Stories from Sunday, May 12, 2002

Brittany Breashears, Sikeston Jaycee Bootheel Rodeo Ticket office employee, takes an order for tickets. The rodeo which is celebrating its 50th year, will be Aug. 7-10. The ticket office will be open starting Monday through Friday, office hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m...

BENTON - Two couples are in the Scott County Jail on drug-related charges. According to the Scott County Sheriff's Department, husband and wife, Jessica M. Newberry, 31, of Cahokia, Ill., and Garry W. Newberry, 39, of Leslie, have been charged with trafficking in the first degree. Bond has been set for each at $500,000...

SIKESTON - Obesity among children is on the rise, with fewer youngsters able to meet basic fitness standards. Many blame increased use of television and computer games, use of the automobile and lack of safe places for children to play outside. But students at Scott County Central don't intend to be part of the statistic and are doing something about it by participating in a program to help them get in shape...

SIKESTON - Sikeston Public Schools students may breathe a bit easier while at school. When Missouri Delta Medical Center received a gift of six nebulizers, they considered carefully how to best use the gift. "Dr. Hobson Brock of Jackson, Miss., donated these in memory of Nicholas Potashnick," said Blair Moran, executive director of the MDMC Foundation. ...

BENTON -- Kelly softball standout Natalie Lewer signed a letter of intent to play for Williams Baptist College in Walnut Ridge, Ark. This year Lewer was first team all-conference, first team all-district, first team all-region and second team all-state as a pitcher...

CHAFFEE -- The Class 2A District 2 baseball tournament starts Monday at Chaffee. Here is a look at each team in the district, as seeded: Notre Dame has been seeded first with a record of 13-5. The Bulldogs have been somewhat inconsistent this year, but they're still the 2A team to beat in Southeast Missouri. ...

ORAN -- The Class 1A District 1 baseball tournament starts on Monday at Oran High School. Here is a look at each team in the district, as seeded: Oran is favored to win this year's district after posting a regular season record of 14-4. The Eagles are solid in all areas, led by the same strong junior class that headed this year's basketball team...

Just when we thought we had it figured out, the MSHSAA threw another curve ball by passing the 1.35 multiplier. What is it? Well, to make a long story short, private schools are forced to increase their enrollment by 35 percent in order to try to level the playing field in high school athletics...

BENTON - The Sikeston Bulldogs baseball team posted its third straight shutout with a 13-0 victory against Kelly on Friday in a makeup SEMO Conference game. The game was stopped in the fifth inning by virtue of the 10-run mercy rule. Sikeston's Blake DeWitt started the game and allowed one hit in three innings while striking out five to pick up the win. Jamie Puckett pitched the final two innings, allowing just a walk and a hit batter while striking out four...

DEXTER - The Class 3A, District 1 baseball tournament starts tomorrow at Dexter's West City Park. Here is a look at each team in the district, as seeded: The defending district champion Sikeston Bulldogs enter the 2002 district tournament on fire, winning 12 games in a row and doing it in impressive fashion...

SIKESTON - Being a mother means loving a child unconditionally. It's about the responsibility of teaching a human being morals and a sense of self worth. It involves helping that child develop into who he will become as an adult. And as some Sikeston residents are quick to point out, being a mother doesn't have to mean giving birth...

It's Mother's Day and today's column should be uplifting and syrupy sweet about Moms and how precious they are. But instead I'll write about the senseless death of a 45 year-old mother. I apologize in advance. Gerald L. Johnson is a poster child for everything wrong in society. ...

SIKESTON - Residents baked cakes in honor of naval radio man Gene Aldrich. He spent 34 days adrift on a raft after his airplane was forced down at sea. Cooks using their weekly ration of sugar for the honor were Mrs. D.P. Wilson and Mrs. Jack Osburn...

I'd like to respond to the SpeakOut in the May 5 paper regarding the Foster Grandparent breakfast. The breakfast was held at the Ramada Inn, not Noranda. Please put this correction in. Sorry for misunderstanding the caller. Our transcriber played the tape several times to get the name and it did sound like Noranda. We certainly apologize for the error....

MALDEN - Charles Kindred and Julie Ann Patterson are the parents of their third child, second daughter, born at 5:39 a.m. April 18, 2002, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. Caitlin LaNora Patterson weighed 6 pounds, 14 ounces and was 19 1/2-inches long...

DEXTER - Kathleen M. Ross, 57, died May 11, 2002, at her home. Arrangements are incomplete at Rainey-Mathis Funeral Home.

SIKESTON - Rose N. Rice, 76, died at 3 a.m. May 9, 2002, at Missouri Delta Medical Center. Born Aug. 9, 1925, in Clarksville, Ark., daughter of the late Jesse Monroe and Daisy Mooney Pratt, she attended Bird's Corner Assembly of God Church in Salcedo. She was a ship welder for American Shipbuilding in Lorain, Ohio, during World War II and had worked in food serves at Memorial Hospital in Michigan City, Ind...

SIKESTON - Myra Propst, 84, died May 11, 2002, at Missouri Delta medical Center. Born Oct. 14, 1917, at Morley, daughter of the late Robert and Lillie Bynum Minner, she was co-owner of Propst Mobile Home Sales and a member of the First Christian Church and Order of Eastern Star...

WYATT - Josephine Sevic Goodall, 79, died at 1:30 p.m. May 10, 2002, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. Born Feb. 24, 1923, at Dardanelle, Ark., daughter of the late Joseph and Annie Senkela Sevic, she had lived in Mississippi County and the Wyatt area most of her life where she was employed with the Brown Shoe Company in Charleston and the Wyatt Junction Restaurant until her retirement. She was a member of the Wyatt Baptist Church...