Stories from Wednesday, January 18, 2023

I agree with the Speakout caller who criticized Republican headquarter’s sign predicting grave danger. After what we’ve seen the last two years, it would appear that the grave danger our country faces is the Republican party.

A man who was part of an armed robbery in New Madrid County will served time in prison. Zackier D. Kelley, 25, of Memphis, Tennessee, was sentenced to 12 years in the custody of the Department of Corrections on a charge of first degree robbery. The sentence was handed down Jan. 10 in Division I of New Madrid County Circuit Court by Judge Ed Reeves after Kelley entered a guilty plea...

On the morning of Jan. 12, officers responded to a business on Highway 61 for indecent exposure. An employee at the business said a man came through the front door and exposed himself to workers there. When told to leave the man started walking around the counter toward the woman, but then turned around and left...

ESSEX, Mo. — Robert Lewis Watkins, 69, died Jan. 16, 2023, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston, Missouri. Visitation is from 5 p.m. until service time at 6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 19 at DeLisle Funeral Home in Portageville, Missouri.

CONRAN, Mo. — Noraine Belle McMurry “Sunny” Elliott, 84, died Jan. 16, 2023, at her home in Conran. Visitation is from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 19 at DeLisle Funeral Home in Portageville, Missouri, where services will be conducted at 11 a.m. Friday, Jan. 20 with the Rev. Reggie Grant officiating. Burial with full military rites will follow in the Missouri Veterans Cemetery in Bloomfield, Missouri.

SIKESTON — Robert Eugene Smith Sr., 78, passed away on Jan. 17, 2023, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. He was born on March 7, 1944, in Walnut Ridge, Arkansas, to the late William and Flora Coe Smith. On April 18, 2019, in Benton, Missouri, he married Virginia Axtell-Smith who survives of the home in Sikeston...

CHARLESTON, Mo. — James William “Jim” Smith, age 81, died Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2023, at his home in rural Charleston. Born Oct. 2, 1941, at Advance, Missouri, to the late William Junior Smith and Margie Louise Magee Smith, he had lived in rural Mississippi county most of his life and was engaged in farming. He was a U.S. Army Veteran.

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. — The following local students have been named to the fall 2022 Dean’s List at Southeast Missouri State University. Students named to the list earned at least a 3.75 grade point average on a 4.0 scale, completed at least 12 hours of standard graded credit, achieved no grade below a B and received no failing grades in enrolled, credit/no credit or pass/fail courses...

FAYETTE, Mo. — Conner Tres Hampton was one of more than 300 students at Central Methodist University who were eligible for graduation at the Dec. 17, 2022, commencement ceremony. The event took place in Puckett Fieldhouse in front of a crowd of family, friends, faculty, and other members of the Central community...

Kevin Lyons is officially New Madrid’s new mayor. At the Jan. 9 City Council meeting, Lyons took the oath of office and his seat at the center of the Council table. Lyons was selected to fill the remaining term of Donnie Brown, who resigned to become the 149th District state representative...