Stories from Friday, November 24, 2006

SIKESTON -- Within the last two weeks, the Sikeston Department of Public Safety officials report two scams have been tried on residents in Sikeston. In both of these scams, the intended victims were contacted via the internet. In one scam the intended victim was being used as a middle person to broker an exchange of merchandise and guaranteed money if they would cash a check and send the largest portion of the money back to them via Western Union...

SIKESTON -- Billy James and James-Robinson Motorsports will wrap up the 2006 campaign this Friday and Saturday night, November 24th-25th at Columbus Speedway in Columbus, Mississippi for the 6th Annual Possum Town Grand Prix. The Sikeston native spent much of the 2006 season chasing the points championship with the ultra-competitive Mid America Racing Series (M.A.R.S.) Super Late Models...

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Several local football players were honored with their performances this season as the Southeast Missouri Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association released its all-region teams. The Sikeston Bulldogs had no first team selections, but four players were picked for the second team in Class 4...

SIKESTON -- Perfection. In any competition, that's the aim. And at last weekend's Missouri Cheer Coaches Association state cheerleading competition in Columbia, that's what the Sikeston Senior High cheerleaders achieved. "Saturday was the first time we did it with no mistakes," said sophomore Kortney Cook. The squad went on to win first place in the Class 4 - Large category, competing against 12 other squads...

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- The Sikeston junior varsity basketball team evened its record at 1-1 as they defeated the Blytheville J.V. 48-42 in the Notre Dame Junior Varsity Tournament on Wednesday evening. Sikeston played Farmington this morning for the consolation championship. Results from that game will be in Sunday's edition...

SIKESTON -- A flurry of activity in the parking lots and inside Sikeston stores by 6 a.m. and earlier and continuing through the day can only mean one thing: it's Black Friday. Young and old came out for the deals, some with family and friends and others solo, some first-time shoppers and others veterans with years of experience...

SIKESTON - Joy Allen and Mary Keaton have announced that they will open the Jack and Jill Shop at the former location of the P.J. Auto Store. SIKESTON - Beginning Thursday, Sikeston telephone users must dial 1 before making station-to-station long distance telephone calls. The change comes from newly installed equipment at the Southwestern Bell Telephone office in town...

Is our post office short-handed or what? Once again our neighborhood of Laurelwood, Thornwood and Tanglewood is receiving our mail very, very late in the evening. This is bad for several reasons. It is so much easier to be able to pick up our mail when we get home from work rather than go back outside in the middle of the night with flashlights in this cold weather to get our mail. ...

ARNOLD -- Helen "Lois" Gambill, 86, formerly of Wappapello, died Nov. 19, 2006, at Woodland Manor in Arnold. Born Feb. 7, 1920, at East Prairie, she was retired from McDonnell Douglas and had lived in Arnold for 20 years after living for several years in Wappapello...

WARRENSBURG -- Sherley D. Riddle, 75, died Nov. 21, 2006, at Warrensburg. Born Aug. 21, 1931, at Holcomb, she was the daughter of the late Leslie William and Emmaline Belle Whitson Taylor Sr. On Jan. 15, 1949, in St. Louis, she married Grover William Riddle Sr. who preceded her in death on Feb. 17, 2000...

CHAFFEE - Frances Louise Slinkard, 75, died at 8:35 p.m. Nov. 21, 2006, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. Born June 27, 1931, at Dexter, to the late Florence Evelyn Goodman and William Sherman Davenport, she was a homemaker and a member of First Assembly of God Church in Chaffee...

CHARLESTON - Joe Shelby, 68, died Nov. 18, 2006, at the Charleston Manor Skilled Nursing Facility. He was born July 15, 1938, in Charleston to the late Ceaster Shelby and Hattie Spillers Moore. Survivors include: one son, Bobby Joe Shelby of Kansas City, Mo.; two daughters, Sherrie Shelby and Brenda Shelby of Charleston; three brothers, Bobby Moore, Fred Roger and Lindsey Roger of Charleston; seven sisters, Rose Graham, Barbara Moore, Shirley Murray and Dorothy Bankhead of Charleston, Ruth Harrington and Almetta Perarson of Davenport, Iowa, and Delmarie Moore of St. ...

ESSEX -- Billy Joe Williams, 76, died Nov. 21, 2006, at the Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. Born May 6, 1930, in Blytheville, Ark., son of the late Ernie and Bessie Williams, he had lived in Essex since 1964. On June 28, 1953, at Piggott, Ark., he married Mildred Sanders who preceded him in death on Dec. 19, 2003...

SIKESTON - Jackie Lee "Jack" Taylor, 71, died at 1:20 a.m., Nov. 22, 2006, at his residence. Born Jan. 18, 1935, in Sikeston, to Gazle Davis Taylor of Sikeston and the late Delmar Taylor, he served as a corporal in the U.S. Army during the occupation of France and Germany and was self-employed in construction. He was in the Men's Ministry at Trinity Gospel Church, was a private pilot, and was a loving husband, father and grandfather...