Stories from Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Three Missouri residents were sentenced to prison on methamphetamine charges, according to a Tuesday news release from Union County, Ill., State's Attorney Tyler R. Edmonds. Shawn E. Barker, 37, of Oak Ridge was sentenced to three years on one count of felony unlawful possession of methamphetamine precursors after a March investigation by the Illinois State Police of purchases of pseudoephedrine at a retailer in Anna, Ill...

VAN BUREN, Mo. -- Carter County Collector Jennifer Clark-Williams resigned just after 8 a.m. Tuesday, following the announcement law enforcement is investigating nearly $4,000 in missing property tax revenue. The missing cash was flagged in a recently released state audit, which also rates Carter County's overall performance as poor and in need of significant improvements to operations...

Central soccer coach Dan Martin said Tuesday's night match with new district rival Notre Dame was a character test. The Tigers proved they have plenty of it. Central (9-6) stormed back from a 2-0 second-half deficit and buried the Bulldogs (12-4) in penalty kicks...

Local law enforcement and members of the SEMO Drug Task Force will make up a panel for a presentation geared toward parents about the dangers of synthetic drugs. The event, organized by the SEMO Youth Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition, Jackson School District and the THRIVE organization, will be from 6:30 to 8 p.m. ...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Businesses affiliated with the husband of Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill have received almost $40 million in federal subsidies for low-income housing developments during her first five years in office, but McCaskill's campaign said Tuesday that none of that money made it into the family's personal bank accounts...

Linda Propst Dedert was raped in November 1981. She was assaulted in her own home at knife point. Her assailant placed her own shirt over her head, tied her up and threatened to kill her if she told anyone. She was a victim, always looking over her shoulder. Always wondering whether to trust the person on the other side of the door. Until now...

Macie enjoyed her first time at Beggs Farm on October 6th, 2012.

Southeast Missouri Native and Romance Author to have Multiple Stops on Southeast Missouri Book Tour LINCOLN, Neb. -- Romance author and Southeast Missouri native CaSondra Poulsen will have multiple stops around Southeast Missouri on her 2012 Fall Book Tour. ...

Cape Central High School Director of Vocal Music Jordan Cox last week announced the names of nineteen CHS students who were selected for the 2012 All-District Choir. Pictured at front center is Riley Knight. Second row, left to right, are, Rachel Juhlin, Leandra Decatoria, Ashley Thornton, Emily Hagan and Haley Braswell. ...

Upon hearing a presentation by Tammy Gwaltney about the work of Beacon Health Center with abused kids, Ashley Miller, and Beth Simmons, both busy SEMO students, took it upon themselves to do something to help. Beth and Ashley decided to organize a 5K fun run/walk with all proceeds going to Beacon Health Center for their work with area kids who are victims of physical and sexual abuse...

Supporters of a November ballot initiative that would dramatically increase Missouri's tobacco tax -- the lowest in the nation -- brought their bus tour to Cape Girardeau to stump for the measure Tuesday. The Proposition B Bus Tour, sponsored by the Jefferson City, Mo.-based organization Show-Me A Brighter Future, made a stop at Capaha Park to rally support for the tax increase that supporters say will mean a windfall for Missouri education...

In one sense, the $4.5 million Broadway corridor project is a numbers game. When the work was declared substantially completed and reopened to traffic Tuesday, Fronabarger Concreters Inc. had worked exactly six months, employing 19,224 hours in paid labor. Since the April 9 start date, about 3,428 of those were paid in overtime to the contractor alone due to the six-day work weeks and the occasional night jobs...

Reno is a 1 year old Shepherd mix. This beautiful boy is available for adoption at The Humane Society 573-334-5837. See more available pets at www.semopets.org.

Cape Central Middle School fifth grade Students of the Month for September are, from left: (front row) Audrey Snodgrass, T.K. Ayers, Kara Stricker and Carlos Nunez; (second row) Emma Weller-Stilson, Alisha Bloom and Sara Fite; (third row) Grayson Davis, Maria Seidu-Sofo, Eli Arnn and Arianna Harris. SoutheastHEALTH recognizes these students in its role as a Partner in Education with Central Middle School...

Cape Central Middle School sixth grade Students of the Month for September are, from left: (front row) Kayla Berry, Miracle Bird and Becky Holst; (second row) McKenzie Stanfield, Alyssa Davis and Erica Beard; (third row) Tazhia Smith, Katerra Lane, Carl Johnson and Victoria Dodd. Not pictured is Isaiah Sterling. SoutheastHEALTH recognizes these students in its role as a Partner in Education with Central Middle School...

Attention Boy Scouts and Boy Scout Leaders! Get ready for your trip to Philmont!! Visit your local American Red Cross for information on Wilderness and Remote First Aid class. This course is based on the Boy Scouts of America Wilderness first Aid Curriculum and Doctrine Guidelines. ...

VIP Industries held a Pie-in-the-Face event at this year's company picnic. Staff and employees purchased plates of whipped cream to toss at a few VIP staff members in an effort to raise funds for United Way.

A few members of the Cape Girardeau Fire Department kindly helped kick-off VIP Industries' annual company picnic. The firemen presented special certificates of recognition to a few well-deserved employees for Outstanding Job Performance. The recipients were then rewarded with a ride in the fire trucks around the building...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Chris Carpenter was every bit the postseason ace he's been in the past for the St. Louis Cardinals. Taking the mound for only the fourth time in 2012, missing a rib after surgery to cure numbness on his right side, the 37-year-old Carpenter pitched scoreless ball into the sixth inning, rookie Pete Kozma delivered a three-run homer, and the defending champion Cardinals beat the Washington Nationals 8-0 Wednesday to take a 2-1 lead in their NL division series...

Cotton planting got off to a late start. Then came a disastrous drought coupled with scorching heat. Now an unusually wet fall is making fields a soggy mess to harvest. But this year's cotton crop had seemed so promising in the spring. Missouri Bootheel farmers planted more cotton acres, about 400,000 this year, up from 375,000 last year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agriculture Statistics Service. Every other cotton-growing state decreased its acres this year...

An 86-year-old Malden man was killed in an automobile accident that occurred on Monday evening outside of Bernie. The 1998 Ford F150 driven by Osbin Crawford failed to stop at a stop sign on U Highway and drove into the path of a 2011 Toyota Tundra driven by 68-year-old Alan Burleson of Dexter...

A Cape Girardeau man accused of intentionally causing property damage a local office building will likely plead guilty, according to the man's lawyer. Travis Fornkohl, 32, of Cape Girardeau was in court in Jackson on a case review, but the appearance was brief. Lawyer Malcolm Montgomery informed Judge Benjamin Lewis that his client was likely to plead guilty to second-degree burglary and first-degree property damage of the six-story Auburn Park Place at 3065 William St. in June...

The owner of a Southeast Missouri campground where music festivals included drug sales has been sentenced to 30 months in prison and must forfeit the camp. Forty-four-year-old James Tebeau also was fined $50,000 Tuesday on a federal charge arising from drug sales at the 350-acre "Camp Zoe" in Shannon County...

The Oak Ridge R-VI School District was selected as a $10,000 winner in the Monsanto Fund's America's Farmers Grow Rural Education grant contest. Area farmers were encouraged to nominate their public school district to apply for the grant to enhance math and science education. ...

Today is Wednesday, Oct. 10, the 284th day of 2012. There are 82 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On Oct. 10, 1962, President John F. Kennedy, responding to the Thalidomide birth defects crisis, signed an amendment to the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act requiring pharmaceutical companies to prove that their products were safe and effective prior to marketing...

BELLEFONTE, Pa. -- In what sounded at times like a locker room pep talk, Jerry Sandusky rambled in his red prison suit about being the underdog in the fourth quarter, about forgiveness, about dogs and about the movie "Seabiscuit." With his accusers seated behind him in the courtroom, he denied committing "disgusting acts" against children and instead painted himself as the victim...

MIAMI, Okla. -- Two Miami, Okla., maintenance workers who reported the makings of Molotov cocktails in a trash bin say they are not heroes. Motel guest Gregory Arthur Weiler II of Elk Grove Village, Ill., was arrested for possession of an explosive device and violating Oklahoma's anti-terrorism act after motel workers Ralph Smith and Steve Ballenger reported suspicious items they found...

Firefighters responded to the following calls Monday...

Betty L. Job, 80, of Cape Girardeau died Sunday, Oct. 7, 2012, at Saint Francis Medical Center. She was born March 3, 1932, in Bollinger County, to Charles Roe and Grace Ester Statler Johnson. She and Paul "Pete" Job were married Dec. 12, 1959, in Cape Girardeau. He preceded her in death Jan. 5, 2000...

Jerry Melvin Conley, 71, of Boise, Idaho, passed away Friday, Oct. 5, 2012, at his home, surrounded by his wife, children and grandchildren. Jerry was a loving husband, father and grandfather, and a leader in wildlife conservation who inspired others to protect our wildlife and support hunting and fishing...

CAIRO, Ill. — Dallas L. Bozworth, 74, of Cairo died Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2012, at Daystar Care Center in Cairo. He was a veteran of the U.S. Army. Funeral and burial will be private. Barkett Funeral Home in Cairo is in charge of arrangements.

GIPSY, Mo. -- Peggy Sue Jackson, 77, of Gipsy passed away Monday, Oct. 8, 2012, at her home. She was born Oct. 19, 1934, in Jenkins, Ky., daughter of George and Evelyn Jenkins Wheeler. She and Dale Jackson were married March 6, 1971, in Dayton, Ohio...

Glenn Dockins, 86, of Flora, Ill., formerly of Cape Girardeau, died Monday, Oct. 8, 2012, at Flora Gardens Care Center. Friends may call from 11 a.m. until service time Thursday at Byrd and Kohn Funeral Home in Flora. The funeral will be at 2 p.m. Thursday at the funeral home...

MOUNDS, Ill. — Harold L. Ellis, 61, of Mounds died Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2012, at Southeast Hospital in Cape Girardeau. Funeral arrangements are incomplete at Jones Funeral Home in Villa Ridge, Ill.

BRIDGETON, Mo. -- Overseers of St. Louis' Lambert Airport are considering raising parking fees and various other sweeping charges to providers of ground transportation. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that the St. Louis Airport Authority on Wednesday will consider raising the cost of parking in two public garages to $5 for the first two hours. That's double what the rate is now to park for the first eight hours, with the fee currently capped at $21 for any 24-hour period...

ST. LOUIS -- A lawyer who worked for the Social Security Administration in St. Louis has admitted that he defrauded the agency. Federal prosecutors say 37-year-old Robert Brauker of St. Louis pleaded guilty Tuesday to two felony counts of theft of government property...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Republican Dave Spence has received a $950,000 contribution to help with his Missouri governor race. Spence's campaign last week reported receiving the money from the state affiliate of the Republican Governors Association. The national organization reported shifting a total of $3 million to its Missouri committee...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A southwest Missouri man with a long criminal history was arrested in connection with the death of a 15-year-old girl whose body was found in Truman Lake with weights attached to her body. The 47-year-old "person of interest" was arrested after a chase that began around 5:30 p.m. Monday in Greene County and ended in Dallas County. The Associated Press is not identifying the man because prosecutors had not filed any charges against him as of Tuesday afternoon...

ROSWELL, N.M. -- Blame it on the wind. Again. For the second day in a row, extreme athlete Felix Baumgartner aborted his planned 23-mile free fall because of the weather, postponing his quest to become the world's first supersonic sky diver until at least Thursday...

NEW YORK -- An Egyptian-born preacher pleaded not guilty Tuesday to conspiring with Seattle men to set up a terrorist training camp in Oregon, three days after he and four others were brought to the United States from England to face terrorism charges...

NEW YORK -- The number of people sickened by a deadly fungal meningitis outbreak has reached 119, and 11 deaths have been reported. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated the count Tuesday. New Jersey is the 10th state to report at least one illness...

MIAMI -- The winner of a roach-eating contest in South Florida died shortly after downing dozens of the live bugs as well as worms, authorities said Monday. About 30 contestants ate the insects during Friday night's contest at Ben Siegel Reptile Store in Deerfield Beach about 40 miles north of Miami...

MINGORA, Pakistan -- Fourteen-year-old Malala Yousufzai was admired across a battle-scarred region of Pakistan for exposing the Taliban's atrocities and advocating for girls' education in the face of religious extremists. On Tuesday, the Taliban nearly killed her to quiet her message...

MOSCOW -- A series of blasts from exploding shells rocked a Russian military test site Tuesday, breaking windows and releasing giant clouds of smoke over the city of Orenburg near the Kazakhstan border. The emergency services said one military officer was hospitalized, but no other injuries were reported...

ROME -- The United Nations said Tuesday its 2009 headline-grabbing announcement that 1 billion people in the world were hungry was off-target and that the number is actually more like 870 million. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization blamed flawed methodology and poor data for the incorrect projection, and said it now uses a much more accurate set of parameters and statistics to calculate its annual estimate of the world's hungry...

LOS ANGELES -- Charlie Brown and his "Peanuts" pals are coming to the big-screen. Charles Schulz's beloved characters are starring in their own animated film scheduled to hit theaters Nov. 25, 2015. That year marks the 65th anniversary of the "Peanuts" comic strip and the 50th anniversary of "A Charlie Brown Christmas," the first of the gang's many TV specials...

The truth finally caught up with President Obama and bit him squarely on the behind. He demonstrated clearly in the debate his lack of knowledge of the economy and how it works to create jobs. His blatant lies about Mitt Romney's economic and tax proposals were also exposed for the misrepresentations that they are. ...

If baseball is America's pastime, knowledge of Cardinals baseball -- and preferably a rooting interest -- is almost a requirement in this part of the country. The Cardinals have a rich history. From Stan Musial and Red Schoendienst, to Ozzie Smith and Willie McGee, to Albert Pujols, Adam Wainwright and others, St. Louis has seen some remarkable players come through the organization...

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

*** JACKSON The Jackson Police Department released the following item. Arrests do not imply guilt. * Harassment was reported in the 800 block of North Farmington Road.

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

WASHINGTON -- The St. Louis Cardinals removed Jaime Garcia from their NL division series roster Tuesday, a day after he lasted only two innings in his Game 2 start because of an ailing shoulder. An MRI revealed that the left-hander has a strained rotator cuff and inflammation in his throwing shoulder. He'll be replaced by rookie right-hander Shelby Miller...

SAN FRANCISCO -- From Florida to Virginia, Massachusetts to California, candidates and political parties seeking to squeeze every vote from a divided electorate are targeting America's newest citizens. It's a relatively small bloc but one that can be substantial enough to make a difference in razor-close presidential swing states and competitive congressional races...

WASHINGTON -- Stephen Strasburg joined his teammates for an off-day workout at Nationals Park on Tuesday, red socks pulled nearly up to his knees while tossing baseballs in the outfield a day before the first postseason game in the nation's capital in 79 years...

NEW YORK -- A Frenchman and an American shared the Nobel Prize in physics Tuesday for inventing methods to peer into the bizarre quantum world of ultra-tiny particles. Serge Haroche of France and American David Wineland, both 68, developed "ingenious laboratory methods" that allowed them to manage and measure and control fragile quantum states, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said...

ATHENS, Greece -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel got a hostile reception from many ordinary Greeks on Tuesday when she flew into Athens on her first visit to the country since its debt crisis erupted three years ago. But she praised the current Greek government for covering "much of the ground" required for recovery...

MEXICO CITY -- The death of the founder and leader of Mexico's brutal Zetas cartel in a firefight with marines outside a baseball game near the Texas border, perhaps, was the biggest coup of President Felipe Calderon's war on drugs. But triumph turned to embarrassment when authorities lost the body of Heriberto Lazcano. Gunmen snatched his remains from a funeral home and hijacked a hearse hours after the Zetas strongman died in the shootout in the town of Progreso in Coahuila state...

Route A in Cape Girardeau County, between County Road 253 and Walnut Street, will be reduced to one lane as Missouri Department of Transportation crews make bridge repairs. Weather permitting, the work will take place from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. today and Thursday. The work zone will be marked with signs. Motorists are urged to use extreme caution while traveling near the area. For additional information, contact MoDOT's Customer Service Center at 888-275-6636, or visit www.modot.org/southeast...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Eastbound U.S. 60 in Stoddard County, from Route AD to Highway 25, will be reduced to one lane as Missouri Department of Transportation crews perform pavement repairs. Weather permitting, the work will begin at 8 a.m. today and will be completed by 2:30 p.m. ...

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

The 1987 cotton crop in the Bootheel is one of the best ever; Southeast Missouri farmers plant around 250,000 acres of cotton annually; this year, Missouri cotton is experiencing a tremendous boom in both yield and selling price. Traffic is stopped across the Mississippi River bridge here more than 30 minutes in the evening, after a pickup truck collides with an oncoming car; six people are injured in the three-vehicle accident...

Lord God, protect us in our travels, keeping us in the palm of your hand. Amen.

The Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team took its biggest jump yet under coach Dickey Nutt during his third season last year. Nutt is optimistic about another leap forward as the Redhawks begin official practice for the 2012-13 season Friday...

Diane Chancellor and Kathy Glennon shot a 138 to win the two-day Rebecca's Run tournament at Dalhousie Golf Club. The tournament consisted of a scramble format the first day and best ball the second day. Harriette Myers and Alice Temm recorded the low net total...