Stories from Thursday, January 19, 2006

Did you see the report last week about the Small Business Administration loan program for businesses hurt by the Sept. 11 terrorist attack? Had you read the report, you would agree that every single top official at the SBA should be fired at the very least. Some jail time for tampering with our tax dollars would also be appropriate...

Sikeston Public Works employee Todd Kennard uses a jack-hammer to remove asphalt off the bricks on North New Madrid Street. The city of Sikeston crew is currently in the process of removing the asphalt in the downtown area.

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- The Sikeston 8th grade basketball team lost its first game of the season on Wednesday with a defeat at the hands of Cape Central in the Cape Central Eighth Grade Tournament. Sikeston came into the game undefeated and seeded first in the tournament after having dispatched of Cape Central twice this season by lopsided scores...

BENTON - The Dexter Lady Bearcats basketball team gained a road victory over the Kelly Lady Hawks on Wednesday night, 50-41. Led by 5-foot-9 senior forward Taylor Nelson and 5-10 junior center Bailey Stanley in the post, Dexter outscored Kelly 42-25 in the paint which was the difference in the contest...

ST. LOUIS -- Sikeston's Select Team did outstanding in their first indoor tournament held at Dellwood Soccer Arena in St. Louis. We competed against some of St. Louis' select select teams and played to win with good sportsmanship. We played a total of three division games, walking away with two wins and a tie. By the end of our division games, Tyler Neal led the team with six goals, Brandon Goodwin had two goals and Josh Reed and Cody Middleton each had one goal...

Why does the post office say that Taylor is a street when the sign on the corner says its an Avenue? I recently received a packet of prayer medallions I ordered from an east coast company. The packet was cut open when I received it and, while the packing slip was in it, the prayer medallions were gone. ...

On Jan. 13, 2006 a Seminole County, Florida Sheriff's actions based on bad intelligence resulted in the illegal immoral shooting of an innocent 15-year- old boy. The sheriff's swat team responded with lethal force without the consent of the majority of the student body. (They didn't even ask for a vote.) They unilaterally took it upon themselves to bully their way into a preemptive strike. They should have sent in negotiators. Violence should have been the last resort, not the first option...

MARSEILLE, France - Pfc. Lindell Hitchcock of Sikeston is a teletype operator here for the headquarters of Calais Staging Area, a huge redeployment center in Southern France, where at the high point men make their last stop in Europe. --- SIKESTON - Taking a small early lead and holding it throughout the game, the Jackson Indians defeated the Sikeston Bulldogs in Sikeston Tuesday night, 29-25...

FULTON -- Frank Wesley Hutchason, 84, died Jan. 17, 2006, at the Harry S. Truman Veterans Hospital in Columbia. Born Jan. 17, 1922, in Sikeston, son of the late Clarence Albert and Bertha Bell Brown Hutchason, he served in the U.S. Navy during World War II in the Philippines. He was employed as a truck driver for hauling cars. Later, he worked as a jailer for the Callaway County Sheriff's Department...

CHAFFEE - Charles "Sonny" Rister, 68, died at 6 a.m. Jan. 17, 2006, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. Born Aug. 29, 1937, in Chaffee, son of the late Arlie Otis and Dora Mildred Stidham Rister Sr., he was a security guard for Security Services of America in Chaffee and worked from 1959 until retirement in 1980 as a brakeman for Cotton Belt Railroad in Scott City. ...

CHAFFEE - Ralph Evans, 92, died Jan. 19, 2006, at Chaffee Nursing Center in Chaffee. Arrangements are incomplete with Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel in Oran.

DEXTER - Mary M. Colove, 68, died Jan. 17, 2006, at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. Born Nov. 6, 1937, in Naylor, daughter of the late Joe and Hattie Jennings Whitaker, she was a member of the First Pentecostal Church in Dexter and a self-employed accountant...

MORLEY - Charlie Breedlove, 71, died Jan. 19, 2006, at Sikeston. Arrangements are incomplete with Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel in Oran.

ESSEX - Joyce Burge, 54, died Jan. 17, 2006, in St. Louis University Hospital at St. Louis. Born Oct. 22, 1951, at Ponca City, Okla., daughter of Martha Neely Burge of Essex and the late Earl William Burge, she was a former secretary for the V.N.A. in Dexter and a member of the Essex First Baptist Church...

SIKESTON - Visitation for John Richard Lashmet, 58, who died Jan. 12, 2006, will be from 2 p.m. until time for a memorial service at 3 p.m. at Ponder Funeral Home in Sikeston. The Rev. Jim Barnhart, associate pastor of Miner Baptist Church, will officiate...

SPRINGFIELD - Daniel and Lori Lynch are the parents of their first child, a son, born at 9:15 p.m. Nov. 10, 2005, at Cox Medical Center in Springfield. Dane Patrick Lynch weighed 6 pounds, 10 ounces, and was 21 inches long. Maternal grandparents are Leon and Donna Wallace of Reed's Spring...

SIKESTON -- Voters will have to make some tough decisions during the April 4 election as most local school board candidates are contested this year. Current Sikeston R-6 Board of Education president Ann Jones and vice president Julie Crader Dolan will be challenged by Scott Crumpecker in the upcoming election. Voters will pick two of the three candidates for three-year terms...

SIKESTON -- The wait is over for voters wondering who's running for expiring governmental positions in their towns. Because Sikeston and Charleston are cities that have a possibility of primary elections, these filings ended Nov. 22. But for the rest of the municipalities, filing closed Tuesday for city council positions to be decided in the April 4 municipal election...

SIKESTON -- Ferguson Medical Group has bumped up its lawsuit against former partners and Missouri Delta Medical Center by filing federal antitrust claims against the hospital. The claims fall under the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 which was passed to address improper, predatory, harmful competitive practices, according to Jay A. Summerville, FMG's attorney...