Stories from Saturday, August 23, 2014

"Comic Con" is the theme for Portageville's 67th Annual National Soybean Festival. The festival will start with Main Street Madness on Saturday, Oct. 4th. The festival will run through Thursday, Oct. 9th. Girls throughout the Missouri Bootheel will have an opportunity to register for the 67th Annual National Festival Beauty Queen Pageant. ...

Portageville, MO -- NewWave Communications continues to build on its commitment and investment to the small-to-mid sized rural markets it serves by launching ESPN's SEC Network on its cable TV lineup in August. This new network will be available to NewWave customers in Portageville, Wardell and surrounding areas. The new channel will be carried on Expanded Basic channel 66. The HD feed will be carried on channel 709. Jewelry Television will be moving to channel 98...

Tracy L. Jordan, Charleston Office Area Specialist, announces funding remains in Rural Development Section 504 Home Repair Loan and Grant Program. The Charleston office serves Mississippi, New Madrid, Scott, Cape Girardeau and Bollinger Counties. Grants and 1% loans are available to qualifying applicants...

sports@standard-democrat.com SIKESTON -- Momentum can be a powerful ally or your worst enemy in sports. And sometimes, once a team has that momentum, it is difficult to swing it back in your direction. The Sikeston Bulldogs seized momentum early in Friday night's season-opening contest against Charleston and rolled to a 66-20 victory over the Bluejays in front of a large crowd at Sikeston Public Schools Stadium in the 129th meeting between the two rivals...

sports@standard-democrat.com STE. GENEVIEVE -- The Dexter Bearcats lost a heartbreaker to Ste. Genevieve 27-21 on the road Friday night. The Bearcats led 21-19 late into the fourth quarter, but Ste. Genevieve quarterback Wyatt Lalumondier tossed a 47-yard touchdown pass to Dalton Giesler with 1:59 remaining. The Dragons then converted the two-point conversion to take a 27-21 lead...

sports@standard-democrat.com MALDEN -- New head coach John Dryden's first game at the helm of New Madrid County Central is likely one the Eagles would like to quickly put behind them. Plagued by turnovers and struggles on the line, NMCC watched a veteran heavy Malden squad run away early Friday en rout to a 54-26 win...

sports@standard-democrat.com EAST PRAIRIE -- History was going to be made one way or the other. Kelly's story began by simply walking on the field and playing it's first-ever varsity football game. Though a win would have sweetened Kelly's debut, East Prairie erased nearly a half-decade worth of rotten season openers...

On so many levels, I pity the residents of Ferguson, Mo. By most accounts, the city is not unlike countless other communities across the country. Ferguson suffers from higher than average unemployment and a majority African-American population. It has its share of criminal activity but then again, the same can be said for countless other communities struggling with changing social issues and lower income levels...

This is in response to "Food for thought," about people saying something about feeding illegal immigrants. That's called empathy and that's a good thing. If these people in Ferguson, Mo., were working and not on welfare and food stamps, they wouldn't be out there demonstrating would they?...

SIKESTON -- While there was some spilled milk, no one is crying about breakfast being served in the classrooms at the Sikeston Kindergarten Center. "We find that more kids are eating breakfast and not going hungry in the day because we're fitting breakfast in their routines," Principal Jenny Hobeck said...

Members of the Sikeston Red Peppers cheer after a touchdown on Friday night at Sikeston Public Schools Stadium. Schools across Southeast Missouri officially opened their high school football season Friday night. Check out the results in today's Standard Democrat sports section...

SIKESTON -- New national standards for healthier school lunches took effect when the new school year began, but it's too soon to see how much of an impression they're making on students. The new nutritional requirements call for less sodium and more whole grains and fruits and vegetables. Perhaps the biggest and most noticeable change is that all grain foods in school lunches must be "whole grain rich" or made with a whole grain content of 51 percent...

FISK -- Lillian L. Kirk, 97, died Aug. 21, 2014, at Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center. For the complete article and more stories from the Standard Democrat, log on to the electronic edition.

NORTH AUGUSTA, S.C. -- Mrs. Ann Walters Stretch, 77, of Carriage Lane, wife of Frederick Stretch, daughter of the late Tyrus and Julia Walters of East Prairie, Mo., entered into rest on Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2014, at University Hospital. For the complete article and more stories from the Standard Democrat, log on to the electronic edition.
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SIKESTON -- Faye Houchin, 81, died Aug. 22, 2014, at her daughter's home near Murray, Ky. For the complete article and more stories from the Standard Democrat, log on to the electronic edition.


Billy Holloway WAUCHULA, Fla. -- Billy D. Holloway, 76, died at 2:20 a.m. Aug. 13, 2014. For the complete article and more stories from the Standard Democrat, log on to the electronic edition.


CHARLESTON -- Mildred B. Nicholson Brokaw, 93, died Aug. 22, 2014, at the Charleston Manor. AFor the complete article and more stories from the Standard Democrat, log on to the electronic edition.