The News and Observer from Raleigh, North Carolina • 1

Cra TE SCION PUIVEES' EIZS COLLEGE FOOTBALL GUIDE SCOUTING REPORTS BEST TV GAMES KICKOFF SECTION WRAPPED AROUND SPORTS HE SERVER NEWS UPDATES AT WWWNEWSOBSERVERCOM FINAL EDITION 50 CENTS SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 17 2005 02005 THE NEWS AND OBSERVER PUBLISHING COMPANY RALEIGH PLC MIMOMMIMEM1111 7 I 4 W000 1 'A' -N' 3 4 1 1 1 immt coo NEI Iii mt 6 COMING SUNDAY noacAos Wm pancliug Digital best fort breast scans Advantage clearl' in younger women ommonswo IN 'HE NI10 sonvonme If '4 1 i'" 1 1 4 1 dp tot i'f iir 4 A tv i -e' 1 '7! 7 :1 J- 4 -z- 4 --1 i 0 i 4 Trim Vi' c--10: ii a 1 1 i I 4 AI I 110 41 In II I ri) 1 i'Aes '''-igt sv i i'' 1(- t-- 7 4 i' 1 7- 7- 7 "'i '7477-94-' r- PV'fi 4 -'1 '7- 2: Looking for off-the-beatentrack gourmet restaurants? Entertainment and shopping destinations? Triangle Life has you covered in its first fall edition INSIDE SUNDAY'S PAPER BY CATHERINE CLABBY STAFF WRITER Digital mammography detects more breast cancer in younger women than the film cameras used in most radiology clinics a large UNC study concludes The government-funded study involving 42760 women is the first compelling evidence that the newer more expensive technology could improve care for some The earlier breast cancer is detected the greater chance Pisa no led a woman has to research survive at UNC "Our study suggests that we will find more breast cancer with digital cameras than without They are the types of cancers that kill women We want to find those cancers" said Dr Etta the UNC radiologist and breast imaging specialist who led the research The American College of Radiology took pains to publicize Pisano's condusions Friday hoping to spread the word to women doctors and insurance companies Some insurers have balked at covering dipjtal imaging's higher cost said Dr James Borgstede a Colorado radiologist Hurricane Ophelia swept away more than 5 feet of sand from the pilings of a house on North Topsail Beach Topsail Island was one of the hardest-hit areas on the coast Beaches in New Hanover Carteret and Dare counties fared better Monthly Medicare premium will jump STAFF PHOTO BY ROBERT WILLETT Ophelia significantly eroded Topsail Island beaches but spared others Debate churns anew about the costs and risks of building on sand GARDENING BY THE SEA 1 Many will pay about $42 more r4 447314' 41t2 71:9 7 guess you can go to the age-old question: Should we be out here to begin with? The price of property it's outrageous But they're buying it you know' eroded as they would normally be in March "The oceanfront was pounded" said Jeff Warren the state's coastal hazards analyst "It really got a winter's worth of storms in a week" Tourists might notice the difference next summer but then again they might not Normally North Carolina's beaches shift in an annual cycle They gain sand during the summer then lose it through fall hurricanes and winter nor'easters For Topsail Island the damage was significant The beach lost more than 25 feet in some places The ocean overwashed the island at its north end Eight duplexes had their pilings undermined and could be fit for condemnation Dunes were breached or washed SEE CANCER PAGE 14A THOMAS CASSELL BY BARBARA BARRE'rr STAFF WRITER NORTH TOPSAIL BEACH The beach that Cinda Sullivan knows is gone She walks down the steps of her oceanfront home at the north end of Topsail Island and she can step into midair The beach is 4 feet lower than it was just a couple of weeks ago The dune has vanished Waves crash among the pilings of neighboring homes where wires dangle and the pink fluff of exposed insulation flutters in the breeze "For four or five days before the storm the ocean was just eating it away" Sullivan 53 said of the shoreline as she stood in flip-flops Thursday and surveyed her hurricane damage Ophelia crawled up the Atlantic coastline like a sloth first a tropical storm then a low-rent hurricane clawing at North Car NORTH TOPSAIL BEACH MANAGER The problems Southern gardeners must endure are challenge enough on their own Add salt sand and cyclones and surrender starts to sound good Take heart coastal gardener we offer some hardy chokes and tips on first aid for plants HOME GARDEN PAGE lE Constitution dusted off for a day olina's east-facing beaches this week and sucking sand back into the ocean The shorelines already were hurting Ophelia came on the heels of a windy nor'easter that started blowing Labor Day weekend Between the two storms many of the state's beaches are as SEE EROSION PAGE 17A Friday night lights back on Miss football team returns to field BY ROBERT PEAR THE NEW YORK TIMES WASHINGTON The Bush administration announced Friday that the basic Medicare premium would shoot up next year 13 percent to $8850 a month mainly because of the increased use of doctors' services The 2006 premium will be $1030 more than the current monthly premium Many beneficiaries will pay an additional premium for the new prescription drug benefit expected to average $32 a month So the combined premiums for doctors' services outpatient hospital care and prescription drugs will average slightly more than $120 a month Medicare provides coverage for 42 million people who are 65 and older or disabled In most cases Medicare premiums are deducted from monthly Social Security checks The average monthly Social Security benefit for retired workers is $955 this year The amount for 2006 will be announced next month Kirsten A Sloan a health policy analyst at AARP the big lobby for older Americans noted that the basic Medicare premium was increasing by nearly $30 a month or 51 percent from 2003 to 2006 Doctors are billing Medicare for longer office visits more laboratory tests and more frequent and complex imaging procedures But doctors said much of the increase in Medicare spending also resulted from research breakthroughs new drugs and technology approved for coverage and cancer and diabetes screenings encouraged by the government The Medicare premium now $7820 a month is calculated according to a complex formula set by law The premium was $6660 in 2004 and $5870 in 2003 BY SAM DILLON THE NEW YORK TIMES Quick who was the American general at the battle of Yorktown? A) William Sherman B) Ulysses Grant C) Douglas MacArthur D) George Washington If you answered D) you did better than two out of three graduates of America's top universities many of whom picked Grant and 6 percent picked MacArthur Historians are citing those results along with a cascade of other data to argue that many Americans are for all practical purposes historically illiterate Sen Robert Byrd the Democrat from West Virginia who keeps a copy of the Constitution in his pocket finds the nation's historical amnesia frustrating In December he inserted into a massive spending bill a passage requiring every American school receiving federal money to teach about the Constitution on Sept 17 the date it was signed in 1787 Today is the first Constitution Day and Byrd's law is focusing considerable attention on the nation's founding document Millions 11- ri 4 ar -4' '41 TO el 1 RPA 4N' 4 -) 4 1 4 7 41 ilth'''i r1 Sill '411i 501'' School has not even restarted in the hard-hit coastal community of Gautier (pronounced GO-shay) which lost many of its homes Hundreds of National Guardsmen police and emergency crews still work and live out of Gautier High But on Friday night Gautier football made its comeback in an away game 40 miles north in George County "It's important It means everything is getting back to normal" said Christ Penton a team captain who lost a new car and nearly everything in his room when Katrina flooded his house Four hours before game time members of the team held hands and bowed their heads in a church rectory doubling as a distribution BY MATT APUZZO THE ASSOCIATED PRESS LUCEDALE Miss Like any good Southern high school football coach Don Nelson is prone to throwing his visor to the ground kicking divots out of the grass and hollering things like "Will you line your dead butt over or ''How simple is it to catch the After Hurricane Katrina the Gautier High School Gators saw a different side of their coach He took shelter with many of his athletes in the fieldhouse He delivered food and water to their homes He comforted his players and their families in their misery As the days went by he also tried to coax his players back onto the field And he managed to put a team back together Gautier coach Don Nelson delivers a pregame speech to the Tigers who played their first game after Katrina AP PHOTO BY DARRON CUMMINGS trt Jr( INSIDE KATRINA RECOVERY: President Bush says taxes will not increase to fund rebuilding the Gulf Coast 16A SHELTER CLOSING: Wake evacuation center will close next week 6B SEE SCHOOLS PAGE 14A SEE FRIDAY PAGE 16A INDEX CANES TAKE TO THE ICE FOR PRESEASON VICTORY Films 9E Puzzles 13E Real Estate 1G Rogers 1B TV 10E Business ID Classified IF Comics I2E Deaths Editorials I8A BUSINESS Building supplies already cost more in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and sellers warn that prices will soar as the pace of reconstruction picks up Triangle builders are bracing for the extra expense and possibly shortages PAGE ID 3I 1- 1 1 a ti k': i (I'M I i i 01 WEATHER iff) 0 cloudy chance of showers li High 00 low 69 (7 aSubnitdacy: Sunny High 87 low 62 C01 PAGE10B 4 Carolina Hurricanes' defenseman Mike Commodore scuffles with Robin Gomez of the Wash ingrton Capitals on Friday night in a game that ended a long drought for NHL fans The loyal crowd at the RBC Center was rewarded with a 6-0 win 7 11101111 0 A 0 0 1 SPORTS PAGE 1C A I LL.