Stories from Friday, September 29, 2023

100 years ago Sept. 29, 1923 • Butler County farmer Grady Landrum won a Ford touring car in a drawing at the Butler County fairgrounds this afternoon. There were 8,000 people estimated to be there, with much interest in the drawing. Yesterday afternoon (Sept. 28), Girard Saracini won the drawing for the third pig given away at this year’s Butler County fair...

Reginald Leon Young, (Reggie), transitioned Friday, Sept. 8, 2023, while in hospice care at Life Care Center of Cape Girardeau, Missouri. He was born March 18, 1956, to Delores L. Hood in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, and he was a lifelong resident of Poplar Bluff...

Black smoke darkened the sky on the east side of Poplar Bluff about 4 p.m. Thursday prompting callers to alert emergency responders. No one was able to provide an exact location, but Poplar Bluff firefighters soon tracked down the source at the city landfill/yard waste collection site at F Street and County Road 604...

A Poplar Bluff man was arrested after at least two vehicles were involved in an accident at 10:30 p.m. Thursday at Ninth and Cedar streets. Dylan Ward, 31, of Wappapello was arrested at 10:38 p.m. by Poplar Bluff police during the investigation of the accident, according to police reports. Ward was booked on a charge of driving while intoxicated and he was lodged in the Butler County jail...

Dozens of organizations seized the chance Friday to serve locally at the annual Community Outreach Event. Businesses, food banks, health care providers and more set up booths in the First United Methodist Church parking lot. Coordinator Jennifer Lay estimated around 300 people attended this year, though attendance was still being calculated at press time. This number was down around 30% from 2022’s event...

POPLAR BLUFF POLICE DEPARTMENT A black 2008 Dodge van was found blocking the roadway at 8 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 28, in the 900 block of Hickory Street. Efforts to identify the owner failed and the vehicle was impounded and towed. _ Shunta Webb, 44, of Poplar Bluff was arrested at 8:56 a.m. ...

From “A White Christmas,” to “Tommy, The Rock Opera,” Poplar Bluff’s historic Rodgers Theatre holds many fond memories for residents near and far. This is the first in a series of stories called Memories of the Rodgers running in the Daily American Republic between now and the Oct. 21 premiere of a locally filmed movie, directed by a Poplar Bluff native...