Stories from Wednesday, June 21, 2017

Bidding opened today for construction of a long-awaited railroad overpass at the Poplar Bluff Industrial Park. The approximately $2.7 million project is now expected to be completed by the summer of 2018. Bids will be opened July 14, said Butler County Presiding Commissioner Vince Lampe...

WAPPAPELLO, Mo. -- A damaged section of state highway at Wappapello Lake is expected to reopen today, less than two months after flood waters tore away nearly one-third of a mile of road. The Highway T project finishes a week and a half ahead of schedule and is in time for July 4th activities, said David Wyman, area engineer for the Missouri Department of Transportation...

A one-year contract extension is expected for Poplar Bluff City Manager Mark Massingham. The matter was discussed Monday by the Poplar Bluff City Council and will be voted on Friday. A special city council meeting has been set for 5:30 p.m. Friday at the city council chambers. This replaces the previously scheduled July 3 meeting...

Lacey Gold Baker of Poplar Bluff was accidentally omitted from the Missouri State University Spring 2017 Dean's List. We apologize for the inconvenience.

To the Editor, I grieve for my country. I pray for its future. Have we truly come to a point where we consider violence as an alternative when we disagree with the ideals of our elected leaders? If so, we have lost our identity. I must continue to believe that as a whole we are better than that. No matter your particular disagreements with one ideology or another, forceful ideological compliance goes against everything this country has ever stood for. May God have mercy on us and grant us peace...

By PATRICK J. BUCHANAN James T. Hodgkinson of Belleville, Illinois, who aspired to end his life as a mass murderer of Republican Congressmen, was a Donald Trump hater and a Bernie Sanders backer. Like many before him, Hodgkinson was a malevolent man of the hating and hard left...

The annual Fisk Community Library Rummage Sale will be Thursday-Saturday, July 13-15, in the air conditioned Fisk Community Center, 508 Garfield St., Fisk. The sale will be from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday and Friday, July 13-14, and 7 a.m. to noon Saturday, July 15. There will be donations added each day. The sale will end with a $1 bag sale from 11 a.m. to noon Saturday...

Continue to sing loud & proud I would like to respond to the citizen that spoke out against our local Walmart and the young greeter in that store. I could not disagree more. First of all, the young man has a job and in America in 2017 that is a blessing. Through his greeting/singing I believe it signals that he also enjoys his job. I look forward to hearing his beautiful baritone voice upon entering the store...

By GEORGE F. WILL WASHINGTON -- Beginning this week, Washington hopes that infrastructure, which is a product of civil engineering, will be much discussed. But if you find yourself in Oregon, keep your opinions to yourself, lest you get fined $500 for practicing engineering without a license. This happened to Mats Jarlstrom as a result of events that would be comic if they were not symptoms of something sinister...

Richard James Cummings, 80, of Poplar Bluff, Mo. died Friday, June 16, 2017, at Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center. The family had a gathering on Saturday, June 17 to celebrate his life. Fowler Sullivan Funeral Home in Poplar Bluff is in charge of arrangements...

Ash Hill Cemetery's annual board meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday, June 29, at the Fisk Presbyterian Church in Fisk.

Larry J. Morgan, 74, of Poplar Bluff, Mo., died Tuesday, June 20, 2017 at his home. He was born April 26, 1943, in Holcomb, Mo. to Lee Odis Morgan and Helen Louise (Lesley) Morgan. He and Joann (Bilbrey) Morgan were married Feb. 9, 1963 in Poplar Bluff, Mo. ...

Harley E. Choate II, 93, of Florida, formerly of Poplar Bluff, died Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017, in Florida Graveside services will be held at 10 a.m., Friday, with full military rites at Missouri State Veterans' Cemetery in Bloomfield.

PUXICO, Mo.-- William Eugene Carver, 86, of Puxico and McGee died Tuesday, June 20, 2017, at the V.A. Medical Center in Poplar Bluff, Mo. Visitation will be from 5 - 8 p.m. Thursday, June 22, at the Watkins & Sons Funeral Home in Puxico. Funeral services will be at 11 a.m. Friday, June 23, at the Watkins & Sons Chapel with Rev. Lee Roy Hefner of McGee officiating. Burial will follow at the New Hope Cemetery near McGee with Watkins & Sons Funeral Service of Puxico in charge of arrangements...