Success!!!! Here's the sequence that fixes it. Note that my messages were
previously backed up to an off site imap server.
1. Create a new identity with *no* news server subscriptions. Chose the name
wisely, you can't change it later.
2. Delete *all* other identities, including "main identity."
3. Shut down outlook express.
4. Restart the machine.
5. Restart oe
6. *Manually* add mail and newss server accounts.

-Lew