Stories from Tuesday, December 17, 2002

PADUCAH, Ky. -- The New Madrid County Central Eagles basketball team will compete in the annual Paducah Tilghman Christmas Tournament on Thursday night with a 6:30 game against St. Mary. It will be the first time NMCC has competed in the tournament which features some of the top teams in Western Kentucky...

SIKESTON -- Sikeston's girls basketball team suffered its second loss of the season Monday night, falling to Farmington 59-37 in a rematch of last year's 3A District 1 championship game. The Lady Bulldogs had two key injuries in the game. Kerri Jones was sent to the hospital with a dislocated finger, then Joy Daniel went down with an ankle injury...

SIKESTON -- Cody Launius of Bloomfield has always liked the healthcare field and had an admiration for nurses. And ever since Jessica Carnell of Matthews was in the eighth grade, she knew she wanted to be nurse. Both Launius and Carnell will graduate in July from the Sikeston Public Schools Practical Nurse Program. They're two of thousands of nursing students in the United States and Missouri who are helping ease the state and national nursing shortage...

SIKESTON - You could say it took a change of heart for J.T. Cummins to write and illustrate "Good Things to Share." Cummins left Sikeston at age 19 to study animation at California Institute of Arts on a full scholarship from the Walt Disney Company, but his work has been far from cute and cuddly over the years. ...

MARSTON - Officers were searching for evidence along Interstate 55 this morning in connection with a shooting early today. New Madrid County Sheriff Terry M. Stevens reported the shooting occurred early today in Marston. A 24-year-old man was hospitalized with a gunshot wound to the head...

BENTON - In 1986, Daniel Gleason, a Philadelphia police officer, was killed in a car accident in the line of duty. A car accident also took the life of his widow, Pam, two years later. Several years ago Mrs. Gleason's mother, Dolly Craig, wrote a note to the Concerns of Police Survivors Inc. (COPS), a national grief support organization, explaining she was going to place two blue lights in her living room window that particular holiday...

DEXTER -- Dexter's Katie Dunlap scored 17 points and collected four blocks while leading the Lady Bearcats (5-0) over Greenville's Lady Bears (0-3) 61-38 Monday night. "I told the girls coming in tonight that they (Greenville) were going to be a much improved team and they were," said Dexter's head coach Gavin Miller. "I thought that Katie did a good job for us tonight on the block and that Amy (Krapu) did a good job of playing while Katie got a break."...

SIKESTON - Appointment of Mrs. Frank Miller as acting librarian at the Sikeston Public Library was announced today by Chairman R.E. Bailey of the Library Board. Mrs. Miller will replace Mrs. Keith Collins in the position. MOREHOUSE - Masons of Morehouse Lodge 603 AF&AM have elected Ed Orr as worshipful master; Don Harris, senior warden; and O.E. Stinnett, junior warden. Frank Parrish was re-elected treasurer and Guy Comer was re-elected secretary...

I live on Marion Street and want everyone to know that whoever likes to go to the races in the summertime, don't be lonesome. You can come to Marion Street any hour of the day, any time of the day and you'll see it. People fly through here and makes you think you're at an Indianapolis 500 track. People drive 60-70 miles an hour on this street. We need more police to patrol this street...

Here are the finals from two boys games around the area on Monday night: CLARKTON -- Risco opened the Clarkton Holiday Tournament with a bang Monday night, blistering Holcomb 78-41. Greg Landers hit three 3-pointers, finishing with 24 points overall. Teammate Luke Carter was also in the zone, contributing 20 points. For Holcomb, Tyler Lynn led the way with 14 points, followed by Rex McElwrath with 13. After losing their first two games of the season, Risco has now won five straight...

The Sikeston first grade indoor soccer team recently competed in a Thanksgiving shootout tournament in St. Louis at the soccer dome in Webster Groves. The team took first place in the event, winning three of four games. Members of the team are front row, from left: Chase Baran, Brandon Houseman, Seth Ressel, Caleb Hampton and Seth Williams. Back row: Aaron Neal, Dylan Mason, Graison Calbert, Zachary Harrison, Colton Black and Austin Erwin...

Tomorrow is Christmas Day. Well, actually not according to the calendar but it will be for around 300 Sikeston families who will receive a visit from Santa Claus tomorrow. That's the day deliveries are made for the annual Community Christmas Campaign...

MORLEY -- John and Kay Griffin have announced the engagement of their daughter, Katie Leeann, to Robert Edward "Robbie" Britt, son of Bill and Brenda Lix of Scott City. The future bride graduated in 1999 from Scott County Central High School. She will graduate in May 2003 with a degree in elementary education from Southeast Missouri State University at Cape Girardeau...

DEXTER - Wayne D. Heath, 57, died Dec. 16, 2002, at Missouri Southern Heathcare. Arrangements are incomplete at Watkins and Sons Funeral Home in Dexter.

CAPE GIRARDEAU - Blaine Roland and Beth Kay Brunkhorst are the parents of their first child, a son, born at 2:02 p.m. Nov. 30, 2002, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. Calvin Walker Brunkhorst weighed 7 pounds, 15 ounces and was 20-inches long...

ESSEX - Bonnie Sue Cobb, 61, died Dec. 15, 2002, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. Born Aug. 8, 1941, in Stoddard County, daughter of the late Wilburn Leroy "Dutch" and Maude Lenderman Cobb, she lived in the Grayridge and Essex communities all her life and was of the Protestant belief...

CHAFFEE - Ann E. Groseclose, 78, died Dec. 16, 2002, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. Arrangements are incomplete at Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel in Chaffee.

DEXTER - Pallbearers at services conducted Monday at Watkins and Sons Funeral Home for Earl Eugene Christian Sr., 80, who died Dec. 12, 2002, were: Randy Orton, Vernon Christian, Carl Christian, Alan Bell, David Griffee and Bill Griffee.

BEDIAS, Texas - Carl Condict, 79, formerly of Carmi, Ill., died at 11:30 a.m. Dec. 14, 2002, in Galveston. Born Jan. 13, 1923, in Essex, Mo., son of the late Gilbert Earl and Allie Lucinda Davis Condict, he was a U.S. Navy veteran of World War II. He was a butcher and plastics molder before retiring...

NEW MADRID - Larry R. Frala, 59, died Dec. 16, 2002, at his home. Born April 6, 1943, in Bell City, he was the son of Anna Lucille Roe Frala of Lilbourn and the late Russell Edward "Fat" Frala. He attended the First United Methodist Church in Lilbourn and was a meat cutter at Baker's Big Star in Portageville...

The Christmas Angels chili dinner is a wonderful event that helps the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) Southeast District provide Christmas gifts for many children who otherwise wouldn't receive anything. MoDOT employees used their vacation time to contact local businesses and sell cups of chili. They prepared and delivered the chili to these businesses and money raised from the project was used to buy gifts for 117 children this year...