Stories from Friday, April 29, 2016

By PAT PRATT Staff Writer American Pickers Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz visited Poplar Bluff on Wednesday in their never-ending quest for "rusty gold," stopping at the Donut House for breakfast and chit-chatting with a number of local residents. The stars of the History Channel's hit series announced earlier in the year they would visit Missouri sometime in May in anticipation of the upcoming new season, although, exact times and locations were not provided...

By MICHELLE FRIEDRICH Associate Editor Now that a Poplar Bluff, Mo., mother has been found, she may face charges of abandoning her infant daughter who was left home alone earlier this week. Poplar Bluff officers reportedly learned at about 9 a.m. Wednesday that Jasmine Baldazo had checked herself into a local hospital, where "she's at right now," said Detective Josh Stewart...

By EVAN HOLLEY Staff Writer One Poplar Bluff man is set to make his television debut this Sunday. Eddie Dortch, director at Ozark Fitness, will appear on "Steve Austin's Broken Skull Challenge" at 7 p.m. Sunday on CMT. The show is a physical gauntlet, pitting top notch athletes against one another in intense competitions. Its host, Steve Austin, is best known as professional wrestler "Stone Cold" Steve Austin...

Adopting animals that seem to have been abandoned by their parents isn't kind. Each year, more than 100 Missourians find fawns without their mothers nearby and decide the young deer have been abandoned. Believing they are performing a good deed, they bundle the spotted animals off to their house and try to raise it themselves. It's a scene that's as tragic as it is common...

There are a couple fishing events on tap this weekend at Wappapello Lake, and no matter if crappie or bass are your favorite target, there's something for you. The first event is Saturday's 16th annual Chris Sifford Memorial Tournament, hosted by the Wappapello Crappie Club. It's a crappie-only event...

MAMMOTH SPRING, Ark. -- Thanks to an agreement between the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and the Mammoth Spring National Fish Hatchery, trout are once again being stocked in the upper section of the Spring River. Last August, an annual fish health inspection detected infectious pancreatic necrosis, a virus that can be fatal to fingerling trout at the Jim Hinkle Spring River State Fish Hatchery. ...

LITTLE ROCK, Ark -- The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission has received confirmation that two additional deer have tested positive for chronic wasting disease in Arkansas. A deer in Madison County and another deer in Pope County were positive for the fatal disease. Both deer were road kills that were reported by the public...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) received final results from its 2015-2016 fall and winter testing of nearly 7,700 free-ranging deer for Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD). Seven were confirmed to be positive for the fatal deer disease. Three were from Adair County, two from Macon County, one from Linn County, and one from Franklin County (reported earlier in the year)...

To the Editor I want to thank the editors of the Daily American Republic newspaper in Poplar Bluff for keeping up on the business of the Missouri Conservation Department and the need for having our road and bridges repaired or replaced. Our Conservation Department has been in operation for almost 80 years and has been the envy of all the other states since the voter approval of the one-eighth cent sales tax in 1976. ...

By GEORGE F. WILL WASHINGTON -- Authoritarianism, always latent in progressivism, is becoming explicit. Progressivism's determination to regulate thought by regulating speech is apparent in the campaign by 20 state attorneys general, none Republican, to criminalize skepticism about the supposedly "settled" conclusions of climate science...

EAGLEVILLE, Mo. -- The first long, haunting "oooomph, oooomph" filled foggy darkness just before dawn, as a male prairie chicken announced his presence on a Harrison County hilltop. Moments later, another male arrived and puffed out the orange air sacs on his neck to make a mating call that resembles an exotic acoustic musical note. Then more joined in, creating a haunting chorus as sunrise made their foot-stomping dances and territorial jousts visible...

Dianne Johnson CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. -- Dianne L. Payne Johnson, 55 of Cape Girardeau, passed away Tuesday, April 19, 2016 at her home. She was born Dec. 7, 1960 in Doniphan, Mo. daughter of Bob J. and Wanda Bell Payne. Dianne attended LaCroix UMC in Cape Girardeau. ...

Mary J. Morrow Mary J. Morrow, 84, of Poplar Bluff, died Wednesday, April 27, 2016 at The Cedargate Healthcare in Poplar Bluff.. Arrangements are pending with Cotrell Funeral Service of Poplar Bluff.

Meredith Lynne and Justin Allen Rines of Poplar Bluff have chosen the name Denton Allen Rines for their 5-pound, 15-ounce son born at 11:44 a.m., Friday, April 15, 2016, at Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center in Poplar Bluff, Mo. Denton was 19 1/2 inches long...

Willou Marie Dial PORTAGEVILLE, Mo. -- Willou Marie Dial, 91, passed away Wednesday, April 6, 2016 at Oakdale Care Center in Poplar Bluff, Mo. She was born Feb. 13, 1925 in Darden, Tenn. to John T. Bradfield and Beulah McAuley, who preceded her in death. She was married Feb. 28, 1946 in Lilbourn, Mo. to Noble Dial. He preceded her in death Nov. 15, 1994...

By PATRICK J. BUCHANAN In Samuel Eliot Morison's "The Oxford History of the American People," there is a single sentence about Harriet Tubman. "An illiterate field hand, (Tubman) not only escaped herself but returned repeatedly and guided more than 300 slaves to freedom."...

Summer Shockley pitched her first perfect game of the spring as Van Buren beat Bernie 15-0 in 4 innings Wednesday at Rains Field. Shockley has thrown a perfect game, four no-hitters and 11 shutouts while also hitting .500 at the plate for the Lady Dawgs (17-1)...

Smokin' Aces BBQ will hold the first Missouri Junior State 8-ball Championships on Saturday. The event starts at 11 a.m. and registration starts at 10 a.m. Entry fee is $10 with a $5 green fee. It is a double-elimination tournament and each round is a race to five wins. There will be four divisions, 18-under boys and girls, and 14-under boys and girls...

A rivalry between the Greenville and Clearwater softball teams is in full bloom, and it has nothing to do with the Ozark Foothills Conference Tournament title anymore. Since the start of the MSHSAA spring softball championships two years ago, these two teams haven't missed a district championship and the Lady Bears and Lady Tigers don't plan on ending that tradition in the near future...

Norman R. Keele Norman R. Keele, 88, of Silva, Mo., died, Wednesday, April 27, 2016, at his residence. Arrangements are currently pending with Ruegg Funeral Homes, Inc. Online condolences: www.rueggfuneralhomes.com