Stories from Tuesday, August 26, 2003

SIKESTON - The Sikeston soccer team returns most of the lineup from last year's 4-13-2 team, so expectations for the 2003 team are high this season. Only two starters graduated, in leading goal scorer Tanner Fritz and Ryan Gibson. Returning is what head coach Derrick Long calls, "the fastest team I've had" since he took over the soccer program five years ago...

SIKESTON -- Sikeston High School athletic director and head football coach Charlie Vickery was a guest speaker at a Kiwanis Club meeting on Monday at the Malone Avenue Grill. In the meeting, Vickery gave updates on former Sikeston football players that are having success in college, touching on Brandon Barnes, Kevin Keller, Justin Lowes, Myron Hardin and Heath Hunter...

CHAFFEE -- Eastin Harrell, of the Chaffee Cheetahs, recently brought home four medals from the Missouri Show-Me Games. Harrell won gold in the long jump and gold in the 4 x 800 relay. He also won silver in the 100 and bronze in he shot put. He is the son of Monica Harrell of Chaffee and Matt Jaynes of Bloomfield...

Cowan NEW MADRID - Jason and Lisa Cowan are the parents of their third son, born at 8:13 a.m. July 28, 2003, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. Jacob Dillon Cowan weighed 7 pounds, 7 ounces and was 19-inches long.Mrs. Cowan is the daughter of Lily and Claude Ervin.Cowan, son of Madealine Eiceman, is self-employed at All Star Pizza...

NEW MADRID -- Billy and Donette Clark of New Madrid wish to announce the marriage of their daughter, Tabitha Lynette Clark, to Jonathan Craig Grimsley, son of Robert and Melinda Grimsley of New Madrid. Come share with us the exchanging of their vows at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 13, 2003 at the Kewanee Missionary Baptist Church on Highway 61...

BERNIE - Shannon Dale Tarkington II, 17, died Aug. 24, 2003, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. Born April 7, 1986, in Cape Girardeau, he was the son of Shannon Dale Tarkington I of Vandalia, Ill., and Crendy Sue Young Tarkington of Bernie. ...

ALLENVILLE - Wanda Jewell Wolfe, 74, died at 4:50 a.m. Aug. 24, 2003, at her home. Born July 28, 1929, in Chaffee, daughter of the late Marvin Eldridge and Goldia Rister Bishop, she worked for Thorngate Ltd. in Chaffee before retiring. She was a member of the Allenville Baptist Church and served as treasurer of the Allenville Park Board...

MOREHOUSE - Marvin R. Yates, 61, died Aug. 24, 2003, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. Born June 26, 1942, in Dyess, Ark., he was the son of the late George and Ethel Brown Yates. Survivors include: one son, Jerry Wayne Yates of Berry, Ala.; two daughters, Penny Teske of Oakman, Ala., and Barbara Cooksey of Bloomington, Ind.; two stepsons, James Burton of Dallas, Texas, and Randy Burton of Lowndes; one stepdaughter, Martha Ann Henderson of New Madrid; two brothers, Ernest Yates of Cherokee Village, Ark., and Tommy Yates of Niles, Mich.; one sister, Shirley Austin of Manila, Ark.; 17 grandchildren and one great-granddaughter; and a special friend, Lonnie K. ...

DEXTER - Mildred Donica, 83, died Aug. 25, 2003, at her home. Arrangements are incomplete at Rainey-Mathis Funeral Home in Dexter, where services will be conducted at 1 p.m. Sunday.

CARUTHERSVILLE - Pallbearers at services conducted Monday at the First Baptist Church in Caruthersville for MaryBelle Patterson, 96, who died Aug. 22, 2003, were: Wayne Brantley, Joe Brewer, Earl Bullington, Lonnie Cagle, Buddy James and Lavanda White...

DEXTER - Lottie Mae Sibole, 95, died Aug. 25, 2003, at the Beverly Health Rehabilitation Center in Dexter. Arrangements are incomplete at Rainey-Mathis Funeral Home in Dexter.

BELL CITY - Lt. Clifton C. Foster, 24, son of Mr. and Mrs. J.W. Foster of Bell City, is missing in action in the European Theater, according to a notification sent to his parents. --- SIKESTON - Miss Rachel Branum, seaman second class of the WAVES, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. P.V. Branum of Sikeston, was injured recently in an explosion at the post where she is stationed in Washington, D.C...

CAPE GIRARDEAU - A Stoddard County farmer faces a possible 20-year sentence after pleading guilty to drug-related charges. David Jackson, 48, of Stoddard County entered a plea of guilty to one felony count of possession of a List I chemical (pseudoephedrine), knowing it would be used to manufacture a controlled substance (methamphetamine). Jackson appeared before U.S. District Judge E. Richard Webber on Monday...

These rural post offices remind of the Maytag service man, they have nothing to do. That may be one reason the postal rates are so high. If you send an item in the mail these days, it may cost more than the item itself. They should get rid of all the small post offices because the rural mail carrier runs through most of them anyway. It might hold the cost down. It's something to think about, anyway...

SIKESTON -- A double shooting in Sikeston Monday evening has left officers with the Sikeston Department of Public Safety looking for answers. According to reports, several shots were fired in the Branum and William area at 6 p.m. Monday. One man was found shot in the leg while another man was also shot and was later arrested at St. Francis Hospital in Cape Girardeau...

Government reports - and I read an ample amount - are often like my sophomore calculus class. I managed to make it through them but I'm not sure what I learned when I'm finished. A perfect example is a lengthy and well-documented crime report released this week by the U. S. Department of Justice. A brief capsule of the report runs 15 pages. The report itself took enough paper to claim a small forest...

SIKESTON - City property tax rates will be slightly higher this year. Following the required public hearing, the Sikeston City Council set taxes for fiscal year 2004 during a special meeting Monday, approving a total increase of .48 cents per $100 assessed value...

MINER -- As the heat index topped 95 degrees, tasting a ripe, juicy watermelon was on the minds of many area residents Monday. "It seems like the hotter it gets, the more people want a watermelon," said Barbara Carpenter of Rick James Watermelons...