Stories from Tuesday, January 31, 2017

SIKESTON -- The Sikeston girls basketball team couldn't answer Kennett when it mattered the most. Kennett picked up its first SEMO Conference win Monday at the Sikeston Field House slipping past Sikeston 40-35. "Boys and girls, this is a brutal conference," Kennett coach Jim Vaughan said. "It's games like this all the time... This is not just a good SEMO Conference win, but two really good wins in a row for us that has just given us more and more confidence."...

SIKESTON - The Historic Midtown Development Group will have an historic home. The Sikeston City Council approved an agreement with HMDG to lease the former Post Office building at 215 N. New Madrid to the organization to serve as HMDG's headquarters and for the development of a business incubator facility...

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - President Trump's executive order banning immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries has caused worldwide controversy and outrage. But Southeast Missouri State University president Carlos Vargas is trying to maintain a calm environment for all the university's students, including those from the countries in question...

Cape Girardeau firefighters work to extinguish a grass fire Monday afternoon on the west side of the southbound lanes of Interstate 55 near the 94.4 mile marker. Heavy smoke became a concern for visibility in the area. Traffic in the right lane was closed during the operation...

SIKESTON - A portion of Wakefield will be closed while street repairs are underway Wednesday. From 8 a.m. Wednesday through noon, Wakefield will be closed from Kingshighway to Park Avenue. Traffic will then be reduced to one lane from noon to 8 a.m. Thursday while the Board of Municipal Utilities employees complete the work...

Two area residents are facing felony charges following a narcotics distribution investigation by the Mississippi County Sheriff's Office.

KIRKWOOD, Mo. - Isaac "Hawk" Townsend, 88, died Jan. 29, 2017, at his home in Kirkwood. Born June 17, 1928, in Searcy, Ark., to the late Becky Haney Townsend and John Townsend, he was retired from McDonnell Douglas Corporation, where he worked as a painter...

CHAFFEE, Mo. -- Danny Joe Harrell, 65, died Jan. 26, 2017, at Kindred Hospital in St. Louis. He was born on Jan. 29, 1951, in Cape Girardeau to the late G.C. and Stella George Harrell. Survivors include: a brother, Jess Harrell of Chaffee; two sisters, Naomi Smithwick of Jonesboro, Ark., and Janet Welter of Kelso; and several nieces and nephews...

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. -- Delores Jean Estes, 88, of Cape Girardeau, passed away Sunday, Jan. 29, 2017, at The Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau. She was born Dec. 4, 1928, in Cape Girardeau, to the late Dewey and Emma (Kirchhoff) Reynolds. She and Gary Estes started a 64-year-long journey together on March 7, 1953, when they were married at the Southeast Missouri State College Baptist Student Union in Cape. ...

DEXTER, MO. -- Ruth Ann Jeffries, 76, formerly of Sikeston, died Jan 30, 2017, at Crowley Ridge Nursing Center in Dexter. Born July 20, 1940, near Matthews, to the late James D. and Juanita S. Pruitt Crawford, she was a housewife and a member of Tanner Street Church of God...

Roscoe Vaughan SIKESTON - Roscoe Vaughan, 92, died Jan. 31, 2017, at Sikeston Convalescent Center in Sikeston. Born March 18,1924, in Providence, to the late Martillis "Mark" and Nellie (Tombs) Vaughan, he was a World War II Navy veteran, had been employed by Bob Ralph Distributing until his retirement and attended St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church...

NEW MADRID, Mo. -- Rosalie Rebecca Sweatt, 65, died Jan. 19, 2017, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. She was born Aug. 4, 1951, in St. Louis, to the late John Quincy Grubbs and Rosalie Porter Hornbeck. On Jan. 13, 1973, in Pt. Pleasant, she married Danny L. Sweatt, who preceded her in death in 2016...