Stories from Friday, October 10, 2008

SIKESTON -- Lawrence Fugate, 65, died Oct. 10, 2008, at his home in Sikeston. Arrangements are incomplete at Ponder Funeral Home.

SIKESTON -- Jerry W. Helmes, 66, died Oct. 9, 2008, from injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident in Sikeston. Arrangements are incomplete at Ponder Funeral Home.

BERTRAND -- Kathy Jean Henry, 51, died at 4 a.m. Oct. 9, 2008, at her home. Born Sept. 22, 1957, in East Prairie, to the late Luther E. and Dorothy Hockersmith Wasson, she worked at the East Prairie Garment Factory and Brown Shoe Company in Sikeston. She was of the Baptist belief...

GIDEON -- Mary Opal Brooks, 70, died Oct. 9, 2008, at the Golden Living Center in Bloomfield. Born Feb. 13, 1938, in Sikeston, to the late Landon Garvin and Mary Alice Stone Sterling, she was a member of Solid Rock Church in Clarkton. Survivors include: eight daughters, Judy Hise of Sikeston, Myra Howell of the state of California, Delores Ford of Clarkton, Brenda Wellington of Malden, Joyce Akthar of Kennett, Anita Scheible of Bell City, Barbara Hastings of La Center, Ky. ...

SIKESTON - Cheryl Ann and Lucky Orr, daughter and son of Mr. and Mrs. Billy Orr, celebrated their third and fourth birthdays respectively with a party at their home Wednesday afternoon. SIKESTON - Mrs. George W. Gardner entertained this afternoon with a party for her son, George, who celebrated his first birthday today...

I live in New Madrid. I would like for you to put in the paper when the hummingbirds will be leaving and when you should stop feeding them. Just reading SpeakOut here, the Sept. 30 edition. I just can't believe the hatred that is the Democrat party today. ...

SIKESTON -- The eighth grade Sikeston Bulldog football team defeated the Poplar Bluff Mules 18-13 Thursday night in Sikeston. "The eighth grade played pretty well tonight against the toughest team we've played all year," junior high football coach Brett Blackman said...

SIKESTON -- The Sikeston High School girls tennis team's 2008 season came to an end on Thursday at the Class 1, District 1 tennis tournament held at Sikeston High School. Sikeston performed well in their singles matches as Jacarra Lampkin made the quarterfinals before being ousted by Dexter's Katelyn Heil 6-2, 6-0. Lampkin defeated Jayne Rey of Arcadia Valley 6-1, 6-0 after receiving a bye into the second round...

POPLAR BLUFF -- It has been five years since the Sikeston Lady Bulldogs have won a district tournament game. On Thursday night, that all changed. The Lady Bulldogs pulled out a close 2-1 win over the Jackson Lady Indians (8-16) in the Class 4, District 1 tournament in Poplar Bluff that had to go eight innings to finish...

DEXTER -- Stoddard County law enforcement officials are investigating the source of counterfeit bills circulating in the area. The first report of fake bills in Dexter came from the One Mile Road branch of First Midwest Bank. Since then, five Dexter businesses have turned over phony bills in denominations of $10, $20 and $50, according to Detective Lt. Trevor Pulley of the Dexter Police Department...

SIKESTON - The Sikeston Department of Safety is investigating an armed robbery which reportedly happened at a car wash. The robbery was called in to DPS at about 8:53 p.m. Thursday. The victim told officers he was washing his vehicle at the Elite Car Wash, 511 N. Main, when he was approached by a black male who was carrying a handgun. The man demanded the victim's money...

BENTON -- The village of Diehlstadt is looking into options to get out of its financial mess. There was an informative meeting held Thursday night between its board of trustees and County Collector Mark Hensley to discuss bundling city taxes with the county, Commissioner Ron McCormick reported at Thursday's regular commissioner meeting. He planned to attend the meeting, too...

CHARLESTON -- Mississippi County sheriff's deputies will not be punching the time clock with the department's other staff members. Sheriff Keith Moore presented his thoughts on the new computer-based time clock system during the regular County Commission meeting Thursday,...

SIKESTON -- As one DREAM official put it, revitalizing Downtown Sikeston is a matter of creating curb appeal -- but on a civic scale. On Thursday, city staff members, Downtown Sikeston merchants, property owners, Historic Midtown Development Group members and representatives from Sikeston Area Chamber of Commerce, Sikeston Public Library and Sikeston Depot gathered for a special meeting to discuss the Downtown Revitalization Economic Assistance for Missouri Initiative, or DREAM, at City Hall...

DEXTER -- Six Sikeston residents sustained serious injuries while three Richland R-1 students and their bus driver received minor injuries Thursday when a sport utility vehicle slammed into the passenger side of the school bus in Stoddard County. According to Missouri State Highway Patrol, the accident occurred at 3:30 p.m. ...

SIKESTON - A Sikeston man was killed in a single-vehicle motorcycle accident Thursday. The accident occurred at about 7:05 p.m., according to the Sikeston Department of Safety. Jerry Helmes, 66, had left his home and was traveling eastbound on the 800 block of Ladue Street when he apparently lost control of his motorcycle...