The Springfield News-Leader from Springfield, Missouri • Page 19

Page edited by Seth Doria; call 83S-1 199 after 5 p.m. Sunday. October 29. 2000 News-Leader 3B Ozarks Missouri Weather service opens doors to the curious About 500 get a crash course in meteorology at the agency's third open house since '95. ing television or radio.

Another area of interest to visitors was the Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System, where all information coming into the National Weather Service can be accessed with a few clicks of the mouse, Hudson said. The station shows water vapor imaging and a visible satellite picture, and receives radar data from Topeka and Wichita, and Kansas City. It also receives weather data from the National Center for Environmental Prediction in Washington, D.C., which helps meteorologists predict how conditions in other parts of the and displays inside the building. "I watch the weather every day," said 8-year-old Michael Jarvis, of Springfield, who attended with his mother, Michele. Michael said he enjoyed looking at all the displays at the event Meteorologist Drew Albert told people about NOAA Weather Radio during the open house, the third since 1995.

Listeners can specifically program their radios to sound off only for warnings in their area. "It's getting a surprising amount of interest," Albert said. "Some people just like gadgets. Other people want to be informed at times when they particularly wouldn't be" watch By Angela Wilson News -leader Meteorologist Mike Hudson stood before two computer screens Saturday, pointing out storm patterns to a young boy. The radar picture was from May 1996, mixed with green, yellow and red colors depicting the storm's pattern and areas where tornadoes were likely.

Nearly 500 curious onlookers attended the National Weather Service open house Saturday, receiving Search Passage of time obscures scents upwniiywum mi 1 -t-t "'7 fvrm- 1 I H. 4 i yi'-'t I i -v nv r. Vr I ij i 1 i kh 'if- country will affect their coverage area. "The future of the Weather Service is providing local forecasts in text version and graphics for the Net," Hudson said. Kim Bruns and Laura Hamilton, both Southwest Missouri State University students, sat on the floor, engrossed in displays about tornadoes and severe thunderstorms.

"I used to be afraid of said Bruns, 20. "But the more I know about it, the less scared I am." Hamilton checked out qualifications to be a meteorologist while she was there. "I like reading stuff about lightning," she said. Governor hopefuls running close race Bob Holden has 45 percent of the vote with Jim Talent at 43 percent, a poll shows. The Associated Press KANSAS CITY Democrat Bob Holden and Republican Jim Talent are about even in the race for Missouri governor, the latest poll showed Friday.

The telephone poll of 625 registered voters who said they were likely to vote Nov. 7 showed Holden with 45 percent to Talent's 43 percent. Eleven percent were undecided according to the poll, which had a margin of error of 4 percentage points. The poll was commissioned by The Kansas City -Star, KYTV in Springfield, KOMU Talent in uoiumDia ana KTVI in St. Louis.

It was conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling Research of Washington, D.C. The poll also put Holden at 47 percent to Talent's 44 percent in the St. Louis area, which includes Talent's hometown of Chesterfield. Both candidates downplayed the results, saying they know the race is close. Talent, a four-term U.S.

representative, was at 45 percent to Holden's 41 percent in the St. Louis area in a poll taken in early September. Brad Coker, Mason-Dixon managing director, said Talent was leading in St. Louis earlier this year because voters didn't know Holden, the two-term state treasurer from Birch Tree. A flood of Holden's TV ads is Holden information from meteorologists while perusing displays about severe weather, tornadoes and the future of weather forecasting.

"It's a little bit less (than previous years)," said Steve Runnels, warning coordination meteorologist. "But it was such a fine day, and there were a number of other events around town, we're very happy that people chose to come out to the National Weather Service." Children and adults alike were awed by the numerous computers Rodriguez, whose scent he was given by smelling her sunglasses. "When a person walks or runs, the scent goes like this," Tuck demonstrated, sweeping her hands up her body from her knees. "Skin cells fall off, and every person has a different smell." That's why it's important to summon the super-sensitive noses before a scene is filled with the scents of dozens of searchers. It's even harder for the dogs if some of the searchers have been family members.

"People in families have what is called 'family Tuck said. "So when a child is lost and the parents are out all over the woods, guess what happens?" kCnr 4 i 1 I JVCROSSTHE STATE IIIMI IIIIUII Fflan sentenced to two life terms in store slaying INDEPENDENCE A man convicted in a grocery store shooting was sentenced Friday to two consecutive life terms. During an attempted robbery last August at a Save-A-Lot grocery store in Independence, store manager Otis Young. 40, of Wellington, was shot and killed. "Three young children lost their father," Young's mother said in a statement read Friday at a sentencing hearing for Derrick L.

Jones, who was convicted in Young's death. Jackson County Circuit Judge C. William Kramer sentenced Jones. Kramer, acting on the recommendation of a jury, ordered Jones to serve 15 years for attempted robbery, life for the murder, life for each of seven counts of armed criminal action, and 15 years on each of five kidnapping counts. Jones, 19, will serve the robbery, murder and kidnapping counts concurrently.

Those will be consecutive to the armed criminal action counts, which will be served concurrently. He will be eligible for parole in 51 years, prosecutors said. Eric Steptoe, Robert Mullins and Robert Theus will be tried later in connection with the case. According to testimony at Jones' trial, Steptoe and Jones entered the store armed, while Theus waited outside in a getaway car. Mullins, a former employee of the store, is accused of providing inside information before the attempted robbery.

St Louis a leader in sex-related diseases ST. LOUIS Despite making progress from several years ago, St. Louis has one of the highest rates of some sexually transmitted diseases in the nation. St. Louis had the second-highest rate of chlamydia, the third-highest rate of gonorrhea and the eighth- highest rate of syphilis in the country last year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

There were 51 reported cases of syphilis in St. Louis last year, down from the 915 cases reported in 1993. Only seven cases had been reported in 1988. The city is part of a national effort, coordinated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to eradicate syphilis by 2005. Some people are surprised the government is still working on such an effort in the year 2000, said Dr.

George W. 'Counts, the assistant director of the syphilis-elimination program. "Many didn't know it was still Counts said. Officials are focusing on eliminating the disease now because syphilis rates are at an all-time low throughout the nation, and the disease is concentrated in just 25 of the nation's 3,115 counties, Counts said. The disease is also easily diagnosed and easily treated, usually with a single shot of penicillin.

Hilda Adams, acting director of the St. Louis Health Department, said the city has already received $140,000 in federal funds to fight the disease and expects to get another $260,000 in the next two years. Shadow finds Cheyanne Courtney (above) during a training outing of Helvey (right) rewards his dog Baby, who found the victim with the scent Edmee Rodriguez News-Leader the search and rescue unit. Ken on a bandanna. The dogs are helpful in water searches by pinpointing the area in which a person went down a dog can smell skin cells and body fluids as they float to the top.

Still, in an extensive water search the unit went on two years ago, they weren't called until more than two weeks later. The unit members will continue to train regularly and hope area agencies get the message. And one message they'd like to emphasize is this: Just because their services are free, don't hesitate to call. "We'd rather be called and not needed," Tuck says, "than needed and not called." Contact News-Leader columnist Sarah Over street 'at One way to corral a pumpkin is 1 1 v. A A y- Continued from 1B Cup employee.

The members' confidence lies in a dog's innate, uncanny ability to "scent track," and the training they've invested in their dogs to know they're able to perform. First, the dogs go to obedience training, where they are taught to obey their handlers without hesitation. Then, there's one to two years of intensive search-and-rescue training, depending on the dog, before it's ready. Watching them work Wednesday, I noticed one track with his nose to the ground, and another sniffed the air as he tracked News-Leader photographer Edmee Continued from 1B Peotter's trial. He never met his daughter's husband, whom she married nine months before she was killed.

Moeller told authorities he paid Peot-ter $2,000 to kill his wife for insurance money. Prosecutors are asking for the death penalty for Peotter. The only thing J.P. Weber knew from his Corpus Christi, Texas, home was what his daughter wrote to him in letters or told him over the phone. She seemed happy, she talked of a man who made her dinner and tuned up her pickup.

Those who knew the couple say they held hands and seemed to enjoy each other. "This is the type of picture she was painting for us the perfect guy," J.P. Weber said Saturday. Shortly after the two married, "he called and told us what a wonderful woman he married," Nancy's father recalled. "The next time he called us was to see if we had heard about her being killed." He and his wife Beverly, Nancy's stepmother, had already heard.

At 6:30 on the morning of Dec. 12, 1997, a Corpus Christi police officer knocked on his door and handed him a note to call Barry County Sheriff Mick Epperly in Cassville. Since that day, the Weber family has waited for everyone involved to pay. For them, a guilty verdict here would be an end of three years of waiting. "We could turn out the light and close the door," J.P.

Weber said. Trial Jit Si V.4 A addressing that problem. However, Coker added: "Even though he (Talent) is behind in St. Louis, he's still running better there i than most Republicans do." Meth funds reach local communities I The Associated Press WASHINGTON Missouri law enforcement officers are getting $3.1 million to fight methamphetamine in local communities. The money came from Congress, but not during this week's wrangling over budget bills.

Funds were appropriated by Con- 4 gress last year and are just now being released to a Missouri sheriffs' task force. Local law officers can apply to I get a portion of the funds. Missouri GOP Sens. John Ashcroft and Christopher Bond made the announcement Friday. The money can be used to hire or train new employees to aid in the fight against meth, or buy special equipment to clean up toxic meth dump sites.

Ashcroft-sponsored anti-meth leg- i islation that was signed into law last week adds $55 million in resources, stiffens penalties and bans certain drug paraphernalia. Included in children's health legislation, the measure raises penalties for meth trafficking crimes that fall I under the current mandatory mini- mum of 5 grams and expands drug paraphernalia laws to cover equip-', ment used to make meth. i THANK YOU Care extended to sister appreciated I want to extend my deepest appreciation to two young women who work in the jewelry department of the Wal-Mart Supercenter at 2021 E. Independence St. for their help when my sister became ill there.

They and the managers decided it would be best to call 911. They all stayed and answered questions asked of them by the medical personnel who responded. They stayed with us until my sister was taken to the hospital. Their help and obvious concern for my sister impressed me very much. I also want to include the medical personnel from Cox and the city ambulance in my expression of appreciation.

My sister did suffer a slight stroke. She is now home and recovering. Thanks again to alL Betty Radcliffe Crane Tom Bray News-Leader Connor Stokes of Ozark learned that if you can't lift 'em, roll 'em at the Jones Farm pumpkin patch just outside Springfield on Saturday morning. The region enjoyed warm, clearing skies Saturday, which sent residents scurrying for outdoor activity. And this morning's storms should clear by midaftemoon, w'rth a high around 68..