Stories from Monday, January 29, 2007

DEXTER -- Pallbearers at services conducted Saturday at Watkins and Sons Funeral Home in Dexter for Charley S. Robinett, 90, who died Jan. 25, 2007, were: Gordon Robinett, Doug Robinett, Kevin Robinett, Keith Robinett, John Robinett, Cody Robinett and Landon Layton...

NEW MADRID - Tommie D. Palmer, 91, died peacefully Jan. 27, 2007, at the New Madrid Golden Age Center. Born April 24, 1915, in Tennessee, daughter of the late John Wesley and Dora Clifton Brashier, she was a homemaker and a Christian. She moved to New Madrid in 1954 with her husband...

DEXTER -- Thomas Wayne Evans, 76, died Jan. 28, 2007, in the Golden Living Center at Malden. Born Dec. 3, 1930, at Kennett, son of the late Jewell and Eva Crawford Evans, he was a former butcher for IGA and Kroger and food broker for Bean Patterson. He retired from Bud Shell Ford in Dexter and was a member of the First Baptist Church in Dexter...

DEXTER - Nora L. Powell, 82, died Jan. 27, 2007, at her home. Born Oct. 15, 1924, at Ridgely, Tenn., daughter of the late William and Rose Clark Gribble, she was a homemaker. On Nov. 20, 1960, at Fisk, she married Clarence Powell who preceded her in death on April 8, 1981...

SCOTT CITY - Alleen Anna Blattel, 90, died Jan. 26, 2007, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. Born Sept. 9, 1916, in Fornfelt, to the late Peter John and Bertha Westerhold Hoffman, she and her first husband owned and operated Tony's Jewelry Store in Cape Girardeau for 37 years. She was a member of St. Joseph Catholic Church and the Ladies Auxiliary VFW Post 6407 in Scott City...

CHARLESTON - Patricia Cooper, 47, died Jan. 25, 2007, at Sikeston. Born Nov. 20, 1959, in Doniphan, to the late Robert Lewis and Edna A. Sisco Maxwell, she attended the Smith Ave. Baptist Church at Sikeston. She was formerly married to Claude Cooper, who survives...

BENTON -- J.W. Wiedefeld, 57, died Jan. 26, 2007, at his home. Born Sep. 29, 1949, in Cape Girardeau, son of the late Elmer Charles "Johnny" and Anna Marie Scheffer Wiedefeld, he was a laborer with Operating Engineers Local 513. A U.S. Army veteran of the Vietnam War, he was a member of St. Denis Catholic Church in Benton...

PORTAGEVILLE - Earnest Alvin Zook, 67, died Jan. 27, 2007, at Pemiscot Memorial Health System in Hayti. He was born Sept. 5, 1939, in Portageville to Jewel Baughn Zook of Portageville and the late Luther Zook. In addition to his mother, he is survived by several nieces and nephews...

SIKESTON - Billy D. Casey, 76, died at 11:33 p.m. Jan. 28, 2007, at his home. Born March 11, 1930, at Mize, Miss., son of the late J.O. and Pearl Fitzpatrick Casey, he was a self-employed carpenter and painter. He was a former member of Christ Gospel Church and a present member of Harbor Light Christian Center. A musician, he had played piano, banjo, guitar and fiddle with gospel and country groups...

SIKESTON - William Richmond "Rich" Lewis III, 39 years of age, son of William Richmond "Bill" Lewis Jr. of Sikeston and Kristin (Dahlby) Johnson of Citrus Springs, Fla., died unexpectedly while on vacation with his father in Acapulco, Mexico. A memorial service for family and friends will be held at the First Christian Church, 1006 N. Main in Sikeston, at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 30, at which the Rev. Mary McCord, pastor of First Christian Church, will officiate...

NEW MADRID - Sale of the Southeast Missouri Oil Mill Inc. of New Madrid to Buckeye Oil Co. was announced this week by David M. Barton. MATTHEWS - Peggy Lou Lathum, by finishing first in a written homemaking knowledge and attitude test, became the 1967 Matthews R-5 High School Homemaker of Tomorrow...

Jake Vanpool displays a Bleacher Bum T-shirt to Conor MacGillivray during Saturday's Sikeston-Portageville basketball game at the Field House. The Bleacher Bums were holding their annual chilli and spaghetti supper to raise funds for local charities. The Bleacher Bums will have another chilli and spaghetti supper on Sikeston's homecoming night on Feb. 9 when the Bulldogs host Cape Central...

BLOOMFIELD -- Donations made to honor veterans buried at the Missouri State Veterans Cemetery at Bloomfield are being put to good use. The Bloomfield Assistance League of the Missouri Veterans Cemetery was formed as a not-for-profit corporation in the summer of 2004 following the dedication of the cemetery in the fall of 2003 to handle donations to the cemetery...

Ashley Withrow, 2, braves the cold while playing at the Sikeston Sports Complex. Many will stay indoors today as the high is expected to remain in the 30s.

The TV news was bad news today for Mr. and Mrs. Bill and Hillary Clinton. Reckon she'll be impeached too, like the pimp was, and lie to the Supreme Court about it? He is such a good liar, I wonder if it's rubbed off on to her. Or if they'll make a brothel out of the White House that we pay all expenses on? Can't you just picture Bill back home underneath his desk and all those big smiles? And now it hasn't taken Hillary long to change her mind on Iraq either. ...

CARUTHERSVILLE - Caruthersville Police have arrested a man in connection with the armed robbery of a pizza delivery person. Tobijah Rodgers, 20, of Caruthersville was arrested on charges of first degree robbery and armed criminal action on Friday. He is charged in connection with the Jan. 24 robbery of a delivery person with Pizza for Less...

PORTAGEVILLE - In her 27 years as an educator, Linda Stevens estimates she has taught some 3,000 young people. Some have gone on to be teachers just like her, others keep in touch with an occasional phone call or visit and at least one has nominated her as a teacher who has had the "greatest influence on their lives, either as a student or an individual."...

Editor's Note: Not often do we run unsigned letters and not often do we run letters of this length. In this one case, we thought the message was worth making an exception. We believe "John Q. Public" speaks for many of us on topics from federal grants to the war in Iraq....

SIKESTON - Tina and Mark Merrick are the parents of their second child, second daughter, born at 7:32 p.m. Dec. 13, 2006, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. Morgan West Merrick weighed 7 pounds, 15 ounces, and was 18.5 inches long. Maternal grandparents are Robert and Brenda Brown of Sikeston...

CHARLESTON -- The Charleston Bluejays withstood a furious second-half rally by the Notre Dame Bulldogs to escape with a 73-71 SEMO Conference victory on Saturday. Senior guard Shawn Sherrell's runner in the lane with 1.5 seconds left rescued the 'Jays, who saw a 16-point halftime lead vanish...

SIKESTON -- The Sikeston girls basketball team fell to 3-14 on the season with a 61-38 loss to Portageville Saturday afternoon. Sikeston led 12-11 after one quarter, but Portageville took control of the game from there. Portageville led 28-22 at the half and put the game away in the second half, out-scoring Sikeston 34-17...

SIKESTON -- For three quarters on Saturday afternoon against Portageville, the Sikeston Bulldogs looked like the state contenders everybody had been waiting for. But an all-too-familiar trend reared its ugly head as the Bulldogs blew another big lead, only to watch Portageville rally and escape with an improbable 64-63 victory at the Field House...