Stories from Sunday, November 4, 2018

NEELYVILLE -- John H. Gambling, 75, of Collinsville, Okla. died October 29, 2018, at his residence. Visitation will be at noon Monday at Fowler & Sons Funeral Home in Neelyville with the funeral following at 2 p.m. at the funeral home. Burial will be in the Gambling family cemetery in Fairdearling...

DONIPHAN -- Kelly J. Harris, 56, of Doniphan, Mo. died Friday, Nov. 2, 2018, at Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center. Visitation will be from 12-2 p.m. Monday, Nov. 5, at Edwards Funeral Home in Doniphan. Graveside services will follow at Good Hope Cemetery in Grandin...

Timothy Jay LaRue, 58, of Poplar Bluff, Mo., passed away Monday Oct. 29, 2018 at his residence. Tim, the son of Artis and Treva (Scates) LaRue, was born Oct. 12, 1960. Survivors include his companion of 18 years Debra Lampley; four children, Miranda Nettrouer of Kansas, Timothy Ellis of Oklahoma, Aaron LaRue of Kansas and Tomas LaRue of Poplar Bluff; seven grandchildren; mother, Treva LaRue of Poplar Bluff; and sisters, Donna Cortese of Oklahoma and Tanya LaRue of Poplar Bluff...

The goal of Poplar Bluff High School SHO-ME Band Director Stephen Winters is for his group to entertain audiences year after year. During the 2018 season, the band was able to do just that in addition to adding a number of trophies to their collection...

U.S. Rep. Jason Smith believes the economy has improved in Southeast Missouri under President Donald Trump's administration. His Democratic opponent, Kathy Ellis, strongly disagrees. Smith, a Republican from Salem, Missouri, and a staunch supporter of Trump, is seeking re-election to another two-year term...

BLOOMFIELD -- Evelyn LaVern Griffin, 81, of Bloomfield, Mo., died Friday, Nov. 2, 2018, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau, Mo. Visitation will be held from 5-8 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 4, at Chiles-Cooper Funeral Home in Bloomfield. Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Monday at the funeral home. Burial will follow in the Rock Point Cemetery near Advance...

The two candidates for the state representative seat that includes Carter and Ripley counties, as well as portions of Butler and Wayne counties, share a support of medical marijuana and the need to fight opioid abuse. Republican candidate Jeff Shawan and Democrat challenger Matt Michel disagree on how legislative district boundaries should be drawn, how to tackle rural health care shortages and many of the other ways they would address the needs of 153rd district...

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. -- Those attending President Donald Trump's rally Monday night will likely need a shuttle to the Show Me Center. The Secret Service has imposed the parking restrictions, university spokeswoman Ann Hayes said Friday. According to the Secret Service, parking instructions will be provided to those who register online for rally tickets, Hayes said...

CLAY COUNTY, Ark. -- Members of the Federal Aviation Administration spent much of Saturday at the site of a helicopter crash in northern Arkansas that killed what authorities say was an experienced pilot. The incident occurred around 1:15 p.m. Friday on the north side of Highway 62, about 2.5 miles west of McDougal. The name of the pilot and an official cause of death were not released by officials as of late Saturday...

A majority of officers with the Poplar Bluff Police Department have voted to become members of a union. The measure succeeded by 1 vote, said union representative Mark Baker of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 702. The mail-in ballots were counted late Friday afternoon by the State Board of Mediation and can be certified after a 10-day waiting period...

PARK HILLS -- The Dexter Bearcats' late-season surge ended against the team in which it began. Park Hills Central, who lost to Dexter 13-7 three weeks ago, handed the Bearcats a 13-6 setback Friday night in the MSHSAA Class 3 District 1 semifinals. The Bearcats won three straight games, including a 25-19, triple-overtime defeat of Ste. Genevieve on Oct. 26 to win their first postseason game since 2010...

An already contentious race heated up again Friday between two candidates running to fill the 152nd state representative seat that includes the majority of Butler County and a portion of Dunklin County. A new ad described Republican Hardy Billington as the only pro-life candidate, prompting a denial from his Democratic opponent Robert L. Smith...

By GEORGE F. WILL CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Here in Missouri's southeast, which calls itself the Bootheel and nurses a genial distrust of the state's metropolitan fleshpots (St. Louis, Kansas City), the loudspeaker is blasting out John Mellencamp's "Small Town" as Josh Hawley's cowboy boots alight from his campaign bus at this stop on the "Stop Schumer, Fire Claire Tour." Before he became a Senate candidate, and before he became Missouri's attorney general -- after Stanford, Yale Law School (where he met his wife, Erin; they clerked together for Chief Justice John G. ...

By PATRICK J. BUCHANAN Among the reasons Donald Trump is president is that his natural political instincts are superior to those of any other current figure. As campaign 2018 entered its final week, Trump seized upon and elevated the single issue that most energizes his populist base and most convulses our media elite...

Three Rivers created a nearly picture-perfect finish to its home opener after taking a while to pull away. The Lady Raiders exploded out of the locker room and went on a 28-3 run in the third quarter to blow open an eventual 87-67 win over Olney Central (Ill.) in their home opener at the Bess Activity Center...

JEFFERSON CITY -- Poplar Bluff's Jaden Deaton fought through misty rain and a wet course to finish 64th at the MSHSSA Class 4 State Cross Country Meet in 17 minutes, 18.78 seconds. "It went pretty well. We had a good, steady, misty rain when we got there in the morning," Poplar Bluff coach Beth Lewis said. "The course was pretty soggy and slick in several spots to make it a little more challenging."...

Justin Swift reached out and snagged the interception, changing the complexion of the game in an instant. Less than a minute into the second half, the Southeast Missouri State linebacker hauled in an under thrown pass near the goal line, and the offense did the rest, driving down the field for a touchdown and a 17-point lead...

Daphne A. Hershey, age 85, of Greenville, passed away Thursday, Nov. 1, 2018 at the Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center in Poplar Bluff, Mo. She was born June 6, 1933 at Bounds Creek, near Greenville, Mo., the daughter of Glen W. Twidwell and Dollie (Bridges) Twidwell...

MORRILTON, Ark. -- Harold Miles Lacy, Sr., 92, of Harris Brake Lake, Ark., died Monday, Oct. 29, 2018. He was born Sept. 6, 1926 in Poplar Bluff, Mo., a son of Charles Thornton Lacy and Virginia Spann Lacy. He is survived by daughter, Mary Jo (Rich) Fohley of Wentzville, Mo.; son, Harold Miles (Nancy) Lacy, II of Morrilton, Ark.; daughter-in-law, Rhonda Lacy of Wright City, Mo.; six grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents and son, Michael Jean Lacy...

Annette Marie Bruce, 67, of Poplar Bluff, passed away on November 2, 2018 at her daughter's home in Poplar Bluff, with her loving family at her side. She was born on December 1, 1950 to Raymond Wojtowicz and Leona (Nering) Wojtowicz at St. Louis. She was of the Catholic faith. She was a member of the Eagles and the American Legion. She enjoyed playing Bingo, doing home improvements, spending time with family and friends, dancing, doing puzzles and loved her grandchildren...

It was a combination that had worked all season, and with a state championship on the line, Advance volleyball turned to it once more. Senior Addie Curtis set the ball, Roz Schrader jumped above the net and the Hornets bench rose to their feet in anticipation. Schrader smacked the ball off the outstretched fingers of the Calvary Lutheran block and onto the other side of the court...

Good morning Poplar Bluff and Southeastern Missouri. It's a pleasure to be the newest member of your community. The picture with this column is of someone you've probably never met so let me introduce myself. My name is Chris Pruett, and I'm the new publisher of the Daily American Republic...