Stories from Sunday, August 28, 2005

SIKESTON -- Mr. and Mrs. Leonard "Bud" Spurlock are celebrating their golden anniversary today. Spurlock, son of the late Delbert and Meacy Spurlock, and the former Mary Ann Estes, daughter of the late Jessie and Ollie Estes, were married Aug. 28, 1955, at Millersville...

SIKESTON -- Howard R. and Jeanette Parker of Sikeston and Jack Mullins of Wilmington, N.C., have announced the engagement of their daughter, Pam Phillips, to Ed Cassidy, son of Carroll and Joan Cassidy of St. Louis. A 1986 graduate of Sikeston High School, the future bride is a 1994 graduate of Missouri Southern in Joplin, where she earned a nursing degree. She is employed as a registered nurse at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis...

SIKESTON -- Brad and Judy Reiser of Wauseon, Ohio, and Murray and Joann Sullivan of Sikeston have announced the engagement of their children, Joni Autumn Reiser to Dr. Murray G. Sullivan III. A graduate of Wauseon High School, the future bride earned a degree in environmental science from the University of Toledo...

PORTAGEVILLE -- Harold and Nancy Edgar and Floyd and Barbara Davis of Portageville have announced the engagement of their children, Ashely Malyn Edgar to Brian Lynn Davis. A 2003 graduate of Portageville High School, the future bride is employed at Portageville Food Rite. She is the granddaughter of A.J. and Margie Silman and Harold Edgar of Portageville and the late Mary Lou Edgar...

As you all may or may not know on rodeo Saturday the Convention and Visitors Bureau is again going out on the interstate to "kidnap" a family and treat them to a day filled with activities. The suggestion to reinstate this tradition came from Shad Old who was then serving as a commission board member for the Convention and Visitors Bureau. ...

SIKESTON - It is a small business, with a small sign at the front gate leading customers to a small building behind the house. But owners Stan Harris and Pam Maddox-Harris have big dreams for their new venture, Halfcrack Tack. The couple opened the business as a way to offer new and used gear for those interested in horses. ...

SIKESTON - Friday night marked the first time high school football teams could square off against someone wearing a different jersey as East Prairie, New Madrid County Central and Perryville visited Sikeston Public Schools Stadium for a jamboree scrimmage...

DEXTER -- Portageville, Scott City, Kennett and Dexter signaled the end of preseason and beginning of the 2005 football season with their first game- type scrimmages against outside opposition at the Dexter Jamboree on Friday. In the opening varsity matchups, Dexter faced Scott City on one end of the field, while Portageville and Kennett tangled on the other...

SIKESTON - Youth is served for this year's Sikeston Lady Bulldogs volleyball team. With only one senior and three returning juniors on this year's squad, coach Steve Beydler will depend on a host of sophomores and freshmen to solidify his team. The ladies may be young but they have been working to get prepared for the upcoming season. ...

RESULTS: Ladies Golf Association Ch Flight: Betty Dawson/Patti Fletcher, 88 A Flight: Saralyn Boyer, 92 B Flight: Paulette Boardman, 97 C Flight: Judy Garrett, 108 SCC Senior Association 1st Low Gross: Dick Inman, 71 2nd Low Net: Jim McClure, 65 2nd Low Net: Benny Hesselrode, 65...

MALDEN - Four area teams convened at Malden High School for a football jamboree. Along with the host school Malden, Chaffee, Charleston and Fredericktown showcased their talent to an appreciative crowd. The four teams were split up with half running plays to the north goal line from the 40-yard line and the other teams ran plays toward the south goal line from the opposite 40-yard line. Each team got 12 plays on offense and defense against each opponent...

EAST PRAIRIE - Family and friends readying themselves for Spc. Blake W. Hall's funeral can only hope it will not be hampered by media-hungry radicals. On Aug. 21, Hall, a 20-year-old native of East Prairie, was killed near Baylough, Afghanistan, by a road side bomb referred to by the military as an "improvised explosive device."...

EAST PRAIRIE -- Walter "Emmitt" Robison of East Prairie claimed he's never won a biscuit in his life, but after winning the Missouri Lottery last weekend, Robison will have plenty of dough for all the biscuits he could ever want. On Aug. 20 the 70-year-old former deputy sheriff for Mississippi County said he and his wife, Christine, stopped at Casey's, 605 W. Washington, in East Prairie...

SIKESTON -- The Missouri State Highway Patrol will conduct a memorial service for Corporal John A. "Jay" Sampietro, Jr., a 13-year veteran of the Patrol recently killed in the line of duty in Webster County on Aug. 17. Sampietro was raised in the Sikeston area and served as a Sikeston DPS officer and Missouri State Trooper in Southeast Missouri before transferring to Rogersville in 2003...

Report gripes Today's Thursday, Aug. 18, and I was just out at the Memorial Park Cemetery. The grass was more than knee-high. The only place that was mowed was what you could see from the street and around the office. They have a total disregard for our loved ones who are buried there. ...

Well, well, well! Our friends in Washington, D.C. have at long last discovered that we have a severe problem with illegal immigration. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff this week said the feds will "significantly strengthen" their efforts to control our borders. We take them at their word but we hope it's not too late...

BERTRAND - Steven and Angela Wheeler are the parents of their third child, second daughter, born at 11:32 p.m. July 23, 2005, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. Samyiah Renee Wheeler was born weighing 7 pounds, 8 ounces and 20 inches long. Mrs. Wheeler, employed by Susanna Wesley Learning Center, is the daughter of Barbara Sharp of LeCenter, Ky., and Clarence Lawrence of Charleston...

SIKESTON - A daughter was born to Mr. and Mrs. Norman Crane of Sikeston at the local hospital Aug. 22. NEW MADRID - Supt. Leemon L. Schuette will not be on the New Madrid faculty. In his place will be Frank Wiley, 37, formerly of Keytesville. SIKESTON - J.T. ...

Portageville's Trey Mosby looks to go around a Dexter defender Friday night at the Dexter Jamboree. The regular season begins Friday night. For more on the jamborees at Sikeston, Dexter and Malden turn to today's sports section.

BLOOMFIELD - Pallbearers for services conducted Friday at Watkins and Sons Funeral Home in Dexter for Herbert C. Rhine, 56, who died Aug. 18, 2005, were: Jamie Rhine, Grant Snyder, Joey Rhine, Luke Rhine, Deward Philpott and George Jaco.

PUXICO - Pallbearers for funeral services held Saturday at the Watkins and Sons Chapel in Puxico for Cecil A. "Jake" McGowen, 74, who died Aug. 25, 2005, were: Brandon McGowen, Davie Hobbs, Robert Midgett, Allen Clark, Rick Payne and Ben Clark.

FLORISSANT - Michael Sean Morgan, 30, formerly of Charleston and Bloomfield, died Aug. 25, 2005, at his home. Born July 22, 1975, in Charleston to Charles David Morgan of Florissant and Margie Ellen Blasingain Morgan of St. Louis, he had lived in the St. Louis area since 1990. He was of the Baptist belief...

PORTAGEVILLE - Lillian Marie "Mary Jane" Bivins Prince, 82, died Aug. 25, 2005, at St. Francis Hospital in Cape Girardeau. Born March 3, 1923, at Portageville, she was the daughter of the late Joseph Henry and Asellee Cavender Bivins. On Oct. 2, 1938, in Portageville, she married Haggard E. Prince who preceded her in death on May 4, 1997...

SAN LEANDRO, Calif. - Floyd Earl Stevens, 88, formerly of Dexter, Mo., died Aug. 19, 2005, at the San Leandro Hospital. Born Nov. 13, 1916, in Missouri, son of the late George A. and Harriet Vaughn Stevens, he was a 20-year veteran of the U.S. Navy having served 1941-1961, a former sheet metal mechanic, a member of the Dexter Masonic Lodge No. 532, and a member of the Retired Enlisted Association...

CATRON - Ralph W. Borton, 48, died Aug. 25, 2005, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. Born July 20, 1957, in Placercille, Calif., son of the late Ralph I. and Thelma Davis Borton, he was employed at Noranda, was a member of the CB's in the U.S. Navy, and was a member of the New Madrid Eagles Aerie No. 4206. He was an avid outdoorsman who loved hunting and archery...

DEXTER - Pansy P. Jones, 94, died Aug. 26, 2005, at the Southern Healthcare Facility in Dexter. Born Oct. 3, 1910, in Aid, daughter of the late Thomas P. and Roxie Rittenberry Davis, she had lived in Aid as a young woman and later in Oregon and East St. Louis, Ill. In 1965 she moved to Dexter where she lived until moving to the Gideon Care Center. She was a member of the Assembly of God Church in Bloomfield...

CHARLESTON - Geneva Finley, 90, died at 6:20 a.m. Aug. 27, 2005, at The Arbors in Cape Girardeau. Born Aug. 2, 1915, in East Prairie, daughter of the late Jim Ben and Delphia Murphy Greer, since 1938 she had lived in Charleston where she was an active member of the First Baptist Church serving as a member of the kitchen committee and as a worker in the nursery department and vacation Bible school. She had also served as a Worthy Matron of the Eastern Star...

CAPE GIRARDEAU - Edwin F. Birk, 94, passed away Aug. 25, 2005, at the Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau. Born April 16, 1911, at Tilsit, Mo., son of Otto J. and Freda Lange Birk, he was baptized and confirmed at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Tilsit. On Feb. 4, 1934, at Immanuel Lutheran Church, he married Alma Fluegge. They were married 64 years when she passed away April 22, 1998...