Stories from Tuesday, March 5, 2024

SIKESTON — Olivia Gadberry, daughter of Mindy and Tim Gadberry, is the Standard Democrat’s Calendar Girl for March. Gadberry, who is the 2023 Miss Sikeston second runner-up, is a senior at Sikeston High School. She plans to attend Southeast Missouri State University, where she will graduate with an undergraduate degree and then attend physical therapy school...

NEW MADRID, Mo. — It could be the opening of an old west movie. A lone cowboy rides along the riverbank, trailed by his packhorse. People’s heads turn to watch the stranger as he comes into town. But this wasn’t a movie. Jake Harvath arrived Saturday, March 2 in New Madrid on his coast-to-coast journey to promote his project, “Year of the Mustang.” He wants the public to be aware of the qualities of mustangs and to encourage their adoption...

SIKESTON — Pastor Audrey Gail Johnson Emanuel, 72, of Sikeston passed away peacefully on Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024, at Mercy Hospital Southeast in Cape Girardeau. She was born on Sept. 16, 1951 in Wyatt, Missouri. She served in the ministry for over 30 years and was the founder and Senior Pastor of the Jubilee House of Prayer Church in Sikeston for 24 years...

NEW MADRID, Mo. — Rosie Lee Blackmon was born June 8, 1967, in Osceola, Arkansas, to Bufford Simmons and Louise Jones Simmons of New Madrid. In addition to her father, she is preceded in death by her husband, “Dino” Blackmon, her daughter, Cassandra Walker; two sisters, Carolyn Jean Jones and Maggie Simmons; and two brothers, Robert Simmons and Alvia Louis “Big Al” Simmons...

SIKESTON — Bessie Renfro, 86, resident of Sikeston, formerly of Chicago, Illinois, died Monday, Feb. 26, 2024, while at Delta South Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Sikeston. She was born June 2, 1937, in Sikeston, to the late J.D. Renfro and the late Julia Edwards Renfro...

SIKESTON — This month the Daughters of Sunset will celebrate 40 years in the community and reflect on their history. According to Jessie Lane, a charter member of Daughters of Sunset, in February 1984, a group of women from Sikeston’s west side, known as the Sunset Addition, met at her home. ...

SIKESTON — The Sikeston City Council had their council meeting on Monday, March 3 and awarded the bid for spring cleanup of the Sikeston Recreation Complex’s eight baseball and softball fields. “They’re in need of some work on two different levels,” said Jay Lancaster, Sikeston’s public works director, about the ball fields. “One there is in need of some work to get us ready for baseball on a short-term basis.”...

SCOTT CITY, Mo. — Scott City Police Department officers are looking for a woman charged with sexually abusing a child. Taylor Mansker has been charged with statutory sodomy or attempted statutory sodomy/deviate sexual intercourse with a person younger than 12 years old. A no-bond warrant was issued...