Stories from Sunday, November 10, 2002

LILBOURN -- Jason Lee Tope, 17, died Nov. 9, 2002, as the result of injuries sustained in an automobile accident. Born Jan. 19, 1985, at Sikeston, son of Tracy Tope of Lilbourn and Gina Fincher of New Madrid, he was a junior at New Madrid County Central High School and a member of the First Baptist Church in Lilbourn...

KENNETT -- Bobby W. Williams Sr., 55, died Nov. 8, 2002, at his residence. Born July 12, 1947, at Maynard, Ark., son of the late Charlie and Dollie Skeff Williams, he was a carpenter and auto repair mechanic before his illness and was of the Pentecostal belief...

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Edison "Curly" Taylor, 83, formerly of LaForge, died at 1:50 a.m. Nov. 8, 2002, at his daughter's home. Born March 8, 1919, in Loretta, Tenn., son of the late James David and Alice Pugh Taylor, he was of the Baptist belief and was a self-employed painter...

PORTAGEVILLE - Jeanette Marie Sisson is the mother of her fifth daughter, born Oct. 4, 2002, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. India Ashanti Sisson weighed 5 pounds, 11 ounces and was 18-inches long. SIKESTON - Donnie Lowman and Melissa Chambers are the parents of their second son, born Oct. 5, 2002, at Missouri Delta Medical Center. Caleb Eugene Boyet weighed 5 pounds, 12 ounces and was 18-inches long...

EAST PRAIRIE - The Portageville Bulldogs had no trouble wrapping up their second straight district title Friday night as they cruised to a lop-sided win over the winless East Prairie Eagles 58-14. The 8-1 Bulldogs scored in every quarter and were never threatened in the contest. The win made them 3-0 in district play and created a rematch with Charleston who knocked off Scott City 42-7...

CHARLESTON - After starting the season 1-5, Charleston head coach Brent Anderson wasn't ready to cash in his chips just yet. After all, Anderson had seen this before. Charleston went 0-6 to start the 2000 season, but rebounded to win the district championship...

SIKESTON - The sophomore class held its Halloween party Saturday night at the high school gymnasium. Bruce Hampton announced the winners of the contests. The queens were: Rosemarry Proffer and Mildred DeMarris; most concealed, Betty Wayne Cummins; most original, Martha Stevens; and most comical, Dorothy Lewis and Tony Lanier...

Would someone please explain in explicit detail, exactly what is Adopt a Farm Family and what do they do. I've see this in the paper several times, without explanation or I've missed it. We contacted Mary Myers, president and founder of Adopt-A-Farm Family, with your question. ...

Time certainly flies when you're havin' fun. A glance at the calendar shows that the holiday season will arrive far too soon for most of us. With our focus on other events - elections, for example - it's easy to allow the holiday season to slip up before you know it. Here at the newspaper, that means one thing - the annual Community Christmas Campaign...

FREDERICKTOWN -- Dexter won its first district title since 1992 on Friday night, edging Fredericktown 15-12 in the Class 3, District 1 championship game. Matt Burnett, who is nursing an injured knee, did play in the game and was a major factor. He rushed for 97 yards on 22 carries, scoring both Dexter touchdowns...

The Sikeston Bulldog wrapped up their season on Thursday in the same fashion that they played this year, with dominating defense. The gold pant-clad Bulldogs posted a 33-6 win against Perryville, which ranks as one of the team's best performances of the season. And that was on the heels of the game that probably does rank as the team's best performance of the year, a 33-16 win over Poplar Bluff, also in gold pants...

SIKESTON - "It's the eyes," explained a Standard Democrat Community Christmas Campaign worker about delivering a basket to a recipient last year. "They just crinkled up and sparkled with happiness. But when she started crying, I cried, too." The worker is one of the first this year to volunteer to help the annual campaign which provides food and warm clothing for needy families and toys for children at Christmas time...

SIKESTON - Before the ceremony scheduled for 9:45 a.m. Monday at the Field House begins, Sikeston's observance of Veterans Day this year will begin outside the Field House with the raising of a very special flag at 9:30 a.m. "The one and only time it has been flown previously was over the air base in Kandahar, Afghanistan, on Sept. 11," said Trey Hardy of Sikeston...

CHARLESTON -- Since May, the sentence "Let learning take you around the world" has become a daily motto for the mere 450-500 offender-students attending the Southeast Correctional Center's Adult Basic Education program. Surrounding the motto on a wall at SECC's Education Department are the names of eight general education development (GED) certificate graduates written on paper "mini earths." The eventual goal is to completely fill the wall with all of the names of offender-students who pass the GED.. ...

NEW MADRID -- A 17-year-old Lilbourn resident sustained fatal injuries in a one-vehicle accident early Saturday morning. According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, at 12:20 a.m., Jason L. Tope was traveling westbound in New Madrid County on Route U, two miles west of New Madrid, when he lost control of his vehicle. The vehicle traveled off the left side of the roadway into a ditch and overturned. Tope was partially ejected through the driver's side window...