Stories from Thursday, May 11, 2006

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Sikeston Public Schools and the Athletic department for supporting the Sikeston Stumpers Track Club 2nd annual track meet. I would also like to thank the parents, coaches and volunteers for making our event a success...

We would like to extend our appreciation to the city workers of Morehouse who cut down the big tree in the back of our mother's yard that had fallen during the storm. Thanks bunches. We really appreciate you. Gloria and Rodney Shell. Well now Mr. Moore, I see those Cubbies have sank to the basement. But I guess your used to that...

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- The Southeast Missouri State University Alumni Association has selected a Sikeston resident as one of eight alumni to receive the University's 2006 Young Alumni Merit Award. Larry Eby will be among the eight honored at a commencement luncheon at 12:15 p.m. Saturday in the Student Recreation Center and will be recognized during spring commencement exercises at 2 p.m. Saturday in the Show Me Center...

The members of the junior class at New Madrid County Central are busy transforming the high school gymnasium into "Midnight in the Garden" for the school's prom. Gathering the bunting at the top of the scaffolding is Ashley Taylor. The grand march for the prom begins at 8 p.m. Saturday...

CAPE GIRARDEAU - Two Southeast Missouri men were sentenced on drug charges Wednesday in a court appearance before United States District Judge Catherine D. Perry. Demarco Partee, 30, of Portageville, was sentenced to 60 months imprisonment on one felony count of distribution of cocaine base. Upon release from prison, he will be placed on supervised release for a period of four years...

SIKESTON - The Superior Stationary Co., a recently organized business firm, announced through its business manager, Howard Handwerker, that it is open for business. SIKESTON - Postmaster Pleas M. Malcolm today urged citizens who have funds in deposit in the abolished Postal Savings Plan System to convert their holdings into U.S. Savings Bonds...

John Ashcroft was inducted into the Famous Missourians Hall of Fame at the state capitol this week. The ceremony should also have included an honorary member - Sharon Curtiss-Rivera. It's a long story but last August, the Missouri Department of Social Services mailed 339,000 letters to Medicaid recipients in Missouri to explain changes in the health care program. Problem was, the letter listed Ms. Curtiss-Rivera's phone number in Montana instead of the correct number in Missouri...

NEW MADRID - Two Morehouse residents are to be arraigned today on drug charges. Officers with the SEMO Drug Task Force, the New Madrid County Sheriff's Department and Morehouse Police Department served search warrant at a Morehouse residence on Tuesday night...

SIKESTON - Mary Lavada Freed, 82, died at 11:30 a.m. May 9, 2006, at her home. Born March 25, 1924, in Dublin, Ark., to the late Joseph Lenus and Virgie Holt Ranzie, she was a homemaker and of the Baptist belief. On March 20, 1943, she married Samuel Everett Manning who preceded her in death on Sept. 20, 1945. She later married Paul L. Freed on Oct. 1, 1946, in Charleston, and he preceded her in death on Jan. 14, 2006...

CHILLICOTHE - Geraldine Laverne "Jere" Weeks, 78, died May 5, 2006, at C.W. Gerstenberg Hospice Center of Palm Beach County in West Palm Beach, Fla. Born July 17, 1927, in Edwardsville, Ill., daughter of Hershel and Nellie Dalhaus McDonough, she was a 1945 graduate of Mount Carmel High School in Mount Carmel, Ill., a Hedrick Medical Center volunteer and member of Retired Senior Volunteer Program. ...

DEXTER -- Harriet LaRue, 77, died May 10, 2006, at the Missouri Southern Healthcare in Dexter. Born July 26, 1928, in Dexter, daughter of the late Dr. Frank and Pauline Sisler LaRue, she was a 1946 Dexter High School graduate and went on to graduate with a bachelor's degree in teaching from Missouri State University. She taught in Bloomfield, Bonne Terre and St. Louis before going back to Missouri State University where she obtained her master's degree...

SIKESTON -- George Lowell Howe, 87, died May 10, 2006, at his home in Sikeston. Born Jan. 5, 1919, near Bristow, Ind., he was the son of the late Cleve and Ida Howe Kimberlin. His mother died when he was 2 years old, and he was adopted by his mother's first cousins, J. ...

EAST PRAIRIE -- Ruby June Baker, 86, died at 4:35 p.m. May 10, 2006, at the East Prairie Nursing Center. Born June 3, 1919, in Oran, to the late Howard Edward and Laura Annie Owensby Levan, she had lived in East Prairie a number of years, having lived in the Mississippi County area her entire life. She was a member of the St. James General Baptist Church in East Prairie...

NEW MADRID - Buddy Kimball died May 10, 2006, at his home. Arrangements are incomplete with Richards Funeral Home in New Madrid.

NEW MADRID -- Doris A. Kelley, 56, died May 10, 2006, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. Arrangements are incomplete with Richards Funeral Home in New Madrid.

The rider must stay aboard the bull for 8 seconds. The clock starts when the bull's shoulder or hip crosses the plane of the bucking chutes and stops when the bull rider's hand comes out of the rope or he touches the ground. The bull rider must hold on with only one hand and is disqualified if he touches himself or the bull with the other hand during the eight-second ride...

SIKESTON -- The Sikeston Jaycee Health Facilities Rehab PBR bull riding event is back again and even better. "It's going to be a great event," said Justin Wibbenmeyer of the Sikeston Jaycees, general chairman for the event. "I think everybody in Sikeston who made it out there last year enjoyed what they saw - that's why we've decided to do it again. Hopefully we can make it a long tradition like our rodeo has been."...

SIKESTON - A high-speed car chase through Sikeston resulted in the arrest of a Wisconsin man wanted on a felony Scott County probation warrant. Sikeston Department of Public Safety Director Drew Juden said detectives were in the area of the 500 block of Cole Street around 10:30 a.m. ...