Stories from Thursday, April 19, 2012

By DAVID SILVERBERG Associate Editor Butler County's 17 delegates will be among 277 delegates from 29 counties attending the Republican Congressional District 8 Convention at 10 a.m. Saturday in the Gamma Conference Center behind Gamma Lab on West Maud Street...

By SARABETH WALLER Staff Writer Businesses are encourage to take a little time out next Wednesday and honor their support staff at the Greater Poplar Bluff Area Chamber of Commerce's second annual Administrative Professionals Day luncheon. The event begins at 11:30 a.m. in the Tinnin Fine Arts building at Three Rivers College. Tickets are on sale through Friday evening...

By SARABETH WALLER Staff Writer The Greater Poplar Bluff Area Chamber of Commerce honored five of the top teachers in Poplar Bluff Wednesday night at the Teacher of the Year Banquet. Each recipient discussed the award in a video presentation. Judith Seawel...

By DAVID SILVERBERG Associate Editor Butler County's 17 delegates will be among 277 delegates from 29 counties attending the Republican Congressional District 8 Convention at 10 a.m. Saturday in the Gamma Conference Center behind Gamma Lab on West Maud Street...

By SARABETH WALLER Staff Writer Businesses are encourage to take a little time out next Wednesday and honor their support staff at the Greater Poplar Bluff Area Chamber of Commerce's second annual Administrative Professionals Day luncheon. The event begins at 11:30 a.m. in the Tinnin Fine Arts building at Three Rivers College. Tickets are on sale through Friday evening...

By SARABETH WALLER Staff Writer The Greater Poplar Bluff Area Chamber of Commerce honored five of the top teachers in Poplar Bluff Wednesday night at the Teacher of the Year Banquet. Each recipient discussed the award in a video presentation. Judith Seawel...

Many home gardeners are planting okra in their spring garden. This is an OK vegetable that belongs to the hibiscus and cotton plant family. It most likely came from Africa and is enjoyed in soups and stews. Lots of people like my daughter love fried okra...

Last year communities across our state experienced historic floods, resulting in many devastated Southeast Missouri homes, farms, and livelihoods. This unacceptable destruction is why I introduced, and the Senate overwhelming passed, Senate Concurrent Resolution 25...

By CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER WASHINGTON -- Here we go again. At the beginning of his presidency, Barack Obama argued that the country's spiraling debt was largely the result of exploding health care costs. That was true. He then said the cure for these exploding costs would be his health care reform. That was not true...

Don't seniors have rights? Don't senior citizens have rights? The residents of Sheehy Trailer Court are elderly and suffering from anxiety and depression not knowing what the future holds. The K-2 developers made us glowing promises of a wonderful new home at a nice trailer court that they were going to move us free of charge and guarantee all their work, but we have not heard from them for over one and one-half years. ...

By GEORGE F. WILL WASHINGTON -- Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III, a Reagan appointee to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, is a courtly Virginian who combines a manner as soft as a Shenandoah breeze with a keen intellect. His disapproval of much current thinking about how the Constitution should be construed is explained in his spirited new book -- slender and sharp as a stiletto -- "Cosmic Constitutional Theory: Why Americans Are Losing Their Inalienable Right to Self-Governance" (Oxford)...

R.V. Wilson CAMPBELL, Mo. -- R.V. Wilson, 83, of Campbell, died Wednesday, April 18, 2012, at Piggott Community Hospital in Piggott, Ark. Mr. Wilson was born on April 19, 1928, in Wardell, Mo. He was a retired farmer and was a member of the First Southern Baptist Church in Malden, Mo...

Jose Acosta Jose Roberto Acosta, 63, of Camdenton, Mo., formerly of Poplar Bluff, Mo., died Monday, April 16, 2012, at Camdenton, Mo. Mr. Acosta was born June 7, 1948, at San Benito, Texas. He had lived in Camdenton for about four months and formerly lived in Poplar Bluff...

Grace Maurer PIEDMONT, Mo. -- Grace Helen (Snow) Maurer, 89, of Piedmont, Mo., formerly of St. Louis, Mo., died Tuesday, April 17, 2012, at the Clark's Mountain Nursing Center in Piedmont. She was born Dec. 29, 1922, in St. Louis. She was raised at Otter Creek and attended Williamsville High School. She had lived in St. Louis for many years where she taught crochet classes. She moved to Piedmont in 2005 and had attended the Patterson Assembly of God Church...

Donald Beck ELLINGTON, Mo. -- Donald L. Beck of Ellington died Thursday, April 19, 2012, at Westwood Hills Care Center in Poplar Bluff. Funeral arrangements are pending with McSpadden Funeral Home in Ellington.

By REBECCA FORAND Gloucester County Times EAST GREENWICH TOWNSHIP, N.J. -- Rachael Kelley (whose grandparents live in Wapapello, Mo.) is just a normal seventh grader most of the time. She plays softball and the saxophone, and she often likes to come up with creative stories. But this last hobby has turned into a whole lot more as she turned one of her stories into her first published novel...

Mingo Job Corp students partnered up with the Poplar Bluff Garden Club to prune crepe myrtles at the Highway 67/60 interchange. Meg LaPlante and Becky Paxton from the Poplar Garden Club coordinated with Mingo and the Missouri Department of Transportation to haul off cleanup debris. Sherry Wilson, new director of the Southeastern District of the Federated Garden Clubs of Missouri, and owner of the Subway stores in Poplar Bluff, treated the group to lunch after the cleanup effort...

James Turner ELLINGTON, Mo. -- James Edward "Jimmie" Turner, 67, of Ellington, Mo., died Monday, April 16, 2012, at St. Anthony's Hospital in St. Louis. Mr. Turner was born Jan. 21, 1945, in St. Louis, Mo. He was a retired union welder. He enjoyed riding motorcycles, spending time on a computer, playing the guitar, karaoke and he loved his dog, Harley...

Douglas Decker ELLINGTON, Mo. -- Douglas F. Decker, 75, of Ellington, Mo., died Tuesday, April 17, 2012, at Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center in Poplar Bluff, Mo. Mr. Decker was born Dec. 23, 1936, in Ellington. He was a member of the Assembly of God in Van Buren, Mo., president of the Elderly Association at Brent B. Tinnin Manor in Ellington...

By CANDICE DAVIS Mo. Dept. of Conservation CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. -- While bowfishing Saturday with friends, Sikeston resident David Warren ended up with an uncommon fish he shot in the Diversion Channel near Cape Girardeau. "I'd never seen this kind of fish before," Warren said. "Its fins were placed differently than anything I'd seen and its eyes were different, too."...

By CANDICE DAVIS Mo. Dept. of Conservation KENNETT, Mo. -- Conservationists are seeing improvements in fish reproduction at Jerry P. Combs Lake, located on Little River Conservation Area near Kennett, Mo. Missouri Department of Conservation Fisheries Management Biologist Salvador Mondragon reports that after nearly 9,000 largemouth bass were stocked in the lake in fall of 2011, biologists are noticing natural reproduction of the fish...

According to the few hunters I have heard from, the turkeys in our area are not taking a liking to the cold mornings and are saying so by their lack of gobbling. Also, I heard some hunters have had success. Two in particular had big gobblers bagged early this week...

Martha Kilgore -- Malden, Mo. Richard Barrett -- Fremont, Mo. Michael Smith -- Poplar Bluff, Mo. Lance Moore -- Neelyville, Mo. Grace Maurer -- Piedmont, Mo. Jose Acosta -- Poplar Bluff, Mo. R.V. Wilson -- Campbell, Mo. James Turner -- Ellington, Mo...

Ruby Yeats MALDEN, Mo. -- Ruby Yeats, 84, of Risco, Mo., died Wednesday, April 18, 2012, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau, Mo. Funeral arrangements are pending with Bradshaw Funeral Home in Malden.

Lance Moore FISK, Mo. -- Lance "Lanceman" Wils Moore, 3-month-old son of Thomas and Misty Moore of Neelyville, Mo., died Monday, April 16, 2012 at Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center. He was born Jan. 1, 2012 in Poplar Bluff, Mo. Survivors include his parents; his twin sister, Winter Violet Moore of the home; his brother, Drayden Thomas Moore of the home; and his older sister, Marissa Ann Moore of the home; grandparents, Pamela DeLuna of Broseley, Mo., Larry and Jan Whitehead of Greenville, Mo., Margaret and Bill Mittendorf of Pulaski, Tenn., and Wils Moore III of Wahiawa, Hawaii; and one great-grandfather, Sam Freeman of Broseley, Mo.. ...

Martha Kilgore MALDEN, Mo. -- Minister Martha Kilgore, 53, of Malden, Mo., died Monday April 16, 2012, in Malden. She was born Oct. 23, 1959, in Inverness, Miss. She was a member of In His Image Ministry in Cape Girardeau, Mo. She was a factory assembly line worker for lawn mower factory. ...

Michael Smith Michael Joseph "Darrell" Smith, 54, of Poplar Bluff, Mo., died Sunday, April 15, 2012, at Westwood Hills Healthcare Center in Poplar Bluff. Mr. Smith was born March 26, 1958 in Chicago, Ill. He was of the Baptist faith, and had previously worked as a nursing home cook. Mr. Smith enjoyed spending time with his family and friends and being outdoors...

Richard Barrett Richard K. Barrett, 56, a longtime resident of Fremont, Mo., died April 9, 2012 in St. Louis, Mo. Mr. Barrett was born in Japan on April 28, 1955. He was a veteran of the U.S. Army and served in Vietnam. He was employed by Tyson Foods as a packer. He enjoyed fishing, cars, and building model airplanes...

DEXTER -- The long ball twice gave Dexter the lead early but Poplar Bluff got the clutch plays late Wednesday afternoon. Logan Faith's RBI double broke a tie in the top of the sixth as the Mules rallied past Dexter 6-5 in a SEMO Conference game. "Every time we need something big, he comes through," Poplar Bluff senior Charlie Kayser said of Faith, who has two game-winning hits in the last four games...

Patricia Boyer VAN BUREN, Mo. -- Patricia "Jane" Boyer, 69, of Ellsinore, Mo., died Wednesday, April 18, 2012, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau, Mo. A complete obituary will be published in Friday's Daily American Republic. Funeral arrangements are pending with McSpadden Funeral Home in Van Buren, Mo...

Jim Brown is out as athletic director at Poplar Bluff High School and that may not be the only change in store for the Mules. Brown was not rehired Tuesday during a closed session of the Poplar Bluff R-1 school board by a 6-1 vote. "The board made a move to make a change in leadership in the athletic director position," Superintendent Chris Hon said. "Definitely not indicative of the amount of work and passion coach Brown has put in the program."...

NEELYVILLE -- Both Tigers baseball teams of the Ozark Foothills Conference came into Wednesday trailblazing with long winning streaks. But as always, something had to give. In this instance, Clearwater took advantage early on some Neelyville miscues for a 3-2 win...

NEELYVILLE -- Jessica Crosby had three hits to lead Neelyville as it cruised past Clearwater on Wednesday with 16 hits as a team. Emily Eaker had two RBIs along with Chelci Dale who had two on two hits for Neelyville (9-3). Brooke Sheppard had two hits and Ashley Bolt had two and an RBI in the win...

CAMDENTON -- Less than a week before the MSHSAA district golf tournament, the Poplar Bluff Mules faced some of the top teams in the state Wednesday. All five Mules shot their highest score of the season at Old Kinderhook as Poplar Bluff placed ninth at the Camdenton Invitational...

By DONNA FARLEY Staff Writer The Poplar Bluff R-I School District announced Wednesday afternoon the names of the new junior high principal and assistant principal, as well as the new kindergarten center principal. Current junior high Assistant Principal Justin Tarte will take over July 1 as principal at the campus. ...

Naylor Mayfest is May 19 The Naylor Mayfest, citywide yard sale and Pickin' in the Park II, will be held Saturday May 19. The public is invited to set up a sale at your home, your church or rent a table at the Senior Citizen Center. Vendors are welcome...

Don't seniors have rights? Don't senior citizens have rights? The residents of Sheehy Trailer Court are elderly and suffering from anxiety and depression not knowing what the future holds. The K-2 developers made us glowing promises of a wonderful new home at a nice trailer court that they were going to move us free of charge and guarantee all their work, but we have not heard from them for over one and one-half years. ...

Last year communities across our state experienced historic floods, resulting in many devastated Southeast Missouri homes, farms, and livelihoods. This unacceptable destruction is why I introduced, and the Senate overwhelming passed, Senate Concurrent Resolution 25...

Grace Maurer PIEDMONT, Mo. -- Grace Helen (Snow) Maurer, 89, of Piedmont, Mo., formerly of St. Louis, Mo., died Tuesday, April 17, 2012, at the Clark's Mountain Nursing Center in Piedmont. She was born Dec. 29, 1922, in St. Louis. She was raised at Otter Creek and attended Williamsville High School. She had lived in St. Louis for many years where she taught crochet classes. She moved to Piedmont in 2005 and had attended the Patterson Assembly of God Church...

Donald Beck ELLINGTON, Mo. -- Donald L. Beck of Ellington died Thursday, April 19, 2012, at Westwood Hills Care Center in Poplar Bluff. Funeral arrangements are pending with McSpadden Funeral Home in Ellington.

By REBECCA FORAND Gloucester County Times EAST GREENWICH TOWNSHIP, N.J. -- Rachael Kelley (whose grandparents live in Wapapello, Mo.) is just a normal seventh grader most of the time. She plays softball and the saxophone, and she often likes to come up with creative stories. But this last hobby has turned into a whole lot more as she turned one of her stories into her first published novel...

James Turner ELLINGTON, Mo. -- James Edward "Jimmie" Turner, 67, of Ellington, Mo., died Monday, April 16, 2012, at St. Anthony's Hospital in St. Louis. Mr. Turner was born Jan. 21, 1945, in St. Louis, Mo. He was a retired union welder. He enjoyed riding motorcycles, spending time on a computer, playing the guitar, karaoke and he loved his dog, Harley...

Douglas Decker ELLINGTON, Mo. -- Douglas F. Decker, 75, of Ellington, Mo., died Tuesday, April 17, 2012, at Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center in Poplar Bluff, Mo. Mr. Decker was born Dec. 23, 1936, in Ellington. He was a member of the Assembly of God in Van Buren, Mo., president of the Elderly Association at Brent B. Tinnin Manor in Ellington...

Mingo Job Corp students partnered up with the Poplar Bluff Garden Club to prune crepe myrtles at the Highway 67/60 interchange. Meg LaPlante and Becky Paxton from the Poplar Garden Club coordinated with Mingo and the Missouri Department of Transportation to haul off cleanup debris. Sherry Wilson, new director of the Southeastern District of the Federated Garden Clubs of Missouri, and owner of the Subway stores in Poplar Bluff, treated the group to lunch after the cleanup effort...

Jose Acosta Jose Roberto Acosta, 63, of Camdenton, Mo., formerly of Poplar Bluff, Mo., died Monday, April 16, 2012, at Camdenton, Mo. Mr. Acosta was born June 7, 1948, at San Benito, Texas. He had lived in Camdenton for about four months and formerly lived in Poplar Bluff...

By CANDICE DAVIS Mo. Dept. of Conservation CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. -- While bowfishing Saturday with friends, Sikeston resident David Warren ended up with an uncommon fish he shot in the Diversion Channel near Cape Girardeau. "I'd never seen this kind of fish before," Warren said. "Its fins were placed differently than anything I'd seen and its eyes were different, too."...

According to the few hunters I have heard from, the turkeys in our area are not taking a liking to the cold mornings and are saying so by their lack of gobbling. Also, I heard some hunters have had success. Two in particular had big gobblers bagged early this week...

Martha Kilgore -- Malden, Mo. Richard Barrett -- Fremont, Mo. Michael Smith -- Poplar Bluff, Mo. Lance Moore -- Neelyville, Mo. Grace Maurer -- Piedmont, Mo. Jose Acosta -- Poplar Bluff, Mo. R.V. Wilson -- Campbell, Mo. James Turner -- Ellington, Mo...

By CANDICE DAVIS Mo. Dept. of Conservation KENNETT, Mo. -- Conservationists are seeing improvements in fish reproduction at Jerry P. Combs Lake, located on Little River Conservation Area near Kennett, Mo. Missouri Department of Conservation Fisheries Management Biologist Salvador Mondragon reports that after nearly 9,000 largemouth bass were stocked in the lake in fall of 2011, biologists are noticing natural reproduction of the fish...

Martha Kilgore MALDEN, Mo. -- Minister Martha Kilgore, 53, of Malden, Mo., died Monday April 16, 2012, in Malden. She was born Oct. 23, 1959, in Inverness, Miss. She was a member of In His Image Ministry in Cape Girardeau, Mo. She was a factory assembly line worker for lawn mower factory. ...

Lance Moore FISK, Mo. -- Lance "Lanceman" Wils Moore, 3-month-old son of Thomas and Misty Moore of Neelyville, Mo., died Monday, April 16, 2012 at Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center. He was born Jan. 1, 2012 in Poplar Bluff, Mo. Survivors include his parents; his twin sister, Winter Violet Moore of the home; his brother, Drayden Thomas Moore of the home; and his older sister, Marissa Ann Moore of the home; grandparents, Pamela DeLuna of Broseley, Mo., Larry and Jan Whitehead of Greenville, Mo., Margaret and Bill Mittendorf of Pulaski, Tenn., and Wils Moore III of Wahiawa, Hawaii; and one great-grandfather, Sam Freeman of Broseley, Mo.. ...

Richard Barrett Richard K. Barrett, 56, a longtime resident of Fremont, Mo., died April 9, 2012 in St. Louis, Mo. Mr. Barrett was born in Japan on April 28, 1955. He was a veteran of the U.S. Army and served in Vietnam. He was employed by Tyson Foods as a packer. He enjoyed fishing, cars, and building model airplanes...

Ruby Yeats MALDEN, Mo. -- Ruby Yeats, 84, of Risco, Mo., died Wednesday, April 18, 2012, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau, Mo. Funeral arrangements are pending with Bradshaw Funeral Home in Malden.

Patricia Boyer VAN BUREN, Mo. -- Patricia "Jane" Boyer, 69, of Ellsinore, Mo., died Wednesday, April 18, 2012, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau, Mo. A complete obituary will be published in Friday's Daily American Republic. Funeral arrangements are pending with McSpadden Funeral Home in Van Buren, Mo...

DEXTER -- The long ball twice gave Dexter the lead early but Poplar Bluff got the clutch plays late Wednesday afternoon. Logan Faith's RBI double broke a tie in the top of the sixth as the Mules rallied past Dexter 6-5 in a SEMO Conference game. "Every time we need something big, he comes through," Poplar Bluff senior Charlie Kayser said of Faith, who has two game-winning hits in the last four games...

NEELYVILLE -- Both Tigers baseball teams of the Ozark Foothills Conference came into Wednesday trailblazing with long winning streaks. But as always, something had to give. In this instance, Clearwater took advantage early on some Neelyville miscues for a 3-2 win...

Michael Smith Michael Joseph "Darrell" Smith, 54, of Poplar Bluff, Mo., died Sunday, April 15, 2012, at Westwood Hills Healthcare Center in Poplar Bluff. Mr. Smith was born March 26, 1958 in Chicago, Ill. He was of the Baptist faith, and had previously worked as a nursing home cook. Mr. Smith enjoyed spending time with his family and friends and being outdoors...

Jim Brown is out as athletic director at Poplar Bluff High School and that may not be the only change in store for the Mules. Brown was not rehired Tuesday during a closed session of the Poplar Bluff R-1 school board by a 6-1 vote. "The board made a move to make a change in leadership in the athletic director position," Superintendent Chris Hon said. "Definitely not indicative of the amount of work and passion coach Brown has put in the program."...

NEELYVILLE -- Jessica Crosby had three hits to lead Neelyville as it cruised past Clearwater on Wednesday with 16 hits as a team. Emily Eaker had two RBIs along with Chelci Dale who had two on two hits for Neelyville (9-3). Brooke Sheppard had two hits and Ashley Bolt had two and an RBI in the win...

CAMDENTON -- Less than a week before the MSHSAA district golf tournament, the Poplar Bluff Mules faced some of the top teams in the state Wednesday. All five Mules shot their highest score of the season at Old Kinderhook as Poplar Bluff placed ninth at the Camdenton Invitational...

Naylor Mayfest is May 19 The Naylor Mayfest, citywide yard sale and Pickin' in the Park II, will be held Saturday May 19. The public is invited to set up a sale at your home, your church or rent a table at the Senior Citizen Center. Vendors are welcome...

By DONNA FARLEY Staff Writer The Poplar Bluff R-I School District announced Wednesday afternoon the names of the new junior high principal and assistant principal, as well as the new kindergarten center principal. Current junior high Assistant Principal Justin Tarte will take over July 1 as principal at the campus. ...