Stories from Tuesday, January 23, 2018

SIKESTON -- School board races for the upcoming election are set in some districts while others already know who will start their new terms in April. School board candidacy filing for the April 3 election officially ended at 5 p.m. Jan. 16. In the Sikeston R-6 School District, board members' whose three-year terms expire in April are Matt Tanner and Heather Drury. ...

NEW MADRID, Mo. -- A judge sentenced a Scott City man Friday to life in prison without parole for strangling his mother with a braided dog leash. Neil Howland Jr., 29, also was sentenced by Judge Fred Copeland to four years each on five other charges, bringing his total sentence to 120 years...

SIKESTON -- A man who was stabbed after allegedly breaking into a Sikeston residence faces burglary charges. At 1:23 a.m. Sunday an officer with Sikeston Department of Public Safety was driving near West North and North West streets in Sikeston when he saw a man lying in the roadway, according to DPS reports. ...

SIKESTON -- A Sikeston man faces felony charges after allegedly pointing a gun at his wife. Robert Kolwyck, 44, is charged with felony first-degree domestic assault, felony unlawful use of a weapon and felony armed criminal action, according to online court records...

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- Napoleon "Smokey" and "Nathaniel" Baker, 60, formerly of Sikeston, died, Jan. 21, 2018, in Poplar Bluff. Born July 13, 1957, in Bell City, son of the late Walter Baker Sr. and Pauline Gray, he was of the Baptist belief and a veteran of the U.S. Army...

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. -- Keshaundre Carde "Bunny" Haynes, 21, formerly of Charleston, Mo., died Jan. 15, 2018, at Advocate BroMenn Medical Center in Bloomington. Born April 7, 1996 in Sikeston, Mo., daughter of Rashad Oliver of Charleston and Talisha D. Haynes of Bloomington, she relocated to Bloomington-Normal when she was 7 years old. She attended Parkside Elementary School in Normal and later graduated with class of 2015 at Bloomington High School...

EAST PRAIRIE, Mo. -- Jessie Franklin "Frankie" Grissom, 93, died Jan. 22, 2018, at her home in East Prairie. Born June 13, 1924, in the state of Kentucky, daughter of the late John Samuel and Jessie Mae Gage Atkinson, she had been employed by Davis Lumber and Reeves Boomland. She was a member of St. James Baptist Church in East Prairie...

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. -- Sheila Diane Carson, 67, died at 8:33 p.m. Jan. 20, 2018, at her home in Clarksville. Born March 12,1950, in Shelbyville, Ill., daughter of the late Robert Carson and Leora Meyers Carson, she had worked as a shipping clerk for Orgill Inc. in Sikeston, Mo., for many years before retiring last December...

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. -- Sybil Pearl Harper Lawrence, 101, formerly of Dexter, died Jan. 20, 2018, at her home in Cape Girardeau. Born Sept. 20, 1916, in Idalia, daughter of the late Samuel Allen and Myrtie Mae Lincoln Harper, she had lived in the Dexter area most of her life and was a member of the Risen Church in Dexter...

NEW MADRID, Mo. -- Eugene E. Benthal, 83, died Jan. 21, 2018, at the Portageville Nursing Center. Born Oct. 18, 1934, in New Madrid, son of the late Violet Morgan Benthal and Jack Benthal, he was retired from Noranda Aluminum Co. and a member of the River Bend Pentecostal Church of New Madrid...

CHARLESTON, Mo. -- W.R. "Bill" Thompson, 81, died Jan. 22, 2018, at his home in Charleston. Born Sept. 17, 1936, in Charleston, son of the late William Hazzard and Edna Mae McElmurry Thompson, he was a resident of Mississippi County his entire life and a graduate of Charleston High School. ...