Stories from Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Nobody asked me but...what Sikeston basketball fans have been thirsting for over eight months is finally upon us, the start of another high school boys basketball season. What has caused this stir across the coffee shops and living rooms all across this wonderful town? Right or wrong, ever since the Bulldogs had a storybook run through the playoffs and finished second in Class 4, the town-folk have amped up expectations for a team that returns a majority of the starting lineup from a season ago...

SIKESTON - The Sikeston Bulldogs wrestling team dropped the first match of the year at home to the Poplar Bluff Mules, 55-18. Nick DeLaRosa and Josh Northern both won by pin for the Bulldogs and Gavilan Bland won his match by forfeit for Sikeston's points...

NEW MADRID - The 12th annual Riverbend Classic at New Madrid County Central heats up this weekend starting this Friday afternoon with high caliber high school basketball action. The classic, commonly known as the "Rumble by the River", began in 1994 and this year's installment will include four teams from Missouri, and teams from Arkansas, Tennessee and Mississippi...

CHARLESTON -- The first Turkey Trot, an 8K road race along with other track events, was held on Saturday at Marshall Field in Charleston. The event was conducted by the family of the late Adam McGee along with Splitmaster Timing and Race Management in an effort to raise funds for the Adam McGee Memorial Scholarship...

Due to the Thanksgiving holiday, the offices of the Standard Democrat will be closed on Thursday and no paper will be printed. The office will reopen at 7: 30 a.m. Friday and publishing will resume. The employees at the Standard Democrat wish all our readers and their families a happy and safe Thanksgiving...

SIKESTON -- While shopping for family and friends' gifts this holiday season, people may want to remember those less fortunate and put a few extra canned goods in their cart. Dorene Johnson, executive director of the Bootheel Food Bank, said there has been "an overall reduction in food and funds," this year...

SIKESTON -- The SEMO North All-Conference team was released on Tuesday and four Sikeston players were selected to the squad. The Bulldogs had one offensive player picked and three defensive players were picked by the league coaches. Joe Moore, a senior offensive lineman was the lone offensive pick for the Bulldogs...

SIKESTON -- A Scott County roundup resulted 32 arrests in a four-hour period Tuesday morning. Armed with two search warrants, 40 grand jury indictments, along with five parole absconder warrants, officers from the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Missouri Department of Probation and Parole, Scott County Sheriff's Department and the Sikeston Department of Public Safety took to the streets while the Missouri National Guard helicopter took to the sky...

BENTON -- Money for a homeless shelter project will be routed through Scott County, but county officials will not have to administer the grant. During the regular County Commission meeting Tuesday, Joe E. Lane, director of community planning for the Bootheel Regional Planning and Economic Development Commission at Dexter, updated commissioners on the Community Development Block Grant...

Ava Huffstutler and JoAnn Peridore, members of First Baptist Church of Sikeston, decorate the base of tree for the church's Living Christmas Tree program. Opening night for the Living Christmas Tree is Dec. 1 with performances set for Dec. 2 and 3 also. ...

SIKESTON - Heath and Angelia Thomas are the parents of their third child, second son, born at 5:41 a.m. Oct. 4, 2006, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. Jack Riley Thomas weighed 8 pounds, 13 ounces, and was 20 inches long. Maternal grandparents are Debbie and David Franks and John and Michi Launius...

KELSO - Andrew Frank Kieffer, 88, died Nov. 19, 2006, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. Born March 22, 1918, at Chaffee, son of the late Frank Joseph and Mary Catherine Bles Kieffer, he worked for Ste. Genevieve Building and Stone until 1950 when he moved to the Kelso area and began farming. He was a staff sergeant in the U.S. Army, serving during World War II, a member of St. Augustine Catholic Church and a lifetime member of the Disabled American Veterans...

CHARLESTON -- The Rev. Murry Williams Sr., 76, died Nov. 20, 2006, in Marietta, Ga. Born July 28, 1930, in Lula, Miss., son of the late Johnny Lee and Mary McFadden Williams, he retired from Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company in East Chicago, Ind., in 1982 and was a member of Mercy Seat Baptist Church of Charleston...

SIKESTON -- Jack Taylor, 71, died at 1:20 a.m. Nov. 22, 2006, at his home in Sikeston. Arrangements are incomplete at Nunnelee Funeral Chapel.

VANDUSER - Jerry E. Wallace, 69, died Nov. 21, 2006, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. Born Aug. 7, 1937, at Vanduser, son of the late David and Mae N. Buchler Wallace, he was a truck driver for Jim Kellett and Ray Clinton before retiring...

WARRENSBURG -- Sherley D. Riddle, 75, died Nov. 21, 2006, at Warrensburg. Visitation is after 5 p.m. Friday at DeLisle Funeral Home in Portageville, where services will be conducted at 1 p.m. Saturday. Burial will follow in the Portageville Cemetery...

I woke up March 2, 2002, took my shower and did my breast cancer check- up. That night I went to bed and I had this hard pain in my right breast. I examined the source of the pain and discovered a lump in my right breast the size of a quarter. I endured the weekend concerned about what I had found and contacted my doctor the following Monday morning...

The City's leaf pickup program is all wet. Citizens were told the program would assist storm water runoff by removing leaves from street gutters. Expensive machinery was purchased. Three-man crews operate each machine. Citizens were instructed to rake leaves from their property to the curb if they wanted to participate. ...

SIKESTON - The installation of 210 parking meters got under way in Sikeston this week. Sikeston is the first town in Southeast Missouri to receive the meters. BENTON - Shirley McArthur, chairman of the Scott County ASCS committee, announced today that cotton marketing quotas will be voted on by mail Dec. 5-9. Farmers will vote on whether they favor marketing quotas for next year's cotton crop...