Stories from Sunday, December 16, 2018

PUXICO -- Janiece (Peters) Gill, 73, of Cape Girardeau, Mo., formerly of Puxico, died Friday, Dec. 14, 2018, at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. Visitation will be at 6 p.m. Monday, Dec. 17, at Morgan Sifford Funeral Home in Puxico. The funeral will be at 1 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 18, at the funeral home chapel. Burial will be in the Puxico City Cemetery...

VAN BUREN, Mo. -- Ray Junior Culpepper, 82, of Van Buren died Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2018 at the Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center in Poplar Bluff, Mo. Visitation will be held at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2018 at the McSpadden Funeral Home in Van Buren, Mo., with the funeral services following at 1 p.m. ...

'Tis the season when everyone wants to share the perfect gifts. Like everyone else, my search is for ideal items to wrap in fancy packages, but this year I'll be thinking outside the box when giving gifts. A friend and I were talking about gifts for retired folks and her suggestions made me stop and think. ...

Poplar Bluff City Council members voted Monday on what seems likely to be the first step in construction of a new downtown complex to house city hall, city court and possibly the police department. The council is negotiating the purchase of a lot on Pine Street that adjoins city property on Second Street, an area previously identified as a possible location for a city complex...

By GEORGE F. WILL "You're the top! You're an Arrow collar. "You're the top! You're a Coolidge dollar. "You're the nimble tread of the feet of Fred Astaire, "You're Mussolini, "You're Mrs. Sweeny, "You're Camembert." -- A version of "You're the Top," Cole Porter (1934)...

VAN BUREN, Mo. -- Joshua David Ruddicks, 37, died Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2018 at his residence in Garwood, Mo. A visitation will be held at noon Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2018, at the McSpadden Funeral Home in Van Buren, Mo.; with the funeral services following at 2 p.m. in the funeral home chapel. Burial will be in the House's Creek Cemetery in Van Buren...

Dorothy Dean Conaway, 76, of Qulin, Mo., died Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2018 at The Manor, in Poplar Bluff, Mo. Mrs. Conaway was born Aug. 18, 1942 in Poplar Bluff, daughter of the late John and Florence Rose. She was of the Baptist Faith. She loved working on word search books and watching "Columbo."...

The American Red Cross urgently needs blood and platelet donors to give now to ensure blood is available for medical treatments and emergencies during the holiday season. Blood and platelet donations often decline during the holidays when regular donors are busy with holiday activities and travel. Snowstorms and severe winter weather may also cause blood drive cancellations and further impact donations...

JACKSON -- The Mules suffered two slow starts and two injured starters, but still came away with two wins. Poplar Bluff beat Lutheran South 73-61 on Friday then Vianney 63-49 on Saturday and has now won three in a row. Both games were at Jackson. "We just got out to a slow start both nights," Poplar Bluff coach William Durden said. "The other teams played well. We were playing pretty good defensively, we were just really flat on offense."...

BROSELEY -- Fifth-seeded Naylor coach Gene Deckard hopes his players learned something following the Eagles' 33-31 victory over 12th-seeded Greenville in the first round of the Twin Rivers Lady Royals Christmas Classic. The Eagles (4-4) overcame a late deficit to advance to the championship quarterfinals where they will meet fourth-seeded Doniphan at 5 p.m. Tuesday. Greenville (2-5) will face Portageville in a consolation quarterfinal at 5 p.m. Monday...

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Kendric Gordon narrowly missed winning Poplar Bluff's only individual championship at the Tiger Classic. Gordon, wrestling in the heavyweight division, took an early lead against familiar opponent David Rowland of Sikeston. "We were winning, we got up big in the first and kept letting him crawl back into the match. Inevitably, we just didn't make it happen at the end," Poplar Bluff coach Kelton Thompson said...

OZARK, Mo. -- Ozark attempted 36 free throws, including 12 in overtime, to hand Poplar Bluff its sixth loss in seven games. Despite the rough record against difficult opponents -- Ozark is ranked fourth in Class 5 in the most recent coaches poll -- the Mules are optimistic about the season...

BROSELEY -- Eighth-seeded Kennett used a 12-3 run in the second quarter to propel itself into the winner's bracket of the Lady Royals Christmas Classic and send No. 9 Twin Rivers to the consolation bracket. With the score tied at 13, two straight 3-pointers preceded a 3-point play by freshman Kyra Jaco with a tenth of a second left in the first half to send the Lady Indians to the locker room ahead by nine points...

DEXTER -- Senior Ethan Kincy put an exclamation point on the Dexter Bearcats' convincing victory over Malden. Kincy dunked for the first time in varsity action at the buzzer Friday night in the Bearcats' 70-35 win over Malden at the Bearcat Event Center...

CLARKTON, Mo. -- The Neelyville varsity boys basketball team spent the final three quarters of the Clarkton Christmas Tournament championship working to erase a horrific start against Risco. After outscoring Risco in the final three quarters, Wyatt Russom sank a late three-pointer to tie the game at 58-all with just seconds left to play, forcing overtime...

Twin Rivers junior Bella Galloway turned the Missouri State Beta Convention into "a Bella G thing" after being elected state secretary last weekend in Springfield, Mo. "Beta, it's a Bella G thing" carried Galloway and the Twin Rivers Beta Club to victory along with an invitation to compete at the National Beta Convention this summer in Oklahoma City...

GREENVILLE -- When Christina Kime is sworn in Dec. 31 as Wayne County's newly elected associate circuit judge, she will bring four months of judicial experience with her. Kime gained that experience since her August appointment by Gov. Michael Parson to serve out the remainder of Associate Circuit Judge Randy Schuller's unexpired term. Schuller resigned to take a private sector job...