Stories from Wednesday, April 3, 2002

All-Pro D.D. Lewis of the Dallas Cowboys spoke to Kelly Middle School students Tuesday afternoon. Lewis travels around the country speaking to students about the dangers of drugs and alcohol. The former Cowboy linebacker played from 1968-1981, winning the Super Bowl twice and the NFC championship game three times...

POPLAR BLUFF - Slowly but surely, the Sikeston Bulldogs baseball team seems to be getting back to the form that took the team to the Class 3A championship game last year. After posting two wins in the Nettleton (Ark.) tourney last week, the Bulldogs came back on Tuesday and recorded their most impressive win of the year, whipping SEMO Conference rival Poplar Bluff 12-0 at Bobby Strenfel Field...

JACKSON -- Brent Thomason opened the floodgates for Chaffee with a three run homer in the seventh inning Tuesday as the Red Devils pulled out an 8-4 SEMO Conference win over Jackson. Chaffee (2-2) held a shaky 5-3 lead heading into the final frame. Thomason finished 3-for-4 with four RBIs...

DEXTER -- Dexter's Josh Miller took 11 Kelly batters down via strikeout on Tuesday, leading the Bearcats to a 9-4 victory. The sophomore was put into a tough situation in the second inning. Trailing 2-0 with the bases loaded, Dexter replaced starter Mack Taylor with Miller...

PADUCAH, Ky. - Areaba Berry Holt, 78, died at 1:30 p.m. April 2, 2002, at the Life Care Center in LaCenter. Arrangements are incomplete at McMikle Funeral Home in Charleston, Mo.

BERNIE - Sylvetta Daniels, 80, died April 3, 2002, at the Three Rivers Healthcare North Campus in Poplar Bluff. Arrangements are incomplete at Rainey-Mathis Funeral Home in Bernie.

SIKESTON - Dorothy Lucille Chadd, 88, died April 2, 2002, at Missouri Delta Medical Center. Arrangements are incomplete at Ponder Funeral Home.

SIKESTON - Catherine T. Willis, 71, died at 12:01 a.m. April 2, 2002, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. Visitation is from 5 to 8 p.m. today at Nunnelee Funeral Chapel, where services are scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Thursday.

Harold Reed was standing at a Detroit bus stop when a young woman approached him and handed over her 3-month-old baby boy. The woman, Shaniqua Betty, had just fought with her boyfriend and had fled her home barefoot. For some yet unexplained reason, the woman handed her son to Reed and returned to her apartment to retrieve her purse and shoes. That fatal mistake would cost the baby its life...

CHARLESTON - Mississippi County residents waited anxiously in the courthouse Tuesday night in anticipation of what the election results would bring. But what they ended up seeing was that ties seemed to be the going thing. When the totals were calculated for the East Prairie City Sales Tax, Proposition One, the final count was 431 yes, 431 no votes...

MINER - Frank Tatum will remain Miner's mayor after narrowly defeating challenger Tom Brock by only four votes. According to unofficial results, Tatum received 145 votes to Brock's 141 and Travis Smith's 47 during Tuesday's election. The mayor's term runs for two years...

SIKESTON - Sikeston will have a new councilperson and a new government with wards and a voter-elected mayor. For the two open city council seats, Sikeston voters in Scott County picked incumbent Phil Boyer, who received 1,464 votes or 39 percent; and Sue Rogers with 1,158 votes which was 30.85 percent of the total...

BENTON - Returns, showing 20 percent of registered voters in Scott County turned out for Tuesday's municipal and school board elections, were "about average" according to Rita Milam, county clerk, with anywhere between 20 to 25 percent being normal for an April election...

How come in the court cases you never list the things that were in court for that day. In Sunday's paper some of the things that were in court that day didn't appear and I was there. I happened to notice that some of these felony cases, and almost all of the county cases represented by a certain Sikeston attorney, never show up in the court listing. ...

SIKESTON - Shad Old, a student at Ohio State University at Columbus, Ohio, spent his spring vacation here with his parents, Dr. and Mrs. C.T. Old. --- SIKESTON "A Date With the Falcon," starring George Sanders and Wendy Barrie, is showing at the Rex Theater...

Jo Carter and Janis Merideth do yard work on Carter's front yard to prepare it for the Dogwood-Azalea Festival Tuesday. The 34th Annual Dogwood-Azalea Festival is scheduled for April 18-21.

NEW MADRID -- God got a vote, but he didn't win. As New Madrid County election officials tallied the votes Tuesday evening, there were some surprises on the ballots, new leaders elected to local government posts and incumbents, many running without opposition, returned to office. However, God will not be the next police judge for Marston, that job, filled by write-in votes, will go to a more earth-bound candidate...