Stories from Thursday, April 27, 2017

Butler County and school authorities are investigating circumstances surrounding an alleged suicide of a 17-year-old Poplar Bluff High School student. The student's name and many details are being withheld at this time pending family notification and an active investigation. County deputies were dispatched at about 3:30 p.m. Wednesday to the scene of the death near the intersection of Fashionable Circle and East Outer Road...

Rivers at Poplar Bluff and Patterson could crest above flood stage by Friday morning, with weekend storms expected to dump another 3-5 inches of rain across the area. Much of the area has already received up to 3 inches of rain in the past 24 hours, falling on full rivers and saturated ground...

Officers with the Poplar Bluff Police Department and Butler County Sheriff's Department now are carrying an antidote for opioid overdoses in their patrol vehicles. This comes after officers from both departments received training Tuesday on the use of Narcan at Key Drugs by Pharmacist Marty Michel and Dr. Christopher Pinderski with Black River Medical Center. Poplar Bluff Deputy Police Chief Donnie Trout indicated at least 40 officers attended...

Forecasts of heavy rain and the cancer patients' health are reasons the sixth annual UCAN Sarah Jarboe White Walk will be Saturday, June 10, instead of this weekend. "Our decision to postpone the walk until June 10 revolves around our concern for the safety and health for our cancer patients for whom a walk in the rain is a physical challenge," said UCAN Executive Director Melody Melloy...

The Missouri Supreme Court ruled the operator of a dog kennel cannot sue advocacy groups after they said she ran one of the "worst puppy mills" in the state. The court Tuesday unanimously upheld a Dent County circuit court decision that dismissed a defamation lawsuit filed by Mary Ann Smith of Salem, Missouri...

Poplar Bluff Middle School teacher of the year Kathy Pattillo says once someone is in her class they will always be her student, no matter how much time passes by. "I always reassure them, if there is a time when something comes up and you have no one to turn to and you need help, whether it's academically or something in life, I am here. You know where to find me," Pattillo said...

By LUCAS BOND Mo. Dept. of Conservation ST. LOUIS, Mo. - The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) reports Steven Wengler of St. Louis became the most recent record-breaking angler in Missouri when he snagged a skipjack herring on the Mississippi River. The new "alternative method" record fish caught by Wengler on April 17 weighed 1 pound, 14 ounces. Wengler's recent catch broke the previous state record of 1-pound, 10-ounces, caught in 2016...

Matthew and Sarah Marshall announce their son, Ryland Chandler Marshall, was born at 7 p.m. Friday, March 3, 2017, at Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center in Poplar Bluff, Mo. He weighed 6 pounds and 6 ounces and was 19 1/2 inches long. Ryland has one brother, Cash. Grandparents are Chan and Regina Gray of Poplar Bluff and Randy and Lisa Marshall of Harviell, Mo...

By MIKE JENSEN Publisher Sikeston Standard Democrat Rachel Maddow, the darling of the left, opened my eyes last week with her spot-on analysis of the riots in Venezuela. Despite the fact that Venezuela has experienced social and economic unrest for years, Maddow blames President Trump for the upheaval now underway there...

PIEDMONT, Mo. -- Alfred "Doyal" Tutterrow, 82, of Piedmont died Tuesday, April 25, 2017, at his residence. Visitation will be held at 5 p.m. Friday, April 28, 2017, at Ruegg Funeral Home, Piedmont. A private graveside service will be held Saturday. Pastor Richard Sanders will minister to the family...

DEXTER, Mo. -- Linda "Lucy" England, 82, of Dexter died at her home Tuesday, April 25, 2017. Visitation will be held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday, April 28, at the Watkins & Sons Funeral Home in Dexter followed by the funeral at 2 p.m. in the funeral home chapel with Rev. Tim Russell of Dexter officiating. Burial will held at the Hagy Cemetery in Dexter with Watkins & Sons Funeral Service of Dexter in charge of arrangements...

To the Editor: The week of April 9-15, 2017, had been set by Congress as National Public Safety Telecommunications Week to honor those emergency dispatchers that serve the public needs. I would like to express my appreciation and gratitude to the businesses that donated items to be used to recognize those that work as Police and Fire dispatchers for the City of Poplar Bluff. ...

By WALTER E. WILLIAMS Each year, Earth Day is accompanied by predictions of doom. Let's take a look at past predictions to determine just how much confidence we can have in today's environmentalists' predictions. In 1970, when Earth Day was conceived, the late George Wald, a Nobel laureate biology professor at Harvard University, predicted, "Civilization will end within 15 or 30 years unless immediate action is taken against problems facing mankind." Also in 1970, Paul Ehrlich, a Stanford University biologist and best-selling author of "The Population Bomb," declared that the world's population would soon outstrip food supplies. ...

By Paul Davis Outdoors Editor Missouri's spring turkey season is rolling right along, and for the most part, it's been a soggy one. Locally, a lot of hunters have been vocal about a lack of gobbling and even a lack of birds, and the evidence says they're correct...

By CANDICE DAVIS Mo. Dept. of Conservation STODDARD COUNTY, Mo. -- The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) has named Michael Collins as the new conservation agent for Stoddard County. Collins replaces Mark Reed, who recently promoted to district supervisor with MDC...

By PATRICK J. BUCHANAN For the French establishment, Sunday's presidential election came close to a near-death experience. As the Duke of Wellington said of Waterloo, it was a "damn near-run thing." Neither candidate of the two major parties that have ruled France since Charles De Gaulle even made it into the runoff, an astonishing repudiation of France's national elite...

By PAUL DAVIS Outdoors Editor The Three River Buglers chapter of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation's annual banquet and auction is right around the corner. The 19th annual event is slated for May 13 at the Black River Coliseum in Poplar Bluff, Mo., and promises to be a big one...

Vernon D. Bagwell, 85, of Poplar Bluff, Mo., died Thursday, April 27, 2017 at Westwood Hills Healthcare Center in Poplar Bluff. The arrangements are pending and will be announced by Cotrell Funeral Service in Poplar Bluff.

Members of the Missouri State High School Activities Association are considering 12 rule changes for the 2018-2019 school year. The MSHSAA Board of Directors circulates the Annual Questionnaire each year to all member schools. This instrument is utilized to obtain a consensus from member schools on key issues which will aid the Board of Directors in determining changes that are desired by the majority of member schools, and among the biggest is a proposal to move the start of the fall sports season back one week.. ...

Somewhere about the fourth or fifth inning, the Lady Raiders realized they had a chance to beat a ranked team. All of a sudden, a largely meaningless game became important. Three Rivers College held on late to beat Crowder 6-5, and the Lady Raiders swarmed and jumped on Wiley Lowry, who got the save...

The Three Rivers Endowment Trust will hold its fifth Annual Golf Tournament on Friday, June 16, at Westwood Hills Country Club. The four-person scramble tournament will begin with check-in and lunch at noon, followed by a shotgun start at 1 p.m. Following the tournament, there will be a cocktail reception from 5:30-7:30 p.m., which will include a shrimp boil. The evening reception is open to the public...