Stories from Tuesday, March 13, 2007

NEW MADRID - The New Madrid County Central Eagles baseball team will have a younger look for the 2007 season with the bulk of their lineup consisting mostly of freshmen and sophomores. The Eagles finished last year at 9-9 and graduated two key players from that club. Shortstop Jordan Kimball took his slick fielding services to Arkansas State University and catcher Andy Gantner was an all-state selection...

HOWARDVILLE - Tasha Thomas is the parent of her fifth child, second daughter, born at 12:49 a.m. Feb. 5, 2007, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. Corrine Annette weighed 6 pounds, 12 ounces, and was 19 inches long. Grandparents are Jeannette Thomas and Sammy Thomas...

SIKESTON -- Those who paid Mike Graham and Associates in advance for caskets and vaults may end up with nothing to show for it. Local officials will keep things running at area cemeteries abandoned by the Texas company but it is unclear what those who prepaid Mike Graham and Associates for caskets and vaults will be buried in...

SIKESTON -- The city of Sikeston will serve as temporary custodian of records and perform necessary maintenance for two abandoned cemeteries. "There's three cemeteries in our area that were owned by Michael Graham and Associates, a company out of Houston, Texas," Friend said. ...

Is the city ever going to do anything about Applegate, the street that runs down beside Dudley Park? Or are they going to keep letting it go? There is a growing problem in our area with payday loans. Senior citizens especially fall prey to these places. ...

SIKESTON - A contract for the grandstand and bleachers of the VFW recreational area has been let to Clinton Bros. Construction. MINER - The board of trustees of the city of Miner replied today to City Manager W. Raymert Miller's proposal for Sikeston to charge $150 per fire call in Miner...

The Sikeston DPS responded to a three-vehicle wreck Tuesday afternoon at the corner of Kathleen and Main Streets. One of the vehicles was parked at the time of the accident. The drivers were transported to the Missouri Delta Medical Center. No further details were available at press time...

CAPE GIRARDEAU - A Hayti man will serve more than 16 years in prison for unlawful possession of a firearm. George Mooney, 37, was sentenced to 200 months on one felony count of a felon in possession of a firearm on Monday in U.S. District Court. On July 3, 2005, while living in the home of another, Mooney took a pistol belonging to the home's owner. ...

SIKESTON - Southeast Missouri cotton growers are being asked to continue a program which has dramatically reduced the boll weevil population in the Bootheel. At the request of the Missouri Cotton Grower's Organization, the Missouri Department of Agriculture is conducting a referendum on whether to begin a post-eradication boll weevil program in 2008...

AUSTIN, Texas - Alfred Roland Henson, 89, formerly of Portageville, Mo., died March 12, 2007, at his daughter's home in Austin. Arrangements are incomplete with DeLisle Funeral Home of Portageville.

WASHINGTON - Joe M. Hampton, 85, died March 12, 2007, at the Grandview Healthcare Center in Washington. Visitation is from 5-8 p.m. Wednesday at Watkins and Sons Funeral Home in Dexter, where services will be conducted at 1 p.m. Thursday.

SIKESTON - Pallbearers for the funeral services held Monday at the Missouri Veterans Cemetery in Bloomfield for Larry Pigg, who died March 9, 2007, were: Greg Miller, Don Stewart, Roy Toler, Pat Riehn, Leonard Pigg and Wally Altom. Ponder Funeral Home of Sikeston was in charge of arrangements...

RISCO -- Edward Lee Bunting, 80, died March 12, 2007, at his home. Born Aug. 3, 1926, at Kennett, son of the late Alva John and Gertie E. Crawford Bunting, he was a farmer and horse trainer. He was a veteran of the U.S. Army, serving in World War II, and of the Baptist belief...

SIKESTON - Maudie Jane Shanks, 105, died at 5:45 p.m. March 12, 2007, at the Sikeston Convalescent Center in Sikeston. Born April 9, 1901, at Klondike, to the late Lawrence and Martha Wells Page, she was a homemaker and a member of the Temple Baptist Church in Sikeston...

The city of Sikeston and Scott County should be commended for intervening in a cemetery dispute that has left far too many families holding the bag. A Texas man's company - Michael Graham and Associates - has defaulted on its obligations to two Sikeston cemeteries and that has left many families still waiting for grave markers and other items. Graham has walked away from the two cemeteries here and the one in Morley, too...