Stories from Sunday, July 30, 2017

The community has come together to raise more than $18,000 to help repair the home of a Poplar Bluff, Mo., World War II veteran. A fundraiser was held Friday for Wilbur and Anna Schmit at Northside Nutrition, located in Twin Towers. A large tree fell on their home in May and destroyed the bedroom Anna had left only moments before. The couple has been unable to make repairs to the house...

The home Felicity Ray shares with her husband Brandon in Poplar Bluff has been full of life since the couple welcomed their first child, a healthy baby boy named Brady, into the world on May 19. Felicity gets up through the night for feedings and dotes over her newborn day in and day out. Family and friends drop by often, delivering flowers and food to show support. She is exhausted, like all new mothers are in the first weeks after bringing their babies home from the hospital...

By MARK BLISS SEMO News Service James Clay Waller II looks up as Cape Girardeau County Circuit Judge Ben Lewis addresses him June 6, 2013, at the Cape Girardeau County Courthouse in Jackson. Waller pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for the death of his wife, Jacque Waller, and was sentenced to 20 years in prison...

MALDEN, Mo. -- Marie Thompson, 86, of Dexter, Mo., died Thursday, July 27, 2017. Visitation will be held from 6-7 p.m. Monday, July 31, 2017 at the Landess Funeral Home chapel in Malden, Mo. Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2017 at the Landess Funeral Home chapel in Malden. Burial will be in the Missouri Veterans Cemetery in Bloomfield, Missouri...

Seeking facts I would be very interested in some news agency explaining how much FEMA gets paid for all these natural disasters as far as what it costs the agency to send people out, what it costs the agency to set up shelters or whatever they do to set up their emergency areas so that they can meet with the public to talk over assistance and then show what the actual people get as far as benefits awarded from FEMA because it seems to me that it's really hard to rebuild a house or a business for the pittance that they are offered and if you live in an area where it is impossible to buy flood insurance because it never floods. ...

Hatred and distrust If Christians are supposed to be Christ-like or are to be in the image of Christ. We made political parties, we made different racial boundaries, national boundaries. God created His image, but the hatred that we have for anyone who opposes our same line of thought or same political idealogy or one person whose skin color may be different from ours or somebody who may have more or less than what we have. ...

Big Zero What do you call a bunch of Republican senators and representatives? Big Zero....what a joke! Thank you. Let phone ding a ling several times Please Please Please! When you make a call let it ring. What do you think people are doing when you call them? Give them time to get to the phone before you hang up please. Ringing 3 or 4 times just doesn't cut it! Go with 8 rings before you give up. Thanks...

PIEDMONT, Mo. -- Donna Lynn Abernathy, 62, of Piedmont, Mo., died Saturday, July 29, 2017, at her residence. Graveside services will be held at 10 a.m., Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2017, at Meador Flatwoods Cemetery near Piedmont, Mo. Arrangements are pending with Ruegg Funeral Home, Piedmont...

Ramiro Delrio, 85, of Poplar Bluff died Saturday, July 22, 2017, at his residence. A memorial service will be held at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2017, at First Church of God in Poplar Bluff. Moore Funeral Service in Poplar Bluff is in charge of arrangements...

Kenneth H. Murphy, 88, of Poplar Bluff, Mo. died Thursday, July 27, 2017 at Southeast Hospital in Cape Girardeau, Mo. He was born Oct. 24, 1928 in Dahlgren, Ill. to the late John Murphy and Minnie Bergen Murphy. He was a long time resident of Poplar Bluff...

DEXTER, Mo. -- Jesse Lee Deardorff, 91, of the Aid community passed away on Friday, July 28, 2017, at his home. Jesse was born on Nov. 10, 1925, to Floyd and Estie Deardorff in the Oak Grove community. Besides his parents, he was preceded in death by one brother, Leo Deardorff, and by two sisters, Marjorie Buchanan and Velma Cox...

Former Southeast Missouri State men's basketball star Antonius Cleveland agreed to a deal with the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors on Thursday. An undrafted native of Memphis, Tennessee, the 6-foot-6 Cleveland recently completed a stint with the Portland Trail Blazers in the Las Vegas Summer League, during which he averaged 5.8 points and 1.7 rebounds in 14.7 minutes per game...

COLUMBIA, Mo. - Poplar Bluff High School students attended the Emerging Leaders Conference June 25-27 at the University of Missouri and the Missouri State Capitol. The Poplar Bluff High School participants were: Laneshia Combs, Daryl Vaughn II and Adrian Webb. ...

Born during World War I, Bonnie Absheer Knowles of Poplar Bluff, Mo., celebrated her 100th birthday Sunday, July 23, with her friends and family and was honored with a proclamation from the City of Poplar Bluff presented by Mayor Ed DeGaris. In the proclamation, DeGaris said Mrs. Knowles "has made the world a better place with her kindness, generosity and caring spirit."...

Missouri Lottery players took home more than $74.2 million in prizes during the month of June. Of the total $74.2 million awarded, more than $10.1 million were prizes of $1,000 or more. Winners of $1,000 or more in this area include: Pick 4 winners:...

Runners from children to adults will be able to compete this year when the Missouri Peach Fair holds is Missouri Peach Fuzz 5K Run/Walk Saturday, Aug. 26. Proceeds will benefit the Campbell Fire Department. The Peach Fuzz 5K Run will be held at Walker McCutchen-Jim Morris Park in Campbell at 8 a.m. ...

Sandra "Sandy" Kay Dennis, 55, of Poplar Bluff passed away on Thursday, July 27, 2017, at Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center. She was born on Nov. 8, 1961, to Irvin and Vivian (Benton) Brown in Poplar Bluff, Mo. On Sept. 29, 1979, she married Kevin in Poplar Bluff...

CORNING, Ark. -- Roy Coleman, Jr., 74, of Corning, Ark., passed away Saturday, July 29, 2017 at St. Bernards Medical Center in Jonesboro, Ark. Mr. Coleman was born in Gideon, Mo., on April 20, 1943. He was owner operator of Corning Farm Supply. He enjoyed hunting and fishing. He was a member of Saint Matthew Lutheran Church in Corning. Ark...

A pair of Poplar Bluff, Mo., brothers remain in jail on assault and weapons charges stemming from an earlier incident in which gunfire was exchanged on the parking lot of a local business. Jordian Trevon Bell, 18, and his 20-year-old brother, Desean Rene Bell, were arrested at about 10:45 a.m. Friday at a residence in the 5000 block of Nellie Sue Circle on warrants, charging each with the Class B felony of first-degree assault and the unclassified felony of armed criminal action...

By MONA CHAREN Presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway, perhaps attempting to curry favor with this week's court favorite, Anthony Scaramucci (who -- stay with me here -- had just accused the president's chief of staff of a felony), popped up on "Fox and Friends" to suggest that it is "demoralizing" to fill out all the forms required for government service. She's worried that "paperwork" is keeping many qualified men and women from joining the administration...

By PATRICK J. BUCHANAN Given the bravery he showed in stepping out front as the first senator to endorse Donald Trump, Jeff Sessions deserves better from his boss than the Twitter-trashing he has lately received. The attorney general has not only been loyal to Trump and his agenda, he has the respect and affection of ex-colleagues in Congress and, more broadly, of populists and conservatives nationally...

Five Poplar Bluff athletes from two different sports had solid performances to open the AAU Junior Olympics this weekend in Detroit. In swimming, Poplar Bluff Piranhas' Gavin Vaughn took home two sixth place finishes in the boys 13-14 division on Friday. Vaughn swam the 200-meter breaststroke in 3 minutes, 22 seconds then took sixth in the 100 meter butterfly with a time of 1:21.19...