Stories from Friday, September 25, 2015

By PAT PRATT Staff Writer The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) says public schools will now use student data in evaluating teachers, but stress it is not the controversial pay for performance mandates seen in other states...

By DAVID SILVERBERG Associate Editor A Poplar Bluff man, who fought with the U.S. Army at Heartbreak Ridge in North Korea in 1951, is going to Washington, D.C., with the 13th Honor Tour group Friday so he can view the Korean War Veterans Memorial. "I wasn't wounded, but I was shot at a lot of times," said Marvin Knuckles, who narrowly escaped death several times. "The Lord was looking after me."...

By DONNA FARLEY Staff Writer Floyd Miller's blood alcohol level had topped .24 -- three times the legal limit -- the night he decided to get help. It was so high, an out-of-town rehab sent Miller to the emergency room before accepting the 46-year-old...

Have you noticed all of the beautiful, bright orange pumpkins appearing at local markets? Halloween and Thanksgiving just would not be complete without bright colored pumpkins. Pumpkins have been grown in North America for five thousand years and they were once recommended for removing freckles and curing snake bites!...

By MIKE JENSEN Publisher Sikeston Standard Democrat Politicians of both parties are providing ample lip service to the middle class during this campaign season. There's a reason for that. Middle class voters decide election outcomes. It's really no more complex than that...

By PATRICK J. BUCHANAN During the 1950s, the twin pillars of worldwide anti-communism were Dwight Eisenhower's America and the Roman Catholic Church of Pope Pius XII. During the 1980s, the last decade of the Cold War, Ronald Reagan and the Polish pope, John Paul II, were the pillars of resistance...

By GEORGE F. WILL WASHINGTON -- The 18-year-old U.S. Navy enlistee, thinking it sounded less boring than the dull training he was doing in 1944, volunteered for service on what he thought an officer had called "rocket ships." Actually, they were small, slow, vulnerable boats used as launching pads for rockets to give close-in support for troops assaulting beaches...

Christopher Charles Moore Christopher Charles Moore, 44, of Poplar Bluff passed away Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2015 at Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center. Mr. Moore was born Feb. 24, 1971 in Virginia Beach, Va. to Charles Moore and Deborah Hicks-Whitmer, who both survive. Also surviving is stepfather Stanley Whitmer; two brothers, Shawn Freeman and Daniel Moore; several nieces, nephews, aunts and uncles...

Robert Bullock of Kennett, Mo., who will celebrate his 104 birthday Friday, Sept. 25, credits God and hard work for his long life. Born Sept. 25, 1911, is Des Arc, Ark., Bullock has lived most of his life in Southeast Missouri. As a teenager in the 1920s, he and his family traveled as migrant workers picking cotton in Arizona and Mexico. They also spent time in California working in the apricot industry where they slept in tents on the side of the road...

Joan Dobbs Underwood Joan Dobbs Underwood, 74, of Poplar Bluff, Mo., died Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2015, at Poplar Buff Regional Medical Center. Mrs. Underwood was born Nov, 29, 1940, in Memphis, Tenn. She was a member of God's Country Cowboy Church in Fredericktown, Mo., Rebekah Lodge No. 41 and Odd Fellows No. 179. She married Clyde LeGrand Dobbs on April 21, 1956, and he preceded her in death Sept. 12, 2002. She married Jessie Robert Underwood Aug. 26, 2009, and he survives...

Unlike the pros, the point-after attempt following a touchdown is not always automatic on Friday nights. Poplar Bluff blocked a kick with 93 seconds to play to edge Sikeston 14-13 last fall. Last week, the difference in the Mules' 50-48 loss to Jackson ended up being one of seven point-after attempts for each team...

The Greenville baseball team has been waiting to play under the lights for a while now. It's been over a year and a half since their new infield was completed, and a wet spring and summer have prolonged other renovation projects. On Thursday night, lights will illuminate that diamond and the Bears will finally get to see the complete, finished project for the first time...

Estle "Bud" Knowlton NEELYVILLE, Mo. - Estle H. "Bud" Knowlton, 93, of Poplar Bluff, died Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2015, at Oakdale Care Center in Poplar Bluff. Mr. Knowlton was born to Claude and Matilda (Ivy) Knowlton on April 25, 1922 in Ripley County, Mo. ...

Mark D. Dodge PUXICO, Mo. -- Mark D. Dodge, 54, of Qulin, Mo died Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2015. Visitation will be at 11 a.m, Friday at Morgan Sifford Funeral Home in Puxico. The funeral will be at 1 p.m. Friday with Bruce Pittman and Doyle Mitchell officiating...