Stories from Tuesday, October 9, 2001

SIKESTON - Thomas Buford Ayers, 65, died at 1:45 a.m. Oct. 7, 2001, at Missouri Delta Medical Center. Born Aug. 25, 1936, in Sikeston, son of the late Thomas Wylie and Violet Lee Wilburn Ayers, he was a member of the Miner Baptist Church, a board member of the Community Sheltered Workshop in Sikeston and a board member of the E.C. ...

SIKESTON -- Dexter made quick work of Sikeston's volleyball team on Monday night, beating the Lady Bulldogs in straight sets, 15-2, 15-4. "We knew it was going to be a tough match, but we really felt we had a chance to play with (Dexter) this year," said Sikeston coach Steve Beydler. "Unfortunately, we were off in every facet of the game tonight. We'll have to see what we can learn from this game and try to move on."...

This is in response to the caller concerning "Nothing's free" about public school education that appeared in the Sept. 30 issue of the Standard Democrat. In summary, the caller states that their "kids" kept going to the same school for five years even though the caller moved out of that school district three years ago. ...

SIKESTON - Seventeen carrier boys of the Sikeston Standard from this city, Oran, Matthews, Morley, Bertrand and Blodgett were guests of Col. C.L. Blanton Sr., publisher, and Mrs. Blanton Sunday evening on the lawn of the Blanton residence at 305 Tanner St. ...

We're trashy folks any way you look at it. Every Missourian on average last year generated an estimated 1.84 tons of garbage. Now that's an amazing statistics even though it's somewhat misleading. All garbage generated by residents of Missouri is included in the total and that includes construction and demolition waste, industrial and commercial waste as well as the bags you put in front of your house each week...

CHANDLER, Okla. - James Teel died in Oklahoma. Friends may call after 9 a.m. at the Watkins and Sons Funeral Home in Dexter. Graveside services are scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Wednesday in the Bernie Cemetery.

SCOTT CITY - Doris Mercer, 90, died at 5 p.m. Oct. 7, 2001, at her home. Born June 21, 1911, at Illmo, daughter of the late Jess Magee and Rosa Evans, she was a lifelong resident of Scott City and a seamstress for Ely Walker and attended the Illmo Baptist Church in Scott City...

SIKESTON - Vernal Junior Featherston, 71, formerly of Piggott, Ark., died Oct. 5, 2001, at Southeast Hospital in Cape Girardeau. Born June 10, 1930, in Greenway, Ark., to the late Vernal "Doug" and Nora Williams Featherston, he worked for Brown Shoe Co. for 30 years and was plant manager at Bernie for 18 years...

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Brendan Casey McCrate, 22, of Portageville, Mo., died Oct. 7, 2001, at Columbus. Friends may call after 6 p.m. Wednesday at the DeLisle Funeral Home in Portageville. Funeral services are scheduled at 10:30 a.m. Thursday at the St. Eustachius Catholic Church with the Rev. Henry Grodeck, C.M., officiating...

ORAN - Gary D. Callow, 60, died Oct. 7, 2001, at Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis. Friends may call at 4 p.m. Tuesday at Amick-Burnett Funeral Home in Oran where services are scheduled for 10 a.m. Wednesday.

GRAY RIDGE - James L. Barber, 53, died Oct. 8, 2001, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. Arrangements are incomplete at the Watkins and Sons Funeral Home in Dexter.

SIKESTON - Everett L. Chapman died Oct. 2, 2001, at St. Francis Hospital in Cape Girardeau. Arrangements are incomplete at Chiles-Cooper Funeral Home in Bloomfield.

DEXTER - Dorothy E. Rainey, 87, died Oct. 6, 2001, at Beverly Health and Rehabilitation Center in Dexter. Born Oct. 2, 1914, at Dexter, to the late Orville Chesley and Nina Norman Rainey, she was a former employee of Elder Manufacturing in Dexter and a member of the Dexter Church of Christ...

EAST PRAIRIE - Maggie L. Moore, 81, died at 9:45 a.m. Oct. 8, 2001, at the East Prairie Nursing Center. Born May 23, 1920, in Savannah, Tenn., daughter of the late Robert Taylor and Frona Katherine Boyd Marshall, she lived in East Prairie most of her life, where she was a member of the First Baptist Church...

SHELBY, Miss. - Gary David Callow Sr., 60, formerly of Oran, Mo., died Oct. 7, 2001, at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, Mo. Born March 27, 1941, near Pop City, Mo., son of Gladys Banks Callow of Bell City, Mo., and the late Elmer Jackson Callow, he was a farmer and member of Hooe Baptist Church in Oran. ...

SIKESTON - James L. Barber, 53, died Oct. 8, 2001, at the Missouri Delta Medical Center. Born Aug. 29, 1948, in Charter Oak to Juanita Peppers Barber of Essex and the late Louis H. Barber, he had been a resident of Gray Ridge most of his life and lived in Sikeston for the past four years. He served in the U.S. Army in Vietnam and received a Silver Star...

CHANDLER, Okla. _ James Dallas Teel, 69, formerly of Parma, Mo., died Oct. 5, 2001 at the Stroud Regional Medical Center in Stroud. Born July 18, 1932, at Randles, Mo., to the late Wesley E. and Arcadia Alice Crow Teel, he had lived in Parma before moving to Florida and Texas then in 1977 to Oklahoma. A veteran of the U.S. Army, he was a retired farm manager with E.B. Gee Farms and Cotton Gin in Parma and worked at the Mahan Cotton Gin...

SIKESTON - Evert Leon Chapman, 88, died Oct. 7, 2001, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. Born May 21, 1913, at Greenbriar to the late John Edgar and Nancy Corbin Chapman, he was a graduate of Bloomfield High School. A farmer in Stoddard County, he was also a salesman serving Bloomfield and Sikeston. ...

SIKESTON - Clinton Webster Helmes II, son of Clinton Webster and Shelley Dawn Adams Helmes of Sikeston, died at birth at 10 a.m. Oct. 7, 2001, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. Other survivors include: one sister, Sydney Helmes of Sikeston; his paternal grandfather, Jerry Helmes of Sikeston; maternal grandparents, Gary and Barbara Adams of Sikeston; and his maternal great-grandparents, Willard and Martha Floyd of Sikeston...

POPLAR BLUFF _ Elmer Penrose Jr., 49, died unexpectedly Oct. 4, 2001, at his home. Born Feb. 6, 1952, in St. Louis to the late Elmer and Betty Penrose, he was a U.S. Army veteran, affiliated with the Baptist Church and was disabled. Survivors include: three brothers, Ronnie Penrose of Carmi, Ill., Jimmy Stout of Kentucky and John Stout of Georgia; and two sisters, JoAnn Cato and Ann Ellison of Sikeston...

GRAIN VALLEY - Luke Anderson Jeffries, son of Jason and Heather Jeffries, died at birth Oct. 3, 2001, at St. Mary's Hospital in Blue Springs. He is also survived by his maternal grandparents, Randy and Shari Anderson of Grain Valley; his paternal grandparents, Terry and Marsha Jeffries of Leawood, Kan.; and his great-grandparents, Clayton and Delene Pierce of Grain Valley and Vernon and Jo Anderson, Carrie Henzi and Pearl Tadlock of Sikeston...

SCOTT CITY - Ray G. Bennett, 87, died Oct. 7, 2001, at the Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau. Arrangements are incomplete at Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel in Scott City.

Jaycee Little League Soccer players braved the brisk morning air recently to kick around the ball at the Sikeston Sports Complex. Here, a player prepares to throw the ball toward the opponent's goal after the ball was kicked out of bounds.

PUXICO - A Stoddard County woman was injured in a one-vehicle accident on Saturday. According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol's report, Dorothy Height, 84, was driving on Highway 51, two miles north of Puxico at 12:52 p.m. Saturday, when she lost control of her vehicle. The car went off the roadway and overturned...

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- For Notre Dame seniors Mika Williamson, Tracie Kluesner and Katlyn Kelley, it has been a four-year work-in-progress. The payoff came Saturday afternoon in a district title. The top-seeded Lady Bulldogs (24-3) defeated perennial softball power Kelly, the No. 2 seed, 7-0 at Arena Park, ending the Lady Hawks' 15-year stranglehold on the Class 2A, District 2 first-place trophy...

CARBONDALE - Kelly's cross country team competed in the Carbondale Invitational on Saturday, taking third place in the boys race with 64 team points. Farmington won the race with 40, Sparta took second with 52. The Hawks were followed by Herrin, Carbondale, Marion, Henderson (Ky.) and DuQuoin...

SIKESTON - "The science of healing, the art of caring" is this year's theme for National Physical Therapy Month. National Physical Therapy Month, promoted by the American Physical Therapy Association each October, is the perfect opportunity "to increase awareness of...

Nearly a month after the terrorist attacks took place in this country, citizens of all ages are still doing all they can to help the victims. Amy Rushing and Kramer Schuerenberg took their day out of school Monday to walk neighborhood dogs so they could raise money to donate to the American Red Cross...