Stories from Thursday, September 12, 2013

By RUTH CAMPBELL SEMO News Service CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. -- For the next five weeks, about half of the movie "Gone Girl" will be filmed in Cape Girardeau, a producer of the movie told the Southeast Missourian on Tuesday. The filming begins Sunday. Speaking for the first time to media about the Cape Girardeau location, producer Cean Chaffin said several locations inside and outside of Missouri were scouted, starting in April or May...

By DONNA FARLEY Staff Writer The duty and mission of Edgewood children's home for more than 90 years has always been about more than feeding and sheltering children removed from the care of their families because of neglect or abuse. "Children have gotten more than just the basic needs. ...

By BARBARA ANN HORTON News Editor A special free screening of the Lifetime movie Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story will be held Sunday at the Holiday Inn Grand Ballroom in Poplar Bluff, Mo. Murray and Lifetime have given Women Aware special rights to show the movie. Doors will open at 5 p.m. and the movie will begin at 6 p.m...

By SARABETH WALLER Staff Writer She dons a pretty, mint-colored dress and dressy cowboy boots. She makes jewelry and peruses Pinterest in her spare time. Her e-mails are signed off with "God, Guns & Glitter," and she carries a pink snakeskin shotgun...

By PATRICK J. BUCHANAN Last week, hell came to the tiny Christian village of Maaloula where they still speak Aramaic, the language of Jesus. "Rebels of the Free Syrian Army launched an assault aided by a suicide bomber from Jabhat al-Nusra," the al-Qaida-linked Islamic terrorist group, writes the Washington Post...

By MONA CHAREN Barack Obama accelerated his political ascent in 2002 by positioning himself firmly as the voice of anti-war Democrats. Unlike Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, John Edwards and John Kerry, then-Illinois state Sen. Obama announced that he opposed the effort to topple Saddam Hussein, not because he opposed all wars, but because he resisted what he called "dumb wars."...

By SHARON RANDALL Happiness means different things to different people. Take my brother. Blind all his life and crippled by cerebral palsy, Joe lives alone with plenty of time to think about things he doesn't have and to miss all the people he has loved and lost...

By ANN McFEATTERS How ironic: President Barack Obama, lauded as a great speechmaker, increasingly turns to others to "explain stuff," as he put it. The Bushes -- former President George W. Bush; his brother, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, and Jeb's two sons -- are rallying forth on the need for immigration reform, one of Obama's chief objectives...

By ALEX WEST Staff Writer When Amanda Bilbrey, of Broseley, Mo., lost her father, Rodger Smith, to cancer on Dec. 17, 2011, she decided she needed to do more than grieve. Bilbrey wanted to help those who fight the disease that took her father. Within a year of his death, she instituted the Rodger Smith Memorial Ride and Drive for UCAN...

BENTON -- Isaiah Williams and Bailey Davidson provided Poplar Bluff with a 1-2 knock out punch as the Mules won the Kelly Invitational by a point Tuesday. The pair finished 2 seconds apart with Williams winning in a time of 17 minutes 57 seconds while Allison Huskey, Emma Cooper and Cassidy Harris each placed in the top six to lead the Lady Mules to a title in the first 5,000-meter race of the season...

DONIPHAN -- Playing the back row isn't Kalli Hill's favorite part of volleyball. But the Doniphan senior did a superb job back there Tuesday evening against visiting Twin Rivers. Hill served up nine of Doniphan's 18 aces in a 25-23, 25-13 victory. "I like to hit a lot more," Kalli Hill said. "Honestly, I don't like the back row."...

Gayle Conder HARVIELL, Mo. -- Gayle Denise Conder, 61, formerly of Poplar Bluff, joined the angels in Heaven on Friday, Aug. 30, 2013, at Spring Gate Healthcare Center in Memphis, Tenn. Ms. Conder was born on July 22, 1952, in Qulin, Mo., to John and Bobbi Jo Stiber. She enjoyed spending time with her family and friends...

VAN BUREN -- Brooke Eaves couldn't help but laugh at herself. Still lying on her stomach with a fresh cut on one arm and the other around third base, the chuckling Lady Redbird reached up and tried to high five her coach, celebrating her own embarrassment...

Betty Choat EAST PRAIRIE, Mo. -- Betty Florence Choat, 86, a resident of the Stringtown Community near Poplar Bluff, Mo., formerly of Mississippi County, died Sunday, Sept. 8, 2013, at Mark Twain Caring Center in Poplar Bluff. Born Jan. 24, 1927, in the Bird's Point Community in Mississippi County to the late Thomas and Blanche Parson Ripperdan, Betty was raised by her aunt and uncle, Mary Edna and Robert Forgey, and was of the southern Baptist faith. ...

Larry Goines MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- Larry Ray Goines, 81, of Poplar Bluff, Mo., passed away Aug. 24, 2013, at the Missouri Veterans Home in Cape Girardeau, Mo. Born on Jan. 19, 1932, in Jonesboro, Ark., he was the son of Raymond and Edna Siggers Goines...

Carlin McCutchen PIEDMONT, Mo. -- Carlin Sue McCutchen, 68, of Piedmont died Monday, Sept. 9, 2013, at her residence. A private memorial service for family and close friends will be held at a later date. Online condolences: www.morrisonworleychapel.com...

After her team committed just two service errors for the second time in as many games to start the season Tuesday night, Poplar Bluff volleyball coach Amanda Lance repeated the goal of making them all. "Serving is something we work on every single day in practice," she said. "One of our goals is 100 percent serving, and we're not there yet but we're only missing two."...

Norman McKinney Norman Lee McKinney, 74, of the Hamtown Community of Butler County passed away Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2013, at Missouri Baptist Hospital in St. Louis, Mo. Mr. McKinney was born March 20, 1939, in Poplar Bluff, Mo. He grew attending Hamtown Church and had retired as a superintendent for Huffman Engineering in Poplar Bluff. ...

NAYLOR -- Freshman Jacob Rich had a huge performance at the plate Tuesday to lift the Naylor Eagles to their first win of the fall. Rich was 4-for-4 with seven RBIs as the Eagles rolled to an 11-1 victory over Risco in five innings. On the mound, Dawson Goodrum pitched the complete game with just one hit allowed which came on a solo homer. He struck out seven and walked three...