Stories from Sunday, April 29, 2012

Sikeston may soon get some relief and some help on the housing front. Officials here met Friday morning with a representative of a large national bank who holds loan titles to perhaps as many as 50 condemned houses in our community. There's really no need to stomp around the history of this issue, but, simply by way of background, here it goes...

ST. LOUIS -- Jim "Jump Sharp" Harris Sr., 85, formerly of Haywood City, died April 25, 2012, at the St. Sophia Health and Rehabilitation Center in Florissant. Born Aug. 31, 1926, in Sunflower, Miss., to the late Johnnie and Molly White Harris, he was self-employed and since 1962 had lived in Missouri where he was a member of St. John Missionary Baptist Church in Sikeston...

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Marjorie Ruth Presson, 90, died at 3:40 p.m. April 26, 2012, at the Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau. Born July 19, 1921, in Goss, she was the daughter of the late Goldie Mae Huntly and Harry George Horton. She had lived in St. Louis and was the secretary at the A.J. Martin School in East Prairie for several years...

NEW HAMBURG -- Regina Magdalen Dirnberger, 98, died April 27, 2012, at Jackson Manor in Jackson. She was born Nov. 9, 1913, at Benton, to the late Henry and Regina Scherer Compas. She and her husband farmed in the New Hamburg area and she was employed at Holiday Inn in Cape Girardeau as a housekeeper from 1966 until 1980. She raised flowers and decorated the alters at St. Lawrence Catholic Church for 25 years...

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Cherie Gale Mitchell-Lloyd, 55, formerly of Sikeston, Mo., died April 27, 2012, at Providence NE Hospital in Columbia. She was born Feb. 13, 1957, in Sikeston, Mo., to Anna Blackburn Mitchell of Sikeston and the late W.J. Mitchell. She was a 1975 graduate of Sikeston High School, a member of First Assembly of God Church in Sikeston and had worked as a surgery technician at Missouri Delta Medical Center. She worked as a realtor and attended Shandon Baptist Church in Columbia...

EAST PRAIRIE -- Lois Powers, 89, died April 27, 2012, at her home. Visitation is from 10 a.m. until time of services at 2 p.m. Monday at the Shelby Funeral Home in East Prairie with David Dowdy and Walter Bryars officiating. Burial will follow in the Dogwood Cemetery...

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Capped by a walk-off home run from Jesse Schott, Notre Dame advanced to the winner's bracket of the SEMO Conference Tournament with a 10-0 win over New Madrid County Central on Friday. With his team up 9-0, thanks in large part to a six-run rally in the first inning, Schott fired a shot over the fence in left centerfield in the bottom of the sixth to send the Bulldogs home via the mercy-rule...

SIKESTON -- Coming off a big victory over Class 3 No. 1 ranked Notre Dame on Tuesday, the Sikeston Bulldogs were feeling good about their chances in the SEMO Conference Tournament. However, as good as the Bulldogs were on Tuesday, they went the opposite direction on Friday as they fell 15-5 in six innings to fifth-seeded Dexter on a cold, windy day at VFW Stadium...

SIKESTON -- The annual Community Clean-up Campaign has begun. Dumpsters for the cleanup were delivered to the Sikeston Compost Site Friday with city workers on hand bright and early to begin receiving items from city residents eager to take advantage of the annual opportunity...

SIKESTON-- Registered voters in the area should begin checking their mailbox for new voter ID cards. Each local election authority is required to issue new voter identification cards every two years, according to state statutes. New voter IDs are being mailed to registered voters in Scott County this week, Scott County Clerk Rita Milam said Tuesday...

BENTON -- A Benton man is in jail on drug-related charges. According to the Scott County Sheriff's Department, Shuntell Walls, 30, was charged with two counts of possession of a controlled substance with the intent to distribute and one count of unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia...