Stories from Monday, August 17, 2015

By DONNA FARLEY Staff Writer RIPLEY COUNTY, Mo. -- Recovery efforts in the search for a Doniphan kayaker missing since Thursday continued this weekend, hampered by poor visibility on the Current River. Rain to the north left the river higher than normal and made the water murky, reducing visibility from 10 feet to about 2 feet for the first two days, said Ripley County Sheriff Ron Barnett...

By PAT PRATT Staff Writer Poplar Bluff 5th and 6th Grade Center kicked off its first day with a newly hired veteran administrator to serve as school principal. Superintendent Chris Hon said Dr. Brad Owings, a life-long Missouri resident, comes highly recommended and will make a valuable addition to the R-I community...

By DONNA FARLEY Staff Writer A program designed to help reduce the sale of alcohol to minors in Butler County is working to provide ID scanners to several area businesses as another step to decrease underage drinking. The scanners would go out to about half of the approximately 55 businesses licensed to sell alcohol in Poplar Bluff...

By MICHELLE FRIEDRICH Associate Editor The Poplar Bluff Police Department is again in an elite group of law enforcement agencies in the country. The department learned in July it had received reaccreditation from the Commission for Accreditation of Law Enforcement Agencies Inc. (CALEA) after final testimony was presented to a subcommittee in Colorado Springs, Colo., completing a more than three-year process...

By MICHELLE FRIEDRICH Associate Editor Missouri's 114 sheriffs recently made a decision to stand their ground against those who threaten the belief system of everyone living in the Bible belt by voting to place the U.S. motto of "In God We Trust" on patrol cars...

Kristen Dawn Harkey and Ryan Martin Coomer, both of Springfield, Mo., will be married at 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 5, 2015 at Faith Baptist Church in Wappapello. Friends and family are welcome to attend the wedding. Harkey is the daughter of Julie Harkey of Poplar Bluff. Coomer is the son of Martha Douglas of Marble Hill...

Courtney Hannah Birdwell and Russell Henry Reel, both of Republic, Mo., are to be married at 3:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 17, 2015, at Samuel Cedars, Rogersville, Mo. Birdwell is the daughter of Jim Birdwell of Sikeston, Mo. and John Goodwin and Wendy Downing of Dudley, Mo...

EDITOR'S NOTE: Brian Sharp, pastor of Grace Christian Fellowship, 3200 Warrior Lane, Poplar Bluff, Mo. provided the following story and photos. A group from Poplar Bluff has gone to Brazil before, but this time it was much more intense. Less than a year ago, a group of 12 sponsored by Grace Christian Fellowship in Poplar Bluff went to Brazil on a mission trip and they experienced a variety of things that have forever changed their lives...

By GEORGE F. WILL WASHINGTON -- In every town large enough to have two traffic lights there is a bar at the back of which sits the local Donald Trump, nursing his fifth beer and innumerable delusions. Because the actual Donald Trump is wealthy, he can turn himself into an unprecedentedly and incorrigibly vulgar presidential candidate. ...

By GINA BARRECA The Hartford Courant After more than 30 years of teaching, here's what I know: Students perform better if they do something else in addition to being a student. Want to help your child succeed in high school and college? Make sure your kid has a job...

Jerry Carver PUXICO, Mo. -- Jerry Carver, son of the late William Franklin and Lillian Versie Walker Carver was born in Kewanee, Mo., on Feb. 27, 1947, and passed away at the Southeast Missouri Health Center of Stoddard County in Dexter, Mo., on Aug. 13, 2015, at the age of 68 years, 5 months and 17 days...

By SHARON RANDALL Tribune News Service Few things are as beautiful and terrifying as the flash of lightning and roll of thunder. I'm sitting at a window on a hillside overlooking Monterey Bay, watching a storm light up the night sky bright as day. I wish you could see it...

Donna Mae Goering DONIPHAN, Mo. -- Donna Mae Goering, 78, of Doniphan died Monday, Aug. 10, 2015 at her residence in Doniphan. A memorial service will be held at a later date. Edwards Funeral Home of Doniphan is in charge of arrangements.

The Butler County Sheriff's Department is continuing to search for two men who were reported missing by family members. Edward Acie Goodwin was reported missing July 5 by his mother, Connie Goodwin. The 32-year-old was last seen or heard from on June 27...

J. Paul Faries PIEDMONT, Mo. -- J. Paul "Booger" Faries, 77, of Piedmont, died Friday, Aug. 14, 2015, at his residence. Arrangements are pending with Ruegg Funeral Home, Piedmont.

Betty McKnight Betty May McKnight, 87, of Ellsinore, Mo., died Friday, Aug. 14, 2015, at her residence. Mrs. McKnight was born June 30, 1928, in Flint, Mich., to the late Maynard and Annettie S. (Smith) Clark. She was of the Pentecostal faith and was a homemaker. For many years, Mrs. McKnight worked as a restaurant cook. She enjoyed spending time with her family, cooking and sewing...

Pearl Loughary MALDEN, MO.--Pearl Geneva Loughary, 79, of Gideon, Mo., died Thursday, Aug. 13, 2015, at her residence. Visitation will be at noon, Monday at Bradshaw Funeral Home in Malden. The funeral will be at 2 p.m. Monday at Bradshaw Chapel in Malden. Burial will be in Mount Gilead Cemetery in Clarkton, Mo...

Myron (Mick) T. Maclin Myron (Mick) T. Maclin, 61, born April 8, 1954 in Malden, Mo. to John and Marilyn Maclin, went to be with the Lord on Monday, Aug. 10, 2015. Mick proudly served in the United States Air Force for 20 years before retiring in Riverview, Fla. and beginning his career as a contractor at MacDill Air Force Base.  He worked with Jacobs Technology Inc. until the time of his death. ...

Willa G. Klinkhardt Willa G. Klinkhardt, 75, of Poplar Bluff died Thursday, Aug. 13, 2015 at her residence. A graveside service will begin at 11 a.m. Tuesday at Missouri State Veterans Cemetery in Bloomfield with Bro. Ken Swearengen officiating. Online condolences may be expressed at www.cotrellfuneralservice.com...

Robert A. Dodd Robert "Bob" A. Dodd, 58, of Poplar Bluff died Friday, Aug. 14, 2015 at his home. Mr. Dodd was born Dec. 5, 1956, in Frankfurt, Germany. He was a member of Westwood Baptist Church. He served in the Naval Reserve Seabees for eight years...

James "JJ" Shepard CORNING, Mo. -- James "JJ" Shepard, 64, of Rush Springs, Okla., passed away Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2015 in Oklahoma City, Okla. Mr. Shepard was the owner-operator of ARKMO Livestock Market. He was a member of the National Auctioneers Association, licensed in both Arkansas and Missouri, USTRC, Quails Unlimited, and Farm Bureau. ...

Norman Cate Sr. BLOOMFIELD, Mo. -- Norman Harold Cate Sr., 83, of Bloomfield died Aug. 13, 2015, at the Martinsburg VA Medical Center in Martinsburg, W. Va. Visitation will be held from 5-8 p.m. Monday at Chiles-Cooper Home in Bloomfield. Masonic services will be conducted at 7 p.m...

Fourteen years ago, the sports department here at the Daily American Republic still used film cameras. Saturday night road games had to be sent back to the office using dial-up internet -- if the reporter could find an open phone jack. There was no Facebook, no Twitter, no Instragram, no social media, period...

Before she began leading young athletes to success, Beth Lewis herself excelled in multiple sports at Central Methodist University. Lewis spent six seasons at CMU where she competed for both the indoor and outdoor track & field teams, the cross country team and the women's soccer team...

The Poplar Bluff football team will be playing its final full season at Morrow Stadium and get a rare week off this fall. The Mules will earn a win on Oct. 2 when their scheduled game at Maplewood-Richmond Heights will be forfeited. The school did not field a team and Poplar Bluff did not find another opponent to replace the Blue Devils...

ROLLA, Mo. -- Poplar Bluff's quarterback question had at least one answer Friday night in the preseason jamboree for the Mules. Whoever takes the snap in the season opener next week at Fox will have plenty of options. "I thought we had some receivers catch the ball well," Mules coach Mark Barousse said...

By JAMES SHERK and VICTOR JOECKS Tribune News Service What keeps business owners up at night? The fear of losing customers. Companies spend billions to create the next big thing and then billions more on advertising to persuade consumers to buy it...

Don Leiner Don Leiner, 66, of Poplar Bluff, died on Sunday, Aug. 16, at Landmark Hospital in Cape Girardeau, Mo. Services are pending and will be announced by Moore Funeral Service in Poplar Bluff. www.moorefuneralservice.com

By ANN McFEATTERS Tribune News Service WASHINGTON _ The most reviled woman in America right now should be Gina McCarthy. She's not, because most Americans don't know who she is. And she did apologize. McCarthy, a white-haired environmentalist from Massachusetts, heads the Environmental Protection Agency, which mistakenly released 3 million gallons of highly toxic yellow water into the once-pristine Animas River, the waste eventually snaking into Lake Powell, the Grand Canyon and the San Juan River. ...

WASHINGTON -- You probably never knew of the federal funding of museums commemorating America's long-gone whaling industry. The funding existed for 10 years, until 2011, because almost no one knew about it. A mohair subsidy continues six decades after it was deemed a military necessity in the context of the Cold War. ...

Robert Prince Robert Prince, 87, of Poplar Bluff, died on Saturday, Aug. 15, at his residence. Services are pending and will be announced by Moore Funeral Service in Poplar Bluff. www.moorefuneralservice.com

Roger Geringer Roger Geringer, 53, of Poplar Bluff, died Sunday, Aug. 16, at The Cedargate in Poplar Bluff. Arrangements are pending with Fowler-Sullivan Funeral Home in Poplar Bluff.