Stories from Friday, January 27, 2006

Of all the different varieties of fantasy baseball (rotisserie, points leagues, head to head, stock market, etc.) one thing is for sure-- keeper leagues are gaining in popularity. If you are in a league or are going to be in a league that implements a keeper rule, it means that all owners are allowed and sometimes even required to "protect" a particular number of players from the previous year's roster. The number of players protected can vary depending on your league's rules...

CHARLESTON -- The Dexter Lady Bearcats rolled to a 58-15 road win over the Charleston Lady Jays on Thursday. Dexter (15-3), No. 1 in the latest Southeast Missouri Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association Poll, jumped to a 15-2 first-quarter lead and never looked back...

JEFFERSON CITY -A Chaffee man will serve on a state council. Sen. Jason Crowell, R-Cape Girardeau announced senate confirmation of gubernatorial appointees whom he sponsored for membership. Donald D. Hester of Chaffee was confirmed to serve as a member of the Missouri Training and Employment Council, which studies and makes recommendations regarding the improvement of the state's job training service delivery network. ...

SIKESTON -- The ribbon cutting was just a formality Thursday. The classrooms which are part of the expansion at the Sikeston Area Higher Education Center are already in use. But Thursday's Sikeston Area Chamber of Commerce luncheon gave many local residents their first opportunity to see the 10,800-square-foot addition. Before and after the meeting, the public toured the new classrooms, science laboratory, office space and child care center...

Mark Williams, a Sikeston Board of Municipal Utilities employee, replaces the high voltage switch at Lake and First streets Thursday afternoon. The new automated switch ties the feeder circuit from different substatitions which will increase system relibiabity and reduce outage times for customers. Over 35 of the high voltage switches have been replaced since 1999 and the remaining switches will be replaced within the next two years...

CHARLESTON -- Charleston is gearing up to participate in the Missouri Department of Economic Development's Enhanced Enterprise Zone program. "We are putting one of those together here," confirmed Bill Green of Corporate Real Estate Solutions, a consultant for the city of Charleston, during the regular Mississippi County Commission meeting Thursday...

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Eugene N. Cunningham, 77, died Jan. 25, 2006, at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. Born Nov. 25, 1928, in Cape Girardeau, son of the late Roy H. and Emily Kage Cunningham, he attended high school in Blytheville, Ark. He owned and operated High View Park near Jackson from 1949 -1974, was a substitute mail carrier for the Jackson Post Office and worked for the former Landgraf Construction Co. ...

DEXTER -- Edna Chloteel Middleton, 81, died Jan. 26, 2006, at her home. Born Sept. 24, 1924, at Essex, daughter of the late Albert and Mary Swinger Creed, she was a homemaker and a member of the Church of the Brethren at Frisco. On Dec. 23, 1955, at Hernando, Miss., she married Charles Middleton who survives of the home...

CANALOU -- Pallbearers for services conducted Thursday at Nunnelee Funeral Chapel in Sikeston for Katie Lawanda Thomas, 77, who died on Jan. 24, 2006, were: Eugene Lambert, Ray Northcutt, Roger Northcutt, Shane Humphrey, Harold Springs and Charles Campbell...

TROY, Mich. -- Vera Edith Corbin, 89, died Jan. 25, 2006, in the William Beaumont Hospital at Royal Oak, Mich. Born March 17, 1916, in Stoddard County, daughter of the late James and Gertie Robinson, she was a homemaker and a member of the Woodside Bible Church at Troy...

FESTUS - Katie Doris Gwaltney, 102, died Jan. 25, 2006, at the Festus Manor Nursing Home. Born Dec. 18, 1903, at Leora, the daughter of the late James Thomas and Susan Henrietta Tucker Hobgood, she was a homemaker and a member of the Bernie General Baptist Church...

DEXTER - Pearl Hessling, 89, died Jan. 26, 2006, in the Missouri Southern Healthcare. Arrangements are incomplete at the Rainey-Mathis Funeral Home in Dexter.

Mr. Jensen's column last week on the SBA exhibited many errors and a substantial lack of factual information on the program he was writing about. The head of the SBA has asked me to submit this letter to the editor in response: Setting the Record Straight on STAR Loans...

Would the man that bought the metal shelf from the White Elephant please return it? It wasn't for sale. We do need more jobs here in Sikeston, but we also need good, competitive banks to finance new businesses to provide those jobs. I personally welcome the new bank and the advancement they made in purchasing a vacant building in a growing area in Sikeston. We need to get every empty building filled with new businesses and keep Sikeston growing stronger...

NEW MADRID - The Sikeston Lady Bulldogs basketball team picked up a SEMO Conference road win on Thursday night over the New Madrid County Central Lady Eagles, 59-29. Sikeston took control of the game early with a suffocating zone defense and transition baskets...

NEW MADRID - Shavon Townsend is the mother of her second child, second son, born Dec. 26, 2005, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. Natavis Marquan weighed 7 pounds and was 19 inches long. CAPE GIRARDEAU - Amy and Billy Baudendistel are the parents of their first child, a son, born at 3:38 a.m. Dec. 27, 2005, at Saint Francis Medical Center's Family BirthPlace in Cape Girardeau. Carson Brey Baudendistel weighed six pounds, 4 ounces, and was 19.75 inches long...

SIKESTON - The Sikeston High School Bulldogs, fighting an uphill battle all the way, lost another heartbreaker Friday night, this time to the Dexter Bearcats, 36-35. SIKESTON - During Boy Scout Week Feb. 7-13, Scouts plan to take over the city and assume the duties of officials. They will have a police force to patrol the city and seek law violators. If a Boy Scout should find a car over parked, he will drop a penny in the meter and leave a note under the windshield wiper...