Stories from Wednesday, October 10, 2001

BENTON - Representatives from the House of Refuge for Abused and Battered Women asked commissioners to declare the House of Refuge the sole recipient of 2002 shelter funds collected and distributed by the county. "We're the only shelter now that qualifies for it," said Julie Dolan, secretary-legal counsel for the House of Refuge, during Tuesday's county commission meeting. Also present from the House of Refuge were Phyllis Minner, chairperson, and Lisa Barnes, crisis intervention specialist...

MINER - Meeting Tuesday night for its regular monthly session, the Board of Aldermen approved two items relating to property. The first item involved correcting an error on the city map which listed the Schlitt property as C-1 (commercial) when it should actually read I-1...

SIKESTON - Bill Green, director of Sikeston's department of economic development, isn't opposed to plans for Interstate 66 to be routed through Cape Girardeau. "We just don't see it as a political reality," said Green. Cape Girardeau's advocates point out how close the...

SIKESTON - School board members had several guests at their monthly meeting Tuesday, including a student who received special recognition for a poem he wrote on terrorism. The seventh-grader's teacher, Gina Kirkman, explained the assignment was to create poetry by giving each...

SIKESTON - Teams of Sikeston residents will join forces with their neighbors for a community-wide clean-up set for Oct. 20. The project coincides with "Make A Difference Day" - a nationwide effort at volunteerism and community betterment. The massive one-day project will take place from 9...

Students at the Sikeston Kindergarten Center were taught lessons about fire safety by Sikeston's Department of Public Safety Fire Division Tuesday afternoon. Above: Public Safety Officer Ryan Rascher and the Fire Pup show a group of students about masks and the other equipment firefighters use to enter a building engulfed in flames. They also let a few of the kids try on the masks...

JACKSON -- New Madrid County Central's volleyball team ran into a much-bigger Jackson squad on Tuesday, falling in two sets, 11-15, 1-15. "The scores sound bad, but in the first game, the girls played awesome," said NMCC coach Sonya Pixley. "Jackson has an excellent team. I'll take 15-10 against a team like that any day. In the last game, Jackson just kicked it in. They've got some excellent servers."...

CARBONDALE - Sikeston's cross country team recently competed in the Carbondale Invitational this past weekend. Sam Klimmek placed fourth with a time of 18:02. He was followed by Dale Ham (8th, 18:31), Quinton Lamb (52nd, 24:33), and Larrell Wright (53rd, 24:36). The course was 5.1 kilometers. There were over 60 runners in the varsity boys race...

NEW MADRID - Heading into last Friday night's game with Sikeston, the New Madrid County Central Eagles' football team looked nearly invincible, having wasted five straight opponents rather easily. But the Eagles were upset by the Bulldogs 25-14. Now all of a sudden, NMCC looks vulnerable...

Some will love to remember Week 6 of high school football in the SEMO Conference. Others would love to forget it. While Poplar Bluff and NMCC fell from the ranks of the undefeated, Jackson and Sikeston posted their most impressive victories of the season...

MORLEY - The Morley Bears were defeated Thursday for the first time this softball season by Illinois. The score was 7-6. SIKESTON - Somebody with a warped sense of humor gave out a report that was broadcast to the effect that Robert Mathis had been killed in a traffic accident Sunday afternoon near Grant City. A careful check and recheck of all sources by The Standard showed there was no truth to the rumor...

Why are we still sending food to the Taliban? Why are we feeding them before going to war? If we cut their food off, that's the best way we can hurt them. They're calling us suckers, cowards and everything. Why are we doing this? We don't need to be feeding them. No other country will do it...

Here's poetic justice. Prosecutors will seek a prison sentence for our friend O.J. Simpson in his upcoming road rage trial. Don't hold your breath that Simpson will ever actually spent a few years behind bars. But it could happen. Simpson is heading to trial over an incident where he...

CAPE GIRARDEAU - Ray Grady Bennett, 87, died Oct. 7, 2001, at the Lutheran Home. Born Dec. 20, 1913, in Magnolia, Ark., son of the late Oscar and Mary Hill Bennett, he was a member of the Hanover Lutheran Church. He was a crew member for the gas division of Union Electric in Dexter, Cape Girardeau and Scott City and started the union at Missouri Utilities in 1949...

NEW MADRID - Estelle Hendricks, 80, died Oct. 9, 2001, at her home. Arrangements are incomplete at Richards Funeral Home.

MORLEY - Lillie Jane Learue, 89, died at 11:20 a.m. Oct. 9, 2001, at the Clearview Nursing Center in Sikeston. Born Jan. 1, 1912, in Braggadocio, daughter of the late Elihue and Permelia Vaughn Clayton, she was a member of the First Baptist Church in Morley...

DAYTON, Ohio - Brendan Casey McCrate, 22, died Oct. 7, 2001, in Columbus. Born May 1, 1979, in Oakland, Calif., son of Ann Louise McCrate, formerly of Portageville, Mo., he was the grandson of the late Joseph E. and Zelline Hobbs McCrate and Harriette Hunter McCrate...

SIKESTON -- Here are the Oct. 6 results from the Sikeston Drag Strip. Once again 2001 Super Pro points champion Ken Parris seemed unstoppable, taking the Super Pro win again Saturday night. Parris ran 5.43 on a 5.41 dial at 126 m.p.h. His reaction time was .512. Neil Gates, driving the Modern Floor Coverings entry, took second place. Gates ran 5.55 on a 5.45 dial at 123 m.p.h...