Stories from Tuesday, December 7, 2004

SIKESTON -- Feeling a little strapped this holiday season? Chances are you're not alone. As shoppers get into the spirit of giving, it's often easy to throw that holiday budget out the window. "Some people get into the trap of using their credit cards (over the holidays) and then spend the whole year trying to pay it back. That's not a good thing," said Mike Pobst, president of Alliance Bank in Sikeston...

CAPE GIRARDEAU - A Charleston man will spend 20 months in prison for unlawfully possessing a firearm. Andrew L. Richardson, 53, was sentenced on one felony count of being a previously convicted felon in possession of a firearm. He appeared Monday before U.S. District Judge Charles A. Shaw...

CAPE GIRARDEAU - A Sikeston man pleaded guilty Monday in U.S. district court to bank robbery. Bradley G. Brown, 24, pleaded guilty to one felony count of bank robbery before U.S. District Judge Charles A. Shaw. On Aug. 18, 2003, Brown entered the First Security State Bank of Sikeston, handed a note to a bank teller and demanded that she give him a quantity of the bank's money in $100 bills. ...

SIKESTON - Residential solid waste pickup in alleys will remain in place for the time being. With Councilman Michael Harris absent, the vote on Councilman Phil Boyer's motion to eliminate alley pickup was split 3-3 at the regular Sikeston City Council meeting Monday...

SIKESTON - Sikeston City Council members approved bids during their regular meeting Monday which should result in the old First Baptist Church on South Kingshighway finally coming down. Tom Bridger, public works director, said new bids for the church demolition project were opened Dec. ...

SIKESTON - R.A. Finley this week sold the well-known Spickerman farm near Mill Creek, a short distance southwest of Fredericktown, to Joe Tetley of Sikeston. SIKESTON - The Folklores, a local singing group that has attracted much favorable comment during the past months, has the unusual opportunity of appearing on the Ted Mack Original Amateur Hour sometime in January - which means national publicity and the beginning of an opportunity to realize all their hard work and preparation...

I am looking for a recipe called "Oatmeal Lace Cookies." If anyone has this recipe, please leave it in SpeakOut. About the man who has the lawn care service by Matthews Elementary School, he may very well be a good man doing the nice things that he does, but I have a friend who was threatened by a city ordinance that she would be cited if the trailer that she pulls is not off the street. ...

SIKESTON - The 33rd Annual Sikeston Invitational Tournament got underway on Monday with two games at the Sikeston Field House. In the opener, New Madrid County Central picked up its first win of the season with a 64-45 win against Osceola, Ark. In the nightcap, Charleston's varsity had no problem with the Sikeston junior varsity, winning 74-25...

SENATH - Monday night's game between the Senath-Hornersville (SHHS) Lady Lions and the Dexter Bearcats proved to be one that spoke volumes about the opposing schools' programs. Dexter, a team that has been rising to the top during the last few years, took on the Lady Lions - a team looking to strengthen its program...

CHAFFEE -- Sikeston girls basketball team defeated Scott City 59-51 in a first-round game of the Chaffee Tournament on Monday. The fourth-seeded Lady Bulldogs (1-2) rode a strong third-quarter performance to upend No. 5 Scott City. Trailing 27-24 at the half, Sikeston outscored the Lady Rams 20-5 in the third period to take control...

COMMERCE - Velma Josephine Walker, 83, died at 10 p.m. Dec. 6, 2004, at the Fountainbleau Lodge in Cape Girardeau. Born May 4, 1921, in Tennessee, daughter of the late Thomas and Lula Bom Coble, she owned and operated Velma's Place in Commerce. She was a member of the Seventh Day Adventists Church in Cape Girardeau...

DEXTER - Margaret Helen Seeburger, 89, died Dec. 5, 2004, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. Born Dec. 3, 1915, in Dexter, daughter of the late Richard and Nellie Seeburger, she was a member of Sacred Heart Catholic Church and a lifelong resident of Dexter...

COMMERCE - Lester Louis Knight, 63, died at 10:35 p.m. Dec. 5, 2004, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. Born Dec. 5, 1941, in Scott County, son of the late Lester "Bryan" and Thecla "Clara" Westrich Knight, he had managed service for a car wash in Cape Girardeau for 25 years. He worked for the Midwest Grain and Barge at Scott City for the past four years and was a member of the Commerce Baptist Church...

BELL CITY - Amos Peter "Buddy" Eilers, 57, died Dec. 5, 2004, at Missouri Baptist Hospital in St. Louis. Born Aug. 24, 1947, in St. Louis, son of Pauline Abney Eilers of Hillsboro and the late Amos Eilers, he retired as a sanitation supervisor for Hudson Foods in Bloomfield...

PORTAGEVILLE - Randal Pullum, 62, died Dec. 5, 2004, at his home. Born Feb. 27, 1942, in New Madrid, son of Juanita Pullum of Portageville and the late Benjamin D. Pullum, he was a veteran of the U.S. Navy. Survivors in addition to his mother include: three brothers, Kenneth Ray Pullum and Robert Dean "Bobby" Pullum of Portageville and Benny Wayne Pullum of New Orleans, La.; and two sisters, Sandra Kay Bordanora of Portageville and Laura Ann Stewart of Memphis, Tenn...

BLODGETT - Ethel Louise Franks, 79, died Dec. 7, 2004, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. Born May 25, 1925, in Blytheville, Ark., daughter of the late Walter David and Lela Victoria Riggs Deason Sr., she was a member of the Church of Christ in Blodgett...

CHARLESTON -- Lucille Grider DeLine, 86, died at 5:12 p.m. Dec. 6, 2004, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. Born May 13, 1919, in Mississippi County, daughter of the late John S. and Sallie G. Graham Grider, she had lived in Charleston most of her life, where she was employed by Brown Shoe Co. ...

Maybe it's appropriate to be talking about national security on Dec. 7 - the anniversary of Pearl Harbor for you younger readers. But the rules are much different now than they were during that fateful period 60-plus years ago. On today's anniversary, Missouri Homeland Security Director Tim Daniel resigned from the post he has held for three years. Gov. Bob Holden created the Homeland Security post on the state level as the first in the nation in response to the Sept. 11 attack...

DUBOIS, Ill. -- Valerie Lyn Hiller and Neal Wojtowicz were married in a 2 p.m. ceremony Aug. 14, 2004, at St. Charles Borromeo. The bride is the daughter of Bruce Hiller of Sikeston, Mo., and Phyllis Seymour of Nashville, Ill. Parents of the bridegroom are David and Rosemary Wojtowicz, also of Nashville...