Stories from Thursday, January 4, 2018

If there is a certain type of person who finds solace in running miles upon miles, day in and day out, then 65-year-old Linda Null is that type of person. On Dec. 30, just days after her birthday, the retired school teacher laced up her sneakers and ran 13.1 miles through frigid air to complete her 65th half-marathon or greater race, Run for the Ranch in Springfield, Mo...

A Poplar Bluff, Mo., man is to appear in court today after being charged with abusing six children, including a 6-year-old who suffered what authorities described as severe head trauma and internal injuries. Damien Jerel Gaylor, 27, was charged Wednesday with the Class B felony of abuse or neglect of a child and five Class D felonies of abuse or neglect of a child by Butler County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Paul Oesterreicher...

Extreme cold is being blamed for equipment failure that caused a brief outage Tuesday for more than 9,600 city of Poplar Bluff electric customers. Repairs were completed Wednesday afternoon and all equipment is now back online, according to Mike Wech, acting administrator for the Southwestern Power Administration...

By WALTER E. WILLIAMS We are a nation of 325 million people. We have a bit of control over the behavior of our 535 elected representatives in Congress, the president and the vice president. But there are seven unelected people who have life-and-death control over our economy and hence our lives -- the seven governors of the Federal Reserve Board. ...

The killing in Chicago continues. Can anything stem the plague of gun violence? Yes. There are encouraging signs _ which we hope deliver a relentless downward trajectory. For two years, obscenely high numbers of homicides have kept neighborhoods on the South and West sides on edge. Drive-by shootings are routine. Gang members spray bullets at rivals, sometimes striking innocent children. Some Latino gangs arm themselves with assault-style rifles, as if handguns aren't destructive enough...

By PATRICK J. BUCHANAN Asked what he did during the French Revolution, Abbe Sieyes replied, "I survived." Donald Trump can make the same boast. No other political figure has so dominated our discourse. And none, not Joe McCarthy in his heyday in the early '50s, nor Richard Nixon in Watergate, received such intensive and intemperate coverage and commentary as has our 45th president...

Cheryl Littrell, 56, of Poplar Bluff, Mo., passed away Friday, Dec. 29, 2017 at Poplar Bluff Regional Hospital, after having spent Christmas with her grandchildren. Mrs. Littrell was born Feb. 21 1961, in Salina, Kan., to the Late Raymond Fluharty, and Elinore Lyones, and was raised in Poplar Bluff, Mo. Mrs Littrell was a homemaker who enjoyed jewelry crafting, and spending time with her grandchildren...

The following students have been awarded scholarships to attend Southeast Missouri State University for the 2018-2019 academic year: Katelyn Baxter of Qulin, Mo., has received the University Scholarship. Baxter is the daughter of Roger and Debbie Baxter of Qulin, and will be a 2018 graduate of Twin Rivers High School...

MALDEN, Mo. -- Rickey Allen Cornman, 61, of Clarkton, Mo. died Saturday Dec. 30, 2017, in Nashville, Ill. Visitation will be held from 4 - 6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 4, 2018, at Bradshaw Funeral Home in Malden. A funeral service will follow at 6 p.m. in the chapel, with Dr. Aaron Cornman officiating. Burial will be at 10 a.m. Friday, Jan. 5, 2018, at the Missouri Veterans Cemetery in Bloomfield, Mo. with military rites...

John Ambrose Hennessy, 91, of Poplar Bluff, passed away on Sunday, Dec. 31, 2017 at Mark Twain Caring Center in Poplar Bluff. He was born April 4, 1926 to John and Josephine (Coackley) Hennessy in Boston, Maine. He graduated high school from St. Charles Academy in Boston and later from Southeast Missouri State University with a Bachelor's Degree in Elementary Education. ...

Travis Kenneth Hart, 39, of Poplar Bluff, Mo. passed away Friday, Dec. 29, 2017 at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau, Mo. He was born Sept. 7, 1978 to Kenneth Hart and Debra Uhl Ford in Poplar Bluff. He graduated from Excelsior Springs High School in 1997. Travis worked as a mechanic for Baldwin Ford. He married Stephanie Baker in Poplar Bluff in 2006. They later divorced...

ELLSINORE, Mo. -- Anna Mae Brown, 91, of Piedmont, Mo. died Saturday, Dec. 30, 2017 at Clark Mountain Nursing Center in Piedmont. Visitation will begin for the public at 6 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 6, 2018 at the McSpadden Funeral Home in Ellsinore, with the funeral service being held at 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 7, 2018 in the funeral home chapel. Rev. Tom Wilder will be officiating. Burial will be in the Chapel Hill Cemetery in Wayne County, Mo...

By CANDICE DAVIS Mo. Dept. of Conservation CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. -- There's no need to rescue wildlife, even in winter, according to Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) naturalists. Though winter is a challenging season for wildlife, each species has their own method of surviving the cold. Some of them migrate, some hibernate, and others simply den up and stay warm...

PIEDMONT, Mo. -- Ola Goebel, 94, of Chesterfield, Mo., formerly of the Mill Spring area, died Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2018, at Chesterfield. Visitation will be held from 4:30-8 p.m., Friday, Jan. 5, 2018, at Ruegg Funeral Home, Piedmont, Mo. Services will follow at 10 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 6, 2018, at the Piedmont Chapel. Burial will be at Mill Spring Cemetery...

DELTA, Mo. -- The Saxony Lutheran girls basketball team came into the Delta New Year's Tournament gunning for one thing: the title. On Wednesday night, the top-seeded Crusaders got one step closer, blistering fourth-seeded Puxico 89-26 in a semifinal matchup at Delta High School...

By PAUL DAVIS Outdoors Editor Missouri's final firearms deer season of 2017-18, the alternative methods season, came to a close on Tuesday with hunters taking home 10,027 deer. That's just a bit short of the 10,602 they killed last year, but not even close to the record harvest of 15,907, set in 2009, when the season was for muzzleloader shooters only...

LITTLE ROCK -- The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission haw accepted five changes to trout fishing regulations proposed for the Bull Shoals and Norfork tailwaters. The proposals are part of ongoing revisions to the formal trout management plans for the two tailwaters...

Danny Spradling, 67, of Poplar Bluff, Mo., began his heavenly journey onMonday, Jan. 1, 2018. He was born on Oct. 25, 1950 to Leonard and Louise (Cash) Spradling in Poplar Bluff, Mo. He graduated from Poplar Bluff High School in 1968. Danny worked as a Pipefitter his entire career, when he retired in 2001. On Feb. 22, 1997 he married Wendy...

MOUNT CARMEL, Ill. -- Wabash Valley was near perfect from beyond the arc, and it took Three Rivers roughly 35 minutes to put a dent into their hot shooting. Three Rivers dropped its first game of the new year 94-83 and with it dropped below .500 for the season for the first time since its season opener...

Jacqueline R. Kifer, 68 years old, was born in Los Angeles, Calif., Oct. 28, 1949. At her home, surrounded by family and friends, she passed from this life and entered the gates of heaven on Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2018. She was the daughter of Gary A. Wilson and Barbara E. Potts, both preceding her in death. Also preceding her are three uncles, Dallas Potts, Joe Potts and Josh Potts; and a beloved son, Michael W. Knotts...

SIKESTON, Mo. --The Poplar Bluff wrestling team swept three matches Wednesday in returning to the mat for the first time in nearly three weeks. The Mules beat a pair of Illinois teams, Marion 49-27 and Carterville 60-24, before winning a rematch with host Sikeston 42-32. The Bulldogs had beaten Poplar Bluff by a point Dec. 9 at the Farmington Duals...