Stories from Thursday, December 11, 2014

By SAMANTHA RINEHART SEMO News Service While none match the historic donation made to a candidate considering a run for lieutenant governor, prominent political donor Rex Sinquefield has given political gifts to a few local candidates in recent elections...

By JIM SALTER Associated Press BONNE TERRE, Mo. (AP) -- A Missouri inmate was put to death early Wednesday for fatally beating a 63-year-old woman with a hammer in 1998, the state's record 10th lethal injection of 2014 to match Texas for the most executions in the country this year...

By PATRICK J. BUCHANAN We have found the new normal in America. If you are truly outraged by some action of police, prosecutors, grand juries, or courts, you can shut down the heart of a great city. Thursday night, thousands of "protesters" disrupted the annual Christmas tree lighting at Rockefeller Center, conducted a "lie-in" in Grand Central, blocked Times Square, and shut down the West Side Highway that scores of thousands of New Yorkers use to get home...

GHS students of month Greenville High School administration announces Devon Duncan and Samantha Shaffer as students of the month for November. Duncan is the son of Doyle and Jessica Duncan. He plays baseball, and is involved in Beta Club, FBLA, FCCLA, and the National Honor Society. He enjoys playing baseball and hunting. He plans to attend college and get a bachelor's degree in business management...

By JOE JOHNSON Athens Banner-Herald The Athens-Clarke County Police Department will begin 2015 with a noticeable absence. Maj. Clarence Holeman, a Poplar Bluff, Mo., native, is retiring at the beginning of the year after policing the community for nearly 35 years...

Lake Road Elementary School announces its Students of the Month. They are: 1st Grade: Lucas Thornton is student in Ms. Pryor's class. Thornton is the grandson of Laura and Aaron Rodgers. Thornton says he loves his family very much and enjoys spending time with his grandparents and cousins. ...

By NOREEN HYSLOP SEMO News Service DEXTER, Mo. -- With the promise of providing a needed choice for health care closer to home, Saint Francis Medical Partners is planning a presence in Dexter with the construction of its Dexter Health Campus, a facility of more than 45,000 square feet to be housed at U.S. 60 and Harris Drive...

Our district buildings plan approved by voters in April is moving right along. We are getting down to the fine details with planners such as designing the interior of our anchor projects, as we prepare to submit the construction documents for bid in late winter. This is all extremely exciting to be happening in my tenure, but what's equally as exciting to me as a lifelong educator is the innovation going on in the classroom and beyond...

Angel Tree at Qulin Center The Qulin Nutrition Center at 485 D Street in Qulin, Mo., has an Angel Tree for home bound senior citizens. "Angels" were made by dedicated volunteers. "We are asking that anyone who would like to be an Angel donor to please come by the center and adopt an Angel Senior. ...

Kaplan just blowing smoke Mr. Kaplan, your hand-picked buddy certified public accountant Neil Conway arrived in Poplar Bluff ready to go to work only two days after you officially began employment. Interesting that he started his new consulting firm only 19 days prior to his arrival. ...

MERS/Goodwill will host a grand reopening of its new 13,150-square-foot store at 1317 N. Westwood Blvd. The all-day celebration will kick off with a ribbon cutting ceremony at 8:50 a.m. Thursday. "As MERS/Goodwill continues to expand services and retail operations into 2015, we're thrilled to end another great year by opening this new store for the Poplar Bluff community," said Lewis C. ...

By PAUL DAVIS Outdoors Editor Even as the latest statewide waterfowl survey showed large numbers of ducks and geese in Southeast Missouri, the bird-per-hunter average at the local state-managed areas has dropped somewhat over the last week. According to Frank Nelson, who conducts the aerial bird surveys for the conservation department each Tuesday, it looks like there's a habitat usage shift going on, something which happens every year during the season. ...

By JOHN PRATT Mo. Dept. of Conservation The alternative methods portion of the firearms deer is from Dec. 20 through Dec. 30. This deer season is open to those with unfilled firearms deer hunting permits, and they are restricted to the permits they have. ...

By PAT PRATT Staff Writer Days of waking up to the rooster's crow and jumping in the old pickup to make the rounds of daily chores may be a thing of the past as more technology is hitting the market that allows the control of agricultural operations via cellular phones...

It was different problems at different times and ultimately too many of them to overcome. In a discombobulated performance, the Three Rivers Lady Raiders lost their first Region XVI game of the season 82-60 against Mineral Area on Tuesday at the Bess Activity Center...

Steven Haley took a defensive position and quickly turned it into six points Tuesday night. Given the choice to start the second period, the Poplar Bluff junior went with the down position leading Kennett's Britt Harris by four points. "I like bottom a lot more," Haley said. "I'm more comfortable."...

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- With five wins and three more state-qualifying times Tuesday, the Poplar Bluff swim team won the Splash Out Cancer meet while beating the defending conference champions by 26 points. "We talked about the conference (meet) but we want to make sure we don't settle," Mules coach Beth Lewis-Muse said of the Feb. 13 championship meet...

Clarabelle Plumb Clarabelle Plumb, 83, of Yakima, Wash., formerly of Poplar Bluff, Mo., died Friday Dec. 5, 2014, at Cedar Hills Adult Residential Care in Yakima. Visitation will be from 1 to 4 p.m. Thursday and noon to 1 p.m. Friday at Valley Hills Funeral Home, Zillah, Wash., with the funeral to follow Friday at 1 p.m...

ELLSINORE -- After a chaotic start to the season for Doniphan, it was good to finally get in the win column. The Donettes, who had two players leave the program within the first two weeks of the season, outscored host East Carter 20-3 in the third quarter Tuesday night to win 71-43 in an Ozark Foothills Conference game...

Marie Austin Lottie Marie Bradley Austin, 91, of Poplar Bluff, Mo., passed away Monday, Dec. 08, 2014, at Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center. Mrs. Austin was born Sept. 30, 1923 in Poplar Bluff, to the late Harry and Lydia Leach Bradley. In 1948, she was married to Pelham Austin, Jr. of Peach Orchard, Ark. He preceded her in death on April 24, 1976...

Joseph Pigue PUXICO, Mo.-- Joseph T. Pigue, 78, of Puxico, formerly of House Springs, Mo., died Monday, Dec. 8, 2014, in Puxico. The visitation will be at 10 a.m. Thursday at the Morgan-Sifford Funeral Home in Puxico, with the funeral following at 12:30 p.m. with the Rev. Ray Placher officiating...

Kenneth Sanders CAMPBELL, Mo.-- Kenneth Randolph Sanders, 94, of Campbell, passed away on Monday, Dec. 8, 2014, at the General Baptist Nursing Home, in Campbell. Mr. Sanders, son of Henry Hollis and Alpha Randolph Sanders, was born on Feb. 8, 1920, in Flint, Mich...

Nomree Deen MALDEN, Mo.--Nomree Deen, 94, of Malden, died Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2014 at Golden Living Center in Malden. Visitation will be from 11 a.m. - noon, Saturday, at the Landess Chapel in Malden. Funeral services will be at noon Saturday at the Landess Chapel with Rev. James Gore officiating...

Bernie man is SEMO St. ambassador David Blevins of Bernie, Mo., the son of David and Wanda Blevins, has been appointed by Dr. Kenneth W. Dobbins, president of Southeast Missouri State University, to serve as a Presidential Ambassador at the university in Cape Girardeau, Mo. Blevins is a member of the Collegiate Farm Bureau...

ELLSINORE -- Aaron Boyer had a huge night for the East Carter Redbirds as it earned an Ozark Foothills Conference game at home Tuesday night over Doniphan, 81-46. Boyer, a 6-foot-2 senior, hit six 3-pointers, was 9-for-9 from the line and totaled a game-high 35 points for the Redbirds (4-3, 2-0 OFC)...

University of Missouri Extension will host a "Forage Testing for Quality Production Workshop" from 6 - 8 p.m. Monday at the Van Buren Senior Center, Ball Park Road, Van Buren Mo. Presenters are Joel Tatum, Livestock Specialist and County Program Director in Wayne County and A.J. Foster, the Agronomy Specialist in Stoddard County...

By MICHELLE L. VARVIL At the October meeting of the Puxico R-8 Board of Education, Dr. Kyle Dare, superintendent, asked the board to consider adopting a facility rental policy. After talking with the district's insurance company and attorneys, Dare went back to the board with more specific information at its regular monthly meeting Nov. 14...