Stories from Friday, July 20, 2007

BERNIE -- Henry Barnes, 100, died July 19, 2007, in the General Baptist Nursing Home in Campbell. Visitation will be from 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday at the Rainey-Mathis Funeral Home in Bernie, where services will be at 2 p.m. Sunday. Burial will follow in the Chalk Bluff Cemetery...

DEXTER - Virgie Mae Brown, 85, died July 18, 2007, at the Golden Living Center in Bloomfield. Born June 20, 1922, in Parma, to the late Pat Jackson and Hattie Gregory Goode, she had lived in Dexter and Southeast Missouri all her life and was affiliated with the Pentecostal Church...

NEW MADRID -- Grethel Richardson, 90, died July 15, 2007, at her home near New Madrid. Born Jan. 20, 1917, in Osceola, Ark., to the late Pink and Hassie Allison, she was a member of Mt. Olive Baptist Church at LaForge, 4-H Club, Missionary Society, Agriculture Exchange and Order of the Eastern Star...

SCOTT CITY -- Dakota Ray Simpkins, three months old, died July 18, 2007, at his home. Born April 21, 2007, at Cape Girardeau, he was the son of Jerry Wayne "J.W." Simpkins and Leslie Nichole Provo of Scott City. Other survivors include: paternal grandparents, Ray and Sheryl Simpkins of Scott City and Jammie Oldham of Dexter; paternal great-grandparents, Jerry and Maureen Simpkins of Scott City, Barbara Town of Golconda, Ill., and Jim and Karen Oldham of Dexter; paternal great-great-grandparent, Louise Burnett of Dexter; maternal grandparents, Elton and DeAnn Provo of Lenox, Iowa; and maternal great-grandfather, Floyd Jackson Sr. ...

SCOTT CITY -- Jean Margaret Palmer, 71, died at 3:15 p.m. July 18, 2007, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. Born Jan. 5, 1936, at Caseyville, Ill., to the late Mark Leroy and Marie Exilda Randall Fults Sr., she was a bookkeeper for Auto Trim Design and a member of Cape Girardeau South Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses...

STEELE -- The former city of Steele treasurer has been charged for what officials call "a misappropriation of funds belonging to the city of Steele." According to a Thursday news release from Pemiscot County Sheriff Tommy Greenwell, Aleyna Riley, 26, has been charged with felony stealing, a class B felony...

SIKESTON - Work continues today to remove debris from railroad tracks just south of Sikeston where a train derailed. The accident occurred just before noon Thursday about a mile south of Sikeston in New Madrid County on the Burlington Northern Railroad tracks. Eleven cars of the lengthy train were crushed in the derailment, including one tanker believed to be carrying hazardous chemicals...

LOCAL RACING: Auto Tire and Parts Racepark SPRINTS #97 TOMMY WORLEY #88 JASON EVANS #14 PAUL HART #14R TODD ROWLAND #27 BOB THOMAN #66 JIMMY BREWER #7D DYLAN DEJOURNETT #3B BRAD GREER #74 SHANE WADE #7X DAVID DEJOURNETT #58 RANDY DUKES #21F RANDY STILLEY...

SIKESTON -- The Sikeston Senior Legion Post 114 baseball team is biding its time with the hope that the full roster will return for next week's district tournament. In the meantime, Post 114 is taking games on the chin. This time it was Dunklin County taking its turn, pounding Sikeston 13-5 on Thursday night at VFW Stadium...

Just a note to let you know how truly we appreciated all your recent efforts on behalf of the East Prairie High School Class of 1961. I feel so strongly that your good press contributed immensely toward the success of our events during the Sweet Corn Festival...

CHARLESTON -- Mississippi County officials believe they have found what is keeping the water too high in Ditch 23. Presiding Commissioner Jim Blumenberg said during the regular County Commission meeting Thursday that Richard Wallace, road and bridge superintendent for the county, took a boat down the ditch recently to seek out obstructions south of the culverts at County Road 320...

SIKESTON - Larry and Ashleigh Bobo are the parents of their second child, a daughter, born at 2:59 p.m. June 12, 2007, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. Sophia Ivy Bobo weighed 7 pounds, 9 ounches, and was 20.5 inches long. Maternal grandparents are Mark Kneezle and Rhonda Kneezle of Sikeston...

SIKESTON - Mr. and Mrs. James Mocabee left this morning for Dawson Springs for a vacation. SIKESTON - The Rev. Duward Penry will be installed as pastor of the First Christian Church Sunday at 3 p.m. Dr. Lester B. Rickman of Jefferson City, general secretary of the Christian Church for Missouri, will deliver the sermon of installation...

CHARLESTON -- Improvements to Interstate 57 near Charleston may disrupt traffic but MoDOT has a plan and new signs to make things less inconvenient. Eric Krapf, project manager for the Missouri Department of Transportation, presented Mississippi County commissioners with information about the project and the possibility of traffic delays during their regular meeting Thursday...

BENTON -- The Sikeston couple that faces a combined 60 counts of supplying alcohol to minors at a May graduation party pleaded not guilty. Mark Cheatham, 48, and his wife, Terry Brewer-Cheatham, 47, entered the plea during their arraignment Thursday before Judge Terry L. Brown...

We were just wondering when they were going to rename the Bill Emerson bridge. We feel like that there are a lot more people who are qualified to have their name on that bridge. We sure would like to know. I'm calling concerning the potential to adopt a pet. ...