Stories from Friday, July 22, 2016

By DONNA FARLEY Staff Writer Only a few days remain to cast absentee ballots for the Aug. 2 primary, which will likely decide who wins Butler County races for coroner, assessor and public administrator. These candidates do not have a Democratic challenger in the November general election...

By DONNA FARLEY Staff Writer An effort by a local group to end a ban on pit bulls may not be able to sway Poplar Bluff City Council members. Reports of dog bites by this breed have fallen since the ban was enacted, which shows the rule works, according to Mayor Ed DeGaris...

By TODD RICHARDSON EDITOR'S NOTE: Todd Richardson, Speaker of the Missouri House of Representatives, is providing a daily report from the Republican National Convention. CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Crowds and energy continued to build on the third day of the Republican National Convention. ...

By PAT PRATT Staff Writer VAN BUREN, Mo. -- Three Rivers College Board of Trustees on Wednesday took a departure from its usual monthly meeting place, opting instead to host the July agenda on the river's edge. Members met at The Landing in Van Buren, a move that, according to college president Wes Payne, helps include the institution's satellite campuses in the decision-making process...

By PAT PRATT Staff Writer British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reporters interviewed several members of the community on Wednesday to gather opinions on current affairs and as a follow-up to the news agency's visit in 2008. The BBC, during its first visit eight years ago, met with several educators, students and parents at Poplar Bluff schools as they made their way across the nation on a 15-state tour covering presidential debates and holding town-hall type forums...

The Agee Community Club met at the Bread Company Friday, July 8. The club president Cathy Womack, this month's hostess, opened the meeting with the ladies repeating the club motto, "When the heart is full of love the world is full of beauty". Nadine Johnson gave the invocation and Nickey Orton read the devotional from Colossians 3:1-4. Jeanie Figgins read the secretary and treasurer's reports, a report from a meeting a few years ago was read. There was no new business...

By SARAH DENKLER Horticulture Specialist One of the easiest things to see when looking at plants is wilted or rolled leaves. The leaf may look perfectly green but be rolled up or it may be turning yellow or tan and start wilting or curling. What causes this strange growth?...

EMINENCE, Mo. -- The Delta Aquarids meteor shower can be viewed July 29 during a special Stars in the Night Sky program at Alley Spring. Few places remain where true darkness exists without the hindrance of light pollution and Alley Spring provides an excellent unhindered vantage area for star gazing, according to organizers...

By GEORGE F. WILL WASHINGTON -- Neither the unanimous decision by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, nor China's rejection of it, was surprising. The timing of it was, however, as serendipitous as China's rejection is ominous. Coming as Republican delegates convene on Lake Erie's shore, the tribunal's opinion about the South China Sea underscores the current frivolousness of American politics, which is fixated on a fictitious wall that will never exist but silent about realities on and above the waters that now are the world's most dangerous cockpit of national rivalries.. ...

Here we are again. News of another terrorist attack abroad is rocking us here at home. 1 month after Orlando, 4 months after Brussels, 7 months after San Bernardino, 8 months after the last Paris attacks - the list sadly goes on. Something has to change. ...

By CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER WASHINGTON -- "The most significant reinforcement of our collective defense any time since the Cold War," President Obama called it. A bit of an exaggeration, perhaps, but it was still an achievement: Last week's NATO summit in Warsaw ordered the deployment of troops to Eastern Europe, the alliance's most serious response yet to Russia's aggression and provocations on its western frontier...

By MARGARET SHACKLEFORD As part of the partnership with the Vietnam War Commemoration for the 50th Anniversary of the Vietnam War, the Poplar Bluff Chapter National Society Daughters of the American Revolution is pleased to announce Mr. Robert "Bob" Rainwater as "Vietnam Veteran of the Month" for July...

Rickey Gene Emmons Rickey Gene Emmons, 61, of Poplar Bluff, Mo. died on Tuesday, July 19, 2016 at Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center. Visitation will be held from 5-6:30 p.m. Friday, July 22, at Moore Funeral Service in Poplar Bluff, Mo. A Celebration of Life will be held immediately following visitation at 6:30 p.m. in the Moore Funeral Service Chapel...

By PAUL DAVIS Outdoors Editor Missouri Department of Conservation fisheries biologists are well aware crappie anglers at Wappapello Lake haven't been happy lately, but changing things just can't happen overnight. "People are dissatisfied," said Wappapello Park Ranger Eric Lemons. "But if you look back, that's been the case for over 30 years."...

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Commissioners voted unanimously in favor of special regulations to combat the spread of chronic wasting disease in Arkansas during the Commission's June meeting. Many of the new regulations focus on hunting seasons and bag limits, but a few, particularly those on feeding wildlife, moving deer and deer parts and rehabilitating deer became effective July 16...

VAN BUREN, Mo. -- Ozark National Scenic Riverways will offer cultural demonstrations and workshops at Big Spring during July as part of the celebration of the 2016 National Park Service Centennial. Each of these activities will be held on Saturdays, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Programs will provide an opportunity for visitors to experience aspects of the Ozark cultural heritage, including the resourcefulness and creativity of the Ozark settlers...

PUXICO, Mo. -- Starting in July, the spillway at Mingo National Wildlife Refuge will be under construction. Through a partnership with Ducks Unlimited, the refuge will replace the water control structure and the bridge located at the Mingo spillway. This project is projected to take two months to complete...

John Robert Powell John Robert Powell, 55, of Memphis, Tenn., formerly of Poplar Bluff, Mo., passed away Saturday, July 16, 2016 at Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis. John, the son of Captain Robert E. and Fay Kanell Powell, was born Oct. 26, 1960 in Poplar Bluff. ...

Lloyd Edwin Sullivan DONIPHAN, Mo. -- Lloyd Edwin Sullivan, 91, of Fairdealing, Mo., died Wednesday, July 20, 2016, at Westwood Hills Nursing Center in Poplar Bluff, Mo. Visitation will begin at 10 a.m. Monday, July 25, 2016 at the Edwards Funeral Home in Doniphan. The funeral service will follow at noon in the funeral home chapel with Brother John Payne officiating. Burial will be in the Hunt-White Cemetery...

Eddy Jack Doerschlen BLOOMFIELD, Mo. -- Eddy Doerschlen, 85, of Dexter, Mo. died Sunday, July 17, 2016 in Dexter. He was a colonel in United States Air Force. Visitation will be from 6-7 p.m, Friday, at the Chiles-Cooper Funeral Home in Bloomfield. Funeral services will follow at 7 p.m. in the funeral home. Burial will be in the Walker Cemetery near Bloomfield...

For the second straight year, the Wayne County Lumberjacks are headed out west to prolong their postseason run. The defending Missouri Senior Babe Ruth state champions will compete in the Midwest Plains Regional in Holyoke, Colorado starting today, where they'll enter play with hopes of avenging last year's championship game loss and advancing to the Senior Babe Ruth World Series...