Stories from Wednesday, August 29, 2018

Members of a Stoddard County board created to help developmentally disabled residents have been asked to sell a newly constructed building as officials continue to debate what programs to support and how. A special meeting of the Senate Bill 40 board was held Thursday with the agenda including discussion of a nearly $1.3 million building loan and a contract with the existing Stoddard County Sheltered Workshop...

"I had my eye on him in fifth grade," laughs Tina Stanfield. "But it was seventh grade before I realized it," Rick Stanfield jokingly adds. The couple has been together ever since those youthful years, marrying shortly after high school, and living in Steele, Missouri, while Rick attended Arkansas State University and supported the family by working at Piggly Wiggly. ...

By STEPHEN MOORE There's an old cliche that the Federal Reserve likes to take away the punch bowl just when the party is getting going. That's what President Trump suspects that Fed Chairman Jerome Powell is doing now by raising interest rates at a time of a booming economy...

Concerned Stoddard County taxpayers once again packed the commission chambers Monday morning to revise a request of 10 years of Stoddard County Sheltered Workshop financial documents. Spokesperson Mike McCollough reported the group received tax information from 2011-17, so they were no longer requesting the previous three years. Instead, the group is requesting seven years of documents detailing tax money spent by the SCSW beginning with 2017...

By PATRICK J. BUCHANAN "If anyone is looking for a good lawyer," said President Donald Trump ruefully, "I would strongly suggest that you don't retain the services of Michael Cohen." Michael Cohen is no Roy Cohn. Tuesday, Trump's ex-lawyer, staring at five years in prison, pled guilty to a campaign violation that may not even be a crime...

By MICHAEL JENSEN Back in 2002, a memorial service for the late Sen. Paul Wellstone, a Wisconsin Democrat, turned into a political rally. Wellstone, his wife and daughter, were killed in a plane crash just prior to his reelection bid. The Democratic Senator was a popular progressive who was gaining national attention and was contemplating a run for President...

DEXTER -- The creator of a program which has helped provide $4 million worth of affordable or low cost dental care while helping more than 4,000 patients was honored this past weekend in Dexter. Dr. Charles Baker challenged area dentists to give back to their community and Smiles of Hope has been the result of that, according to Pastor Tim Russell, of Lighthouse Church, which hosts the program...

MALDEN, Mo.-- Arlen Lee Walker, 78, of Malden, Mo., died Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018, at his residence. Visitation will be at 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 30, 2018, at Bradshaw Funeral Home in Malden. Funeral services will be conducted at 1 p.m. Friday, Aug. 31, 2018, in the chapel with Brother Raymond Ledbetter officiating. Burial will be in Mt. Gilead Cemetery in Clarkton, Mo...

DEXTER, Mo. - Elmer Gene Blankenship, 72, of Bloomfield, Mo. died Monday, Aug. 27, 2018, at the Southeast Hospital in Cape Girardeau, Mo.Visitation will be from 9-11 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 1, 2018, at the Watkins & Sons Funeral Home in Dexter, Missouri. ...

Poplar Bluff converted one last chance to break a tie in overtime. With 20 seconds in overtime, the Mules set up for a corner that was all but the final play of the game. Tied at one, Austin Tinsley leapt and got a clean head on the ball and put it in the back of the net to lift the Mules to a 2-1 win over Union on Tuesday at Mules Stadium...

Crystal Dawn Weaver, 32, of Poplar Bluff, Mo., died Thursday, Aug. 23, 2018 at her residence. Visitation will begin at noon Thursday at Cornerstone Tabernacle UPC with the funeral service following at 2 p.m. The pastor Stephen Burns will officiate. Burial will be in the Poplar Bluff City Cemetery...

Armel Spivey, Jr., 92, previously of Route 9, Poplar Bluff, Mo. died Aug. 18, 2018, in his recent home in Hagerstown, Md. Armel was born March 21, 1926 at Orriville, Ill. His profession was a linotype operator for newspapers and printing/publishing presses in and around southern Missouri, Illinois and Michigan. Armel and his wife, Betty Jo (Bacon), first met while working at the Sikeston newspaper, in 1949, as they set type and printed the area phone book...

SCOTT CITY, Mo. -- A Scott County Sheriff's deputy exceeded 120 mph and drove the wrong way on Interstate 55 to join a pursuit in progress before totaling his patrol vehicle at the Benton, Missouri, exit earlier this month, according to records provided by authorities Tuesday...

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. -- Missouri State Treasurer Eric Schmitt has unveiled a new website designed to make it easier for Missourians to see how their tax dollars are being spent. The treasurer's office launched Show-Me Checkbook last week. During a stop Tuesday in Cape Girardeau to tout the site, Schmitt said the goal is to provide the public with easy-to-access information about every financial aspect of state government from revenue and expenditures to debt and cash flow...

From Staff Reports Sign up night for Cub Scouts this year will be at 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 30 at the Poplar Bluff Junior High, 550 N. Westwood Blvd. "Cub Scout sign up is for K-5 grade boys and girls are welcome," said Sioux district Executive Mike Dineen. "Get ready for a year of fun. Sign up just in time for shooting, fishing, hiking, campfires, swimming, bouldering and the Halloween camp out."...

VAN BUREN -- A trio of errors in the bottom of the seventh inning helped Van Buren defeat Twin Rivers 6-5 in a back and forth game. Hailie Hampton scored the winning run after Morgan Shockley laid down a bunt that resulted in a throwing error at third base. ...

BLOOMFIELD -- The numbers were staggering. Thirty-three runs, 19 walks, 16 unearned runs, 17 strikeouts, 12 errors, eight pitchers, five runners picked off on the base paths, five lead changes and four sacrifice bunts. However, the most important number was one for the Holcomb baseball team who secured its first win of the season Tuesday with a wild 18-15 victory over the Bloomfield Wildcats...

EAST CARTER -- A game that was up for grabs between Bernie and East Carter quickly got out of hand in the fifth inning. Entering the home half of the fifth with a 4-2 lead, East Carter's leadoff batter Alex Kearbey was hit by a pitch, which was the spark that got things going for the Redbirds...

Rodgers Theatre will receive a state grant of nearly $337,000 to replace a roof on the historic building. The grant was accepted Tuesday by the Poplar Bluff City Council, which applied for the funds from the Missouri Department of Economic Development...