Stories from Tuesday, April 13, 2004

DEXTER - Leave it to wood bats to help the Sikeston Bulldogs baseball team break out of a season-long hitting slump. Well, a slump by Sikeston's standards. For a team that is accustomed to breaking the 10-run barrier, it had happened zero times heading into the weekend's wood bat tournament...

MATTHEWS - Mr. and Mrs. Hawkin Bolden of near Matthews received the Purple Heart posthumously to their son, Cpl. Howard Wilson Bolden, who served in the North Africa Campaign. Cpl. Bolden was reported missing in February of 1943 during the invasion of North Africa after he had been in service for about year. Relatives this March received notification that he had been killed in action. He was the nephew of Henry Bolden of Sikeston...

A terrible mistake was made in Monday night's council meeting when they talked without any regard to what the citizens had to say about removing their own vehicles or other things off of private property. That is a travesty. We can't have anything on our own property, even if it is well kept. ...

NEW MADRID -- Friends and relatives of Mr. and Mrs. John Alfred Hunter are invited to attend a golden wedding anniversary celebration from 2 to 6 p.m. Saturday at the Southern Comfort Banquet Hall, 600 N. Main St. in New Madrid. Hunter and the former Marie Householder were married April 19, 1954, at the Immaculate Conception Church in New Madrid...

MARSTON - From chickens to rice to the transportation needed to move Southeast Missouri's crops to market, Missouri Director of Agriculture Peter Hofherr took it all in Monday. Hofherr, escorted by Assistant Director Donald Propst, who is from the Bootheel, was on a two-day tour to learn more about the area's agricultural operations. It was also an opportunity to meet with political leaders and locals involved in agriculture...

Garrett and Logan Wagoner of Sikeston fish at the Sikeston Sports Complex Monday morning. The brothers withstood rain and gusty winds to make the best of the day.

OAKLAND CITY, Ind. --Heather Nicole Simmons and John David Spencer II have announced their engagement. A 2000 graduate of South Knox High School in Vincennes, the future bride is the daughter of Michael and Kathy Simmons of Vincennes. She currently attends Oakland City University...

POPLAR BLUFF - The Sikeston Bulldogs golf team finish in 6th place at the Poplar Bluff Invitational. According to head coach Rick Oetting, the one bright spot was junior E. C. Atchison, who finished in a tie for the 5th place medalist with a five-over par 76...

SIKESTON - Pallbearers at services conducted at 10:30 a.m. today at Nunnelee Funeral Chapel for Bernie Lee Seagraves, 78, who died April 10, 2004, were: Gerald Rogers, Gerald Yeargain, Wesley Stutts, Mike Watson, Charlie Meunier and Loyd Evans.

SIKESTON - Gladys Adamson, 86, formerly of Sikeston, died April 12, 2004, in Humboldt, Tenn. Arrangements are incomplete at Nunnelee Funeral Chapel.

PORTAGEVILLE - Gladys French Smith 86, died April 12, 2004, in Portageville. Arrangements are pending at DeLisle Funeral Home, where visitation begins at 5 p.m. today. Services will be conducted at 11 a.m. Wednesday at the First United Methodist Church in Portageville...

DEXTER - Richard "Dick" Grobe, 64, died April 11, 2004, at Missouri Southern Healthcare. Born Dec. 26, 1939, in Poplar Bluff, son of Elsie Wilhelm Grobe of Poplar Bluff and the late Paul E. Grobe, he was a veteran of the U.S. Air Force and attended the First Christian Church in Dexter. He was a former co-owner of Tractor Supply Company in Sikeston...

BENTON - Craig Allen Kneezle, 25, died at 12:05 p.m. April 11, 2004, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. Born June 18, 1978, in San Gabriel, Calif., son of Donald and Arleen Ashton Kneezle of Benton, he was a 1997 graduate of Thomas W. Kelly High School. He was a member of Unity Baptist Church in Benton...

CARUTHERSVILLE - Louise B. Lane Weems, 84, formerly of Wilson City, died April 10, 2004, at Pemiscot Memorial Hospital in Hayti. Born Feb. 8, 1920, in Earle, Ark., daughter of the late Timothy and Ozel Clifton Winters, she lived in Missouri since 1933. She was a member of Sanders Chapel AME Church in Wyatt, where she served on the Usher Board...

SIKESTON - Audrey D. Sweet Brock, 87, formerly of Bertrand and Charleston, died at 8:25 a.m. April 12, 2004, at the Sikeston Convalescent Center. Born Jan. 6, 1917, in Mississippi County, son of the late William Kelly and Clara Marton Hedge, she lived in Mississippi County most of her life. She was a member of the First Baptist Church in Bertrand...

SCOTT CITY - Clara Mae Sailer, 83, died at 5:01 p.m. April 11, 2004, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. Born May 8, 1920, in Fornfelt, daughter of the late John and Leona Wahl Wilhelm, she was a machinist for Ely Walker Co. She was a member of St. Joseph Catholic Church and Ladies Sodality in Scott City...

ANNISTON - Anna Bernice Wheatley, 66, died at 11:36 a.m. April 12, 2004, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. Born Oct. 5, 1937, in New Madrid County, daughter of the late Edmund Poynor and Audie Ginn Poynor Powers, she lived in Mississippi County most of her life and was a member of Victory Baptist Church in East Prairie. After being employed by Prairie Manufacturing Company for 19 years, she was a health care provider for nine years...

PARMA - Freda Morgan, 76, died April 12, 2004, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. Born Nov. 28, 1927, in Parma, daughter of the late Taylor and Lucy Bell Marcum Jones, she was a member of the Church of Christ in Parma. On Aug. 31, 1946, in New Madrid, she married R.H. Morgan who survives of the home...

PINHOOK - Jim Robinson Jr., 70, died April 9, 2004, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. Born Dec. 28, 1933, in Arlington, Tenn., son of the late Jim and Barbara Tate Robinson, he moved to Missouri in 1942 and was a prominent farmer in the Pinhook area. ...