Stories from Thursday, March 12, 2009

CHARLESTON -- Dr. John E. Dernoncourt, 88, died March 11, 2009, at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. Arrangements are incomplete at McMikle Funeral Home in Charleston.

ALPHARETTA, Ga. -- Services for Charles Henry Hellem, 85, who died March 4, 2009, will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at Ponder Funeral Home in Sikeston, Mo. Burial will follow in the Sikeston City Cemetery.

CARUTHERSVILLE -- W.C. Sandusky, 73, died at 5:30 a.m. March 11, 2009, at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. Arrangements are incomplete with DeLisle Funeral Home in Portageville.

BLOOMFIELD -- Carolyn Janet Staggs, 64, died March 11, 2009, at her home. Funeral arrangements are with the Chiles-Cooper Funeral Home in Bloomfield. For the complete obituary and more stories from the Standard Democrat, click here to log on to the electronic edition...

ROCKVIEW -- Gladys Anna Enderle, 74, died at 9:08 p.m. March 10, 2009, at Des Peres Hospital in St. Louis. For the complete obituary and more stories from the Standard Democrat, click here to log on to the electronic edition...

SIKESTON -- Ronald Lloyd Wolf, age 83 of Sikeston, died on Wednesday, March 11, 2009, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. Funeral arrangements are with the Nunnelee Funeral Chapel. For the complete obituary and more stories from the Standard Democrat, click here to log on to the electronic edition...

CHARLESTON -- Verlin Bryant "Tuck" Uthoff, 87, died at 12:47 a.m. March 11, 2009, at the Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. Funeral arrangements are with the McMikle Funeral Home in Charleston. For the complete obituary and more stories from the Standard Democrat, click here to log on to the electronic edition...

POPLAR BLUFF -- The Portageville girls basketball team had set lofty goals coming into this season, with five experienced seniors leading the charge. On Wednesday night the Lady Bulldogs saw those goals dashed with a 60-45 loss to Couch in a Class 2 sectional game on the campus of Three Rivers Community College in Poplar Bluff...

POPLAR BLUFF -- When given the chance, the Portageville Bulldogs can hurt you from behind the arc. They showed it in their district championship win against Campbell by draining nine 3-pointers and again in their Class 2 sectional game against the Thayer Bobcats on Wednesday night...

POPLAR BLUFF -- The Charleston Bluejays posted a 23-point victory over the Bloomfield Wildcats Wednesday evening in sectional action at Poplar Bluff High School. The 70-47 win not only improves Charleston's record to 18-9, it also sets up a contest against the Maplewood-Richmond Heights Blue Devils on Saturday evening at the Farmington Civic Center...

SCOTT CITY - The Scott City Police Department announced Wednesday it will be cracking down on drunken driving Friday through Sunday as part of a statewide initiative, said Sgt. Wayne Hampton. Scott City will be stepping up patrol efforts to catch drunken drivers on those days and increasing the number of officers on the streets, Hampton said...

JEFFERSON CITY -- The Missouri Department of Agriculture has been notified of a Presidential disaster designation by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for 31 Missouri counties. The declaration designates qualified counties as natural disasters and eligible for physical and/or production loss loan assistance. The local counties included in the declaration are: Scott, New Madrid, Mississippi, Stoddard, Pemiscot and Cape Girardeau...

SIKESTON -- National Quilting Day may be celebrated March 21, but members of the Bootheel Quilters Guild make sure to recognize the pastime at least once a month. "It's an old art that has been passed down and been quite revived in recent years," Sharon Chouinard, a member of the group, said of quilting. And being a part of the organization makes quilting even more enjoyable for her...

SIKESTON -- The same old things don't seem to cut it with fundraisers in the slumping economy. So that's leaving organizers to put events on hold, or come up with new ways to bring in the bucks. For instance, as the annual Kenny Rogers Children's Center telethon approaches March 21 and 22, Executive Director Michelle Fayette said "it's hard to tell" what fundraising will be like this year...

SIKESTON -- There are jobs available in the area -- people just have to get out and look for them. That's what the more than 200 people who came through the Sikeston Area Chamber of Commerce/Missouri Career Center's annual Area Job Fair on Wednesday learned...