Stories from Wednesday, May 31, 2017

BENTON, Mo. -- Family roots grow deep for Darrin Pruitt's family in Scott County. His father was from Oran. His mother graduated from Kelly. And Pruitt recently spent five seasons coaching the Chaffee girls basketball team before stepping away for a year...

SIKESTON -- The crowd began arriving early at Sikeston's Veterans Park Monday morning. Spreading out under the shade of the trees and filling the nearby picnic shelter, veterans, members of the active military and the community gathered for the annual Memorial Day service...

SIKESTON -- The wheels of justice are said to turn slowly, but not in every case. Stealing a trailer full of American flags on Memorial Day weekend from a charitable organization is bound to be one such exception. At 2:08 p.m. Sunday, officers with Sikeston Department of Public Safety responded to the parking lot of Bo's Heating and Cooling Supply, 491 Davis Blvd., in reference to a report of the theft of a 6-by-12-foot enclosed trailer belonging to the Sikeston Kiwanis Club, according to DPS reports.. ...

Welfare reform is red meat for conservatives and a sure sign of racism to liberals. That alone illustrates the stark division concerning the question of welfare reform and more specifically, food stamp reform. The Trump administration's proposed budget calls for a $190 billion savings in the food stamp program over the next 10 years by requiring able-bodied adults to work to receive food stamps...

BENTON, Mo. - Ethel Cannon, 96, died May 29, 2017, at The Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau. Born July 31, 1920, in Little Black, Ark., to the late Mont and Tina Grisham Diamond, she was a cafe owner/cook and was of the Baptist faith. She was married to Frank Witt, who preceded her in death...

SIKESTON - Rena Mae Stewart, 77, formerly of New Orleans, La., died May 26, 2017, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. Born May 12, 1940, in Wiggins, Miss., to the late Andrew Jackson Fairley and Alice Logan Fairley, she was an entrepreneur, office worker and housekeeper. After being displaced by Hurricane Katrina, she moved to Sikeston, where she was a member of St. John Missionary Baptist Church...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - Noah Brock Barnett, the infant son of Christian and Leslie Barnett, was born at 6:07 a.m. May 24, 2017, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. Noah passed peacefully in the arms of his loving parents at 7:08 a.m. the same day...

DEXTER, Mo. -- Larry Dale Burris, 69, died May 29, 2017, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. Born May 7, 1948, in Poplar Bluff, son of the late Jewel Warner and Grace Lee Maddox Burris, he had lived in Bates City and worked in Kansas City, where he moved after receiving master's degrees in mathematics and physics from Southeast Missouri State University. He worked for the Kansas City Times until his retirement and later moved to Dexter...

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. -- Walter Frank Gregory Dickey, 88, died May 30, 2017, at Southeast Health in Cape Girardeau. Born Nov. 12, 1928, in Kennett, son of of the late Frank W. and Ollie Ethel Gregory Dickey, he had taught at Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau where he held the position of counselor educator. After retirement from the university, he and his wife traveled extensively...

BERTRAND, Mo. -- Rosie L. "Red" Calvin, 83, died March 3, 2017, at the Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. Born May 18, 1932, at Matthews, to the late James and Agines James Rhoden, she had been was a resident of the Bertrand Nursing Center and was of the Baptist belief...

PUXICO, Mo. - Bessie Evelyn Bridges, 90, died May 29, 2017, at the Oakdale Care Center in Poplar Bluff. Born Feb. 22, 1927, in Bloomfield, the daughter of the late Benjamin Franklin and Clara Chasteen Hill, she had lived in Southeast Missouri all of her life and in Puxico for many years. She was a member of the Corinth General Baptist Church near Puxico...