Stories from Wednesday, July 12, 2017

Five area counties have received just under 30 percent of the $10.4 million in individual federal assistance approved for Missouri victims of spring severe weather. The majority, almost $2.5 million, will help approximately 200 people in Carter and Ripley counties recover after the Current River broke century-old records at the end of April, according to figures released Tuesday by the Federal Emergency Management Agency...

GREENVILLE, Mo. -- Officials say cost-cutting and community fundraisers have helped the town of Greenville recover from a financial crisis residents are still trying to understand. The city has less than $25,000 of outstanding tax debt left from the almost $160,000 in unpaid bills discovered after the April 2016 election, mayor pro tem Larry Burchard said Tuesday at a council meeting held to update the public...

Voters will notice a few changes when they turn out for the Aug. 8 election in Butler County. It will be the first time polling places use 28 new voting machines purchased earlier this year. County officials began training election judges on the new machines Tuesday...

Joyce and Jerry Cooley recently attended the Miracle-Ear National Meeting in San Diego, Calif. At the meeting the Cooleys accepted the prestigious Platinum Club award from Amplifon, the corporate owners of the Miracle-Ear Franchise system. This is the seventh time Miracle-Ear has won this elite award. Criteria for the award includes excellent customer service, market penetration, staff certification and customer satisfaction...

Bluff Imaging and Women's Center is now offering 3D Mammography exams, utilizing advanced breast tomosynthesis technology. Sources say 3D exams are clinically proven to significantly increase the detection of breast cancers, while simultaneously decreasing the number of women asked to return for additional testing...

CAMPBELL, Mo. - Emma Harp, 81, of Campbell, died Friday, July 7, 2017, at St. Bernard;s Regional Medical Center in Jonesboro, Ark. Graveside services will be at 2 p.m., Friday, at Woodlawn-Landess Addition Cemetery in Campbell. Burial will be in the Woodlawn Landess Addittion Cemetery in Campbell...

The same eye for transformation that allows Sondra Foust to see the potential in a piece of castoff furniture helped the Poplar Bluff, Mo., woman turn a hobby into a full-time business. Foust recently opened the ReBlessed Boutique at 2170 N. Westwood Blvd., after outgrowing the retail spot she had occupied for more than three years...

KINGMAN, Ariz. -- George D. Hoeft, 71, of Golden Valley, Ariz., died Friday, July 7, 2017 at Kingman, Ariz. A memorial will be held later in Poplar Bluff, Mo.

Jennie V. Colter, 96 of Poplar Bluff, died Sunday, July 9, 2017 at Westwood Hills Health Care Center. She was born Sept. 12, 1920 in Saginaw, Mich. to the late Nichodemus Eilf and Anna Miller Eilf. She was a long time resident of Butler County. She was of the Southern Baptist faith...

Gregory Morgan, 65, of Poplar Bluff, died Friday, July 7, 2017 at St. Louis University Hospital. He was born in Poplar Bluff, Dec. 18, 1951 to the late Shannon Keith Morgan and Anna Lee Hendrix Morgan. He was a long time resident of Poplar Bluff...

We now have the answer to a question that has hung in the air for months: Why did the Republican leadership not have an Obamacare repeal-and-replace plan on the shelf and ready to go the minute the election went their way? Why didn't they use the time since the law's 2010 passage to craft the Republican alternative?...

In a lineup of new businesses set to open over the next few months in the Eight Points Retail development area, Academy Sports + Outdoors was the next up to bat, officially opening their doors this past Monday. Store Director Gene Hux said opening day was a great day for the store with a very good representation of the community stopping in for a visit...

Accompanied by the customary cautionary note about analysis based on one month's figures, June's job creation rate, provided by the U.S. Department of Labor, should have provided Americans with a shaft of light Friday. June produced a better-than-expected 222,000 new jobs, supplemented by an adjustment upward of 47,000 of April and May figures. ...

By PATRICK BUCHANAN "The North Korean regime is causing tremendous problems and is something that has to be dealt with, and probably dealt with rapidly." So President Trump told reporters in the Rose Garden. But how this is to be done "rapidly" is not so easy to see...

Hal Henry Reynolds, Jr., 42, of Wappapello, Mo. died Sunday, July 9, 2017 at Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center. Services are pending with Moore Funeral Service in Poplar Bluff. Online condolences: www.moorefuneralservice.com

While many people in Poplar Bluff were still sleeping, or perhaps just starting to rouse from their sleep, a charter bus pulled away from Three Rivers College at 5 a.m. on June 10 with staff, students, alumni, and community members headed to St. Louis Lambert Airport. The first leg of their trip was the beginning of a 15-day excursion to England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales as part of the college's yearly Classroom Abroad, led by Tinnin Center Director Tim Thompson...

Sharon Kay Fyte, 70, of Poplar Bluff, Mo., died June 29, 2017 at her residence. Moore Funeral Service in Poplar Bluff is in charge of arrangements. Online condolences: www.moorefuneralservice.com

PIEDMONT, Mo. -Zach Jones, 43, of Wentzville, Mo., died Monday, July 10, 2017 at St. Joseph Hospital West in Lake St. Louis, Mo. Visitation will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Morrison-Worley Funeral Chapel in Piedmont. Funeral services will follow at 1 p.m. Saturday at the funeral home chapel with Bro. Richard Sanders officiating. Burial with military honors will be in the Masonic Cemetery...

Dale Allen Depler, 47, of Poplar Bluff, Mo. passed away Monday, July 3, 2017 at St. Francis Hospital in Cape Girardeau, Mo. On March 12, 2003, he married Elizabeth Depler (Bradford) in Poplar Bluff. She survives. Also surviving are his children: Arizona and Daytona Depler...

VAN BUREN, MO. -- Gene "Smiley" Leuckel was born Jan. 1, 1935 in Perryville, Mo. He departed this life Thursday, July 6, 2017 at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, Mo.; achieving the age of 82 years, six months, and five days. Smiley was the second son of Phil A. and Debbie Leuckel, both of whom preceded him in death...

DONIPHAN, Mo. -- Vernon "Hughie" Weaver Jr., 66, of Corning Ark., died Monday, July 10, 2017, in Arkansas Methodist Hospital in Paragould, Ark. Visitation will be from 5-8 p.m. Wednesday, July 12, at Edwards Funeral Home. Funeral services will be at 2 p.m. Thursday, July 13, at Edwards Funeral Home with Mr. Steve Sanders officiating. Burial will be in the Arnold Cemetery in Fairdealing...

DONIPHAN, Mo.--Jerry Wayne Meador, 60, of Doniphan, Mo., died Saturday, July 8, 2017, in the emergency room at Southeast Health of Ripley County. Mr. Meador, son of William and Eve (Hall) Meador, was born Dec. 23, 1956, in Hayti, Mo. He had been employed in construction. Mr. Meador enjoyed gardening, hunting, riding his motorcycle and being with family, especially his children...

DONIPHAN, Mo. -- John Orville Decker, 82-year-old resident of Ripley County, Mo.. died Thursday July 6, 2017 at the Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center in Poplar Bluff, Mo. Visitation will be at 10 a.m. Thursday, July 13, at Edwards Funeral Home with funeral services following at 11 a.m. at Edwards Funeral Home with burial at Poynor Cemetery...

ELLSINORE, Mo. -- Wanda "Edwina" Carnahan, Edwina as all knew her daughter of the late William Thomas and Ora Mae (Berry) Roark, was born July 26, 1929 in Ellsinore, Mo.; and departed this life Sunday, July 9, 2017 at Oakdale Care Center in Poplar Bluff, Mo. She had attained the age of 87 years, 11 months, and 13 days...

DONIPHAN, Mo. -- Pamela Sue Powers, 54-year-old resident of Grandin, Mo. departed this life Tuesday, July 11, 2017 at her residence. Mrs. Powers was born Nov. 9, 1962 in Honolulu, Hawaii to Delbert and Lorine Upchurch Hanks. Mrs. Powers enjoyed spending time with her children and grandchildren and crocheting. She was of the Christian faith...

MALDEN, Mo. - Delbert Anthony Dees, 91 of Malden, passed away Monday, July 10, 2017 at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. Mr. Dees, son of James Franklin and MaryJo Redmond Dees, was born on Friday, Sept. 18, 1925 in Wilhelmina, Mo. He was a local business owner and a member of St. Ann Catholic Church in Malden...

Larry Mueller has played football, coached high school football in southern Illinois, mid-Missouri and in the grid-iron-crazy part of western Missouri for nearly 40 years. Needless to say, he knows what a football field looks like. But when he decided to come out of retirement to coach again, the piece of land he first laid eyes upon just outside of the Doniphan High School building was no football field. Inside the temporary parcel was a less than ideal playing surface...

O'FALLON, Mo. -- Chance Holden of Dexter is tied for second, two shots behind the leader, heading into the final round of the Missouri Stroke Play Championships. Holden followed up a 1-under-par first round with an even-par round Tuesday at WingHaven Country Club and is tied with three others...