Stories from Thursday, April 3, 2003

JEFFERSON CITY -- The awards keep piling up for Sikeston forward Lontas McClinton. Five days after being named Southeast Missouri Player of the Year at the B.A. Sports All-Star Extravaganza, McClinton was honored yet again today, making first team all-state...

CAPE GIRARDEAU - After opening the season with a 4-2 win against Notre Dame, the Sikeston Bulldog baseball team might have wondered where its offense went. It seems that they've figured it out. The Bulldogs bats came alive for the third straight game on Wednesday as they blasted Cape Central 20-5 in five innings on a windy day in Cape Girardeau...

BLYTHEVILLE, Ark. -- New Madrid County Central's softball team traveled to Blytheville and brought an awfully big stick with them for Tuesday's doubleheader. In the first game, the Lady Eagles plated an eye-popping 40 runs on 25 hits, shellacking the Lady Chickasaws 40-0 in just three innings...

BENTON -- David and Carla Robert have announced the engagement of their daughter, Natalie Suzanne, to George Anthony Eftink of Oran, son of Jerry and Rita Eftink of Perkins. A 1999 graduate of Kelly High School, the future bride expects to receive a bachelor's degree in nursing from Southeast Missouri State University in December. She is employed at St. Francis Medical Center...

SIKESTON -- Thurman and Frances Willis Sr. have announced the engagement of their granddaughter, Monique Jene Willis, to Curtis Shawn Evans, son of Sandra Williford of Dexter and Larry Evans Sr. of the state of Oregon. A 2002 graduate of Sikeston Senior High School, the future bride is employed by Sikeston Headstart...

With little debate and absolutely no fanfare, the Missouri Senate on Wednesday approved a measure that may have some long-reaching impact on the size of state government. It may be premature to say the bill would actually accomplish its goal, but it most definitely is a step in the right direction...

SIKESTON - Steve Ferrell with Ferrell Excavating worked the excavator's bucket like a giant hand. It slowly reached across the debris, grabbing roof timbers and crushing walls then tossing the splinters to the ground. Then the walls came tumbling down at 836 Agnes St. Wednesday morning...

SIKESTON - With the new Charter form of government now fully in place, Sikeston voters will pick their mayor and their first two ward representatives April 8, expanding the council by two to a total of seven members. The race to be Sikeston's first mayor elected at large under the city's Charter form of government has two candidates: Mike Marshall and Harry Sharp. Mayors were previously selected by council members...

I want to say a special thanks to all the troops who are fighting in Iraq, and to the families of loved ones who are over there. We appreciate you much. ---- I'm calling in regards to the war. Before it started, I was skeptical. But now that we have begun, we have a lot of family and friends over there, risking their lives. ...

SIKESTON - Effective today, the Southeast Missouri Telephone Company will discontinue the service of giving information as to the location of fires, so the curious will have to wait until they read the news in their local newspaper. Another service discontinued and effective today is that of asking telephone operators for the time...

SIKESTON -- Neal Boyd could probably tell countless stories of his experiences singing at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center, but on Wednesday, all it seemed Boyd, who was clad in a baseball cap and sweatshirt, wanted to talk about was the four big bass he'd caught a few hours earlier on the Mississippi River...

EAST PRAIRIE - Almeta Loomas, 77, died April 2, 2003, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. Arrangements are incomplete at Shelby Funeral Home.

EAST PRAIRIE - Charles Henry "Shorty" Grimes, 94, died at 3:20 a.m. April 2, 2003, at the Bertrand Retirement Center. Born Feb. 4, 1909, in Piedmont, son of the late William Wesley and Mattie Marie Alton Grimes, he lived in Mississippi County most of his life and was a retired carpenter. He was a member of the New Beginnings Church in East Prairie...

DEXTER - Johnie Baker, 71, died March 31, 2003, at Missouri Southern Healthcare. Born Sept. 28, 1931, in Essex, son of the late John William and Veda Boyt Baker, he worked for the FCH Farms before retiring. On Dec. 22, 1951, at Piggott, Ark., he married Dora Wauer who survives of the home...

BERNIE - Glendale Lee Becking, 75, died April 1, 2003, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. Born Dec. 2, 1927, in Bernie, son of the late Joseph George and Columbia Belle Cook Becking, he was a farmer and owned and operated the Becking Seed and Fertilizer Plant in Bernie before retiring...

SIKESTON - Thrisey Wilkinson McClain, 58, died at 4:55 a.m. April 2, 2003, at her home. Born Dec. 18, 1944, in Scott County, daughter of the late Riley Adam and Elsie Ray Long, she was a self-employed hairdresser and member of Trinity Gospel Church in Sikeston...

SIKESTON - Pallbearers at services scheduled for 2 p.m. today at Nunnelee Funeral Chapel for Ester May Hartwick, 62, who died April 1, 2003, will be: Jimmy Williams, Wade Wilkerson, Allen Freeman, Mike Walker, Ben Manes and Bobby Manes.

WEST PLAINS - Edith Christine Batson, 82, died April 1, 2003, in West Plains. Born June 4, 1920, in St. Francis, daughter of the late Charles Acie and Cecil Mae Pettus Phares, she was a resident of Granite City, Ill., and Lawton, Okla., before moving to West Plains in 1997. She retired as a cook for Illinois School District No. 9 and was a soldier of the Salvation Army...

SIKESTON - Raynett Moll, 82, died March 30, 2003, at the Sikeston Convalescent Center. Born March 3, 1921, in Sikeston, daughter of the late Raymond A. and Myrtle Sheppard Moll, she was a member of the First United Methodist Church. Survivors include: two brothers and sisters-in-law, Ray Allen and Delores Moll and Miller and Charlotte Moll of Sikeston; one sister, Lavina Gardner of Sikeston; five nephews, George W. ...

ST. LOUIS - Sterling Price Moore, 91, formerly of New Madrid, died March 31, 2003, at the Bethesda Southgate Nursing Home in St. Louis. Born July 4, 1911, in New Madrid County, son of the late Alpheus "Bud" and Ethel Broughton Moore, he was a staff sergeant with the U.S. Army during World War II. A lifetime member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, he was an electrician in the New Madrid area before retiring and was of the Catholic belief...

POPLAR BLUFF - Janet Maria Thies, 60, formerly of Charleston, died March 20, 2003, at St. John's Mercy Medical Center in St. Louis, following an extended illness. Born Jan. 30, 1943, in Charleston, daughter of Sylvia Caraker Seib of Poplar Bluff and the late Austin Seib, she was a poster child for the March of Dimes in Minnesota. ...