Stories from Wednesday, March 17, 2010

SIKESTON -- Charlotte McCain McMikle, 75, died Friday afternoon, March 5, 2010, at her home in Sikeston. Funeral arrangements are with the McMikle Funeral Home. For the complete obituary and more stories from the Standard Democrat, click here to log on to the electronic edition...

SIKESTON -- Jewel Irene Alaniz, 72, died March 12, 2010, at her home. Funeral arrangements are with the Nunnelee Funeral Chapel. For the complete obituary and more stories from the Standard Democrat, click here to log on to the electronic edition...

MORLEY -- Services for Anthony "Tony" Rodgers, 45, who died March 13, 2010, will be conducted at 2 p.m. Thursday at Lion of Judah church in Morehouse. Burial will follow at New Morley Cemetery in Morley with Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel of Oran in charge of arrangements...

PORTAGEVILLE -- Elsie Young, 91, died March 16, 2010, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. Arrangements are incomplete at DeLisle Funeral Home of Portageville.

SIKESTON - Several people are in custody following two sting operations by the Sikeston Public Safety and the SEMO Drug Task Force. The undercover operations to arrest people purchasing methamphetamine precursors such as pseudoephedrine, a key ingredient in manufacturing meth began in February, according to a news release from Sikeston DPS...

CHARLESTON -- A Charleston native will soon take the helm at Ole Miss. Virginia Burke, 21, was elected student body president of the University of Mississippi in Jackson, Miss., on Feb. 16. Her inauguration is scheduled for April 5. "It's very exciting," Burke said...

SIKESTON -- While specifics about the state budget continue to be discussed by Missouri legislators, local school district officials are preparing to trim their budgets tighter than ever before. Over the years school districts have made cuts to their transportation, supplies or building and grounds budgets. Some are being forced to now look at making cuts in their personnel, which often make up 70 to 85 percent of a district's budget...

Junior Kameryn Wood, senior Mallory Cowger, and Kasey Barborek, a junior at Kelly High School, look at different parts of a newspaper during a Career Day session conducted at the school on Tuesday. Twenty speakers led sessions teaching the high school students about different careers...

SIKESTON -- As the Kenny Rogers Children's Center Telethon approaches every year, Center staff use the faces and stories of the children who receive treatment to solicit donations. "I think the poster kids really help the community understand what we do at the center," said Brandy Dallas, physical therapist and clinical coordinator. The KRCC's 30th Annual Telethon is Saturday and Sunday at the Sikeston Field House...

HUTCHISON, Kan. -- The Three Rivers Raiders beat Monroe in the opening round of the NJCAA national tournament, 81-69 on Tuesday afternoon. TRCC led 37-32 at the half and then pulled away in the second half for the 12-point win. Bell City's Nick Niemczyk was the leading scorer for the Raiders with 25 points. Marquise Carter scored 15, including ending 11 of 12 from the free throw line. Josh Terry added 13 and pulled down 10 rebounds and dished out six assists...

COLUMBIA -- The Scott County Central Braves have played a lot of basketball games over the past year. Perhaps unknown to the players or coaches at the time, two of those particular games took place during the summer on the campus of the College of the Ozarks in Springfield against their first opponent in the MSHSAA Show-Me Showdown semifinals; the Dadeville Bearcats...

For the last two months I have been living vampire hours while covering high school basketball games. That left me out of the informational loop so in getting back with the swing of things I decided to read some back issues of our great paper. That's when I saw that our Sikeston Department of Public Safety was getting an inflatable boat...

Federal budget earmarks - those well-hidden local pork projects - generate as much negative public reaction as just about any antic undertaken by our lawmakers. When the public hears horror stories about million-dollar fruit-fly projects or equally expensive swine-odor projects, there is virtually universal opposition...

After two different coaches and two straight 1-9 seasons, the Charleston Bluejay's football program has made another coaching change, selecting Brett Blackman to try and turn things around.