Stories from Monday, March 2, 2020

Two Dexter residents were seriously injured in an utility-task vehicle crash at 1:07 a.m. Sunday, March 1, on County Road 683, west of County Road 691, in Stoddard County. According to the report, Jaycob M. Ellis, 26, was operating a 2019 Polaris UTV eastbound when he failed to negotiate a curved, which caused his UTV to run off the right side of the road, strike a ditch and overturn...

Virginia Faye Wells, 83, of Poplar Bluff died Feb. 29, 2020, at her residence. Visitation will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday at Fowler-Sullivan Funeral Home. The funeral service will be at 1 p.m. at the funeral home chapel. Internment will follow in the City Cemetery...

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – The Friends of Saint Francis will host their annual golf tournament on Friday, Aug. 14. Proceeds benefit community efforts to feed hungry children in the area. The tournament will be held at the world-class Dalhousie Golf Club. The 4-person scramble features skins, mulligans, hole-in-one prizes and other enhancers, according to a press release from Saint Francis...

Raymond Vernon Huff, 82, of Poplar Bluff, died Friday, Feb. 28, 2020. He was born April 16, 1937 in Poplar Bluff to the late Chester and Elsie (Gibson) Huff. He attended the Seventh Day Adventist church. He graduated from the last log cabin schoolhouse in the Hilliard school district. ...

City firefighters responded at 10:52 p.m. Sunday, March 1, to a report of an unauthorized burn at 1108 W. Mary St. According to the report, firefighters found a large pile of building materials burning behind the residence and used 2,000 gallons of water to put out the fire...

William “Bill” Harrel York, 55, died at Poplar Bluff, Mo. Visitation will be at 10 a.m., Wednesday, March 4, 2020, at Ruegg Funeral Home, Williamsville. Memorial service will follow at 11 a.m., also in the Williamsville chapel. Burial will be at Chapel Hill Cemetery...

MISSOURI STATE HIGHWAY PATROL A 15-year-old Fort Mill, S.C., resident was injured in a one-vehicle crash at 6:20 a.m. Friday, Feb. 28, on U.S., two miles east of Dexter. According to the report, the teenager was operating a westbound 2019 Kia Sorento when it ran off the left side of the road and struck a guardrail...

Earl G. Roehrs, 57, of Sullivan, Mo., passed away suddenly Friday, Feb. 28, 2020 at Mercy Hospital in St. Louis, Mo. Earl Gene was born Oct. 10, 1962 in Sullivan, Mo. He grew up and attended school in the Sullivan and Poplar Bluff areas, graduating from Poplar Bluff High School in 1980. ...

CAPE GIRARDEAU — A Collinsville, Illinois, man was sentenced Monday to 25 years in federal prison on multiple felonies in connection with a November 2018 armed robbery in Ripley County. Travis W. Davis was sentenced to a total of 300 months on the following felonies: possession of marijuana with intent to distribute (60 months); possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime and a crime of violence (120 months); interference with commerce by robbery (180 months); and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon (180 months), according to Assistant U.S. ...

Sidney Wayne Gifford, 83, died Friday, Feb. 28, 2020 at The Manor in Poplar Bluff. He was the first-born son of the late Lemuel and Ruby (Sollars) Gifford of Williamsville. Sidney graduated from PBHS Class of 1954, then went on to receive his bachelor’s from Arkansas State University and his master’s degree at Cape Girardeau. ...

August Gene Jackson, 92, son of the late August Franklin Jackson and Rose Parks Jackson, was born on June 29, 1927 in Aid, Mo. and departed this life on Feb. 29, 2020 at Southeast Health of Stoddard County, in Dexter, Mo. Mr. Jackson was a 1945 graduate of Bloomfield High School. Following graduation, he began working full-time on the family farm...

The National Weather Service has issued a tornado watch until 1 a.m. for Butler County, as well as much of the surrounding area, including Bollinger, Carter, Ripley, Dunklin, Stoddard, Howell, Mississippi, New Madrid, Oregon, Cape Girardeau, Ozark, Pemiscot, Scott and Shannon counties...

Nearly 40 authors will gather this weekend for the annual Author Fair at the Poplar Bluff Municipal Library, with a presentation by non-fiction author Paul Bass.

Most Three Rivers College students will remain out of class for the rest of the week as the college continues to recover from a ransomware attack.

The Poplar Bluff City Council will vote March 16 on a firm to design a new police department. A presentation was given Monday by the top scorer from current proposals, Police Facility Design Group of Kansas City. The council plans to purchase 58 acres of property on Shelby Road for the building...

Poplar Bluff City Council members voted 5-2 Monday to make changes to a loan with First Midwest Bank for the purchase of 58 acres of property on Shelby Road, which are to be used for a new police department. An ordinance approved Feb. 18 by the council would have entered a lease purchase agreement with First Midwest Bank to finance a short term loan for approximately $1 million, city manager Mark Massingham said...