Stories from Thursday, March 19, 2015

By PAT PRATT Staff Writer Neelyville R-IV schools in conjunction with the Butler County Health Department will host a Health Fair from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on March 27 in the high school gym to promote healthy living. "I think it's extremely important, because we are teaching these kids tools they are going to use the rest of their lives," said Tracy Campbell, R-IV director of nutrition. "If we teach them now, hopefully that will stick with them and they will continue on with that."...

By PAT PRATT Staff Writer Poplar Bluff nursing homes ran the gamut from much above to much below average in a recent Center for Medicaid Services (CMS) assessment. The CMS five star rating for nursing homes is based on three parts or domains: health inspections, quality measures and staffing. Star ratings for each range from one to five stars, with more stars indicating better quality. An overall rating is also calculated...

Ross and Megan Heil of Troy, Mich., have chosen the name Beck August Heil for their 8-pound son born at 10:01 a.m., Monday, Feb. 16, 2015, in Detroit, Mich. Beck was 20 1/2" long. Grandparents are Mike Bridges, Marty and Susan Paskel, all of Poplar Bluff, and Rex and Karen Heil of Syracuse, Ind.; great-grandparents are Bessie Bridges of Puxico, Ralph Heil of Ft. Wayne, Ind., Maro and Barb Myers of Syracuse, and Don and Dee Troyer of Forsythe, Ill. Beck has one sibling, Reed Heil...

Lonnie Earl Lipsey WAPPAPELLLO, Mo. -- Lonnie Earl Lipsey, 67, of Puxico passed away Tuesday, March 10, 2015, at his residence. Mr. Lipsey was born March 1, 1948 at Coon Island to the late Lee Ervin and MaeBell Lebo Lipsey. On Dec. 18, 1994 he married Phillis J. Marbut in Van Buren. She survives of the home...

Merl Nash Merl Elaine Nash, 89, of Wappapello, formerly of Haines City, Fla., died March 10, 2015 at Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center. Services were held March 12, 2015 at Cotrell Funeral Chapel in Wappapello. Rev. Bruce Pittman officiated. Burial followed at Schumach Cemetery near Clarkton...

James Sommers James Ralph "Jay" Sommers, 77, of Puxico died March 7, 2015 at the St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. Graveside services were held March 11, 2015 at the Hagy Cemetery in Dexter. Rainey-Mathis Funeral Home in Dexter was in charge of arrangements...

EDITOR'S NOTE This is the second of two stories on the marshal candidates. By MICHELLE L. VARVIL Rick Sheren said he will make 24-hour police coverage his priority if he beats incumbent Marshal Daniel Dew in the April 7 election. "The reason I am running is to restore the public confidence and the trust in the police department," said Sheren. ...

The U. S. Army Corps of Engineers at Wappapello Lake has entered into an agreement with the Wayne County Sportsmen Association for land and wildlife management. The Wayne County Sportsmen Association will manage 400 acres located on Wappapello Lake in the Sulphur Springs, Berry Springs, and Kirkpatrick Cemetery areas. ...

Editor's Note: This is the second article in a three-part series on school board candidates. By MICHELLE L. VARVIL Jerry Crisel of Dudley is seeking re-election to the Puxico R-8 Board Education in the April 7 election. A 1960 graduate of Puxico High School, Crisel first served on the board from 1977-1983. He successfully sought election to the board of education again in 2012 and has served ever since...

By MICHELLE L. VARVIL The sighting of the Puxico Police Department Impala in Poplar Bluff recently has raised questions around town. Ward II Alderman Lance Hamann said he saw the vehicle in Poplar Bluff one day and questioned Marshal Daniel Dew about it during Dew's monthly report to the board a couple of months ago. ...

Puxico High School Beta Club members came home winners from the Missouri State Bet Club Convention March 7-8 at Radisson Branson Hotel and Oak Ridge Boys Theater in Branson. A total of 27 Puxico High School Beta Club members attended the state event with several of them coming home eligible to participate in the national convention June 29-July 2 in Nashville, Tenn. and one senor Brenna Hancock received a full scholarship to Missouri State University in Springfield...

By MICHELLE L. VARVIL Visiting artist Teva Chaffin of Nashville, Tenn., was in town the week of March 9-13 to teach students the art of using Precious Metal Clay to create jewelry. PMC is a mixture of fine silver microscopic particles mixed with an organic binder...

By MICHELLE L. VARVIL Teva Chaffin, a visiting artist from Nashville, Tenn., finished her week in Puxico with a jewelry show for the public March 13 at Puxico High School. Chaffin had spent the week doing demonstrations for elementary students and teaching junior high and high schoolers how to create jewelry out of Precious Metal Clay as part of an artist-in-residence grant from the Missouri Arts Council...

It was an ugly scene---three men dying on three crosses. It was uglier than it seemed to sinful men, for one of the three was the sinless Son of God. Dying between two criminals Jesus was numbered with the transgressors, as a prophet had said about 700 years before. Isaiah 53:12...

By JONATHON DAWE Statesman Staff Writer It's that time of year again -- A time where the gainfully employed take their long-awaited W2 forms so they can file for their income tax returns. But, some people are finding they can't do as they always have. The reason is because someone has beat them to it...

By NOREEN HYSLOP SEMO News Service CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. -- Stoddard County students fared well at the Annual Region 9 National History Day held at Southeast Missouri State University on Friday, March 13. March 13's contest featured 333 entries from 18 schools and was held in the University Center, Carnahan Hall and Academic Hall Auditorium on the Southeast Missouri State University campus. ...

James and Patsy Dorris of Poplar Bluff will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary from 2-4 p.m. Saturday, March 21, 2015, at Temple Baptist Church, 1813 Barron Road, Poplar Bluff. Family and friends are invited. No gifts please. The couple were married March 24, 1955 in Poplar Bluff, and are lifelong residents of Southeast Missouri. They attend Temple Baptist Church...

By MIKE MCCOY SEMO News Service BLOOMFIELD, Mo. -- The Stoddard County Commission received engineering contracts for construction of seven new bridges to replace old bridges that have poor sufficiency rating at their regular meeting Monday morning, March 16...

On March 11, the Cane Creek Community Club met at the Twin Towers with Jean Hawkins as hostess. Five members were present. The guest speaker was Sandra Mick from "Recycling Grace" Women's Center. She gave an account of the work and purpose of the center...

By PAUL DAVIS Outdoors Editor The Heartland Gobblers chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation continues to grow, evident by the largest banquet it's had in more than a dozen years. From the number of attendees and local sponsors to the amount of money brought in, everything about the 22nd annual banquet held Saturday was bigger and better, according to chapter President Chuck Stewart...

By JOHN PRATT Mo. Dept. of Conservation Recently, the heavy rainfall has recharged many of the ponds and lakes in the area. As I drove around right after the rain had stopped, I noticed some serious flaws that sometimes occur in the construction of impoundments. The heavy rainfall showed that some of the ponds were poorly located, others had too much flood plain above them. Another obvious flaw was the spillway construction...

By PAUL DAVIS Outdoors Editor If you had plans on fishing Wappapello or Clearwater lake for crappies any time soon, you might want to find an alternate spot for a while. The rain from Thursday, Friday and Saturday brought high, muddy water to both lakes, making successful fishing practically impossible...

"Traitors!" screamed the headline of the New York Daily News. "Beneath the dignity of the institution I revere," huffed Vice President Joe Biden. "Dangerous and irresponsible," opined The Washington Post's David Ignatius. President Obama offered that it was "ironic" that the senators were on the same side as supposed "hardliners" in Iran...

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Take a walk around the campus of Notre Dame High School and it only takes a few minutes to find players, coaches, students and faculty who speak highly of Paul Unterreiner and just how much he means to the school. The son of two Notre Dame graduates who has countless family members who also are graduates, Unterreiner always has, and probably always will, bleed blue...

Bonnie Patterson Bonnie V. Patterson, 65, of Piedmont, died Monday, March 16, 2015, at Clark's Mountain Nursing Center in Piedmont. Visitation will be at 1 p.m. Thursday at the Morrison-Worley Funeral Chapel in Piedmont. The funeral will follow at 2 p.m. Thursday at the funeral home chapel. Burial will be in the Arlington Memorial Park Cemetery in Kearny, N.J...

David Mosher David Mosher, 55, of Poplar Bluff died Tuesday, March 17, 2015, at his home. Arrangements are pending with Fowler-Sullivan Funeral Home in Poplar Bluff.

Geneva Honeycutt DONIPHAN -- Geneva Cozetta Mae Honeycutt, 73, of Doniphan died Sunday, March 15, 2015, at the Landmark Hospital in Cape Girardeau. Visitation will be held from 5 - 8 p.m. Thursday at the Edwards Funeral Home in Doniphan. The funeral service will take place at 10 a.m. Friday at the funeral home chapel with Brothers Kenneth Melton and David Grubb officiating. Burial will be in the Doniphan City Cemetery...

Deena Schwab VAN BUREN, Mo. -- Deena Loraine Schwab, 59, of Ellsinore, Mo., died Sunday, March 15, 2015, at her home. A celebration of life service will be held at a later date. McSpadden Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. Online condolences: www.mcspaddenfh.com...

Barbara Joyce Leuckel LYNDEN, Wash. -- Joyce Leuckel, 77, formerly of Puxico, passed away peacefully Tuesday, March 10, 2015 at Hospice House in Bellingham, Wash., following a brief battle with lymphoma. She was born in Puxico, on Oct. 2, 1937, to Eldon and Gladys Reasons. Her parents and brother, Ray, preceded her in death...

Imogene Cash Imogene Cash, 90, of Poplar Bluff, passed away Monday, March 16, 2015, at Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center. Mrs. Cash was born Jan. 28, 1925, in Qulin, to the late Thomas Jefferson and Edna Colter Norman. She was a member of Assembly of God Church in Qulin and had retired after working 30 years at A-1 Electronics in Poplar Bluff. Mrs. Cash enjoyed spending time with her family, fishing, gardening and flowers...

Rowena Mae Davis DONIPHAN, Mo.--Rowena Mae Davis, 70, of Doniphan died Tuesday, March 17, 2015, at Southeast Health of Ripley County in Doniphan. Visitation will take place from 5-8 p.m. Thursday at the Edwards Funeral Home in Doniphan. The funeral service will follow at 2 p.m. Friday in the funeral home chapel with Brother John Harwell officiating...

Dexter's Alan Flannigan will be among the participants when the 2015 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament continues this week. Flannigan is currently a senior on the Lafayette Leopards, which earned an automatic bid in the NCAA Tournament by winning the Patriot League conference tournament on March 11...

Jefferson College drew first blood. The Lady Vikings went on to sweep Three Rivers 12-3, 12-6 on Tuesday at Rains Field in the Region XVI opener for Three Rivers. "We've got some time now," Three Rivers coach Jack Childress said. "They are our goal there. That is the team we need to beat."...

WALNUT RIDGE, Ark., -- Strong winds played games with the normally strong Raider defense. But Three Rivers still got the win. The Raiders swept Williams Baptist 13-7, 6-1 on the road Tuesday in a much-needed tuneup before the they begin Region XVI play Thrursday and Friday...