Stories from Saturday, August 27, 2016

By CHELSAE CORDIA Staff Writer Low enrollment numbers were a topic of discussion at Neelyville R-IV's Board of Education meeting Thursday. High school principal Justin Dobbins reported enrollment is down by about 30 students in grades 7-12 since the beginning of school, Aug. 11...

By PAT PRATT Staff Writer Boys and Girls Club of Poplar Bluff just wrapped up its summer learning program, citing 71-percent of members showing academic improvement in 2016. The club partners with Poplar Bluff schools to provide the program during summer vacation in an effort to combat learning loss...

By MICHELLE FRIEDRICH Associate Editor Ten teenagers from across Southeast Missouri recently got a small glimpse into what Missouri State Highway Patrol recruits experience during its six-month training academy. For three days in July, the cadets were part of the first Youth Academy to be held in Poplar Bluff, Mo., through a partnership with the patrol and Three Rivers College...

Jimmy D. Reece Jimmy D. Reece, Sr., 66, of Poplar Bluff, Mo. died Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2016 at his residence. Arrangements are pending with Fitch-Hillis Funeral Home.

Arthur Eugene Allen, Jr. MALDEN, Mo. -- Arthur Eugene Allen, Jr., 57, of Clarkton, died Friday, Aug. 5, 2016, at his residence. A memorial service will be held at a later date. Landess Funeral Home of Malden in charge of arrangements.

Neoma Criglar Hester MALDEN, Mo. -- Neoma Criglar Hester, 60, of Malden, died Monday, Aug. 15, 2016, at her residence. Visitation will be from 1- 2 p.m., Saturday, at the Landess Funeral Chapel in Malden. Funeral services will follow at 2 p.m. at the chapel in Malden with Pastor Robert Dennis officiating...

By PATRICK J. BUCHANAN Issue one! To understand John McLaughlin, it was helpful to have been a 13-year-old entering an all-boys Jesuit school in the 1950s. For when John yelled "Wronnng" at me from his center chair of "The McLaughlin Group," it hit with the same familiar finality I had heard, many times, from Jesuits at the front of the class at Gonzaga...

Trillion-dollar deficits coming. What's Trump's, Clinton's plan? Well, it was nice while it lasted. But America is about to go on another borrowing binge and neither Hillary Clinton nor Donald Trump is going to do a thing about it. The federal deficit has shrunk every year since 2009, from $1.4 trillion at the height of the recession to $438 billion last year...

Letha E. Miller VAN BUREN, Mo. -- Letha E. Miller, 90, formerly of Van Buren, died Thursday, Aug. 25, 2016, in St. Charles, Mo. Visitation will begin for the public at 10:30 a.m. Monday, at the McSpadden Funeral Home in Van Buren with funeral services being held at noon in the funeral home chapel. Rev. Brian Mixon will officiate...

William Merlin (Dub) Lewis William Merlin Lewis, "Dub" was born in Lilbourn, Mo. to a large farming family, one of eight children; his own father being one of nine boys. He attended school in Lilbourn. Dub entered into the U.S. Navy and served in the Pacific during World War II. ...

Neoma Hester -- Malden, Mo. Jimmie D. Reece -- Poplar Bluff, Mo. Arthur Eugene Allen, Jr. -- Clarkton, Mo. William "Dub" Merlin Lewis -- Baton Rouge, La.Lethe E. Miller -- St. Charles, Mo.

Softballs were flying out of Poplar Bluff's new home Thursday. Shelby Sievers went deep in her first two at-bats while freshmen Brylee Misner and Lauren Alexander also cleared the fence at Bobby Strenfel Field in Poplar Bluff's 10-0, 5-inning win. "We just came out strong," said Sievers, who drove in four before being intentionally walked...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Jazlyn Barnes rallied from a 6-5 deficit by breaking her opponent's serve twice as the senior sealed Poplar Bluff's first win of the season Thursday. Barnes won the top-seeded singles match 8-6 to give the Mules a 5-4 win against host Sikeston...

The new high school campus might be a perfect training base for the Poplar Bluff cross country team. The Mules have been slowly exploring the area around the Oak Grove Road campus and are finding one common theme on their runs -- hills. "You can't get away from them," Mules coach Beth Lewis-Muse said. "You can't get out of that stadium area without a big hill...

When Logan Bell's not handling the pigskin as quarterback for the Poplar Bluff Mules, he can usually be found perfecting another throwing technique. The object he throws is much lighter and longer than a football. It weighs 1.3 pounds, is 102.4 inches long, and for Bell, a junior, javelin has provided a new experience for his athletic career...

For two innings Van Buren kept pace with one of the top teams in Class 2. But Cooter, which finished fourth at the state tournament last year, erased the negative effects of a sluggish start on a hot day at Roger Pattillo Field with a four-run third inning...