Stories from Tuesday, September 5, 2017

SIKESTON -- Scott County Central High School's new robotics team is filling a niche some of its students may have been missing. "No one club is going to grab everybody, but it's nice to have that variety so the kids can migrate to where they feel most comfortable," said Cristy Crites, coach/administrator of Scott Central's robotics team, Steampunks...

SIKESTON - Missouri Lt. Governor Mike Parson will call upon legislators to "clean our own house" as he presses forward with efforts to remove Senator Maria Chappelle-Nadal from the Missouri Senate. The Democratic senator from University City, Mo., is under fire for comments she posted on Facebook hoping for President Trump to be assassinated...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Thanks in part to a trip through Missouri and the "Great American Eclipse," a Milwaukee, Wisconsin, woman is returning home with an $82,117 Missouri Lottery Scratchers prize. While traveling through Missouri on her way home from the south, Doris Morton visited Reeves Boomland, 100 Beasley Park Road, in Charleston...

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- Eight people died in traffic crashes during the 2017 Labor Day holiday weekend. Last year, there were 20 fatalities. The 2017 counting period for the Labor Day holiday ran from 6 p.m. Friday through 11:59 p.m. Monday. The Missouri State Highway Patrol investigated 317 crashes; 112 injuries; 8 fatalities; 136 DWI; and 128 drug arrests...

SIKESTON -- Michael Hadley, 68, died Sept. 5, 2017, in Sikeston. Arrangements are incomplete at Ponder Funeral Home in Sikeston.

DEXTER, Mo. -- Claudia J. Wilson of Dexter, 72, died Sept. 3, 2017, at her home in Dexter. Born Aug. 11, 1945, in Memphis, Tenn., daughter of the late Chalmer Hayden and Lola Harriette Oddy Oyler, she had lived in Florida before moving to Dexter five years ago...

SIKESTON -- Collin Lester "CJ" Mosley Jr., 5, died Aug. 31, 2017, at Saint Louis University Children's Hospital in St. Louis. Born Nov. 1, 2011, son of Collin Mosley Sr. and Brittany Newell, he attended Scott County Central Elementary School where he was in kindergarten. ...

WILSON CITY, Mo. -- Rosie Lee Porter, 84, died Sept. 2, 2017, at Mercy Hospital in St. Louis. Born March 16, 1933, in Milan, Tenn., to the late Arbie and Louise Drake Strayhorn, she was a member of Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Wolf Island, where she served on the Usher Board for many years and the adult choir...

PORTAGEVILLE, Mo. -- Mary Elizabeth Creasy, 97, died Sept. 5, 2017, at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. Born June 8, 1920, in Union City, Tenn., to the late Ida E. Douglas and Bob Hawkins, On Nov. 23, 1946, in Hayward, she married Noah Columbus Creasy, who preceded her in death on July 16, 1975...

WAPPAPELLO, Mo. -- Alisha Petty Hagy of Wappapello, 33, died Sept. 2, 2017, in Memphis, Tenn. Born May 4, 1984, in Charleston, daughter of John Henry Sr. and Linda Sue Watson Petty of Wappapello, she had lived in Essex and Grayridge area most of her life before moving to Wappapello two years ago. She had worked at Dollar Tree...

BENTON, Mo. -- Judith Ann McCoy, 64, died Sept.1, 2017, at her home. Born Oct. 2, 1952, in Walnut Ridge, Ark., to Lafayette and Jeroleen Shrum McCoy, she worked in accounts receivable for Health Systems Inc. She was a graduate of Southeast Missouri State University with an accounting degree...

SIKESTON -- Tony Lee Raines, 59, died Sept. 3, 2017, at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. Born Jan. 22, 1958, in Sikeston, to the late Cordie and Evelyn Ryan Raines, he had been a scale operator at Tyson Foods in Dexter and was a member of Canalou Baptist Church...

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. -- Etta Mae Johnson, 93, formerly of Charleston, died Sept. 1, 2017, at Southeast Hospital in Cape Girardeau,. Born Nov. 19, 1923, in Caruthersville, to the late John Richard Yarbery and Helen Cook Cummings, she was a cook with the Charleston R-1 School District for many years. She was also a member of Mercy Seat Missionary Baptist Church in Charleston and a missionary, deaconess and mother of the church...

SIKESTON -- Donnell "R. Kelly" Johnson, 56, died Aug. 26, 2017. Born June 24, 1961, in Detroit, son of the late Kelton Morris and Dorothy Johnson Cox, he was a member of One More Chance Ministries in Sikeston. In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by two brothers, Calvin Johnson and Norman Cox Jr.; and one sister, Shielia Brownlee...