Stories from Sunday, May 30, 2004

The Sikeston Bulldogs baseball team celebrates in left field after beating the North County Raiders 4-3 in Friday afternoon's Class 3 Sectional at Farmington. Sikeston played at home Saturday afternoon against Herculaneum, but results from that game were not available at press time. A complete game story from Saturday's game can be found in Tuesday's edition of the Standard Democrat...

SPRINGFIELD - The Sikeston tennis doubles team of Peter Jones and Chris Robey won their first two matches in the Class 1 State Tennis Tournament in Springfield on Friday. The two defeated Pembroke Hill's Mark Danforth and David Lyons, 6-4, 6-3. Jones and Robey then defeated Duchesne's Brandon Blase and Jeff Tansey, 6-2, 6-4...

THAYER - Oran catcher Joey Williams spent much of Friday afternoon looking up at the sizeable Thayer hitters as he called pitches behind the plate. But Oran's 5-foot-7 cleanup hitter delivered the biggest blow of the day, driving a single up the middle in the bottom of the seventh to score Trevor Irwin with the winning run in an improbable 9-8 victory against Thayer in a Class 1 state quarterfinal game...

Rarely has Memorial Day had such true meaning as this year when our friends, neighbors, sons and daughters are at this very moment halfway around the world defending those of us who remain here at home. Surely for just one day we can set aside the philosophical differences on the war in Iraq and instead focus our attention and prayers on those who wage battle on our behalf...

FARMINGTON - Only two words are needed to describe Friday's baseball game between Sikeston and North County -- "instant classic." In a game that seemed to have it all, the Sikeston Bulldogs defeated the North County Raiders 4-3 in a Class 3 sectional game at Farmington's Wilson-Rozier Park...

JEFFERSON CITY - The Sikeston Bulldogs track and field team had an up and down day at the MSHSAA Class 3 State Track and Field Championships in Jefferson City on Friday. With most of Friday's events being preliminary races, final team standings weren't known until Saturday night...

ST. LOUIS - A former Lilbourn resident pled guilty Thursday in federal court on charges of negotiating fraudulent checks. Andrea Buchanan, 46, of Kansas City and formerly of Lilbourn, appeared before U.S. District Judge E. Richard Webber in federal court. She pled guilty to one felony count of passing forged securities and one felony count of making false statements on tax returns...

Soundman Bob Durhan and cameraman Ed Griffith, a freelance film crew, set up camera shots Thursday for a segment with America's Most Wanted correspondent John Turchin. Turchin and the crew were in town to follow up on a tip related to an east-side Indianapolis, Ind., bank robbery on Oct. 9, 2003. A suspect was arrested Thursday on a local warrant, but the name is being withheld pending the filing of bank robbery charges...

The Catholic school in Sikeston is allowing Islam to be taught when all the other kids go to Mass in their school. The children who do not believe in our God get to go with a parent and be taught Islam on our school grounds. What are the Catholics in Sikeston thinking of to allow this?...

BERNIE -- Wayne Rodery, 81, died May 28, 2004, at the Malden Nursing Center. Arrangements are incomplete at Rainey-Mathis Funeral Home in Bernie.

ADVANCE -- Grace M. Davis, 67, died May 28, 2004, at the Advance Nursing Center. Born Oct. 25, 1936, a Painton, daughter of the late John and Irene Jones Davis, she was self-employed in the construction and trucking industries most of her life. Survivors include: two daughters, Donna Carpenter of Advance and Phyllis Redman of Sanford, Fla.; two sisters, Weynona Kemp of Jackson and Dot Dannenmueller of Chaffee; and one brother, Floyd Davis of Advance...

GIDEON -- Mary Madgalene McConnell, 85, died May 28, 2004, at Baptist-East Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. Born Dec. 8, 1918, in Risco, daughter of the late Daniel Otis and Orpha Belle Jackson Miller, she was a member of the Stanfield General Baptist Church in Gideon and a former member of the Order of Eastern Star in Parma...

ARNOLD - Bobby Leondas Allen, 70, formerly of East Prairie, died May 26, 2004, at his home. Born May 19, 1934, in East Prairie, he was the son of the late Leondas and Olivia Irene Allen. His wife of 49 years, Betty Poley Allen, survives of the home...