Looking back 4/17

60 years ago

SIKESTON - A truck belonging to Bess Distributing Co. was badly damaged and 25 cases of beer were destroyed as the result of a wreck on Highway 60, three miles west of Sikeston Saturday morning.

40 years ago

BELL CITY - Bill Watkins, R-2 School District Board of Education member, divulged this morning that the board had voted against accepting $81,107 in federal funds next year, at a meeting of the school board last Monday. He charged that the program as arranged "would not prove beneficial to the students of the district" and that "70 to 75 percent of the people in the district were in favor of rejecting the federal monies."

20 years ago

SIKESTON - In early grade school Dr. William Critchlow knew he would heal the sick. The family practitioner retired the first week in April after almost 40 years of mending and advising patients at Missouri Delta Community Hospital and the Ferguson Medical Group. "I've never had a moment when medicine wasn't for me," Critchlow said. The exact moment when he decided on a medical career escapes him. "I've often asked myself that," he said. "I thought it was taking place in grade school. Father and mother lived on the farm. I went to school in Matthews."

10 years ago

NEW MADRID - Parents of students who ride buses in New Madrid County R-1 School District can be assured of their children's safety. Following a recent inspection of the 40 buses in the school district's fleet by the Missouri Highway Patrol, no major concerns were identified. Only a few minor repairs were found and, once complete, all buses passed the inspection.

SIKESTON - Missouri State Highway Patrol reported 1,282 traffic accidents in Scott County during 1995 with five of those involving farm machinery.