Stories from Thursday, February 26, 2015

By NOREEN HYSLOP SEMO News Service PUXICO, Mo. -- More and more, the public is hearing of bobcat sightings in Southeast Missouri. A recent Facebook posting of a bobcat seen within the confines of Mingo Wildlife Refuge confirmed their presence again in the region and raised some questions for Peter Rea, refuge ranger at Mingo...

By DAVID SILVERBERG Associate Editor Casting votes by absentee ballots for the April 7 election is under way in Missouri. Butler County voters, who plan to be away on election day, may vote from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday in the office of County Clerk Tonyi Deffendall. Her office also will be open 8 a.m. to noon Saturday, April 4, and until 5 p.m. Monday, April 6...

By DAVID SILVERBERG Associate Editor BROSELEY -- Mothers of seniors at Twin Rivers High School will see their children graduate on Mothers Day. Twin Rivers School District board members decided Tuesday night to set graduation for 3 p.m. Sunday, May 10...

By MICHELLE FRIEDRICH Associate Editor CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Two Butler County brothers were sentenced to three years in federal prison Tuesday afternoon for illegally selling firearms. John Lyn Rush, 51, and his 56-year-old brother, David Hilton Rush were sentenced to 36 months on each felony of unlawful transfer of a firearm and engaging in the business of dealing firearms without a license by U.S. District Judge Stephen Limbaugh Jr., according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Keith Sorrell...

Christopher Littrell Christopher Littrell, 48, of Wappapello died Monday, Feb. 16, 2015 at his home. Services were held Feb. 18 at Fowler-Sullivan Funeral Home in Poplar Bluff. Burial was in the Sacred Heart Catholic Cemetery in Poplar Bluff. Online condolences: www.fowlersullivanfuneralhome.com...

Hans Porter DEXTER -- Hans Porter, 61, of Puxico, formerly of Dexter, died Sunday, Feb. 15,2015 at the Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center. Services were held Feb. 19 at the Rainey-Mathis Funeral Home in Dexter. Rev. Danny Collins officiated. Burial followed in the Chalk Bluff Cemetery...

John Daniel Faries MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- John Daniel Faries, 88, of Wappapello died Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2015 at the Monticello House in Jackson. A Masonic service was held Feb. 20 and was conducted by West View Masonic Lodge. Services was held Feb. 21, 2015 at Faith Baptist Church in Wappapello. Pastor Bruce Pittman officiated. Burial with full military honors followed in the Wappapello Cemetery...

The members of the Puxico Area Ministerial Alliance will be hosting their Community Revival March 2-8 at Life Chapel Assembly of God at 22443 Highway 51. Beginning times are 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday, March 2-7, and 6 p.m. Sunday, March 8. There will be special singing nightly, nursery available each night and a Puppet Ministry for ages 4-11 on Monday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday nights...

Donald Stubbs Donald Stubbs, 63, of Wappapello died at his residence Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2015. Services were held Feb. 21 at Fowler-Sullivan Funeral Home in Poplar Bluff. Bro. Calvin "Bub" Ham officiated. Burial with full military honors followed in the Qulin Cemetery...

The first imperative in preaching the Gospel, in any age, is to proclaim Jesus as being the Christ, the Son of the living God. The lamb slain from the foundation of the world, who took upon Himself the nature of man thereby revealing the very nature and heart of God to proud, haughty, sinful, dying race. ...

One of Missouri's oldest businesses, Cotrell Funeral Service recently marked its 135th anniversary with a fundraising event for the United Cancer Assistance Network. Founded in 1879, Cotrell Funeral Service has been providing professional and personalized funeral services for 135 years. ...

By MICHELLE L. VARVIL It was a tough night for the Puxico Indians as they took on the Woodland Cardinals in their last home game of the season Feb. 19. Both the JV and varsity Woodland teams took early leads and never looked back. The JV Indians lost 47-56. Varsity lost 53-68...

By ROB TATE SEMO News Service VAN BUREN -- It was all just a little bit of history repeating. For the second time in the last three years, East Carter upset Puxico, the No. 3 seed in the MSHSAA Class 2 District 2 tournament Monday night. In 2013, the Redbirds stole a 17-point win over the Indians. ...

Veterans & Dogs is starting a new class on March 7. This free program, hosted by Cape Arrowhead, Inc. and SEMO Dog Trainers, LLC, is designed to bring veterans together with dogs in a friendly, relaxed environment. The John J. Pershing VA Medical Center website states, "Approximately 50,000 veterans live in our service area." While Veterans & Dogs is a pilot program we hope to reach even a tiny fraction of these veterans. ...

A minister in Jesus' mold A TV news program reported a woman had been arrested and charged with theft by deceit after receiving over $3,000 from a church. She told them that her child had cancer and money was needed from treatment. Later, it was discovered that child was not ill. ...

The Sikeston Jaycees have donated $15,000 to the Three Rivers Endowment Trust toward the Sikeston Academic Building, which opened to students earlier this year. Following a check presentation, the club members had the opportunity to tour the new facility, located at 1400 S. Main in Sikeston...

For the first time in the history of the Missouri House of Representatives, a Right-to-Work bill is now through this chamber and on its way to the Senate. My colleagues and I took an important and historic vote to approve the bill that would simply prohibit contracts that require a worker to join a union or pay union fees as a condition of employment...

By WALTER E. WILLIAMS Today's liberals are not racists, but they often behave that way. They would benefit immensely from considering some of the arguments in award-winning scholar Dr. Shelby Steele's forthcoming book, "Shame: How America's Past Sins Have Polarized Our Country."...

Joseph Falvey Joseph Paul Falvey, 82, of Poplar Bluff, died Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2015, at Missouri Baptist Hospital in St. Louis, Mo. The arrangements are pending and will be announced by Cotrell Funeral Service in Poplar Bluff.

Tom Bridges Tom Bridges of Doniphan, died Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2015 in Doniphan. Funeral arrangements are pending with Edwards Funeral Home in Doniphan and will be announced upon completion.

Poplar Bluff's eight seniors were honored, the starting lineups were introduced and the Mules took the lead before enduring another postponement. Just 19 seconds after the start of the SEMO Conference game Tuesday night against Kennett, play was suspended until 5 p.m. Thursday night...

Eldo Beucke PIEDMONT, Mo. -- Eldo Beucke, 89, of Bonne Terre, died Saturday, Feb. 21, 2015, at St. Joe Manor, Bonne Terre. Visitation will be at 5 p.m. Thursday at Ruegg Funeral Home, Piedmont. The funeral services will follow at 11 a.m. Friday in the funeral home chapel. Burial will follow at Mt. View Cemetery, Des Arc, Mo...

By PAUL DAVIS Outdoors Editor The Heartland Gobblers chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation will host its 22nd annual banquet in Poplar Bluff on March 14. The doors to the event at the Brown-Mabry American Legion Post, located at 2320 Kanell Blvd., will open at 5 p.m. for a social hour, followed by dinner at 7...

Jimmy Massey DONIPHAN, Mo. -- Jimmy Franklin Massey, 58, of Doniphan, died Friday, Feb. 20, 2015, at his residence in rural Ripley County. Visitation will be from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday, at the Edwards Funeral Home in Doniphan. The funeral service will be at 1 p.m. Friday in the funeral home chapel with Bro. Jared Baker officiating. Burial will follow in the Malfunction Junction Cemetery...

Birds of prey more visible during winter By JOHN PRATT Mo. Dept. of Conservation The fall and winter months bring a lot of birds of prey to our area each year. Many hawks and some owls migrate into our area and winter here. It is obvious there is an increase in hawks if you travel some of the major highways, such as US 60 or I-55. Hawks are seen sitting in trees near the roadways or hovering above the highway right-of-ways...

VAN BUREN -- The old adage stood Tuesday night in the MSHSAA Class 2 District 2 girls quarterfinals. It's tough to beat the same team three times in a season. Greenville had its way with No. 5 Van Buren on two different occasions in early December. The Lady Dawgs won when it mattered more...

NEW MADRID -- Malden may have beaten Twin Rivers for the third time this season, but without its leading scorer, it took the Green Wave the entire game to build a double-digit lead. Malden eventually did exactly that and beat Twin Rivers 61-51 in the MSHSAA Class 3 District 1 quarterfinals...

Poplar Bluff and Naylor each got something important accomplished Tuesday afternoon. The Lady Eagles avoided going into their MSHSAA Class 1 District 1 championship game having not played in nearly a fortnight while the host got a much-needed win. The Mules pulled away to start the second half and held of Naylor 51-43 at Peters Gym...

Emily Doolin DEXTER, Mo. -- Emily Noel Doolin, daughter of George Doolin, Sr. and Amanda King of Bloomfield, was born in at the Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, Mo. on Saturday, Feb. 21, 2015, and passed away a short time later. Visitation will be today from 4:30 to 7 p.m. ...

Edward Pannell Edward Doyle Pannell, 82, of Poplar Bluff, Mo., passed away Monday, Feb. 23, 2015 at Mark Twain Caring Center in Poplar Bluff. Mr. Pannell was born near Marmaduke, Ark. on Oct. 20, 1932 to Dewey and Collie Walls Pannell. He graduated from Marmaduke High School with the class of 1952. ...

MOBERLY - Moberly Area didn't have any trouble with its first look at Three Rivers' revamped system. In the Region XVI quarterfinals, the Lady Greyhounds shot 60 percent from the field to beat Three Rivers 110-63. The Lady Raiders trailed by nine points at the half, but allowed 68 second-half points. Three Rivers hung in the game for the first six minutes after halftime and were down by 11 after Danielle Farmer sank one of her seven 3-pointers...

Jake Alexander Buie MALDEN, Mo.--Jake Alexander Buie, 23, of Malden, died Monday, Feb. 23, 2015 at his residence. Visitation will be from 6-9 p.m. Wednesday at the Landess Funeral Chapel in Malden. Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Thursday at the Landess Funeral Chapel with Brother Dan Hargrave officiating...

Ruth Bader DEXTER, Mo.--Ruth L. Bader, 93, of Malden, died Sunday, Feb. 22, 2015 at the Malden Nursing Center. Visitation will be from 5-8 p.m. Thursday at the Rainey-Mathis Funeral Home in Dexter. Rosary service will be conducted at 7 p.m. Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. Friday, at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Dexter with Father David Dohogne officiating. Burial will follow in the Dexter Cemetery...

Hanford L. Sullivan Hanford L. Sullivan, 78, of Poplar Bluff, Mo. died Saturday, Feb. 21, 2015 at his residence. A graveside service was held at 10 a.m. Tuesday at City Cemetery. Arrangements were made through Fitch-Hillis Funeral Home. Online condolences: www.fitchhillisfh.com...

CLARKTON -- The top-seeded Reindeer held on in the fourth quarter to beat Couch 73-70 and advance to the MSHSAA Class 1 District 1 final. Trey Moore led Clarkton (16-9) with 19 points. Anthony Adams sank five 3s and finished with 16 points. Quan Elliot got 15 and Emmanuel White added 13 to give coach David Heeb four players in double figures...