Stories from Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Staff Reports Standard Democrat KENNETT -- The Sikeston eighth grade basketball team improved to 8-0 on the season with a 45-20 road victory against Kennett on Tuesday. Sikeston jumped out to a 21-7 first quarter lead and extended it to 32-13 by halftime...

Nobody asked me but...what type of voodoo curse does the Charleston boys basketball team have over Sikeston? No matter how dominant the Bulldogs may be, or how down the Bluejays are, if it is Charleston vs. Sikeston, mark it down for the 'Jays. What has happened to the once-proud Sikeston Bleacher Bums? It is a sad commentary on the Bums, that you can count their attendance at Tuesday night's game against Fredericktown on one hand. ...

BENTON - The Kelly Hawks boys basketball team shook off a shaky first half, and pulled out a conference win at home against the Scott County Central Braves, 77-70. The Hawks came into the game short-handed on the bench, as head coach Corey Johnson was out with strep throat. Assistant coach Matt Hale stepped in to fill the big shoes left vacant by Johnson...

NEW MADRID -- The Charleston Bluejays defeated the New Madrid County Central Eagles 63-48 in a SEMO Conference tilt on Tuesday at New Madrid. All Charleston coach Danny Farmer wanted was a win as he faced his former mentor Lennies McFerren. "It's kind of hard to come in here and play them," said Farmer. "We (McFerren and Farmer) go back a long way and there's a lot of respect there...

SIKESTON -- The Sikeston Bulldogs basketball team bounced back from an emotional loss to Charleston on Friday with a 62-39 victory against Class 4, District 1 foe Fredericktown on Tuesday at the Field House. The win improves the Bulldogs to 7-3 on the season and they are now 3-0 against district opponents this season...

SIKESTON - Harold Wallace, Sikeston chief of police, today announced his candidacy for re-election. DEXTER - Briney Welborn, high school senior and representative of Stoddard County, won top honors in the 32nd annual American Legion oratorical contest in Cape Girardeau on Wednesday...

On Feb. 2, 1980, reports surfaced that FBI personnel were targeting members of Congress in a sting operation. The media dubbed the operation Abscam after the name of the company. Of the thirty-plus targeted officials, one senator, Harrison A. Williams, Democrat, and five members of the House of Representatives, John Jenrette, Democrat; Richard Kelly, Republican; Raymond Lederer, Democrat; Michael "Ozzie" Myers, Democrat and Frank Thompson, Democrat were convicted of bribery and conspiracy in separate trials in 1981. ...

BENTON -- Dwindling revenues has Scott County's E-911 officials concerned about the future of the service. Joe Burton, county E-911 administrator, presented revenue figures for E-911 from 2002 to the present along with projections for 2006 during the regular Scott County Commission meeting Tuesday...

Randy Gaines, a city of Sikeston Public Works employee, clears debris from a gutter on School Street Tuesday afternoon. Throughout the day workers with the city cleared leaves, trash and other debris which prevented water from draining off streets.

Good morning! Another year gone, wow! The big quake missed us again this year! A good thing too, because we are NOT prepared! New Orleans should be the wake up call. Each time a hurricane approached the coast, people would dare Mother Nature to knock on their door. Then Katrina came calling...

St. Louis and Kansas City both reported substantial increases in their murder rates this past year. Kansas City saw a massive 40 percent increase while St. Louis posted a 15 percent jump. Neither city is proud of the numbers, as you might expect. We could discuss the reasons for this violent increase and never fully come to an agreeable explanation. But one criminologist at the University of Missouri-...

CHARLESTON -- A Wyatt man was sentenced to 15 years in prison for assaulting a Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper. Following the state's recommendation, Circuit Judge David Dolan sentenced Lonnie McCain, 41, on Tuesday to 15 years for the felony charge of first degree assault on a law enforcement officer...

SIKESTON -- Sikeston R-6 Board of Education members approved Tuesday replacing damaged equipment at the Sikeston Field House during their regular meeting held at the newly renovated Middle School Library. Superintendent Steve Borgsmiller said district officials are 99 percent sure the equipment -- sound board and lighting system -- at the Field House were damaged by lightening...

BLOOMFIELD -- Dexter climbed closer to the .500 mark for the season with an 84-71 Stoddard County Activities Association win over the Bloomfield Wildcats here Tuesday night. For the Bearcats, the road to parity has been all uphill after opening the season 0-6. Since then Dexter has won five against one loss, winning four straight for a 5-7 season slate...

As I was reading this outstanding newspaper last week, I came upon a story headlined "Lawmaker seeks to ban sale of cold beer." Obviously my interest was piqued so I read on, learning that convenience stores in our great state of Missouri would risk losing their liquor licenses if they sold beer colder than 60 degrees if the bill proposed by an esteemed Missouri senator is passed...

EAST PRAIRIE - Connie Sue Price Adams, 61, formerly of Parma, died Jan. 9, 2006, at her home. Born Nov. 14, 1944, at Gideon, to the late Preston and Violet Mills Woods, she lived in East Prairie for the past six months and was a member of the Gospel Assembly Church in Sikeston...

CHARLESTON - Alice Lucille Baker, 94, died at 10:02 p.m. Jan. 9, 2006, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. Born March 28, 1911, in Mississippi County to the late William Henderson and Alice Greer Bryan, she lived all her life in Mississippi County and was a member of the New Bethel Baptist Church near Charleston...

DEXTER - Pallbearers for funeral services conducted on Tuesday at Watkins and Sons Funeral Home in Dexter, for Helen Shipman White, who died on Jan. 7, 2006, were: Ernie Hill, Jim Snider, Bob Phillips, Don Seabaugh, Jim Koontz and Curt Shipman.

PORTAGEVILLE - Jessie A. Vaughn, died Jan. 11, 2006, at Pemiscot Memorial Health System in Hayti. Arrangements are incomplete with DeLisle Funeral Home in Portageville.

SIKESTON - James "Jimmy" Robinson, 55, died Jan. 8, 2006, of injuries sustained in an automobile accident near Lilbourn. Born March 2, 1950, in Sikeston, to the late William and Justina Robinson Johnson, he was a former pastor of St. Matthew Baptist Church in Charleston and was pastor and founder of Straight Street Church in Sikeston...

MINER -- Miner and Scott County should be able to work hand-in-hand during any future emergencies as they are now using the same plan book. Miner's Board of Aldermen adopted the county's Emergency Operations Plan and Procedures as the city's during their regular meeting Tuesday...