Stories from Friday, December 5, 2003

Do you know or are you someone who provides care or assistance for a famly member who is ill, disabled or elderly? Well, it's time to say thank you. This is a time to "Share the Caring" and speak up for the more than 50 million Americans who provide care or assistance to a loved one who is chronically ill, disabled or elderly...

SIKESTON -- Heading into the season, Dexter girls basketball coach Gavin Miller wasn't sure of what to expect. After the Lady Bearcats' opener at Sikeston on Thursday night, one thing is certain. Dexter has a good player. Strike that. Dexter has a very good player...

ORAN - The 48th Annual Oran Invitational Tournament resumed play on Thursday at Oran High School. The winners bracket of the tournament went according to seed as No. 1 seed Scott City got by fifth-seeded Scott County Central 82-67, and No. 2 Bell City slipped by No. 3 Twin Rivers in overtime, 72-69...

BERNIE -- Clarkton advanced to the championship game of the Bernie Tournament on Thursday with a 77-67 win over Risco in the semifinals. Matt Trudell led the Reindeer with 23 points, followed by point guard Mikey Vegar with 22, Steven White with 15 and Kenny Goreman with 11...

As far as scams go, this one was not the best nor the brightest. Yet amazingly, a combination of greed and religion combined to dupe thousands out of more than $20 million. The happy ending to the story is that the bad guys were sentenced to lengthy jail sentences this week. What will happen to the millions still missing remains in doubt...

COLUMBIA -- Sikeston native Brandon Barnes received another award on Thursday, being named an honorable mention linebacker on the Associated Press All-Big 12 team. On Wednesday, the 1999 SHS graduate, who plays for the University of Missouri, was named All-Big 12 honorable mention by league coaches...

Members of the Sikeston Senior High Orchestra practice Thursday afternoon for their upcoming Orchestra Concert. The concert, which also will feature musicians from the Sikeston Junior High School, is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Sunday at the senior high's Field House...

SIKESTON -- An unclear message from the state has left local educators a little baffled about the distribution of the recently released funds for education. On Tuesday, Gov. Bob Holden announced that he would release $75 million to school districts beginning in December and $8 million to colleges and universities starting in January as a result of an infusion of federal reimbursements...

SIKESTON - Supt. R.A. Harper has announced that there are two new teachers added to the facilities of the Sikeston schools this week. Miss Mildred Finney of Chaffee is teaching in the Second Grade School and Mrs. Charles Kirk began duties as instructor of girls' physical education at the high school...

I live in Morehouse. There is a house that burned a couple of months ago and it is still sitting there on Poplar Street and somebody went over there and dug a 10-foot-deep hole. They were going to bury the remains of the building in the hole. They left all the stuff here and took off and left it and since it rained, the hole is full of water and is a hazard, waiting for some little kid to fall in and drown. ...

SIKESTON -- Law enforcement officials are searching for another motorist who struck a man on his bike Wednesday evening in New Madrid. "There's more to the accident than was reported," said Lt. Jim McNiell, commander of the Missouri State Highway Patrol's Troop E headquarters in Sikeston. "We need to locate another vehicle."...

CHARLESTON - Mississippi County will not participate in a legal program offered by the Missouri Association of Counties. County Commissioners reviewed a letter during their regular meeting Thursday from MAC which advised a law firm has been retained by MAC to provide a group legal services program as a benefit to those counties whose prosecuting attorneys are too busy...

EAST PRAIRIE - Rosie Elizabeth Taylor, 93, died at 7:45 a.m. Dec. 4, 2003, at the East Prairie Nursing Center. Born Sept. 17, 1910, in Obion County, Tenn., daughter of the late James Fletcher and Betty Jane Hite Burnes, she lived in Mississippi County most of her life and was a member of the First Baptist Church in East Prairie. She was a school bus driver for the Wolf Island community for many years and helped her husband with farming...

SAN DIEGO - Jennye Lee Whitehead Wedeking, 70, formerly of Charleston, Mo., died at 10:30 a.m. Dec. 4, 2003, at the Grossmont Hospital in San Diego. Born Nov. 3, 1933, at Adams, Tenn., daughter of the late William C. and Lucy Pauline Farmer Whitehead, she was a graduate of Charleston schools and member of the United Methodist Church in Charleston. She lived in San Diego for more than 50 years...

BLUE SPRINGS - Helen Lorene Diaz, 76, formerly of Blodgett, died Nov. 28, 2003, at her home. Born March 1, 1927, in Blodgett, she was the daughter of the late John Henry and Minnie Mae Adams Eskew Sr. Her husband, Robert Diaz, preceded her in death...

CAPE GIRARDEAU - Albert C. Schabbing, 84, died at 8:35 a.m. Dec. 4, 2003, at his home. Born June 10, 1919, in Cape Girardeau, son of the late Joseph A. ad Mary Katharine Kohlfeld Schabbing, he was a lifelong resident of Cape Girardeau and operated a dairy farm west of town. ...