Stories from Thursday, July 14, 2005

SIKESTON -- Eddie Walton, 82, died at 8:31 a.m. July 12, 2005, at Missouri Delta Medical Center. Arrangements are incomplete at the Massie Funeral Home in Mounds, Ill.

PORTAGEVILLE - Russie "Reeces" Marie Hardin, 82, died July 12, 2005, at Canton, Texas. Born June 27, 1923, in Portageville, daughter of the late G.W. and Mary Ann Alexander Reeves, she spent her life in the farming community until 1991 when she moved to Texas to be with her children...

SIKESTON - Larry N. Oliver, 67, formerly of East Prairie, died at 4:15 p.m. July 13, 2005, at the Missouri Delta Medical Center. Born April 16, 1938, in East Prairie, son of the late E.N. "Fats" and Colene Calhoun Oliver, he moved to California with his family following his graduation from East Prairie High School. ...

DEXTER - Pallbearers at services held Wednesday at Watkins and Sons Funeral Chapel in Dexter for Ruby N. Hammond, 94, who died July 11, 2005, were: Lance Brown, Terry Biddle, Terry Williams, Mike McFarlin, Randy Bess and Sheri Crabtree.

BROWNSVILLE, Ky. -- Travis Lloyd Johnson, 50, died July 12, 2005, in Brownsville. Visitation will begin at 5 p.m. Saturday at the DeLisle Funeral Home in Portageville, Mo., where services are scheduled for 2 p.m. Sunday. Burial will follow in the Portageville Cemetery...

DEXTER -- Pallbearers at services conducted Wednesday at Watkins and Sons Funeral Chapel in Dexter for Randy Alan Leek, 48, who died July 9, 2005, were: Derek Elston, Mark Lindsay, Trent Brewer, Jason Como, Johnathan Simmons and Josh Durham.

MALDEN - Iva Evelyn Berry, 91, died July 12, 2005, at the Beverly Healthcare and Rehab. Born April 11, 1914, in Puxico, daughter of the late Stephen Robertson and Martha Ann Woolard, she was a member of the First Assembly of God Church in Malden. On Oct. 8, 1932, in Malden, she married Chalmer Clarence Berry, who preceded her in death on Aug. 27, 1984...

SIKESTON - Farrell Bost, 84, loving husband, father and grandfather, went to be with our Lord July 13, 2005, at the Hunter Acres Caring Center. Born Feb. 12, 1921, in Cleveland, Ark., son of the late J.J. Bost and Pearline Summers Bost McCoy, he attended First Assembly of God and was a retired farmer...

TEXARKANA, Texas -- Charlie Thomas Wade, 68, died July 10, 2005, at Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock, Ark. Born Jan. 1, 1937, in Luxora, Ark., son of the late Rice William and Anna Lucille Reynolds Wade, he was a self-employed farmer and a member of the Church of Christ...

BLOOMFIELD - Jeffrey Michael White, 17, died July 13, 2005, at St. Louis University Hospital in St. Louis as a result of injuries received in an automobile accident in Bloomfield on July 12. Born May 11, 1988, in Poplar Bluff to Michael and Lana McCoy White of Bloomfield, he was a lifelong resident of Bloomfield and he would have been a senior at Bloomfield High School. A member of the Mt. Pisgah General Baptist Church, he was employed at Town and Country Supermarket in Bloomfield...

PARMA - Billy Shafer, 44, died July 12, 2005, at his home. Born Dec. 7, 1960, in South Bend, Ind., son of Frankie Sego Shafer of Waterloo, Ala., and the late Robert Shafer, he had lived in Parma for the past 11 years and was a former resident of Malden and South Bend...

Sikeston High School football coaches go over proper defensive alignments during Wednesday's camp. The Bulldog football camp started on Monday and will end on Friday with a barbecue following each session -- morning for grades 6-8 and afternoon for grades 9-12. Despite this week's inclement weather, the camp has continued in the Field House. Wednesday was the first day coaches could take the campers outdoors...

I wanted to tell all pageant people that you probably don't want to go to Portageville if you want your child's feelings and self-esteem to remain in tact. Monday at the Fourth of July pageant with many children participating and behaving appropriately, there was a vulgar display of clapping and cheering for one child. ...

SIKESTON - Franklin Struwe, an employee at the Bank of Sikeston for the past several years, will leave Friday for Centralia, Mo., where he has accepted employment in the accounting department of the A.B. Chance Manufacturing Co. SIKESTON - Superintendent of Schools Lynn Twitty told the school board yesterday that the Scott County R-5 School District wanted to meet to discuss the possibility of annexation of the two districts...

LILBOURN - If it weren't for the Lincoln University summer enrichment program, "Learning and Losing it with Lincoln," 12-year-old Keith Word of Howardville admitted he wouldn't be doing too much. "I'd probably be at the house sleeping, watching TV or playing video games," he said...

Zach Fayette, 19, Brad Deere, 19, and Edward Pike, 19, of Sikeston, enjoyed a ride in an inflatable swimming pool in the puddles at the Sikeston Sports Complex. The water Tuesday afternoon was chest-deep in some areas, they said.

BENTON -- A Stoddard County teenager died Wednesday of injuries sustained in a two-vehicle accident Tuesday. According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol at 2 p.m. Tuesday, in Stoddard County on Missouri Highway 25 at Route AA, one mile south of Bloomfield, an accident occurred as westbound motorist Heath N. Traughber, 17, of Bloomfield attempted to cross Highway 25 and was struck by the southbound vehicle driven by John M. Tilley, 40, of Bloomfield...

Like most men, I'm a sports fan. I find myself following several sporting events though some have but a passing interest. One sport I dislike with a passion however is the friendly sport of ice hockey. Maybe it's because the sport is fairly limited to cold weather climates or maybe it's the violent nature of the sport. Whatever the reason, hockey is not on my radar screen...