Stories from Friday, February 17, 2023

The Poplar Bluff R-I school board on Thursday heard a proposal from the Boys and Girls Club of the Heartland for a new Teen Center on district property adjacent to the senior high school. Boys and Girls Club Director Chris Rushin shared his vision for a 40,000-square-foot facility on the hill behind the baseball field to expand educational, vocational and social growth opportunities for teens in Poplar Bluff and throughout Southeast Missouri...

A man has stabbed himself multiple times. He's bleeding profusely. Police are called. They approach the man. The man charges at the officers with the knife. Police shoot the man, killing him. That scenario might sound familiar if you've paid attention to regional crime headlines recently. The nightmarish confrontation played out in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, when officers shot and killed a knife-wielding man who they say was bleeding from self-inflicted stab wounds...

Former Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder received the Lifetime Achievement award from the Missouri Republican Party during the GOP’s 2023 Lincoln Day this month in Springfield, Missouri. ...

Jimmy Dean Spradling, 70, of Poplar Bluff, Missouri passed away on Feb. 16, 2023, at Mark Twain Care Center in Poplar Bluff. Jimmy was born Dec. 17, 1952, to Charles Spradling and Georgia May Fraiser Spradling in Poplar Bluff. Jimmy is survived by four children: Heather Weeks (Rickey Reagan), Sierra Spradling Elliott (Brad), Devon Spradling (Hannah), and Lauren Spradling Russell (Travis); six grandchildren: Summer Whitmer, Mackenzy Bulger, Dillon and Riley Spradling, Tatum and Connor Elliott; one great- grandchild: Owen Bates; five siblings: Helen Yates (Ron), Barbara Tibbs (Allen), Dennis Spradling, Tommy Spradling, and Larry Spradling (Carol).. ...

Steven L. Hacker, 66, of Broseley, Missouri, died Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023, at his residence in Broseley. Mr. Hacker was born July 27, 1956, in Chicago, Illinois to Lenard and Bernice Hacker. He had served in the United States Navy on the USS Oriskany and USS Samuel Gompers...

Poplar Bluff Firefighters made rapid work of putting out a fire Thursday afternoon at 306 Gum St., possibly caused by squatters. Fire crews begin arriving at the scene at 5:19 p.m. and had the fire out at 5:52 p.m. According to acting battalion chief, Capt. Tobby Tuggle, light smoke was coming from the eaves of the vacant house when crews arrived...

Corretta Bishop’s quilt has a secret. Bishop, a lifelong history lover and accomplished quilter, donated a coded Underground Railroad quilt to the Poplar Bluff Municipal Library for their Black History Month display. It shows off eight of the many quilt blocks made by Railroad ‘conductors’ of all races along the road to freedom. They were hung on clotheslines and windows to signal safe houses, directions, obstacles and more to Africans and African-Americans fleeing north...

Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center held a Heart Health Lunch & Learn event Friday at the Westwood Event Center to encourage heart health and answers questions from those in the community. The leading cause of death in the world today is heart disease, according to PBRMC Cardiac Nurse Practitioner Leona Bergen, who stated the purpose of the luncheon was to help inform and educate the community...

Juliaetta J. Dunnegan, 82, of Poplar Bluff, Missouri, died Thursday, Feb. 16, at her residence. A graveside service will be held at 1:30 p.m., Monday, Feb. 20, 2023, in Cool Springs Cemetery, Taskee, Missouri. Online condolences can be made at www.rueggfuneralhomes.com...

Southeast Missouri State University alumni Harold and Hermena Holigan will be honored as the 2023 Friends of the University at the President's Council Dinner on Friday, March 24, at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau. According to a news release, the Friends of the University award is the highest honor bestowed by SEMO. It recognizes those who support and who are closely associated with the mission, purposes and programs of the university...