The Missourian will introduce you to a member of the football team each weekday this season.

MEET No. 11
Quarterback BLAINE 6 feet 5 inches n 225 pounds n Freshman from Ballwin

GABBERT
THE Named the top pro-style quarterback prospect in the past year’s
recruiting class by Rivals.com, Blaine Gabbert was the consensus No.
TIGERS 1 player in Missouri. ESPN.com rates him as the No. 5 quarterback in
the nation. A highly sought-after quarterback prospect, he is a five-
star blue-chip All-American.

INSIDE TODAY:
Looking beyond
the Douglass
Park police
blotter.

columbia’s morning newspaper

50 cents
ESTABLISHED IN 1908 n www.ColumbiaMissourian.com
Thursday, December 4, 2008

Universities warned of higher cutbacks

Missouri colleges
will likely be hit the
hardest by shortfalls.
By DAVID A. LIEB
The Associated Press
Jefferson CITY — Deputy
Higher Education Commission-
er Paul Wagner sent a memo
Tuesday to the presidents and
chancellors of Missouri’s public
colleges and universities asking
for “impact statements” of vari-
ous budget cutting scenarios.
The memo came in response
to a joint letter sent Monday
to department directors and
budget personnel by House
Budget Committee Chairman
Allen Icet and Senate Appro-
priations Committee Chairman
Gary Nodler, R-Joplin, asking
them to prepare scenarios for
core budget cuts of 15 percent,
20 percent or 25 percent in the
2010 budget, which starts July
1.
Icet, R-Wildwood, said
Wednesday that it’s “very pos-
sible” the state will face a bud-
get shortfall requiring Gover-
nor-elect Jay Nixon to withhold
some money appropriated to
state agencies and programs.
But Icet said the $342 million
projected shortfall appears to
be “more toward the pessimis-
tic end of the spectrum than the
optimistic end.”
Their letter asks agencies to
describe how such cuts would
affect people and their pro-
gram’s services and whether
the state spending cuts would
result in a loss of matching
funds from the federal govern-
ment or other sources.
Higher education institutions
were among the hardest hit
during the last round of eco-
nomically driven budget cuts in
2001-2003. But the newest cut-
ting scenarios are larger than
before, Wagner said.
“Unfortunately, the situation
appears to be much worse now,”
Wagner wrote in his memo.
Neither MU Chancellor Brady
Deaton nor Budget Director
Tim Rooney was available for
comment Tuesday afternoon.
The four-campus University
of Missouri System, the largest
Nixon proposes budget solutions
Other state departments would face hiring freezes and budget cuts
under the proposals Gov.-elect Jay Nixon outlined Wednesday. Some
government officials think the shortfalls will not be as bad as the
incoming administration predicts. For more, please see page 8A.
in the state, already has insti- situation. Nixon said his chief
tuted a general hiring freeze, of staff held a similar meet-
though some positions have ing Tuesday with Senate Demo-
been exempt on each campus. crats and that he also was inter-
Nixon said he plans to meet ested in meeting with House
Friday with majority party Republicans and Democrats.
Republicans in the Senate to Missourian reporter Emily Younker
discuss the state’s financial contributed to this report.

Health care
an issue for
Mo. farmers
Finding insurance as a self-employed
farmer can be expensive and difficult.
By REBECCA BEITSCH
news@ColumbiaMissourian.com
JEFFERSON CITY — Tom Brown usually does
not make a big deal about his birthday. But this year
is different.
This time, he’s turning 65 and will be covered by
the federal health care plan, Medicare.
This will be the first time Brown will have health
insurance since his wife lost her teaching job more
than four years ago. Medicare will cover only Brown
himself; his wife is not 65 yet.
As a full-time farmer in La Grange, Brown faces
the hardships that many self-employed Missourians
face when it comes to buying insurance. In his case,
he says he just can’t afford it.
Farmers and many others who are self-employed
do not have group insurance offered by employers.
Although the Missouri Farm Bureau offers insurance
to its members, bureau officials acknowledge it might
not be any cheaper than other insurance.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics,
farmers have one of the most dangerous jobs in
America, ranking highly with loggers, roofers and
fishermen. Farming is dangerous because of the ani-
JONATHAN ARNER/Missourian
mals — which can be unpredictable — the machin-
Lana Brooks works Wednesday surrounded by boxes ready to be moved to her temporary workspace while her permanent ery and the use of pesticides. Farmers’ families are
workspace is being completed. “It has been inconvenient, but it’s nothing we can’t overcome,” Brooks said. also at a high risk because many work and live on the
Please see farmers, page 8A

Staff moves
By CATHERINE MARTIN
news@ColumbiaMissourian.com
The move into new offices at the Boone
County Courthouse might be a little incon-
have begun to move into offices on the first
floor. Most moves made this week will
be temporary. However, the accounting
department plans to move into its perma-

into new venient, but Lana Brooks, unit manager,

said it’s nothing that she and the staff can’t
overcome.
nent offices on Friday.
“I’ll be glad to get back to the main
office; it will be easier for us and the

courthouse
“The staff has been extremely flexible,”
Brooks said. “In the long run, it will be so
well worth it that we’ve just made the best
of it.”
The move began Tuesday and will con-
Construction set tinue through Friday. Construction on the
courthouse began in October 2007 and
to finish by the is expected to be complete by the end of
January, Southern Commissioner Karen
end of January Miller said.
Although the overall construction on
public,” traffic accounting clerk Crystal
Kinsley said.
The accounting department has been
separated since its temporary move in
September. Kinsley is on the same floor
as two other members of her department
while other members are on a different
floor.
“Once we have the division together, the
supervisor will have an easier job and not
have to run around seeing what each clerk
ANGIE CIPPONERI/Missourian

the courthouse is not yet complete, people Richard Williams, a Tipton farmer, feeds his cattle
Please see courthouse, page 8A
on Nov. 18. Williams is self-employed and owns
500 acres of land.

Rios’ suicide threats recounted Internet use might affect brain function
Police witnesses describe his erratic behavior
By TRAM WHITEHURST
news@ColumbiaMissourian.com
In the days immediately fol-
lowing the June 2004 death of
Jesse Valencia, former Colum-
bia police officer Steven Rios
behaved in an increasingly
erratic manner, even threat-
ening suicide twice, Columbia
police officers testified Wednes-
day in the second day of Rios’
murder retrial.
Capt. Stephen Monticelli testi-
fied that less than a week after
the body of Valencia, a 23-year-
old MU student, was found with
a slashed throat, Rios called the
Columbia Police Department
from Kansas City and said, “I
did something really stupid.”
Rios said he had bought a
shotgun and was thinking about
committing suicide, Monticelli
testified.
Just a few days later, offi-
cers responded to a call that
Rios was standing on a ledge
at the top of a parking garage
near the Mid-Missouri Men-
tal Health Center, from which
he had escaped the same day,
Detective John Short testified.
Rios had agreed to enter the
facility earlier in the day.
Detective Jeff Westbrook tes-
tified that when he talked to
Rios after the incidents, he told
Rios that he had to be honest
Please see TrIal, page 8A
A psychiatrist says
teenagers who spend
lots of time online are
changing their brains.
By MALCOLM RITTER
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — What does a
teenage brain on Google look
like? Do all those hours spent
online rewire the circuitry?
Could these kids relate better to
emoticons than to real people?
These sound like concerns
from worried parents. But
they’re coming from brain sci-
entists.
Although violent video games
have gotten a lot of public atten-
tion, some current concerns
go well beyond that. Some sci-
entists think the wired world
might be changing the way we
read, learn and interact with
one another.
There are no firm answers
yet. But Gary Small, a psychia-
trist at UCLA, argues that daily
exposure to digital technologies
such as the Internet and smart
phones can alter how the brain
works.
When the brain spends more
time on technology-related tasks
and less time exposed to other
people, it drifts away from fun-
damental social skills such as
reading facial expressions dur-
ing conversation, Small said.
So brain circuits involved in
face-to-face contact can become
weaker, he suggests. That may
lead to social awkwardness,
an inability to interpret non-
verbal messages, isolation and
less interest in traditional class-
Please see Internet, page 8A

Outside today Correction omitted part of his job titles. Index Our 101st year/#82
3 sections
This morning: Mostly sunny. Until his promotion to interim fire chief, Scott Also, Olsen might have traveled with the FEMA Abby 7A Nation 3A 40 pages
Temp: 30° Olsen was the assistant chief of operations, incident support team to Washington, D.C., in Calendar 2A Opinion 5A
Over lunch: North winds 5 to 9 preparedness and training for the Boone County January for the inauguration of President-elect Classified 5B Second Front 6A
mph. Temp: 34° Fire Protection District. He also serves as a plan- Barack Obama but will no longer be going. The Comics 7A Sports 1B
This evening: Mostly cloudy. ning section chief on a FEMA incident support article incorrectly stated the FEMA group with Life Stories 4A TV 8B
Temp: 16° Page 2A team. An article that ran on page 1A Wednesday which he might have traveled. Lottery 2A World 4A 6 54051 90850 3