Stories from Tuesday, July 25, 2023

CHARLESTON, Mo. — Nineteen members of a Charleston, Missouri-based drug trafficking organization accused of being the main supplier of methamphetamine and fentanyl to southeast Missouri have been indicted on a felony drug conspiracy charge following a nearly three-year joint investigation by federal, state and local agencies...

A tornado roared through Scott County shortly after 2 p.m. Monday, July 24, destroying a grain silo and a metal building near Bertrand, Missouri. A social media post from SEMO Electric Cooperative included a photo of the silo and pieces of the building across Route O between Sikeston, Missouri, and Bertrand. The cooperative’s online outage map showed a handful of power outages in Scott and Cape Girardeau counties...

SIKESTON — An investigation is underway by Sikeston Department of Public Safety after a car ran into the front window of Susie’s Bake Shoppe at about 5 pm. Tuesday, July 25, 2023, in Historic Downtown Sikeston. No injuries were reported. Further information was unavailable at this time...

SIKESTON — Every thriving community needs public transportation, and officials are seeking to improve that need in Sikeston. Sikeston Department of Public Safety Director Jim McMillen, who also serves on the Scott County Transit Board, informed those who attended the Thursday, July 20 Sikeston Regional Chamber luncheon, of the need for improved public transportation...

SIKESTON — The Millstones performed during Historic Downtown Sikeston’s Music in the Park Friday, July 21 at Legion Park in Sikeston. The final concert of the summer series is from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Friday, July 28 at Legion Park. The event is free, and attendees are encouraged to bring their lawn chairs...

SIKESTON — D. Ruth Simmons, 53, of Sikeston passed away Friday, July 21, 2023, at Landmark Hospital in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, surrounded by her family. She was born Feb. 21, 1970, in Sikeston, to Dorothy Ellis Mhoon and the late Enoch Ruth Simmons...

PORTAGEVILLE, Mo. — Carl Jennings, 57, died July 12, 2023, at Howardville, Missouri. Services were conducted at noon July 22 at Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church with LeOtis Aikens and Floyd Farr officiating. Burial was in the Portageville Cemetery with DeLisle Funeral Home of Portageville in charge of arrangements...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - In June when camp counselors suggested to Mekhi Triplett he get into the swimming pool, he hesitated. Now, he is careening down the slide and paddling his way to the side of the pool. “I’ve learned how to swim,” Mekhi announced with a wide grim. “My favorite thing is going off the diving board – that is where the deep end is.”...

PORTAGEVILLE, Mo - The New Madrid County Library has always been one of Susan Newman’s favorite places. As a child, she would drop in after school to see her mother, Erma Brooks, who was the bookkeeper for the library system, and chat with the librarians...

EAST PRAIRIE, Mo. — Thomas Edward Maynard, 71, died July 21, 2023. McMikle Funeral Home of Charleston, Missouri, is in charge of arrangements.

NEW MADRID, Mo. — Alice Murline Sprouse was born on June 8, 1938, in Hayti, Missouri, to the late Zubia Shuburte and James Walter. She passed away on Friday, July 21, 2023, at the New Madrid Nursing Home at the age of 85 years one month and 13 days...

SIKESTON— Mamie Burton Cowger, age 89, of Sikeston died July 24, 2023, at the Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. Born Aug. 23, 1933, in London, Arkansas, to the late Joe Pleasant Hampton Burton and the late Maggie Cochran Burton Dodd, she had lived in Sikeston most of her life, where she was a member of Shady Acres Church of Christ and had been employed there for 40 years.

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. — Helen J. Hilliard, age 90, of Edwardsville passed away on Friday, July 21, 2023, at Anderson Hospital in Maryville, Illinois. She was born Jan. 4, 1933, in Bertrand, Missouri, the daughter of the late Thurman and Florence (Hicks) Harper.

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. — Louise Seiler, daughter of the late Otto and Elizabeth (LeDure) Vetter, was born June 11, 1928, in Commerce, Missouri, and departed her life on Friday, July 21, 2023, surrounded by family at the Capetown Senior Living Center in Cape Girardeau at the age of 95 years...

SIKESTON — LaDonna "Candy" McWhirter, 62, died July 25, 2023, at her home in Sikeston. Arrangements are incomplete at Nunnelee Funeral Chapel in Sikeston.