Stories from Thursday, January 3, 2008

DELTA -- The host Delta Bobcats were among the first-day winners in the Delta New Year's girls basketball tournament. St. Vincent, Meadow Heights and Woodland also won their openers. St. Vincent beat Risco 71-22 in the first game behind 19 points from Courtney Besand. Lacey Siegmund and Jessica Welker both added 14 points...

Washington, D.C., is far from the ideal community to serve as our nation's capital. The city is near the top of the crime list and near the bottom of the education achievement category. And now our nation's capital has yet another honor - it has reached "modern epidemic" status for the explosion in AIDS cases...

SIKESTON -- While a recession is possible in the new year, local financial experts say it's not likely. "It's an unsettling period right now," said Dr. Bruce Domazlicky, director of Center for Economic and Business Research at Southeast Missouri State University...

Jimmy Reynolds throws a Christmas tree in the city of Sikeston collection area Wednesday afternoon. The city of Sikeston Park Division, with the assistance from Pullen Brothers Inc., is collecting the trees for the use as shelters in the city's two public fishing lakes and also at Lake Wappapello. Residents can drop off their tree through Jan. 9...

MINER -- The Sikeston Rural Fire Protection District's new fire truck should result in lower home insurance for Miner residents, according to the city's fire chief. The Miner Board of Aldermen approved an agreement with the Sikeston Rural Fire Protection District during their regular monthly meeting Wednesday...

SIKESTON -- Even though tax refunds will be delayed for some people this year, all taxpayers can still follow a few tips to make the filing process smoother for everyone involved, the Internal Revenue Service and local tax preparers say. "Most people know when they come in what (information) to bring and have been filing tax returns for a while," said Jennifer Thurman, tax preparer for At Tax Time in Sikeston...

SIKESTON - Decided interest in the two propositions to be considered by Sikeston voters at the special election next Tuesday has been engendered during the past few days by those responsible for having the election called. Voters at the election are to grant or refuse a franchise to the Moody-...

I'm not sure if I should be speaking about this because I'm a firm believer that if you break the law you should be punished. But at this time of the year, they are taking away these children's parents in the round up for Operation Grinch. Honestly, in the long run, these kids are the ones that are suffering. Like I said, I believe that they should punish those that break the law. But I for one will worry Christmas day that the kids are the one to suffer...

Dear Editor, As a farmer that produces corn, wheat and soybeans I need to respond to the article "Midwest corn boom threatens to expand 'dead zone' in Gulf of Mexico." Yes, nitrogen fertilizer is used to grow corn. Nitrogen is also required for the production of soybeans and alfalfa. The difference is that soybeans and alfalfa produce their own nitrogen, some of which can also go into the streams and rivers if erosion occurs...

SIKESTON - Ruby Lee Stovall, 78, died at 4:36 p.m. Jan. 2, 2008, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. Born Feb. 7, 1929, at Holland, Ark., to the late J. William and Laura Jane Hearse Potter, she had been a custodian at Sikeston Convalescent Center and Sikeston Public Schools and later worked in the Foster Grandparents Program at Southeast Elementary. She was a member of New Beginnings Fellowship Church...

MATTHEWS - Alva Bloyce Burch, 63, died on Dec. 31, 2007, at his home. Born March 9, 1944, in Essex, to Donnie L. DeJournett Burch, who survives of Matthews, and the late Pete Burch, he served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War and was a member of the Big Prairie Jaycees and a Boy Scout leader. He worked for 36 years as a maintenance mechanic for Noranda Aluminum...

BENTON -- Mary Ada Hopper, 87, died at 9:18 a.m. Jan. 1, 2008, at The Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau. Born Aug. 1, 1920, in Morley, daughter of the late WIlliam A. and Mary M. Capps Beggs, she had been a homemaker. She was a member of the United Baptist Church in Benton and the Daughters of the American Revolution...

NEW MADRID -- Louis Albert "L.A." Johnson, 85, died Dec. 25, 2007, at the Golden Living Center. Born Jan. 14, 1922, in New Madrid, to the late Louis and Tudie Mabley Johnson, he was a member of the VFW Post 7183 of Lilbourn. He married Laura Lee Crockett who preceded him in death on Nov. 7, 1999...

DEXTER -- Virginia Pauline Whitaker, 89, died Dec. 31, 2007, at the Crowley Ridge Care Center. Born May 1, 1918, in Wabash County, Ill., to the late Thomas Marion and Mabel May Medler Parker, she had lived in Dexter for the past 30 years and was a nursing home operator...

Good morning/afternoon/evening to whoever is reading this email. I lived in the area that this paper serves for eighteen years of my life. Mainly Sikeston and Dexter, with some points in between. Then I joined the military and moved all over much of the southern U.S. I have been to a lot of places, but I still miss Missouri...

CHARLESTON -- A Charleston man who was shot in the face over the weekend is still recovering from the incident. Charleston Department of Public Safety Director Robert E. Hearnes said Wednesday the condition of the victim, 46-year-old Anthony Kent, hasn't changed. Kent was shot near the intersection of Vine and Elm Streets Friday in Charleston. Kent received a gunshot wound to the face and was taken to a local hospital for treatment...

BENTON -- Two Scott City men were arrested Monday, suspected of forcing their way into an elderly veteran's home Sunday and stealing money and other items from him. Scott County Prosecuting Attorney Paul Boyd has charged the two men -- 24- year-old Logan Scott Hays and 38-year-old Ricky Lee Menz, both of 515 E. Second St. -- with robbery, burglary and elder abuse, all felonies. The victim's name and exact age was not released in a probable-cause affidavit obtained by the Southeast Missourian...