Stories from Monday, January 7, 2002

CAPE GIRARDEAU - The New Madrid County Central Eagles posted an impressive victory against Whitfield on Saturday in the Seventh Annual Tiger Shootout, winning 72-45 at Cape Central's Tiger Field House. The Eagles (9-1) used a 26-10 third quarter run to turn a 10-point lead into a blowout...

KENNETT -- Cape Girardeau Central's boys basketball team used a pair of late 3-pointers to dramatically force overtime here Friday night. But the Tigers could not pull out a victory as Kennett outscored Central 13-6 in the extra period to prevail 48-41. Central fell to 3-9 while Kennett improved to 11-2...

DELTA -- Top-seeded Twin Rivers captured the Delta Tournament Saturday night, defeating the host Lady Bobcats 49-45 in the championship game. Delta, the third seed, carried a 35-34 lead into the fourth quarter but saw Twin Rivers move ahead on the free-throw shooting of guard Amanda Lance, who finished with 22 points...

POPLAR BLUFF - The Sikeston wrestling team took first place in the eight-team Poplar Bluff Tournament on Saturday. Sikeston finished with 150 points, followed by Poplar Bluff (128), Mehlville (113), Dexter (106), North County (97), NMCC (81.5), Riverview Gardens (64) and Poplar Bluff JV (33)...

CHARLESTON - Jennifer Raffety, Mississippi County prosecuting attorney, said she remembers several instances when down to the last case on the docket she has looked out to see only two faces left in the courtroom besides court officers and lawyers: the defendant and the victim...

Employees of Robinson Construction of Perryville pour concrete to put in place new pipes for New Madrid's stormsewer system. The new pipes, along with two more pumps, are part of a $1 million dollar project which will double the capacity of the city's pumping stations and improve drainage in the community. ...

Charleston Blue Jay fans react to a slam dunk in the first quarter of Friday's game with Sikeston. The two rivals met at the Sikeston Field House in a thriller won by Charleston 56-55.

JEFFERSON CITY - The Missouri Veterans Commission expects to name a contractor for the new state veterans cemetery at Bloomfield in early February with construction to begin later that month. Ron Taylor, the commission's superintendent of services and cemeteries, said on Friday that proposals for the Bloomfield project, and another at Jacksonville in northeast Missouri, are already being solicited. The cemeteries are expected to cost between $5.5 million and $6 million apiece...

JEFFERSON CITY - Money is always at the center of the legislative process as lawmakers spend months wrangling to secure funding for needed or wanted programs and projects. Regardless of political affiliation, most lawmakers agree that the free-spending days of the flush 1990s are over, and the state has no choice but to rein in the budget, which currently tops $19 billion...

The answer may be in the numbers. Or as a noted historian once said, "Demographics are destiny". I believe what that means is that you can predict with some certainty the future of a community by the demographics - those detailed numbers that tell you where you've been, where you are and where you are most likely headed. Sikeston is by no means an exception...

SIKESTON - Mr. and Mrs. Maurice Armstrong and their son, Billy, were in St. Louis Friday and Saturday. EAST PRAIRIE - The engagement of Joyce Sanders to Clinton E. Wisdom is announced. NEW MADRID - The battle over grain at the Ristine Grain Elevator was chosen one of the top new stories of 1981. ...

Does anyone repair grandfather clocks in the New Madrid-Sikeston area? If so, please leave your telephone number in SpeakOut. I agree that you should not burn the books, because to burn them, you first have to buy them, which only makes the thing you oppose stronger. Because to them all they see is $$$ signs...

SIKESTON - Mary Anne Lankford was elected "most representative girl" by the senior class Tuesday. While releasing the announcement, the National Society, Daughters of the American Revolution said it will again conduct a tour of Washington, D.C., in April...

What happened to the welfare system where people are supposed to help people? I live on a child support payment, and I've seen more people in my neighborhood have more kids through the social services in this place. I don't understand where they're at and where they're helping the people in this town. ...

We have recently started a new church and have acquired the building for Victory Chapel Church, 120 Front St. (P.O. Box 843), Sikeston, Mo. 63801. We are a non-denominational church and would like to invite anyone who does not have a home church to join us in our services. The first service was held Jan. 6 with Sunday school at 10 a.m., worship at 11 a.m. and evening service at 6 p.m. Wednesday night services are at 7 p.m. and Jack Hargraves is our pastor...

SIKESTON - Everyone knew that Friday night's game between Sikeston and Charleston was going to be a nip-and-tuck game to the end. The fans got what they paid for as the Charleston Bluejays defeated Sikeston 56-55 in a packed Field House in yet, another high intensity game between the two rivals...

Well, another classic Sikeston versus Charleston game has come and gone. And while the result was all-too-familiar for Bulldogs fans, I was so impressed with the performance Sikeston gave in the second half. I will go as far to say that the second half Friday night was one of the best halves of basketball the Bulldogs have played in quite some time...

MORLEY -- An undersized, out-manned Scott Central team gave Portageville all it wanted Friday night in a 68-59 loss. The Braves trailed by 13 points heading into the final quarter, but shaved the lead down to four with 1:12 left in regulation. Portageville was able to stop the rally by hitting its free throws down the stretch and forced two key turnovers to pull away and preserve the victory...

BELL CITY - Sophomore Dominitrix Johnson led the energized Bell City Cubs (10-3) Friday night as they defeated the Richland Rebels (5-5) in overtime, 50-47. During the all-Stoddard County match up, Johnson and fellow sophomore Zak McIntyre combined for nine of the Cubs' 11 points in the extra frame...

LILBOURN - Pallbearers at services conducted at 2 p.m. today at Nunnelee Funeral Chapel for Betty Jewell Truelove, 69, who died Jan. 3, 2002, will be: Charles Lee, Mike Hicks, Scott Riley, Ronnie Simmons, Richard Henry and William Lewis.

SIKESTON - Pallbearers at services conducted at 2 p.m. Saturday at Nunnelee Funeral Chapel for Evelyn Kay Orman, 41, who died Jan. 1, 2002, were: Jonathan Tidwell, Russell Johnson, Anthony Gates, Dossy Nancy Jr., Terry Johnson and Curtis Cureton Jr...

SIKESTON - Pallbearers at services conducted at 2 p.m. Saturday at Nunnelee Funeral Chapel for Brittany Michelle Gates, 12, who died Jan. 1, 2002, were: Rob Howard, Randy Gaines, Jeremy Moore, Chris Gates, James Pulliam and Berren Clark. Billy Garner of the Bethany Baptist Church in Cape Girardeau assisted the Rev. Robert Burnes of the House of Prayer General Baptist Church...

PORTAGEVILLE - Shirley Ann Yeary, 63, died Jan. 5, 2002, at her home. She was born Nov. 25, 1938, at Gideon, daughter of the late Jack and Ruby Mae White Hurt. On April 1, 1959, she married Clyde Reo Yeary who survives of the home. Other survivors include: one brother, Cyril Lynn Wagner of Loceport, Ill.; several nieces and nephews; and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren...

DEXTER - Eloise Trammell, 75, died Jan. 4, 2002, at the home of her son in Columbia. Born Jan. 25, 1926, at Dexter, daughter of the late Vick A. and Iona Smith Hill, she attended the First Baptist Church in Dexter and was a former science teacher in the Dexter Public School System...

PORTAGEVILLE - Lizzie Young, 81, died Jan. 4, 2002, at her home. Born Feb. 13, 1920, in Tipper, Miss., she was the daughter of the late Joe and Mary DeCander Wallace. On March 21, 1967, in Ripley, Miss., she married Troy Young who survives of the home...

CHARLESTON - Willie Gray McMillen, 85, died at 6:50 a.m. Jan. 4, 2002, at his home near Charleston. Born Jan. 8, 1916, at Murray, Ky., son of the late Maxie Thomas and Maggie Stagner McMillen, he was a lifelong resident of the Charleston area. A U.S. Army veteran of World War II, he was of the Baptist belief...

CHARLESTON - Donald DeLine, 89, died at 8:30 a.m. Jan. 4, 2002, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. Born Aug. 1, 1912, at Charleston, son of the late Charles L. and Lilly Elizabeth Millard DeLine, he was a retired farmer and landowner. He had been a member of the First Baptist Church in Charleston since 1927 and had served as church deacon for many years. ...

WYATT - Law enforcement officials, volunteers and other agencies were out in full force over the weekend, looking for a missing Illinois man after his truck was discovered Friday afternoon. According to the Mississippi County Sheriff's Office, the department received a call from an officer who spotted a truck in Thompson's Bend near Wyatt around 4 p.m...

CARUTHERSVILLE - An Arkansas man who had been reported missing since Monday was found Friday suffering only from a mild case of hypothermia and dehydration. According to reports, the Pemiscot County Sheriff's Department received information about a vehicle being stuck in the mud under the Mississippi River Bridge, east of Caruthersville...

JACKSON - Vera Seabaugh Wagner, 88, died Jan. 6, 2002, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. Born Nov. 20, 1913, daughter of the late Loy and Ester Morton Seabaugh, she was a graduate of Jackson High School and served in the U.S. Waves Medical Corps during World War II, stationed for two years in New Orleans. She graduated in 1940 with a bachelor of science degree in education from Southeast Missouri State University and had taught English and art in Jackson and Jefferson City...

BERTRAND - Dellia L. Baker, 85, died at 11:45 a.m. Jan. 5, 2002, at her home. Born Sept. 19, 1916, at Leonard, Ark., daughter of the late William E. and Jannie King Guthrie, she lived in Grand Rapids, Mich., for many years where she was employed with the Furniture City Upholstery Company and Kindle Furniture Company before retiring in 1977. She move...

MURPHYSBORO, Ill. - Faye Rene Mills, 98, died at 1:26 p.m. Dec. 25, 2001, at her daughter's home in Murphysboro following a short illness. Born April 10, 1903, daughter of the late Elmer West Landess and Edna Belle Boxell Landess, she married William Leon Mills of Malden on Nov. 15, 1925. He preceded her in death on Jan. 18, 1949...

SIKESTON - Harold J. Warren, 44, died Jan. 6, 2002, at Missouri Delta Medical Center. Arrangements are incomplete at Nunnelee Funeral Chapel.

SIKESTON - Judy Catherine Myers, 49, died at 5:29 a.m. Jan. 3, 2002, at Missouri Delta Medical Center. Born Feb. 9, 1952, in Wilson, Ark., daughter of the late William Howard and Bessie James Gabriel Looney, she was a nurses aide at Missouri Delta Medical Center for 10 years...

CHARLESTON - Marie Bryant Morrow, 88, died at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 6, 2002, at the Bertrand Nursing Facility. Born Feb. 21, 1913, in Blodgett, daughter of the late William and Dora L. Myers, she lived in Scott and Mississippi counties her entire life and was a member of the First Baptist Church in Charleston. She had been employed as a floor lady for the International Shoe Company in Sikeston...

BLOOMFIELD - Melvin "Churn" Williams, 79, died Jan. 6, 2002. Born Sept. 16, 1922, son of the late Frank and Leecy Bolin Williams, he was a lifelong resident of Bloomfield and was a 1942 graduate of Bloomfield High School. He was self-employed for many years and served as a juvenile officer for 16 years...

SIKESTON - Eva Crowell, 93, died Jan. 5, 2002, at the Clearview Nursing Center. Born Jan. 11, 1908, in Marcola, Ore., daughter of the late Frank and Ann Starks, she was a member of the First Baptist Church in Sikeston. Her husband, Walter N. "Boyd" Crowell, preceded her in death on April 7, 1985...

EAST PRAIRIE - Dorothy Mae Young, 82, died at 9:05 a.m. Jan. 6, 2002, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. Born Aug. 19, 1919, in Piggott, Ark., daughter of the late Franklin Marion and Cody Thurman Stewart, she lived in Mississippi County most of her life and attended the First Christian Church in East Prairie...

PUXICO - Barry Scott, 60, died Jan. 5, 2002, at Three Rivers Healthcare North in Poplar Bluff. Born July 9, 1941, in Poplar Bluff, son of Alvin and Mildred Smith Scott of Puxico, he lived in the Puxico area all his life. A 1959 graduate of Puxico High School, he attended Missouri University in Columbia from 1960-62 and attended the Leora Baptist Church. He was a roofing contractor and owned and operated Com-Serv Incorporated in Puxico...

SCOTT CITY - Evelyn Fordyce, 70, died Jan. 7, 2002, at the Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau. Arrangements are incomplete at Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel in Scott City.

SIKESTON - Bessie B. Johnson, 88, died at 8:45 p.m. Jan. 6, 2002, at Missouri Delta Medical Center. Arrangements are incomplete at Nunnelee Funeral Chapel, where visitation is tentatively scheduled for Tuesday evening and services on Wednesday.

DEXTER - Robert and Kimberly Waldner are the parents of their fifth child, second son, born at 2 p.m. Nov. 28, 2001, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. Travis Christopher Waldner weighed 7 pounds, 12 ounces and was 20-inches long. Mrs. Waldner, daughter of Margaret Glantz of Glendale, Ariz., is a physical education coach...