Stories from Thursday, January 19, 2012

SIKESTON Route 162 in New Madrid County will be reduced to one lane with a while Missouri Department of Transportation crews perform edge rut repairs. This section of roadway is located from Route B South to Route B North. Weather permitting, work will be performed from 7 a.. to 3 p.m. today...

BLOOMFIELD -- Anita Cullum, 69, died Jan. 18, 2012, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. Arrangements are incomplete with the Rainey-Mathis Funeral Home in Dexter.

EAST PRAIRIE -- Carl Edward McLain, 84, died Jan. 19, 2012, at his home. Arrangements are incomplete with McMikle Funeral Home in Charleston.

EAST PRAIRIE -- Johnny Jones, 62, died at 11:50 p.m. Jan. 18, 2012, in the Clearview Nursing Center. Arrangements are incomplete with Shelby Funeral Home in East Prairie.

PORTAGEVILLE -- Mary Lee Jones, 85, died Jan. 13, 2012, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. Born Dec. 2, 1926, in Lapanto, Ark., to the late Mary Bennett and Johnny Braden, she was a member of the New Bethel Church. Survivors include: three sons, Robert Lewis Brown of Chicago, Ray Douglas Brown of Tempo, Texas, and Larry Braden of Portageville; six daughters, Joelean Lewis of Grand Rapids, Mich., Maxine Henry of Chicago, Allean Mosby of Los Angeles, Angie Jones and Sandra Jones of Portageville and Bertha Moore of Lilbourn; and 38 grandchildren, 63 great-grandchildren and 50 great-great-grandchildren.. ...

DEXTER -- Katherine I. Boone, 98, died Jan. 18, 2012, at the Cypress Point Skilled Nursing Center in Dexter. Arrangements are incomplete with the Rainey-Mathis Funeral Home in Dexter.

SPRINGFIELD -- Barbara Ellen Harwell Beck, 80, formerly of Sikeston, died Jan. 8, 2012, at Magnolia Square. Born Sept. 2, 1931, in Charleston, to the late Daniel "Pete" and Myrtle Mae Vaughan Harwell, she worked for almost 30 years for Southwestern Bell and was a member of the Eastern Star...

EAST PRAIRIE -- George Lane Roberts, 93, died Jan. 17, 2012, at the Bertrand Nursing Facility. Born March 29, 1918, near Charleston, to the late William Noah and Florence Ella Lane Roberts, he had lived most of his life in Mississippi County where he was an active member of the First Christian Church in Charleston having served as a deacon, trustee, Sunday school superintendent and teacher. ...

PONDER, Texas -- Ruth Stuckey, 76, formerly of Benton, Mo., died Jan. 17, 2012, at her home. Arrangements are incomplete at Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel in Benton.

SIKESTON -- Jennifer Mosley, 64, died Jan. 18, 2012, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. Arrangements are incomplete with Ponder Funeral Home.

SIKESTON -- Maurice Wright, 42, died Jan. 14, 2012, at the Missouri Delta Medical Center. Born May 28, 1969, in Chicago, to the late Jimmie Lee Pollard, he was employed in the maintenance department at Hardee's Restaurant in Sikeston. He was a member of St. Johns Missionary Baptist Church of Sikeston, and had been an active member of the Boy Scouts. He was an only child, but his many friends made up his family...

DEXTER -- Susan I. Watkins, daughter of the late Floyd James and Mattie Irene Grim Hoffman, was born in Poplar Bluff on Dec. 14, 1954, and passed away at her home in Dexter on Jan. 17, 2012, at the age of 57. Susan was raised in Dexter but after college lived with her husband in Fredericktown where they both taught school. ...

sports@standard-democrat.com DEXTER -- The Sikeston ninth grade basketball team wasted very little time dispatching of the Dexter Bearcats on Wednesday night winning going away 60-24. The Bulldogs rushed out to a 20-5 lead after one quarter of play and held a 37-11 advantage at halftime. They, once again, held Dexter to single digits in the third quarter as Sikeston outscored the Bearcats 16-7 to put the game well out of reach...

sports@standard-democrat.com CAPE GIRARDEAU -- The Sikeston eighth grade basketball team lost a close contest to Poplar Bluff on Wednesday during the Cape Central Eighth Grade Tournament at the Cape Central Junior High, 41-37. Although they were behind 25-20 at halftime, Sikeston continued to slide as the Mules outscored them 10-3 in the third quarter...

SIKESTON -- Many athletes in the Standard Democrat coverage area have been performing well at the college level. Here is a list of those who are furthering their athletic careers this fall and winter playing either football or basketball. Kony Ealy, NMCC -- A redshirt freshman defensive lineman at the University of Missouri, Ealy played in 12 games with one start. ...

sports@standard-democrat.com RISCO -- If you blink, you may miss it. The small, rural town of Risco may not attract the casual passerby while traveling on US-153 or Highway 62, but if one happens to find themselves virtually out in the middle of nowhere on a Tuesday or Friday night, Risco basketball may give them a reason to stop on by...

SIKESTON -- Several school board races formed in local districts as filing for candidacy has closed. During the April 3 general municipal election, three people will vie for two, three-year Sikeston R-6 Board of Education positions currently held by Toni Kellett and Jill Hopson...

NEW MADRID -- New Madrid's Higgerson School Historical Site is expanding its mission in preserving the history of Southeast Missouri and will soon have a new home where the story will be told. Work is under way on a much larger visitor center for the Higgerson School, which has presented the role of the rural one-room school and of life along the Mississippi River since 1998. ...

scottw@standard-democrat.com CHARLESTON -- Mississippi County Commissioners are looking into temporarily closing a road to keep motorists from getting stuck. Commissioners met Wednesday for their regular weekly meeting due to a scheduling conflict. During the meeting, Presiding Commissioner Carlin Bennett said commissioners need to take some action regarding County Road 520...

CHARLESTON - No charges will be filed against a Charleston police officer who shot and killed a Charleston man. On Thursday, Mississippi County Prosecuting Attorney Darren Cann announced the completion of an investigation into the Nov. 8 incident by the Missouri Highway Patrol's Division of Drug and Crime Control. During a confrontation with Charleston Department of Public Safety officers on Nov. 8, Murry Lee Asberry, 34, was fatally shot...