Stories from Wednesday, April 19, 2017

With spare cash from filling up her gas tank, Kristen Vineyard of Dexter purchased a Missouri Lottery "Black Ice" Scratchers ticket, put it in her purse and forgot about it. "I had a few dollars left over from gas. I never really play the lottery, but something told me I needed to buy a ticket," she shared. "I kind of forgot that I bought the ticket and didn't scratch it off until later."...

By CHELSAE CORDIA Staff Writer BROSELEY, Mo. - In a unanimous vote at last night's meeting, it was decided Lee Lewis will serve as the new Twin Rivers R-X Board of Education president, while Jeff Arnold will fill the role of vice president. Leah Winchester will continue in her role as board secretary and treasurer, per a vote with board member Donna Sue Ashcraft-Fincher abstaining...

Greater Poplar Bluff Area Chamber of Commerce honored local educators during its annual Teacher of the Year Banquet Tuesday evening at the high school. The chamber presented plaques to instructors from Three Rivers College, Poplar Bluff public and local parochial schools. Chamber president Steve Halter said the teachers recognized at the event, and all who serve, are helping build the community of tomorrow...

Rep. Steve Cookson is scheduled to begin undergoing tests May 1 in preparation for a life-saving liver transplant. Cookson, 58, visited Friday in Doniphan three days after making national news by announcing his illness for the first time during discussion of a bill on the house floor in Jefferson City...

The first time Christine McDonald was a victim of sex trafficking, her mother traded the 8-year-old for a place to live. The next time, she was a 15-year-old runaway, sold by a man who spent months earning her trust. Human trafficking isn't a big city crime and it doesn't just happen in large criminal rings, McDonald said Tuesday evening at a Poplar Bluff, Mo., conference created to bring awareness to the issue and its victims...

An appellate court heard oral arguments last week in the case of a former Bloomfield, Mo., pastor who is serving a 50-year sentence after being convicted of attempting to kill his former wife and defrauding nearly $87,000 from his now deceased mother...

Top fundraising students recently presented a check to St. Jude for $47,748 during a field trip to the children's research hospital in Memphis. The Poplar Bluff School District has raised a total of $967,924 for the hospital since the campus community first began participating in Math-A-Thon in 1989. ...

The headline was numbingly familiar: "For Blacks, College Is Not An Equalizer." The op-ed in The Washington Post by Ray Boshara explored what he called a "troubling paradox," namely that so many well-educated black Americans "feel so economically insecure."...

The Cane Creek Community Club met Wednesday, April 12, at Nancy Wujcik's home. The meeting was called to order by president Marie Boxx. The five members present pledged the flag and then answered the roll call with an April Fool's joke or the saddest event in their life...

The average American has little knowledge of the extent to which our institutions of higher learning have been infected with a spreading cancer. One aspect of that cancer is akin to the loyalty oaths of the 1940s and '50s. Professors were often required to sign statements that affirmed their loyalty to the United States government plus swear they were not members of any organizations, including the Communist Party USA, that sought the overthrow of the United States government. ...

ROLLA, Mo. -- Alvin Dwain Sachs, of Silva, passed away Saturday, April 15, 2017 at the age of 69. He was born in Boonville, Aug. 14, 1947 to the late William Nelson and Marjorie Irene (Cortman) Sachs. On Oct. 20, 1996 he married Ila Mae Atkins, who survives...

To the Editor: Well it has happened yet again, a senseless act of violence at an elementary school in San Bernadino, California. You have a coward, upset over a break up with his girlfriend who was a teacher of a special needs class, walk into a school and during a murder-suicide plot ends up murdering an eight year old child, Jonathan Martinez and injure another nine year old during this act...

FISK, Mo. -- Lula Peggy Norman, 75, of Wappapello, died Monday, April 17, 2017 at Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center, in Poplar Bluff. Visitation will begin at 6 p.m., Wednesday, at White-Sanders Funeral Home in Fisk. The funeral service will be at 11 a.m., Thursday, in the funeral home chapel with Rev. Jim Sanders officiating. Burial will be at Shain Memorial Cemetery in Fisk...

BLOOMFIELD, Mo. -- Edna Fay Scheible, 68, of Bloomfield, died Sunday, April 16, 2017, at the Southeast Health Center of Stoddard County in Dexter. Visitation will be held from 5 - 8 p.m., Tuesday, at the Chiles-Cooper Funeral Home in Bloomfield. Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m., Wednesday, at the Chiles-Cooper Funeral Home in Bloomfield...

Betty Jo Stroud, 83, of Poplar Bluff, Mo., passed away Monday, April 17, 2017 at Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center. Betty, the daughter of the late John A. and Mable Scott Riepe, was born Nov. 1, 1933 in Butler County. She was a member of the First Assembly of God, and was a homemaker. Betty enjoyed crafts, cooking and canning, but being with her family is what she cherished most...

FISK, Mo. - Dustin Scott Elsworth, 28, of Jackson, Mo,, died Thursday, April 13, 2017 at Southeast Missouri Hospital, in Cape Girardeau, Mo. Mr. Elsworth was born Saturday, May 28, 1988 in Kennett, Mo. On Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2007, He married Amie Elsworth, she survives...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Justice Neil Gorsuch dived into the public side of his new job Monday, piping up early and often as he took his seat on the Supreme Court bench for the first time to hear arguments. The new justice waited just 11 minutes before asking questions in the first of three cases the court heard Monday, its first session since President Donald Trump's pick was sworn in one week earlier...

DONIPHAN, Mo. -- Elsa Fern Johnson, 93, of Jacksonville, Ark., died Saturday, April 15, 2017, at the Arkansas Hospice Center in Little Rock, Ark. Visitation will begin at 9 a.m. Wednesday, at Edwards Funeral Home in Doniphan. The funeral service will follow at 11 a.m. in the funeral home chapel with Brother J. W. Johnson officiating. Burial will be in the Pine Cemetery...

DONIPHAN, Mo. -- Marijayne Virginia Sopko, 60, of Fairdealing, died Friday, April 14, 2017, at Cedargate Nursing Home in Poplar Bluff. A Celebration of Mari's Life will take place at 6 p.m, Saturday, June 3, 2017, at the Naylor School. Online condolences: family@edwardsfuneralhome.org...

PIEDMONT, Mo. -- Joyce McQuay-Mills, 86, of Piedmont, died Sunday, April 16, 2017, at her son's home in Cape Girardeau. Visitation will be held from 3 - 6 p.m., Saturday, at the Morrison-Worley Funeral Chapel in Piedmont. Funeral services will follow at 6 p.m., Saturday at the funeral home chapel with Pastor Tadd Kruithoff officiating...

DONIPHAN, Mo. -- Georgette Tremaine, 80, of Doniphan, died Sunday, April 16, 2017, at the Cedargate Care Center in Poplar Bluff. A graveside service will take place at 2 p.m., Wednesday, April 19, at Stephens Cemetery near Doniphan with Brother Pete Joplin officiating...

Fourth graders helped the Poplar Bluff Garden Club plant two tulip poplar trees on the Middle School campus Friday, April 7, in recognition of Arbor Day. The city of Poplar Bluff received its name when the first settlers discovered tulip poplars covering a bluff that overlooked the Black River, according to historical records...

Scandal at the PB VA Hospital This is in regards to the VA scandal that we have here in Poplar Bluff, Mo. Over the weekend FoxNews ran pieces I think it was either or both Friday, Saturday and Sunday regarding the J. J. Pershing VA Hospital and what their administration is doing to whistle blowers. ...

PIEDMONT, Mo. - Geraldine L. Sanders, 69, of Piedmont, Mo., died Tuesday, April 18, 2017 at her residence. Visitation will be held from 5 - 8 p.m. Wednesday, April 19, 2017, at Ruegg Funeral Home, Piedmont. Services will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday, April 20, 2017 at the Piedmont Chapel. Burial will be at Annapolis Cemetery...

Profiling is needlessly a misunderstood concept. What's called profiling is part of the optimal stock of human behavior and something we all do. Let's begin by describing behavior that might come under the heading of profiling. Prior to making decisions, people seek to gain information. To obtain information is costly, requiring the expenditure of time and/or money. Therefore, people seek to find ways to economize on information costs. Let's try simple examples...

The House fulfilled our promise to pass a fiscally-conservative budget proposal to fund the essential priorities of state government while reducing unnecessary and wasteful spending, ensuring your tax dollars are being spent in the most efficient manner possible. ...

MALDEN, Mo. -- Leona (Lee) DuBois, 83, passed away on Monday, April 17, 2017. Preceding her in death were her father, Luther Lumpkins; her mother, Ella Minks; and her step-father, Otis Minks; two sisters: Sylvia Die and Maxine North; an infant daughter: Ava LaNelle; and her husband: Ray DuBois...

Mark and Amanda Daughhetee of Ellsinore, Mo., announce the birth of their son, Isaiah Mark Daughhetee, Tuesday, March 28, 2017 at 3:31 a.m. at the Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center. He weighed 7 pounds and 5 ounces and measured 20 inches. He has one brother, James Ross. Maternal grandparents are Lanny Stewart of Harviell and Kim Stewart of Fairdealing. Paternal grandparents are Jim and Peggy Daughhetee of Poplar Bluff...

HILLSBORO -- The Raiders are in the midst of a seven-game, region losing streak, but they still have a chance at the same postseason spot they've been hoping for. Jefferson College used a pair of monster innings to sweep Three Rivers College, winning the opener 14-6 and the nightcap 16-1 in five innings...

BELL CITY, Mo. -- Missed opportunities and late slip-ups haunted the Bloomfield baseball team Tuesday night. Though the Wildcats held a one-run lead with one out in the bottom of the seventh inning, it wasn't enough to stave off two-time defending MSHSAA Class 1 state champion Bell City...

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. --Notre Dame handed the Poplar Bluff tennis team its first loss of the season, 5-4, Tuesday. "We just did not play well overall," Mules coach Charles Harper said. Humza Siddiqui, Ben Stewart and Nathan Smith each won their singles match for Poplar Bluff but Notre Dame got an 8-6 win in singles and doubles play to edge the Mules...

BERNIE -- Cassidy Freed got plenty of help in throwing a three-hit shutout in the Stoddard County Activities Association Tournament semifinal Tuesday. Bernie's hurler struck out just two as the Mules defense backed her up in a 10-0 six-inning win. "We've actually played pretty well defensively all year," Bernie coach Brad Botsch said. "Probably been our staple along with Cassidy on the mound, our defense has been good and it's kept us in every game...

The University of Missouri Extension 4-H, FFA and Butler County fair board are partnering together for the Youth Livestock Show for the 2017 Butler County Fair. The show will be Thursday, Sept. 28, and the sale will be Friday, Sept. 29, and is open to youth in Butler, Stoddard, Dunklin, Wayne, Carter, Ripley and Clay counties...

MALDEN, Mo. -- Malden sophomore Gracie Thomas walked to the plate with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning hoping to find her way on base for the first time. Thomas didn't wait long to make the most of her fourth plate appearance. The Green Wave's No. 3 hitter hammered the second pitch she saw over the left-field fence for a home run to propel the Green Wave past Kennett for a 1-0 walk-off win Tuesday...