Stories from Friday, February 22, 2019

GREENVILLE, Mo. — Dorothy Simmons, 82, died Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019 at her home near Greenville. Arrangements are pending with Morrison-Worley Funeral Chapel, Greenville.

The 14th annual Mason-Dixon Chili Society Cook Off to benefit the United Gospel Rescue Mission will be open to the public from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at the Black River Coliseum. Admission is free to the public. Anyone can come in to taste as many different samples as they want...

One of two suspects wanted in connection with a weekend shooting that injured a man in Poplar Bluff is in custody. Michael Melvin, 38, of Poplar Bluff was arrested before dawn Thursday by Ripley County law enforcement. The second suspect, Michael Fry, 34, of Poplar Bluff, is still at large...

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. — Kenneth Daniel Davis, 70, of Poplar Bluff, Mo., died Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019 in Poplar Bluff. The family will plan a memorial service at a later date. www.fowlersullivanfuneralhome.com

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. — Ruby Alice Jaco, 88, of Poplar Bluff, Mo., died Friday, Feb. 22, 2019 at Mark Twain Care Center. Visitation will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 26 at Cotrell Funeral Chapel with the funeral service following at noon. Burial will follow at City Cemetery...

DEXTER — A project to extend Interstate 57 past Sikeston along U.S. Highway 60 to connect Chicago to Dallas, Texas took another step Friday with the unveiling of the Future I-57 sign in front of a large crowd at the First Baptist Church. “This is a big moment,” Senator Roy Blunt said, “as we move, take another step forward.”...

A Butler County jury deliberated more than six hours Friday in acqutting a former Poplar Bluff street superintendent of shooting his daughter’s mother during an apparent child custody dispute at his home. The 11-woman, one-man found Jeremy Wayne Grable, 41, not guilty of the Class A felony of first-degree assault and the unclassified felony of armed criminal action in connection with the Jan. 31, 2015, shooting of Sheila Hunt...

MALDEN — The evening of Feb. 24, 2018, Robert Ross was in downtown Malden with the door to his business open, just a few blocks from where a tornado blew through the south side of town. “I didn’t hear anything and I didn’t know anything was going on,” he said...

A year after an EF2 tornado blew through the south side of Malden, residents continue working to get back to their “normal.” The entire town and area communities pitched in to offer assistance and to prove Malden was shaken, but not broken. “I can’t believe the love that we got from our surrounding communities, clubs and organizations,” Mayor Denton Kooyman said. “The volunteers were amazing.”...

“I think it will make a dramatic improvement in the traffic flow,” Bill Robison of Smith & Company Engineers said recently as he stopped on an unstriped section of Shelby Road between Kanell Boulevard and Highway 53. Phase 2 of the road isn’t open yet, but it should be by the end of May, maybe sooner...

Butler County Community Resource Council named John Fuller its Person of the Year.

BERNIE — A Kennett, Mo., man was arrested and charged following a burglary reported at MFA Agriculture in Bernie on Wednesday. According to Bernie Police Chief Justin Allen, Richard Marcus McCarthy, 30, was arrested and charged through the Stoddard County Prosecutor’s office with burglary in the second degree, stealing a motor vehicle and stealing...

During its Annual Partnership Luncheon on Friday the Butler County Community Resource Council honored John Fuller as its Person of the Year. Fuller, who works at the University of Missouri Extension of Butler County, said working with the CRC is, “just a natural partnership.”...

On Valentine’s Day I had the great opportunity to provide special recognition to the love of my life. I surprised my wife, Dianne, with a beautiful bouquet during a House session. I am so lucky and honored that she has steadfastly stood by me for the past 45 years...

Judge W. Dean Million The following cases were disposed of in Municipal Court in January. Dollar amounts may be fines, court costs or any combination of the same. Timothy Borders Jr., 31, Poplar Bluff, no proof of auto insurance, $225; no operator’s license, $62...