Stories from Thursday, October 18, 2001

To all the people who dump their cats out in the country so they can find a home, let me tell you something. They don't always find a home. We found a female cat. She got under our porch and had a bunch of kittens and we can't catch them. She has had four litters this summer and we've got a swarm of cats. ...

For area high school football teams, the slate has been wiped clean. Tonight's game at Cape Central signifies the opening of district play, giving every team in the state an opportunity to qualify for the playoffs, regardless of win/loss records. A four-team, round-robin format will be used over these final three weekends of the season to determine who will be district champions. Here is a look at some district races in our area...

SIKESTON - Mr. and Mrs. William J. Keith are parents of a son, their first child, born Friday at Sikeston General Hospital. --- SIKESTON - Ben Johnson of the land auction company bearing his name from Bristol, Tenn., reported Saturday the sale of all 211 lots of property belonging to V.T. Crowe, east of the city near the airport...

NEW MADRID - Anaise Green, 80, died Oct. 14, 2001, at Beverly Healthcare in New Madrid. Born March 12, 1921, in Greenwood, Miss., son of the late Hugh and Channie Mae Brown Green, he was a member of Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church in New Madrid...

CAPE GIRARDEAU - Darlene Haley, 19, died Oct. 16, 2001, of injuries sustained in an automobile accident. Born June 30, 1982, in Sikeston, she was the daughter of Austin Eugene Haley and Dorothy Ann Strickland Haley of Sikeston. Other survivors include: one brother, Eugene Haley of Cape Girardeau; five sisters, Tonya Strickland of Vandalia, Annette Strickland of Sikeston, Diana Haley and Beverly Haley of Cape Girardeau and Janice Haley of Metropolis, Ill.; six uncles, Joe Wilbert Haley and Cleatus Haley of Charleston, J. ...

COMMERCE - Laura Ina Hopper, 84, died at 5:30 p.m. Oct. 16, 2001, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. Born Aug. 30, 1917, in Delta, daughter of the late Russell and Louisa Elzina Watson Hester, she was a member of Commerce Baptist Church, where she was a Sunday school teacher and member of the Women's Missionary Union...

PORTAGEVILLE - Harry Melvin Bell, 85, died Oct. 18, 2001, in the Portageville Nursing Center. Arrangements are incomplete at DeLisle Funeral Home.

CHAFFEE - New Madrid County Central's volleyball team defeated Chaffee in straight sets Wednesday, 15-5, 15-4. Megan Lange served six aces and had two kills, Ashley Brittain had three aces and three kills and Elizabeth Myracle contributed three aces and one kill...

SIKESTON - Although the Southeast Missouri Hazardous Materials Team is being formed during a "time of heightened awareness," plans for the regional haz-mat emergency team predate the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, according to Drew Juden, Sikeston's director of public safety...

Jason Grubbs, youth pastor at the Miner Baptist Church, portrays the devil in the "Judgment House" Wednesday night to crowds of visitors. The program provides an alternative to traditional Halloween events. Children who attend the event should be at least 10 years old. ...

DEXTER - What started as an attempt to arrest three men suspected of stealing anhydrous ammonia ended in a Missouri State Highway patrolman being gassed, nearly run down, then dragged through the mud shortly after midnight Wednesday. According to the Highway Patrol, the incident occurred at approximately 12:05 a.m. ...

Who would have thought that Americans would be forced to address the issue of anthrax poisoning? Who would have thought that something as simple as our daily mail would become a source of concern? And who would have thought that Congress would take a minor break from business to decontaminate their offices for anthrax?...

SIKESTON - The importance of improving children's diets and their overall health and well-being has been recognized for decades, dating back to 1946 when President Harry Truman signed the National School Lunch Act into law. The idea was to go beyond the daily meal children would receive. ...