home in Jonesboro. The funeral will be at 1:30 p.m. Sunday at the funeral home, with the Rev. Tim Heinecke officiating. Burial will be in Anna City Cemetery...

Judge Stanley A. Grimm, 79, of Cape Girardeau died Thursday, Sept. 27, 2012, at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis. Visitation will be from 4 to 8 p.m. Sunday at Ford and Sons Mount Auburn Funeral Home. A memorial service will be held at 1:30 p.m. Monday at St. Andrew Lutheran Church...

Daughter to Daniel Dale and Alisha Marie Guethle of Perryville, Mo., Saint Francis Medical Center, 1:08 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 9, 2012. Name, Abigail Elise. Weight, 5 pounds, 5 ounces. Fourth child, second daughter. Mrs. Guethle is the former Alisha Pilkington, daughter of Karen Pilkington of Chester, Ill. ...

The Cape Girardeau Police Department released the following items. Arrests do not imply guilt. Arrests Summonses Thefts...

The Jackson Police Department released the following items. Arrests do not imply guilt. Arrests Miscellaneous...

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- The Black River Coliseum in Poplar Bluff will be busy this weekend with two concerts. Fans of Brantley Gilbert and Uncle Kracker are urged to buy their tickets as soon as possible, as Black River Coliseum staff anticipate a sellout of tonight's Hell on Wheels tour. The show starts at 7:30 p.m. and also features Greg Bates and Brian Davis...

WASHINGTON -- With college enrollment growing, student debt has stretched to a record number of U.S. households -- nearly 1 in 5 -- with the biggest burdens falling on the young and poor. The analysis by the Pew Research Center found that 22.4 million households, or 19 percent, had college debt in 2010. ...

Described by a cast member as "epic" and "beautiful," the award-winning "Titanic: The Musical" is coming to Southeast Missouri State University's River Campus next week. According to River Campus management, more than 600 tickets have been sold for the 950-seat Bedell Performance Hall. The performance will be at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 5...

Suspected illnesses from salmonella in 18 states have prompted several companies that produce peanut butter and other related products to issue a voluntary recall. Only one brand of peanut butter, Trader Joe's Creamy Salted Valencia Peanut Butter, may have an actual link to the outbreak, including one case in Missouri, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services...

Last week: Jackson 29, Central 26; Sikeston 19, Poplar Bluff 7 Last year: Sikeston 35, Jackson 9 Outlook: A rejuvenated Jackson football program has turned this Week 6 meeting into a battle of unbeatens. Sikeston, ranked No. 4 in Class 4, is off to another fast start. The Bulldogs have entered Week 6 unbeaten in two of the past three seasons, compiling a combined 14-1 record during that time frame...

Southeast Missouri State can count on seeing an angry Jacksonville State football team Saturday. The Gamecocks no doubt are reeling after being dealt one of their worst Ohio Valley Conference losses since they joined the league in 2003. JSU (1-2, 0-1 OVC) will be looking to make amends when they host Southeast (2-2, 1-0) at 3 p.m. in Jacksonville, Ala...

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. -- President Barack Obama pledged to create many more jobs and "make the middle class secure again" in a campaign-closing appeal on Thursday -- more than five weeks before Election Day -- to voters already casting ballots in large numbers...

Southeast Missouri State University will show off two of its agriculture operations Wednesday with two events -- one for high school and community college students and another open to the public. Students and their instructors are invited to the Agriculture Educational Field Day starting at 9 a.m. ...

BRAUNAU, Austria -- Living space in Braunau is scarce, but an imposing Renaissance-era building stands empty in this postcard pretty Austrian town because of the sinister shadow cast by a former tenant: Adolf Hitler. With its thick walls, huge arched doorway and deep-set windows, the 500-year-old house near the town square would normally be prime property. ...

ROSEVILLE, Mich. -- Giants Stadium. A Florida swamp. Underneath a backyard pool in Michigan. There are innumerable theories about where former Teamsters leader Jimmy Hoffa was buried years ago, but his remains have never turned up. The latest tip has taken investigators to a concrete driveway behind a neat brick ranch-style home about four miles north of Detroit, where a man told police he thought he saw Hoffa buried about 35 years ago...

All the local high school events reported Thursday to the Southeast Missourian.

The annual inspection of more than 1,000 city fire hydrants gets underway in Cape Girardeau; for the next eight weeks, Cape Girardeau Fire Department and Union Electric Co. personnel will inspect and test each fire hydrant in the city. Almost a year after Honda moved from 2412 William St. to the Cape Girardeau Autopark in the 600 block of South Kingshighway, the Mazda dealership has also left William Street to join Honda at the Autopark...