Stories from Thursday, May 31, 2012

Bill Black, superintendent at Fort Smith National Historic Site in Arkansas, has been selected as the new Superintendent at Ozark National Scenic Riverways in Van Buren, Mo. Black served in an acting capacity in the position for 4 months earlier this year and takes the position permanently in mid-summer...

By SARABETH WALLER Staff Writer Butler County unemployment fell to 7.2 percent in April, down from 8.4 percent in March and the lowest since April 2011. Despite the promising numbers in a month that often fares well, local employers believe the number is still too high compared to the number of jobs that remain unfilled...

By ERIN RAGAN SEMO News Service Southeast Missouri's big three of higher education discussed Wednesday the effects that better tracking of students, efforts to step up marketing and an increase in A+ scholarship students might have on the growth and viability of their community college partnership...

By DAVID SILVERBERG Associate Editor Residents of Sheehy Mobile Home Court, a business and a homeowner expressed their frustrations and concerns during a public hearing in City Hall Wednesday night conducted by the Poplar Bluff Tax Increment Financing Commission...

By ERIN RAGAN SEMO News Service Southeast Missouri's big three of higher education discussed Wednesday the effects that better tracking of students, efforts to step up marketing and an increase in A+ scholarship students might have on the growth and viability of their community college partnership...

Piggott Radio Control Modelers Club 3837,will hold its 15th annual Spring R/C Air Show and Fun-Fly and competition June 2-3 at Pfeiffer Field in Piggott, Ark., one-half mile east of the Piggott swimming pool. Admission is free and a raffle of donated items will be held. ...

Summer gardeners are getting excited. Fresh veggies are ripening early this summer and cucumbers are going to be plentiful. Do you think you can make delicious pickles like your grandmother did? Sometimes pickles just don't turn out right even when you do everything correctly. What's a pickler to do?...

Tyler Wilson of Neelyville High School is the national winner for 10th grade poetry division of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution's Junior American Citizens contest. National honorable mention for 7th grade poetry is Jake Hager. ...

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- Mark Twain National Forest's Poplar Bluff Ranger District is proposing a resource management project involving harvest and other resource management activities on national forest system lands in Wayne County near Greenville, Mo...

By PATRICK J. BUCHANAN After taping John Stossel's show on May 16 in New York, the Mrs. and I took the 10 a.m. Acela back to Washington. Once we had boarded the train, who should come waddling up the aisle but Bill Kristol. The Weekly Standard editor seemed cheerful, and we chatted about the surge in Mitt Romney's popularity and prospects...

By BILL O'REILLY As a former high school teacher, I know one of the great challenges in education is to get teenagers interested in their country. Many of them take their freedom for granted and have no interest in even learning about what it takes to be a good citizen. They are too busy keeping up with the Kardashians to absorb John Adams...

By MONA CHAREN After several cries of pain from my 16-year-old son, I finally got around to reading his Advanced Placement world history textbook. Not a way to spend a placid weekend. Paging through "World Civilizations: The Global Experience" by Peter N. Stearns et al. is flabbergasting. The authors lean so far backward to be neutral about various cultures and nations that the text fails utterly as reliable history...

By SARABETH WALLER Staff Writer After nearly 30 years of service as First United Methodist Church's program director, Heath Farmer recently stepped down to retire. Farmer began her career teaching elementary school in Cape Girardeau, Mo., from 1968 to 1972. She moved to Poplar Bluff, Mo., in 1972 and became a member of the church in 1975. She became the program director in 1983...

Cinnamon Langley and Davis Summers have been named the April 2012 Students of the Month at Poplar Bluff Senior High School. Langley, daughter of Kathy Langley and Byron Langley, volunteers at the Bread Shed and at the First Baptist Preschool. She has been involved in Drama Club and Student Council and was the freshman class treasurer...

After a few stops, Greg Coble has found his football home. • Coble, who graduated from Poplar Bluff High in 2010, redshirted a season at Lindenwood University and then attended Three Rivers College for a semester before transferring to Murray State for his second semester this spring...

The Margaret Harwell Art Museum is hosting an opening reception for its June exhibitors, the Missouri Fiber Artists, from 5-7 p.m. Friday. The public is invited. The reception is free and will be held at the museum at 421 N. Main St. Two of the exhibiting artists, Jennifer Weigel and Marie Samuel, will be on hand to speak about their work...

Angela Hale PUXICO, Mo. -- Angela Marie Hale, 52, of Wappapello, Mo., died Monday, May 28, 2012, at her residence. Mrs. Hale was born July 14, 1959, in St. Louis, Mo. She had lived in Wappapello for the past 15 years. She had worked as a waitress at the Holiday Inn...

Bass tournament season is now full throttle at Lake Wappapello. This weekend, there are two events at the lake. On Saturday, the Wappapello Bassmaster's 33rd annual Classic Buddy Bass Tournament will be held at Chaonia Landing. On Sunday, Angler's Choice will fish from Redman Creek. Also on Saturday, the Current River Smallmouth Association will have their first event of the season, fishing from Van Buren, Mo...

ROLLA, Mo. -- Mark Twain National Forest will offer two days of free day use and two free nights of camping at seven campgrounds. Free camping is being offered in unreserved campsites both Friday and Saturday nights, and free day use is being offered at unreserved sites June 9-10...

By JIM LOW Mo. Dept. of Conservation JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- DNA test results show that four mountain lions seen in Missouri last year came from three Western states, illustrating the species' capacity for long-distance travel. The Missouri Department of Conservation confirmed 14 mountain lion sightings in 2011. That was a sharp increase from the previous 16 years, when MDC was able to document only 12 cougar sightings...

Tom Young DEXTER, Mo. -- Thomas H. Young, 86, of Cape Girardeau, Mo., died Tuesday, May 29, 2012, at Chateau Girardeau in Cape Girardeau, Mo. Mr. Young was born on June 28, 1925 in Fredericktown, Mo. He graduated from Randles Missouri High School, Cape Business College and later attended Washington University in St. Louis where he studied Personnel Management and Labor Law...

Butch Bunton MALDEN, Mo. -- Allen Raymond "Butch" Bunton, 65, of Holcomb, Mo., died Tuesday, May 29, 2012, at his residence. Mr. Bunton was born Aug. 24, 1946, in St. Louis, Mo. He was a member of the United Pentecostal Church in Piggott, Ark., the Association of American Retired Persons, Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association and the Experimental Aircraft Association...

Helen Figgins Helen Pauline Figgins, 66, of Poplar Bluff, Mo., died Wednesday, May 29, 2012, at Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center. Mrs. Figgins was born June 8, 1945, in Holly, Colo. She was a member of the Grace Christian Fellowship Church. She enjoyed spending time with her family and was a member of the American Legion Post No. 153...

JACKSON -- The Poplar Bluff Thunder Senior Babe Ruth baseball team played up a level Wednesday against a Senior Legion team for the first time this season and proved themselves quite a bit. The Thunder pounded Jackson Senior Legion 13-2 in the opener and then Logan Faith and Charlie Kayser combined on a one-hitter in the night cap to win 8-0...

Piggott Radio Control Modelers Club 3837,will hold its 15th annual Spring R/C Air Show and Fun-Fly and competition June 2-3 at Pfeiffer Field in Piggott, Ark., one-half mile east of the Piggott swimming pool. Admission is free and a raffle of donated items will be held. ...

Summer gardeners are getting excited. Fresh veggies are ripening early this summer and cucumbers are going to be plentiful. Do you think you can make delicious pickles like your grandmother did? Sometimes pickles just don't turn out right even when you do everything correctly. What's a pickler to do?...

By PATRICK J. BUCHANAN After taping John Stossel's show on May 16 in New York, the Mrs. and I took the 10 a.m. Acela back to Washington. Once we had boarded the train, who should come waddling up the aisle but Bill Kristol. The Weekly Standard editor seemed cheerful, and we chatted about the surge in Mitt Romney's popularity and prospects...