Stories from Monday, February 2, 2009

SIKESTON -- Mild temperatures over the weekend, which reached 50 degrees on Sunday, helped to speed up power restoration. As of this morning about 40 percent of the Sikeston Board of Municipal Utilities customers had power restored. That's up from approximately 30 percent on Saturday, when all the substations were energized, according to BMU staff...

SIKESTON -- Since last week's winter storm, the daily number of patients visiting Missouri Delta Medical Center's emergency room has tripled. Hospital officials anticipate it will only get busier as more people arrive to assist with power restoration and debris removal...

SIKESTON -- AmerenUE customers in 19 of the 34 towns still affected by the severe ice storm that hit Southeast Missouri should have power by day's end Monday. Most of the customers in another 11 towns can expect to get electric service on Tuesday with the remaining four towns partially restored on Monday and almost all affected customers restored by end of day Wednesday...

SIKESTON - The Sikeston Public Works Department is continuing efforts to clear storm debris from the city. The compost site, located on Compost Road, is continuing efforts to clear debris from the city. It is open from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. "Do not put any tree limbs or other debris in the street," said Sgt. ...

SIKESTON -- Department of Public Safety officers extinguished a small fire near a generator at about 7:15 p.m. Sunday. According to DPS officials, a resident at 810 William Street was trying to refill a hot generator with a gas can. The fire was extinguished by DPS before it spread to the home's structure but the resident was treated at the scene for a burn to the foot...

SIKESTON -- The Sikeston Department of Public Safety's fire division responded to a house fire at 220 Young. According to DPS officials, the home was fully involved. Further information was not available as of press time.

SIKESTON -- With more than 70 percent of Sikeston without electricity Friday, close to 500 residents took shelter in the Sikeston Field House's warming shelter. Dolores Jones, 62, was one of those people. She is retired and resides on Dona Street in Sikeston...

EAST PRAIRIE -- Junior Byassee, 68, died at 2:30 p.m. Jan. 31, 2009, in the Missouri Delta Medical Center. Born July 28, 1940, in Dorena, to Ruth Elizabeth Bennett Byassee of East Prairie and the late J.B. Byassee, he had lived all of his life in Mississippi County where he was a retired truck driver. He was a member of the Victory Baptist Church of East Prairie...

LENEXA, Kan. -- Hartsill R. Burchfield, 78, died Jan. 31, 2009, at Shawnee Mission Medical Center. Born Dec. 31, 1930, in Wooster, Ark., to the late John and Mary Wofford Burchfield, he joined the U.S. Air Force in 1951 and retired as a Lt. Colonel in 1980. He was anindependent insurance agent for 18 years retiring in 1998. He was a member of the Lenexa Baptist Church, the Military Officers Association of America, Sunflower Chapter...

CHARLESTON -- Ealer Hamilton Wallace, 88, formerly of East Prairie, died Jan. 29, 2009, at her daughter's home in Charleston. Arrangements are incomplete with McMikle Funeral Home in Charleston.

BERTRAND -- Mabel Ann Woods Peters died Jan. 31, 2009, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. Arrangements are incomplete with McMikle Funeral Home in Charleston.

BENTON -- Flossie Juanita Kirsch, 90, died Jan. 31, 2009, at the Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau. Born June 20, 1918, in Blodgett, daughter of the late Joel and Earsy Simmons Hopper, she was a teacher for 42 years, working in Blodgett, Commerce, Charleston and Kelly school systems. She was a member of Unity Baptist Church in Benton...

NEW MADRID -- Farrell E. Ethridge, 88, died Jan. 30, 2009, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. Born July 27, 1920, in Center Ridge, Ark., to the late James "Simon" and Ella Polk Ethridge, he was a veteran of World War II serving with the U.S. Navy...

NEW MADRID -- Iva Hall, 76, died Jan 31, 2009, at the Golden LIving Center in New Madrid. Born March 19, 1932, in Malden, to the late Thurman Porter and Lucille Williams Smith, she was a member of the New Life Ministries Church in New Madrid. On Sept. 1, 1978, in Lilbourn, she married Richard Hall, and he preceded her in death...

PORTAGEVILLE -- Clara Sue Chappell, 79, formerly of Bloomfield, died Jan. 31, 2009, in the Heritage House Nursing Center in Portageville. Born Oct. 10, 1929, in Medina, Tenn., to the late Clyde and Fannie Louise Barnes Quinn, she had lived in Bloomfield from 1960 until moving to Portageville in 2000, where she was a member of the First Church of God...

SIKESTON -- Billy Gene Thornton, 73, formerly of East Prairie, died at 3:320 a.m. Feb. 1, 2009, in the Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. Born May 5, 1935, in Canalou, to the late Virgil and Katie Ivie Thornton, he had lived in Sikeston for the past eight months. He was a member of the First Baptist Church in East Prairie and a veteran of the U.S. Navy during the Korean War...

SIKESTON - The Standard Democrat remains without electricity but is publishing with the assistance of generators. The stories available on the free Internet site do not include all of the photos used in the edition due to problems with the Internet connection. We hope as things continue to improve we are able to bring you more photos...