Stories from Tuesday, August 27, 2002

SIKESTON - Sikeston City Council members won't ask voters to make any decisions this November on a "Payment in Lieu of Taxes" surcharge on electric bills. Three bills, each of which would have placed before voters an option to amend the Home Rule Charter and establish a PILOT on the Board of Municipal Utilities' electrical sales, were considered during Monday's evening special council meeting with much discussion. ...

Sikeston Department of Public Safety Detective James Donner photographs an accident scene Tuesday morning where a young girl was struck by a bus and killed. Just before 8 a.m., the child was apparently chasing the bus when it made a turn from Kiwanis Street to Jackson Street, striking the girl. The child's name is being withheld pending the notification of next of kin...

SIKESTON -- Some may know it as Mad Deer Disease, others by its common name, Chronic Wasting Disease. No matter what you call it, it's a serious issue the Missouri Conservation Commission is working to control. The Commission recently approved changes to regulations related to keeping captive deer and elk...

A Lappe Construction Company employee removes old concrete at the intersection of Ables Road and Ingram Monday. Ingram Road will be closed from Plantation Drive to Ables until the construction is completed which is scheduled to be by the middle of October. The Sikeston Department of Public Safety will be monitoring the traffic around the construction area...

SIKESTON - While the rest of us battle sweltering temperatures hoping for a break soon, several members of the Sikeston community recently threw on their most festive winter attire and gathered for a Christmas party. Conducted Sunday, the annual event is designed to get members of the First Baptist Church's choir primed for the yearly Living Christmas Tree program. ...

SIKESTON - The Sikeston cross country team will be under new leadership this fall. Longtime head coach Gary Williams, who started the program in 1979 and coached it until 1992, has taken over the reins from the departed Beth Brunkhorst. Williams helped lead the Bulldog cross country team twice to the state finals over the years...

SIKESTON - Mr. and Mrs. Bill Davis of Sikeston announce the engagement of their son, William Michael, to Crystal Cunningham of Dexter. The prospective bridegroom, a 1998 graduate of Sikeston High School, is employed by Dolly Madison. The future bride graduated in 2000 from Southland High School in Cardwell and is employed by Food Giant...

SIKESTON - Bill and Tonya Hodgkiss are the parents of their first child, a son, born at 2:13 a.m. July 26, 2002, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. Hunter Philip Hodgkiss weighed 6 pounds, 13 ounces and was 20-inches long. The former Tonya Graves, Mrs. Hodgkiss is the daughter of Jeff and Polly Graves and is employed by North Ridge Veterinarian Hospital...

SIKESTON - Jack Kelly Jr. of Hayti, a licensed embalmer, has joined the staff of the Welsh Funeral Home, as funeral director and embalmer. Born in Sikeston, he lived here until he reached teen-age. SIKESTON - George Blackburn, chairman of the Rodeo Queen contest for the 10th annual Jaycee Bootheel Rodeo, Sept. 13-16 inclusive, urges all those organizations and/or individuals who may be planning to enter candidates in this year's contest for the rodeo crown not to delay any further...

In the Aug. 13 paper, the person who said Mike Jensen was setting himself up as God Almighty, judging people, I don't believe it. Let's face it. The man prints the news and he prints the truth. I guess that person has either been in trouble with the law whose name has been in the paper, or an unwed mother who's on ADC or some guy who is living with a woman with children on ADC and he don't work. ...

SIKESTON - Ferguson Medical Group has reached an agreement to become participating providers with the First National Health Network. First Heath is the network utilized by Missouri Consolidated for state employees and retirees in Southeast Missouri as well as for many county and local government agencies...

EAST PRAIRIE - Ruth Ellen Adkisson, 75, died at 8:15 p.m. Aug. 26, 2002, at the East Prairie Nursing Center. Arrangements are incomplete at Shelby Funeral Home.

SIKESTON - Sarah Renea Kinder, 5, died Aug. 22, 2002, at St. Louis Children's Hospital, following an extended illness. Born Nov. 4, 1996, in Sikeston, she was the daughter of Keith and Sherry Kinder of Sikeston. Other survivors include: one brother, Tyler Kinder of Sikeston; two sisters, Bridget Kinder and April Kinder of Sikeston; maternal grandparents Lucy Gillum of Fisk and Charles Gillum of Wappapello; and her paternal grandparents, Arthur and Mary Kinder of Dexter and Nancy Kinder of Sikeston.. ...

SIKESTON - Vernon R. Noble, 92, died at 8 a.m. Aug. 26, 2002, at the Clearview Nursing Center. Born Nov. 9, 1909, in Kentucky, son of the late John Mottley and Minnie Avery Noble, he was a farm laborer and had served with the Chaffee Police Department...

CREVE COEUR - Laura Pauline Beeson Wescoat, 77, died Aug. 25, 2002. Born April 4, 1925, in Morralton, Ark., she was the daughter of the late Samuel and Annie Beeson. Her husband, Charles Wescoat, preceded her in death. Survivors include: seven daughters and sons-in-law, Janita and Jim Featherston, Laura Levy, Bettye Roe, Jimmie Sue and Doug Bristow, Shirley Biebel, Nancy and Steve Junk and Mary Ellen and Bill Million; one son and daughter-in-law, Charlie and Becky Wescoat; and 25 grandchildren, 27 great-grandchildren.. ...

DEXTER - Madelene E. Crossen, 80, formerly of Bernie, died Aug. 26, 2002, at the Crowley Ridge Care Center in Dexter. Born Nov. 2, 1921, in Bernie, she was the daughter of the late Hosea Victor and Ora Lee McCarthey Smothers. Survivors include: two sons, Leonard Jackson and Paul Crossen, addresses unavailable; three daughters, Christine Robinson and Peggy Prince of Dexter and Imogene Joseph of Lakeland, Calif.; two sisters, Ruby Witherford of Kingman, Ariz., and Lorene Douglas of St. ...

DEXTER - Gladys Lincoln Langston, 91, died Aug. 26, 2002, at the Mulberry Manor in Dexter. Born Sept. 17, 1910, in Bloomfield, daughter of the late Elisha B. and Edna Moore Lincoln, she was a clerical worker for Office of Personal Management in St. Louis. She was a member of the First General Baptist Church in Dexter and 50-year member of Chapter 311 Order of the Eastern Star...

An Indianapolis man is dead over the senseless attempted theft of his car's hubcaps. And three St. Louis thugs are in jail charged with murder. The act itself was so stupid and so brazen that it makes you wonder about the violence that plagues our cities...

NEW MADRID - Hal E. Hunter III of New Madrid and Carole Hunter of Cape Canaveral, Fla., have announced the engagement of their daughter, Colleen Lyn, to David Blake Pearson, son of David and Diane Pearson of Sikeston. The future bride graduated in 1988 from New Madrid County Central High School. ...