Region digest 03/23/02

Astronaut to speak at Malden fund raiser

MALEDEN, Mo. -- Cape Girardeau County native Linda Godwin, a veteran of four NASA space flights, will present the keynote address at the Harry L. Crisp Bootheel Education Center's fund-raising dinner April 5 at the center in Malden, Mo.

The CBEC Advisory Council, in cooperation with the Southeast Missouri University Foundation, is holding the dinner in the hopes of raising $200,000 for its new classroom and laboratory addition in the facility.

The dinner is scheduled for 6:30 p.m., with a social hour set to begin at 5:30 p.m.

Godwin is a graduate of Jackson High School. She is a 1974 graduate of Southeast Missouri State University, where she earned a bachelor of science degree in mathematics and physics.

Godwin joined NASA in 1980. She has logged over 38 days in space. Her most recent flight was last year.

Tickets for the dinner must be bought in advance. For more information, call Rick Hux for Lisa Webb at (888) 213-4601 or (573) 276-4577.

Missouri's exports drop 13.2 percent

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri's international exports dropped 13.2 percent from 2000 to 2001, according the state Department of Economic Development.

"Manufacturing declines, the dot-com collapse, a global economic downturn and a strong dollar all led to sluggish international sales for Missouri companies," said Joseph Driskill, director of the state's Economic Development Department.

Last year, the state exported $6.88 billion in products, down from $7.93 billion in 2000.

While the Sept. 11 attacks might have slowed exports for a couple of weeks afterward, the dot-com crash is blamed for the bulk of the decline, said department spokeswoman Kristi Jamison said Friday.

According to the Creighton University's Heartland International Business Index, the first quarter of 2002 shows Missouri exports increasing, Jamison said.

Expert on pedestrian safety hit, killed by bus

ST. LOUIS -- A Washington state woman who was one of the country's top experts on bicycle and pedestrian safety was killed when she was struck by a tour bus while crossing an intersection in downtown St. Louis.

Susie Stephens, 36, of Winthrop, Wash., was struck shortly after 8:30 a.m. Thursday. The driver of the Vandalia Bus Lines vehicle told police he did not see Stephens as he made a left turn.

Stephens, a consultant, was in St. Louis to help stage a conference on innovative approaches to transportation sponsored by the U.S. Forest Service, said William "Bill" Wilkinson of the National Center for Bicycling and Walking in Washington.

Police are investigating. No charges have been filed.

Passer-by extinguishes burning man; victim dies

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A man on his way to donate old clothes to charity used the garments to smother flames that had engulfed a man on a Kansas City ice cream store's parking lot.

Daryl Haley was driving his clothes to a Goodwill store Wednesday when he saw the man burning underneath a trailer on the parking lot just east of downtown.

Haley pulled the man out from under the trailer by his legs and began to smother the flames with the clothes. An ice cream store employee grabbed a fire extinguisher and helped.

The 46-year-old man, whose name was not released, suffered burns to more than 60 percent of his body, fire officials said, and he died Thursday at a hospital.

Investigators were probing the fire's cause.

-- From wire reports