Stories from Friday, April 3, 2020

In my most recent column, I quoted an expert who said most of us would probably have someone we knew diagnosed with the coronavirus that week. As I write this week’s column, my friend KT is on a respirator fighting for his life. Since I visited him three times before he was diagnosed, I have been quarantined from my family in our basement for the past week and will be tested later today...

ROLLA, — Mark Twain National Forest is taking the risks associated with the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak seriously. For the safety of our visitors and employees, changes have been made so that we can continue to deliver benefits to the public while making safety our top priority...

As students continue to be out of school due to the COVID-19 pandemic, districts are working to keep up with providing them free meals.

Missouri Foundation for Health has awarded a nearly $200,000 grant to Southeast Missouri Food Bank to hire workers displaced by the coronavirus outbreak to help pack and distribute food to seniors and many families newly in need.

Butler County has confirmed a third positive case of COVID-19. The individual is self quarantining, said Emily Goodin with the Butler County Health Department. The health department receives a list each individual’s contacts, Goodin has said. They then start contacting those people to see if they’re showing any symptoms, she said...

MISSOURI STATE HIGHWAY PATROL An 18-year-old Centerville resident was injured in a one-vehicle crash at 7 a.m. Thursday, April 2, on Highway 21, one and one-half miles south of Ellington. According to the report, Tyler I. Dement was operating a 2011 Ford Escape southbound when he fell asleep, and his SUV crossed the center of the road and then left the road. Dement’s SUV then struck several trees before coming to its final rest...

City firefighters responded at 2:35 p.m. Thursday, April 2, to a report of a carbon monoxide detector sounding at the 1520 N. 14th St. residence occupied by Crystal Smith and owned by Charles Lancaster. According to the report, firefighters checked the residence using a mutlirae gas meter and no carbon monoxide was found...

St. Vincent de Paul Food Pantry, 215 S. Broadway, Poplar Bluff is open to help provide food to those in need who reside in Butler County. Affiliated with Southeast Missouri Food Bank, the pantry is open from 1 to 4 p.m. on Monday and Wednesday and from 9 a.m. to noon on Tuesday and Thursday...

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – To help prevent the spread of COVID-19, Saint Francis Healthcare System is implementing new and exciting ways to continue providing the quality care you know and trust.

Poplar Bluff Junior High and Technical Career Center students were recently awarded for placing in a T-shirt design contest initiated to promote the 50th anniversary of Earth Day.

Greenville High School recently named February Students of the Month.

East Carter R-II recently released the third quarter honor roll for middle school students.

Missouri’s youth turkey season, for young hunters age 6-15, will go on as planned this weekend, despite what the myriad of bogus posts on Facebook and elsewhere may tell you. “The recent rumor on Facebook that Missouri’s spring turkey season has been canceled is just that ... a rumor,” said Department of Conservation News Services Coordinator Joe Jerek. “Don’t believe everything you see on social media.”...

Black River Technical College has announced an extension to the Spring 2020 drop date. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the last day students can drop a Spring 2020 class has been moved from April 10 to Friday, May 3, the last day of class before final exams start...

Black River Technical College nursing instructor Holli Nitzsche and her husband, Paul, both members of the armed services, have been deployed to help with the COVID-19 response. Holli, a captain in the 339th Army Reserve, was deployed on April 3 to Missouri where she will be assisting in a field hospital. Holli leads the nursing assistant program at BRTC...

The Poplar Bluff City Council announced early Friday afternoon that its meeting Monday will be closed to the public due to the threat of COVID-19. The decision is also based on the governor’s order to limit gatherings to no more than 10 people, according to a notice released by the council...

Vergie I. Emmons, 92, of Poplar Bluff passed away on April 2, 2020 at Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center in Poplar Bluff, Mo. Vergie was born March 16, 1928 to the late Odis and Ethel (Herndon) Jarrett in Flatwoods, Mo. She married Jerald Emmons July 20, 1946...

Editor's note: This is a daily briefing updating the latest information on the COVID-19 pandemic at 4 p.m. each day. Cases of COVID-19 in Missouri reached 2,000 on Friday as the state remains one of just 10 without a statewide stay-at-home order...

Ellen “Poochie” Huff, 82, of Piedmont, died Thursday, April 2, 2020, at Clark’s Mountain Nursing Center. Visitation is Sunday, 11:30 a.m-1 p.m., April 5, 2020, at Ruegg Funeral Home, Piedmont Chapel. Funeral will follow at 1 p.m. Burial: Patterson Cemetery...

Linda Faye Montgomery, 72, of Poplar Bluff, Mo., passed away Friday, April 3, 2020 at Westwood Hills Health and Rehab. Ms. Montgomery, the daughter of the late Claude Leonard and Jerlean Opal (Knuckles) Montgomery, was born Dec. 18, 1947 in Poplar Bluff. She was of the Baptist faith. Ms. Montgomery took an early retirement from the Poplar Bluff Social Security office to be a primary caregiver for her parents. She was an avid St. Louis Cardinals fan...

Freda Tucker, 82, of Piedmont, died Thursday, April 2, 2020, at Clark’s Mountain Nursing Center. Visitation is Tuesday, 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., April 7, 2020, at Ruegg Funeral Home, Piedmont Chapel. Private funeral to follow. Burial: Mt. Pisgah Cemetery...

Clifford Robert Browning, 89, passed away Friday, April 3, 2020 at Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center. Clifford, the youngest of son of James E. ‘Eddie’ and Katherine ‘Katie’ Bergesch Browning, was born Jan. 18, 1931, in Poplar Bluff. He was of the Baptist faith and was the owner of C R Browning Auto Salvage in Poplar Bluff. He enjoyed spending time and playing checkers with family and friends...

Highland Drive Church of Christ is canceling all services, but anyone who needs to may call the church at 573-785-2679 and leave a message. Someone will heck the messages and return your call, a church spokesperson said. _ Haven House will not be accepting donations for the next few weeks...

The Animal Welfare Alliance (AWA) temporary Corona Crisis Pet Food Pantry will be open as planned from 2 to 6 p.m. Saturday, April 4, in the former Orscheln store site next to Planet Fitness in Poplar Bluff. Free pet food will be distributed to area pet owners who are suffering financially because of layoffs or other problems created by the current virus emergency. Recipients will be limited to residents of Butler, Carter, Ripley and Wayne Counties...

Missouri will join the majority of states operating under a stay-at-home order effective Monday, Gov. Mike Parson announced Friday night.

Banks in Poplar Bluff today said millions of dollars in funding for local small businesses will be handed out in the coming days and weeks, part of the federal government’s new CARES Act to keep the American economy going. A conference call Friday morning, hosted by the Greater Poplar Bluff Area Chamber of Commerce and Commerce Bank, gave local small business owners the opportunity to learn what resources are available to them under the new $2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act.. ...

Butler County officials started going through Gov. Mike Parson’s “Stay Home Missouri” Order as soon as it was released Friday afternoon and took the first step of appointing two health officers for the county. Dr. Matthew Riffle and Emily Goodin, administrator of the Butler County Health Department, will “work with local, state and federal partners in planning actions going forward to support the health, safety and well being of Butler County residents,” county officials said in a statement. ...