Stories from Friday, August 27, 2004

SIKESTON - The first bale of cotton to move into a Sikeston gin this season was reported Monday at the Sikeston Gin Co. The cotton was brought in by Grover Baker and it was the Delta Pine variety. SIKESTON - T.H. Grady, commander of Sikeston Post No. ...

Chris Hart, a city of Sikeston Park Division employee, removes the asphalt tennis courts at Central Park. The damaged tennis courts will be replaced with a new basketball court.

CHARLESTON -- A few select inmates at the Southeast Correctional Center are doing part of their time away from the prison cells lately. For the past couple of years, the Charleston correctional center's incarcerated work release program has worked with the Southeast District of MoDOT in Sikeston each week, assisting in clearing rubbish and overgrowth on overpasses, bridges and roadsides as well mowing...

BENTON - Scott County commissioners are optimistic following the first public meeting for a proposed rural water district for the county. During their regular meeting Thursday, commissioners discussed their impressions of the informational meeting on the water district held Tuesday evening at the courthouse...

I'm not a big fan of country music - never have been and never will be. But I do enjoy the rodeo. When the entertainers are announced, I try to familiarize myself with them. Blake Shelton was the only one this year who had anything recent out there that I could find, and that wasn't much. ...

Cast members Terry Sapp, Michael Ragsdell and Heather Palmer apply makeup Thursday afternoon before the opening night of the Sikeston Little Theatre production of "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown." The play will run through Sunday. Sapp plays Sally Brown; Ragsdell plays Pig Pen and Palmer plays Marcy...

ST. LOUIS - A former Southeast Missouri woman was sentenced to prison for negotiating fraudulent checks and false tax returns in a $1.8 million embezzlement scheme. Andrea Buchanan, 46, of Kansas City and formerly of Lilbourn, was sentenced to 33 months in prison and ordered to pay restitution of $1.8 million in U.S. Federal Court Thursday...

In letters that were published in March 2001 and February 2002, I shared with you a message that was received by the late Romanian prophet, Dumitru Duduman. In August 1991, it was claimed that the angel of God told Mr. Duduman that war with Iraq would restart, which would include America, that Israel would be involved in the war and that nuclear weapons would be used...

To citizens of Sikeston: In 1994, a group of citizens (homeowners and tenants) came to the City Council, asking that something be done about the deteriorization of neighborhoods. Old houses and buildings that were in bad condition, yards with trash and old cars presented an impression of a non-concerned city and gave snakes, rats and other rodents a place to live...

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Leroy Luster, 85, formerly of Sikeston, Mo., died Aug. 25, 2004, at the Parkway Health and Rehabilitation Center in Memphis. Born Aug. 12, 1919, in Clarkdale, Ark., son of the late Joseph and Louise Banks Luster, he lived in Missouri for more than 60 years. A member of the New Homes Missionary Baptist Church in Oran, where he had served as deacon, he was a U.S. Army veteran of World War II...

ADVANCE - Betty S. Schatte, 69, died Aug. 25, 2004, at her home. Born Dec. 29, 1934, at Biggers, Ark., daughter of the late Harry and Myrtie Yancy Kuykendall, she attended the Zalma General Baptist Church. On July 27, 1957, at Hernando, Miss., she married Charles Schatte who preceded her in death on Nov. 14, 2002...

PUXICO - Pallbearers at services conducted Thursday at Watkins and Sons Funeral Home for Edna Dirickson Montgomery, 90, who died Aug. 22, 2004, were: Chris Fowler, Kyle Hale, Tyler Cookson, Keith Dirickson, Wesley Faries and Ryan Greer.

JACKSON, Tenn. - Dorothy Laverne Conner Wiseman, 56, formerly of Haywood City and Cape Girardeau, Mo., died Aug. 25, 2004, at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville. Born Sept. 17, 1947, in Memphis, daughter of the late Ross Conner Sr. ...

ESSEX - Harold W. "Bud" "Hubcaps" Chapman, 71, died Aug. 26, 2004, at his home. Born April 16, 1933, in Hunterville, son of the late Clarence and Laudie Garner Chapman, he lived in Essex for the past 49 years. A graduate of Vanduser High School, he was a U.S. Army veteran of the Korean War and was co-owner of Chapman and Vaughn Fabricating and Steel Supply Co. in Dexter...

CHICAGO - Mae Willie Butler, 50, formerly of Florida, died Aug. 23, 2004, at the West Suburban Hospital in Oak Park. Born March 19, 1954, in Charleston, daughter of the late John and Willie Mae Treadwell Parker, she attended Charleston schools and lived in Chicago since 1981. She was a member of Liberty Temple Full Gospel Church in Chicago...

SPRINGFIELD -- The Southeast Tremors advanced to the ASA National Softball Championship after placing first in the state of Missouri. After a week long tournament, the Tremors placed ninth out of 42 teams from all over the western United States. By winning both pool games against the Arkansas Firestix and the Oregon Venom, they were placed in the winners bracket...

Varsity home games start at 6:30 p.m...

SIKESTON -- Experience and speed at nearly every position marks the Sikeston High School soccer team as it prepares to open the 2004 season. As a result, the Bulldogs intend to unveil a more attack-oriented offense. "Last year we played defensively, concentrating on stopping the other team's scoring and taking our chances when we got them," said Sikeston's sixth-year coach Derrick Long, "but this year we're trying to pick up the offense to utilize our speed and experience."...