Stories from Sunday, November 14, 2004

SIKESTON -- Boys and girls, sharpen your shooting touch. The Sikeston Elks Lodge resumes sponsorship of the "Hoop Shoot" Free Throw Contest, which will be held on Saturday, Nov. 27, at the YMCA of Southeast Missouri at 602 Tanner St. in Sikeston. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. with the competition getting underway at 9 a.m...

DEXTER - By signing a National Letter of Intent for the 2005-2006 season on Thursday, Dexter High School's Rachel Blunt became the first player to sign with Southeast Missouri State University during the NCAA's Early Signing Period. "She thought about it long and hard over the summer and this early fall season," said Dexter girls basketball coach Gavin Miller...

A couple of weeks ago in Scott County Circuit Court, history was made in a sense. Lost in the election news that dominated the headlines, Scott County Prosecuting Attorney Paul Boyd and Circuit Judge David Dolan sent a message to drug dealers in Sikeston that is the most welcome news we've heard in ages. Instead of sentencing a first-time drug dealer to probation - which has been all but customary - Boyd and Dolan said "enough is enough."...

I am sometimes frustrated, deeply angered and saddened by white people's persistent, smug, hypocritical finger-pointing at black people's sexual behavior. In their self-righteous attempt to judge black "out-of-wedlock'' births, some of these same people conveniently overlook the half-million-plus white babies aborted annually in our country. I am sure that many of these babies were conceived out of wedlock!...

SIKESTON - The Sikeston High School Bulldogs flowed over a helpless Chaffee in a red and black wave, crushing them 45-0 in a game Friday at Chaffee. CARUTHERSVILLE - The Bridge Appreciation Day was held here today after three years of planning by state and district leaders from Missouri, Tennessee and Kentucky. ...

SIKESTON - Wilma S. Cullins, 97, died Nov. 12, 2004, at the Clearview Nursing Center. Born March 29, 1907, in Winters, Texas, daughter of the late Allison Espi and Selena Jane Stewart Stone, she was a member of the First United Methodist Church. She was a nurse aide for Missouri Delta Medical Center before retiring...

WENTZVILLE - James Earl Spaulding, 68, formerly of Gideon, died Nov. 10, 2004, at the Parklane Nursing Center in Wentzville. Born April 11, 1936, in Gideon, he was the son of the late James B. and Ruby Mae Pigg Spaulding. He is survived by four sisters, Billie Jean Kemper of Carrollton, Ill., Mary Angie Smothers of O'Fallon, Judith Ann Justice of Arnold and Phyllis Geraldine Tuckson of Florissant...

HOWARDVILLE - Jamirah Kimyedda Jones, infant daughter of Jason Jones of Parma and Kimberly Walton of Howardville, died Nov. 10, 2004, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. She was born Nov. 8, 2004, in Cape Girardeau. Survivors in addition to her parents include: her paternal grandmother, Holly Behsman of Parma; and her maternal grandparents, Angela Walton of Howardville and Terry Walton of Bremiton, Wash...

SIKESTON - Zelma Louise Woods, 86, died Nov. 12, 2004, at the Greenview Hospital in Bowling Green, Ky. Arrangements are pending at Ponder Funeral Home, where visitation is set for 5 to 8 p.m. Monday. Services will be conducted at 2 p.m. Tuesday at Miner Baptist Church...

DEXTER - Albert T. Wilson, 81, died Nov. 12, 2004, at Missouri Southern Healthcare. Arrangements are incomplete at Watkins and Sons Funeral Home in Dexter.

CAPE GIRARDEAU - Albert C. Armes, 84, died Nov. 12, 2004, at the Missouri Veterans Home. Born Aug. 4, 1920, in Essex, son of the late George and Agnes Atherton Armes, he lived in Stoddard County most of his life. He was a member of the Pollock Church of Christ and had also served as an elder for the Church of Christ in Bloomfield and Fredericktown. A U.S. Navy veteran of World War II, he retired in 1982 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Soil Conservation Service...

SIKESTON - Here We Go Again, a consignment home furnishing/decor store, opened Nov. 4 on 304 Rogers St., directly next to the license bureau. Owned by Shori Ferrell and Leah Schuerenberg, the business is filled with items on consignment described as "a mix of treasures we find on our daily road trips."...

SIKESTON - Looking to win the battle against the bulge? Then form a team and get ready for Shape Up Sikeston!, a competitive exercise program put together by Missouri Delta Medical Center's ReStart crew. "The big reason we are doing this is the holidays are coming up. While everybody works out in January to lose weight they gain during this time, we want to not add that extra five pounds during the holiday season," said Amy Gordin, ReStart's director of rehabilitation services...

SIKESTON -- Students in the Sikeston R-6 School District who are thinking about skipping school may want to reconsider. That's because with a couple clicks of a computer mouse, their parents can be notified of the unexcused absences in minutes at work, home, on their cell phone or pager numbers...

The Scott Count Health Department had its first influenza shot clinics Friday around the county. Here, Charlie Myers of Sikeston receives a flu shot from Sherry Burger of the Scott County Health Department at the OAKS Senior Center where the shots were offered from 8-11 a.m. Shots were also administered at the Scott City and Chaffee nutrition centers...

COLUMBIA - After finding Cecil Barriner guilty of two counts of first degree murder, a jury on Friday spared his life by handing down two sentences of life in prison. Although he will spend the rest of his days behind bars without chance for parole, the jury's sentencing decision was a victory for Barriner, who twice before had been sent to Missouri's death row for the brutal stabbing deaths of two New Madrid County women. The Missouri Supreme Court overturned both convictions...

BERNIE - Calvin and Shelia Coleman are the parents of their third child, second son, born at 10:13 a.m. Oct. 16, 2004, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. Jabori TayShawn Coleman weighed 5 pounds, 8 ounces and was 17 1/2-inches long. Mrs. Coleman is the daughter of Robert Lee Compton and Patricia Ann Johnson...