Stories from Wednesday, October 24, 2007

SIKESTON -- In the Sikeston area, there is plenty of interest in nursing careers, despite a national shortage. In fact, the problem isn't attracting students, but having the capacity to teach them and keeping them in the area, local education centers and health care representatives said...

Jack Lopp, a Sikeston Kiwanis Club member, cooks catfish during the annual fish fry Tuesday night at the Sikeston Elks Lodge. The club served over 450 pounds of fish to area residents. The proceeds from the fish fry will benefit the Sikeston area.

In response to "Out of His Control," are you really a pastor? I wouldn't want my family to sit in your congregation. We attend church for spiritual guidance and fellowship, to teach our children to do unto others, as you would have others do unto you. ...

SIKESTON - Scoring in the first, third and fourth periods, the Sikeston High School Bulldogs Friday night defeated Chaffee Indians 21-0 at the Sikeston homecoming game. SIKESTON - Ernest Elledge, 809 Poplar Drive, junior high school principal, was named Boss of the Year at the annual bosses night dinner at the Holiday Inn. Bosses' Night is sponsored by the Business and Professional Women's Club...

SIKESTON - Willie D. Young, 79, died Oct. 17, 2007, at the Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. Born June 9, 1928, in West, Miss., to the late Isaiah and Emma Green Young, he lived in Missouri for over 30 years, moving from Mississippi to St. Louis. He was a member of the Lone Branch Baptist Church in West...

LILBOURN - Bennie Lee Taylor Redman, 65, died Oct. 20, 2007, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. Born Nov. 4, 1941, in Avalon, Miss., she was the daughter of the late Louis and Mattie Anthony Taylor. One brother and two sisters also preceded her in death...

DUDLEY - Garey Dale Hayes Sr., 68, died Oct. 15, 2007, in Metropolis, Ill. Born Sept. 8, 1939, in Dudley, to the late Romey Raymond and Alberta Mae Thomas Hayes, he moved to California in the 1950s and back to Stoddard County in 1987. He was a graduate of Harnell College in Salinas, Calif. and Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. He was a bus driver for Greyhound and a veteran of the U.S. Army. He was a member of the Mormon Church and attended numerous area churches...

COLUMBIA -- Gregory Branum, 52, formerly of Cape Girardeau and Sikeston, died Oct. 23, 2007. Arrangements are incomplete and will be announced later by Ford and Sons Mt. Auburn Funeral Home in Cape Girardeau.

PORTAGEVILLE - Jimmie Flynn, 79, died Oct. 22, 2007, at Landmark Hospital in Cape Girardeau. Born Dec. 3, 1927, at Conran, to the late Frank and Nettie Hampton Flynn, he was a member of the Church of Christ in Portageville and a veteran of the U.S. Army with 20 years of service...

ST. GEORGE, Utah -- Jeanne Saulter Dixon, 76, died Oct. 21, 2007. Born May 25, 1931, in Searcy, Ark., daughter of the late James and Lily Mae Saulter, she worked 27 years in Salt Lake City as a bookkeeper for Smiths Food King. On June 25, 1949, she married Thomas Dixon, who preceded her in death. She was also preceded in death by one sister, Vera Jones; and two brothers, Sonny Saulter and James "Buster" Saulter...

DEXTER -- The Sikeston eighth grade girls basketball team won the Dexter Tournament Tuesday night 39-37 over the Dexter seventh grade team. Sikeston (5-1) was led in scoring by Tyangela Gibson's 15 points. Keyanna Blissett finished with 8 points. The Sikeston seventh and eighth grade teams will play again Monday when they travel to Jackson...

SIKESTON -- For 16-year-old Jon Ginder, having his music heard by a crowd at his school's fall concert was a dream come true. "That was the most amazing thing -- that people enjoyed what I had to express," Ginder said. The Sikeston High School junior wrote "Autumn" over the summer, and when school started, he asked his teacher, Gay French, if it could be played at the fall concert...

BENTON -- Scott County's War Memorial will soon get the finishing touch: a working fountain. During their regular meeting Tuesday, Scott County commissioners accepted a bid from Rick Alley Heating and Plumbing of Sikeston for work on the memorial's fountain plumbing and catch basin...

I have always questioned the value and/or weight of a political endorsement. I suspect that some voters teetering on the fence between two candidates might be swayed with an endorsement they find compelling for whatever reason. I hope that's the case because I've been making political endorsements for three decades. And I'll continue until I get one right!...

DEXTER--The Dexter Lady Bearcats volleyball team had a busy night on Tuesday, as they won their first match in districts over the Perryville Lady Pirates in three games, 24-26, 25-14 and 26-24. Then, the Lady Bearcats had to turn right around and play the Notre Dame Lady Bulldogs for the district title, where they fell in two straight games, 18-25 and 22-25...

Thomas CAPE GIRARDEAU - Carrie and Samuel Thomas are the parents of their first child, a daughter, born at 12:45 p.m. Sept. 14, 2007, at St. Francis Medical Center's Family BirthPlace in Cape Girardeau. Blaise Karolina Thomas weighed 6 pounds, 9 ounces, and was 19 inches long...

SIKESTON -- With the Sikeston Lady Bulldogs volleyball season coming to an end Monday night, so ended the high school careers of one of the area's most dynamic duos in Martika Davis and Rachel Beydler. Even though these ladies may have suited up in a Sikeston volleyball jersey for the final time earlier this week in district play, they will not soon be forgotten as they have both left a permanent mark in the school record books...

LIBERTY -- Former Sikeston Football Bulldog Ted Watkins, Sr. was inducted to the William Jewell College Athletic Hall of Fame as a member of the 1973 William Jewell College football team during Homecoming ceremonies at the college Oct. 13. Watkins attended Sikeston High School and played football and baseball for the Bulldogs, graduating in 1970. ...

In the last month I have gotten a new cell phone and a new watch. Both are really sophisticated things with all kinds of features. Unfortunately, I can't use any of these features because, well-- I am a man. You see, men don't read instructions. Maybe it comes with the testosterone, but there is no way a man can hold an instruction manual in his hand and read it. Maybe it is because there are no dirty pictures or mention of sports, but men just don't read them...