Stories from Sunday, October 21, 2018

By MICHELLE FRIEDRICH Staff Writer Steps taken by the Greater Poplar Bluff Area Chamber of Commerce's industrial development arm in recent years have made the city more attractive to potential companies looking to relocate or start up. Two years ago, Poplar Bluff Industries spent more than $250,000 to create a 10-acre certified site to be used for recruitment purposes, according to Kevin McCormick, PBI chairman of the board...

Five companies that oversee nearly $3.7 billion in assets call Poplar Bluff home, putting one of Missouri's smaller cities near the top of this particular industry. Southern Bank, First Missouri State Bank, Ozark Federal Credit Union, First Midwest Bank and Sterling Bank have all chosen to place their corporate headquarters here...

Nearly 100 years ago, Sheriff James Hogg's livestock roamed the area where the current Mansion Mall and Valley Plaza are located. Many of the cattle from the pasture were taken to Jim Hogg's Market to sell. Fast forward from 1920 to today, thriving businesses now occupy the area that once supplied the iconic business with meat...

By DAVID SILVERBERG Contributing Writer Old maps at museums or online show how roads have improved from "cow paths" or "trails" to the four-lane highways appreciated by drivers today. The original route for travel between Hendrickson and Poplar Bluff was not on the existing U.S. 67 right-of-way, according to a 1930 Butler County plat book map...

By DONNA FARLEY Associate Editor The financial institutions that have chosen to call Poplar Bluff home to their corporate headquarters have a history dating back more than 130 years. Southern Bank was established by depositors in 1887 as Poplar Bluff Loan and Building. With assets of $100,000, it was created to provide financing for customers purchasing homes...

By MICHELLE FRIEDRICH Staff Writer Nearly 75 years ago, a group of businessmen pooled their money to purchase a 43-acre tract of land in south Poplar Bluff that now is the home of six manufacturing companies. The flagship manufacturer in the newly created Poplar Bluff Industrial in 1945 was the International Shoe Company...

Just north of the intersection at Benton and Harper streets in Poplar Bluff, there's a basketball hoop where Kylan Lee and Atari Amos hang out with their friends from the neighborhood. This summer it was also the site where the community came together...

The thing that sets the Bee Hive Natural Foods apart from bigger stores doesn't come with a price tag. "Being able to come in, share their thoughts and problem and know someone is going to listen, it's kind of a little family thing," said owner Betty Pruitt...

Butler County EMS is Poplar Bluff's only locally owned ambulance service and the only one in the area with live dispatchers on site 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Our mission is to provide the resources necessary to cover any situation in the region, both emergency and non-emergency, that requires medical treatment and transport. We partner with the community to provide service at local school and charity events, as well as many other public gatherings...

Each Tuesday morning, the team at Poplar Bluff Realty, Inc. get together for a sales meeting to discuss new marketing ideas, upcoming events, new listings, under contracts and sold transactions. The weekly meetings and property tours are attended by all associates to keep them up to date with the current market. They use modern technology to view and discuss properties that are not located close enough to tour as a group when they go out after the sales meeting...

With their building in ruin, newspaper staff had to remove nearly every piece of a hand-operated job press to clean the sand, grit and water from the delicate machinery. They likely worked through the night to compile, set the type and print a list of the known dead the day after the 1927 tornado devastated downtown Poplar Bluff and killed approximately 100 people...

Staff Reports Naval Officer, Lt. Jacob W. Corlew, of the Dexter area, recently received the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal (NAM) with citation. On Sept. 27 the Secretary of the Navy awarded Lt. Corlew the medal in lieu of his outstanding professional achievement in the superior performance of his duties as assistant department head of the Pharmacy Department at the Naval Hospital in Pensacola, Fla...

Staff Reports The University of Missouri Extension in Butler County will offer a Boost Your Brain & Memory: Brain Fitness Class starting Oct. 29. The class will meet from noon to 1 p.m. every Monday and Friday for four consecutive weeks. It will be held at the extension center at 614 Lindsay Ave, Suite 3 in Poplar Bluff...

By DONNA FARLEY Associate Editor P oplar Bluff schools took time Friday morning to thank the community that has supported their Bright Futures program. The annual Breakfast of Champions was held at the Holiday Inn Ballroom. Bright Futures is a nonprofit run by school social workers to pair community partners with the needs of students. It has operated in the R-I district since 2014, inspired by an organization based in Joplin...

Randy Joe Davis is a joyful human being. Though he can no longer see it, a twinkle glistens in his striking blue eyes, and his infectious laughter lifts the spirits of anyone within hearing. The seemingly endless repertoire of Three Stooges jokes and one-line anecdotes flow easily into his conversations, as do his affirmations of faith...

Southeast Missouri native and musician Jessie Ritter was crowned champion recently during the fourth annual Nash Next competition at Wildhorse Saloon in Nashville, Tennessee. "I am officially a recording artist for Big Machine Label Group," Ritter said in a telephone interview. "I signed the contract last night."...

By PATRICK J. BUCHANAN Our mainstream media remain consumed with the grisly killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, and how President Donald Trump will deal with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Understandably so, for this is the most riveting murder story since O.J. Simpson and has strategic implications across the Middle East...

Norman Inman, 90, of Poplar Bluff, Mo., died Friday, Oct. 19, 2018, at Oakdale Care Center in Poplar Bluff. The arrangements are pending and will be announced by Cotrell Funeral Service.

VAN BUREN -- An Ellsinore man was ordered Friday afternoon to stand trial for the July shooting death of an acquaintance. Accompanied by his attorney, Tim Fleener with the Public Defender's Office, Jason Roberts was to appear before Associate Circuit Judge Michael Ligons for a preliminary hearing in his case...

PIEDMONT, Mo. -- Mary Margaret Statler, 65, of Piedmont died Thursday, Oct. 18 at the Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center in Poplar Bluff. Visitation will be held at 11 a.m. Tuesday at the Morrison-Worley Funeral Chapel in Piedmont. Funeral services will follow at 1 p.m. at the funeral home chapel. Burial will be in the Meador Flatwoods Cemetery near Piedmont...

JACKSON -- A pair of Poplar Bluff runners advanced through the MSHSAA Class 4 District 1 cross country meet Saturday at Jackson. Jaden Deaton finished fourth overall in 17 minutes, 7.44 seconds, putting the Mules' sophomore 15 seconds behind disctrict champion Zach Reed for Seckman, who won in 16:52.14...

HILLSBORO -- Poplar Bluff was ahead late and ready to take a knee. Only one problem ... the Mules weren't too sure how. Poplar Bluff suffered a delay of game on its first attempt with a minute left on the clock, then successfully took a pair of knees as coach David Sievers yelled detailed instructions from the sideline...

MALDEN -- On Malden's senior night, the Green Wave crashed into a stout Dexter defense. The Bearcats gained 413 yards of total offense, holding the Green Wave to 167 yards en route to a 34-0 win Friday at The Swamp, their first victory over the Green Wave in seven years. Malden was held scoreless for the second straight week...

By MARC A. THIESSEN Just a few weeks ago, analysts thought that control of the U.S. Senate was in play this November and that momentum was shifting to the Democrats. Thanks to their brutal campaign of character assassination against now-Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, those chances appear to be slipping away...

The Boys & Girls Club of Poplar Bluff celebrated 20 years of serving children in the community with their first ever "A Night Under the Big Top Gala" as the Black River Coliseum was transformed Friday evening into a circus complete with lions, tigers and bears...

Authorities are investigating a Friday evening shooting that sent a local man to the hospital with a gunshot to his arm. The Poplar Bluff Police Department was contacted at about 6:30 p.m. regarding a shooting on Hart Street, said Lt. Josh Stewart. The victim, Stewart said, has been identified as Michael Childress, 19, of Poplar Bluff...

See editorial... opinion page A4 When the first banks were established in Poplar Bluff in the late 1800s, the Daily American Republic was there to report on the institutions created to help customers finance home purchases. Poplar Bluff is now home to five banks with assets totaling more than $3 billion...

Story and photos By CALEB H. SWALLOWS More than 50 business owners and community members attended the grand opening ceremony Friday for the new alternative education facility which Goodwill will open this week. The Excel Center will allow adults above the age of 21 to gain a high school education, something not possible prior to a 2016 bill by the Missouri legislature. The school begins its first semester this Wednesday...

Mildred Lois Warbington, 96, of Harviell, Mo., formerly of Poplar Bluff, Mo., died Friday, Oct. 19, 2018, at Westwood Hills Health and Rehab Center in Poplar Bluff. The arrangements are pending and will be announced by Cotrell Funeral Service.

Sidewalk needed near high school Hi, I just wanted to you know, put this out there. You know I see at the high school every day kids walking up that hill in the grass, no sidewalk, and even on ... Oak Grove Rd. toward Walmart Neighborhood, no sidewalk. ...