Stories from Sunday, March 25, 2007

Terry Schmitt of S & W Productions of Paducah, Ky., readies a tape during the Kenny Rogers Children's Center Telethon. The Telethon, which started Saturday, will end today at 5 p.m. at the Sikeston Field House. The Telethon helps support over 300 children with special needs from birth through 21 years of ages from 10 counties throughout Southeast Missouri...

CARUTHERSVILLE - Pemiscot County sheriff deputies are currently searching for a 16-year old runaway from the Deering area. Ladonna Meek, who has been living a short amount of time with her uncle, was last seen by him around 11 p.m. March 21. At approximately 10 a.m. March 22, it was discovered that she had left the residence and has not been seen by family members since that time...

Reginald Parker, an inmate at the Scott County Jail, clears the grounds of the Garden of Memories cemetery. Sheriff Rick Walter had the prisoners pick up trash at two Sikeston cemeteries.

SIKESTON - For Ellen Brandom, the 160th District's new state representative, being a good legislator means being a good listener. Whether sitting at a lunch table with senior citizens at the Sikeston OAKS Center or across a conference table from an AT&T executive, Brandom said she listens and learns more each day...

I would like to speak out to the response somebody put in your paper called Sikeston comes first in Friday's paper March 16. This is another Portageville Bulldog fan. You Sikeston people quit belly aching about the Standard- Democrat being your own paper. ...

Let's say you have a school district with 32,000 students. But 13,000 of those students will never graduate from high school. Of the 19,000 who do graduate, just half will take a college entrance examination. And of that number, just 12 percent - or less than 2,300 students - will score average or higher on that college entrance exam...

CHARLESTON -- For most schools, simply qualifying for the MSHSAA state semifinals four years in a row would be considered a monumental achievement. For the Charleston boys basketball team, just reaching the final four isn't good enough. The Bluejays have to win it all...

BENTON -- The New Madrid County Central Eagles up opened up their baseball season with a road against the Kelly Hawks on Friday afternoon, 6-2. The Eagles got solid pitching from starter Matt Williams to hold the Hawks to only four hits. Williams went six strong innings allowing only one earned run, three hits, walked seven and struck out four. Landon Lingle pitched a scoreless seventh inning for the Eagles...

CAPE GIRARDEAU - The Sikeston Lady Bulldogs soccer team moved to the finals of the Noon Optimist Spring Classic on Friday night with a 1-0 shutout over the host Cape Central Lady Tigers. The win by Sikeston was the first over Cape Central in the school's history, for either the boys or girls program. It was also the first time the Lady Bulldogs had made the finals in the tourney. The best finish by Sikeston in the tournament was fourth place...

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Teresa Diane Cantrell, age 57, formerly of Sikeston, died surrounded by friends and family early morning on Thursday March 22, 2007, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. Born Sept. 16, 1949, in Cape Girardeau, daughter of Francis "Bud" Street and the late Margery Street, she was raised in Sikeston and moved to Cape Girardeau when she attended Southeast Missouri State University...

BELL CITY - Gladys M. Carpenter, 82, died at 6:47 p.m. March 22, 2007, at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. Born March 31, 1924, in Treat, Ark., to the late Louis H. and Norma Ross Gunter, she was a homemaker and a lifetime member of the Church of Christ...

SIKESTON - Pallbearers for services to be held Monday at Nunnelee Funeral Chapel for Helen Beatrice Jaynes, 80, who died on March 22, 2007, will be her grandsons: Tim Jaynes, Gary Rowland Jr., Matthew Jaynes, Tommy McRoy, Mark Jaynes, Grant Jaynes and Roger Jaynes Jr...

CHARLESTON - Louise "Til" Moran, 87, died March 24, 2007, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. Born Oct. 2, 1919, at Blytheville, Ark., to the late Walter Phillip and Hattie Wade Atteberry, she was a lifelong resident of Charleston. She was employed over 30 years with the Missouri Department of Revenue as a vision tester for the Drivers License Bureaus in Charleston and Sikeston. ...

MOREHOUSE - Ella Mae Nicholas, 98, died at 6 a.m. March 24, 2007, at Missouri Delta Medical Center. Born March 28, 1908, in Arkansas, to the late William and Mary Hilliard Nicholas, she was a homemaker and a member of the Morehouse Pentecostal Church...

MATTHEWS - Rondle R. Penick, 92, died March 24, 2007, at Sells Nursing Home in Matthews. Watkins and Sons Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements, which are incomplete.

SIKESTON - Mrs. T.C. McClure and daughter, Eleanor, will entertain Saturday with a miscellaneous shower at the Country Club complimenting Miss Sara Sue Keller. SIKESTON - Frances Kay Whitaker, 11-year-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. P.M. Whitaker, won the first prize in The Daily Standard's Easter Coloring Contest. She received $5...

LILBOURN - The Great River Soy Processing plant is rapidly taking shape in Lilbourn. Tom Pulliam with Process Concepts, the project's general contractor, said he expected the tanks to arrive by this weekend with more equipment to fill the main building to arrive over the next few weeks. Construction is expected to be complete by late spring, he added...

NEW MADRID - Donna Vent was recently recognized by the National Association of Community Health Centers Inc. in Washington, D.C., as the March National Community Health Advocate of the Month. Vent was one of the first to join the Advocacy Network and signed up over 250 people to let their voices be heard concerning health care in Southeast Missouri...

MATTHEWS -- Dennis Day and Scotty and Julie Bewley have announced the engagement of their daughter, Ashley Dawn Day, to Kyle Taylor Denton, son of Kenny and Connie Denton and Ronnie and Kim Jones of New Madrid. A 2002 graduate of New Madrid County Central High School, the future bride graduated in December 2006 with a Bachelor of Science from Murray State University, where she majored in organizational communication with a minor in marketing. ...

RISCO -- Mr. and Mrs. Joe Rowe have announced the engagement of their daughter, Bridget Marie, to James William Heiser, son of Mr. and Mrs. Jim Heiser of Campbell. A 1998 graduate of Risco High School, the future bride earned a Bachelor of Science in education in 2003 from Missouri State University in Springfield. She resides in Kewanee and is a math teacher at New Madrid County Central High School...

DEXTER -- Haylee Elizabethanne Jolliff and Joey Todd Githens have announced their engagement. The future bride attended Dexter High School and is a graduate from Trendsetters School of Cosmetology in Sikeston. She works at Innovations Salon in Poplar Bluff. She is the daughter of Perry and Pam Jolliff of Dexter and the granddaughter of Margaret Jolliff of Sikeston...

SIKESTON -- Mr. and Mrs. Carroll E. McAfee celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary March 22 with friends and family during a small reception hosted by the couple's children. McAfee and the former Mary F. Malcolm were married March 22, 1957, in Hernando, Miss. ...

Maybe you're a little doubtful about the Historic Midtown Development Group's plans for the community, our work with the Main Street program and what it all means for Downtown Sikeston and the community as a whole. We're all from Missouri -- it's that "show me" attitude many of us share! So, as a resident of our community, what does revitalization and restoration of Downtown Sikeston mean for those who live, work, shop and play here?...

CAPE GIRARDEAU - Melissa Allen and Damon McCluney are the parents of their third child, first son, born at 6:52 a.m. Feb. 10, 2007, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. Qadry Dewyane Allen weighed 7 pounds, 3 ounces, and was 20 inches long...