Stories from Sunday, February 14, 2016

By MICHELLE FRIEDRICH Associate Editor Monday night will be the last time family members and friends of inmates incarcerated in the Butler County Justice Center will be able to visit them face-to-face. "After Monday, there will be no more 'live visitation'" as the jail is implementing a new video-visitation system, said Butler County Sheriff Mark Dobbs...

By DAVID SILVERBERG Associate Editor A third candidate is seeking the Republican nomination for Western District commissioner in Butler County. Paul Petty of Neelyville, who is in the construction business, announced Friday he plans to seek the nomination during the Aug. 2 primary election...

By DONNA FARLEY Staff Writer A 9mm Glock pistol and how-to books on homemade plastic explosives sat on Linda Ladd's dining room table last week, opposite a wall of framed photographs of her family. The Poplar Bluff, Mo., author has just turned in the manuscript for a new series, which will be a spin off of her Claire Morgan books. The ninth novel, Gone Black, in that series of psychological thrillers was released in January, and Ladd is now under contract for a 10th...

By PAT PRATT Staff Writer Rep. Steve Cookson, R-Poplar Bluff, will again attempt to address the pay disparity between teachers and school superintendents through proposed legislation. House Bill 1627 if passed would prohibit superintendents from receiving pay greater than four times the salary of an entry level teacher. Other provisions in the bill would require schools to report salaries to the press and allow taxpayers to bring action for violations...

Each Ozark Foothills Conference Tournament title has had its own special meaning for the Neelyville girls basketball team over the last decade. For Neelyville coach and alum Becky Hale, each one is just another game, a chance for her team to get better, and more importantly, just win...

FARMINGTON, Mo. -- Jordan Lansford made certain there was no close call after missing out on a spot in the state tournament last year. The Poplar Bluff senior didn't lose until the championship match at 195 pounds in the MSHSAA Class 3 District 1 tournament Saturday. He knocked off the top seed with a sudden-win, overtime victory in the semifinal to punch his ticket to Columbia...

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. -- The Poplar Bluff boys basketball team proved Friday night that it might have the best 1-2 punch in the SEMO Conference. Junior Willie Lucas notched a double-double with a game-high 27 points and 10 rebounds while freshman Marcedus Leech contributed 26 points, eight rebounds and six steals, leading the Mules to a 74-59 victory that spoiled Notre Dame's homecoming night...

"To win it all, you have to almost play flawlessly, and we didn't quite play flawlessly," Three Rivers coach Gene Bess said. The Raiders will go into one of the most balanced Region XVI Tournaments as the No. 1 seed after dominating ninth-ranked Mineral Area 87-68 on Saturday at the Bess Activity Center...

If there was ever any doubt that Twin Rivers and Doniphan were the two most evenly matched teams in the Ozark Foothills Conference this season, Friday night's tournament championship proved it. The bitter rivals tied seven times, changed leads six more times and even after Twin Rivers built a 9-point lead five minutes into the third quarter it came right down to the wire before a freshman made the two biggest plays...

With Saturday's loss, the Lady Raiders will finish last in the regular season Region XVI standings for the second year in a row. Regardless of how things shake out with Three Rivers' final two region games against Jefferson and Crowder, the Lady Raiders will lose any relevant tiebreaker...