Stories from Monday, June 19, 2006

We, the American public, for those that are taxpayers, ought to be outraged at the way our money is being spent and misused, not by the millions of dollars, but by the billions of dollars, by our senators and now by a much trusted friend, the AARP. Supposedly! Let me explain...

SIKESTON -- Delbert Carl Kirtley, 69, died June 17, 2006, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. Born June 21, 1936, in Matthews, son of the late Carl William and Fern Johnson Kirtley, he was a member of Miner Baptist Church and a veteran of the U.S. Army, stationed in Alaska. He worked as an office manager for International Shoe Company and a night supervisor for Brown Shoe Company before retiring...

MARBLE HILL -- Earnest O. Johnson, 96, formerly of Vanduser, died at 6:15 a.m. June 17, 2006, at Elder Care of Marble Hill. Born March 21, 1910, in Clarksville, Ark., son of the late Arthur and Rachel Earnest Johnson, he was a self-employed farmer and a member of the Vanduser Baptist Church...

NEW MADRID -- Viola French, 97, died June 16, 2006, at Beverly Healthcare in New Madrid. Born Nov. 20, 1908, in Lebanon Junction, Ky., she was the daughter of the late Rufus S. and Jennie Deats Stallings. In November 1927, she married Willis E. French Sr. who preceded her in death on Dec. 22, 2000...

CHALESTON -- Frances Welch, 89, died at 4:10 p.m. June 16, 2006, at the Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. Born Dec. 5, 1916, in Diehlstadt, daughter of the late Atlas and Colna Stone Summers, she lived in Diehlstadt most of her life, where she was a member of the Southern Baptist Church...

GOODLETTSVILLE, Tenn. -- Joyce Smith Presson, 74, formerly of East Prairie, died at 2:45 a.m. June 17, 2006, at her home. Born March 3, 1932, in Gibson County, Tenn., daughter of the late Brown and Florence Pack Smith, she was an accountant with Merrick Engineering in Nashville and a member of the First Church of the Nazarene in Nashville...

BERNIE -- Wenzil Dean Crow, 67, died June 18, 2006, at his home. Arrangements are incomplete and will be announced later by the Rainey- Mathis Funeral Home in Bernie.

I'd like for someone to tell me where I can get some good tuna. I bought some at one of the stores in Sikeston the other day, I'm not going to mention any names, and it's plenty high. It said it was supposed to be tuna on the side of the can, but it was nothing but mush. I'd like for somebody to tell me where I could get some good chunk tuna...

SIKESTON - Ernest Harper, manager of the McKnight-Kenton Grocery Co., is confined to his house by illness. CAPE GIRARDEAU - Colonel Lynn Twitty, USMC reserve, will be the featured speaker, during the Council of the Navy League's annual summer party, to be held at the Colony Club in East Cape Girardeau June 23...

CARUTHERSVILLE - A 10-month investigation has ended with the arrest of a Bragg City man on charges of statutory sodomy involving a child. Pemiscot County Sheriff Tommy Greenwell reported the arrest of Carl D. Shumate, 55. Shumate is being held in the Pemiscot County Justice Center in Hayti on charges of first degree statutory sodomy with bond set at $100,000...

SIKESTON -- Commitment, determination, perseverance, optimism, enthusiasm, focus, discipline, challenge and faith. As a coach and physical education teacher for over 27 years, Glen Francis encouraged his students and athletes to always remember these nine words and character traits. After suffering a stroke, he too grasped these words in working toward a recovery and is teaching his patients at Health Facilities Rehab to do the same...

A Sikeston Department of Public Safety officer surveys the scene of an accident in front of Bollinger Real Estate Services on North Main Street. According to Department of Public Safety, the accident occurred about 8:30 a.m. as a northbound motorist was turning left, struck a southbound vehicle and then traveled toward the real estate business, taking out three of the building's five columns. One person was transported to Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston...

SIKESTON -- A Sikeston man is charged with the murder of a Sikeston woman found in a culvert located off North Ingram on Father's Day. James V. Cullum, 21, of 105 Fifth St., was charged by Scott County Prosecuting Attorney Paul Boyd Sunday with first degree murder and armed criminal action...