Stories from Wednesday, May 29, 2019

John and Carol (Melton) Gross of Poplar Bluff, Mo., formerly of Qulin, Mo., celebrated their 50th wedding anniversay on May 31. The couple were married on May 31, 1969. The Grosses celebrated with a cruise trip to the Caribbean in April with their son, Michael and his family. They followed their trip with a special family dinner on their anniversary date...

ROGERS, Ark. — Earlene (Hargrave) Hemmer, age 90, of Rogers, passed away peacefully Friday, May 17, 2019 at Bradford House in Bentonville, Arkansas. She was born on June 29, 1928, in Benton, Missouri, to the late Loren and Imogene Faye (DuVall) Hargrave...

FISK, Mo. — John ‘Shorty’ Riepe, age 83, of Broseley, Mo., died Monday, May 27, 2019 at Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center, in Poplar Bluff, Mo. Visitation will begin at 10 a.m. on Saturday, June 1 at White-Sanders Funeral Home in Fisk. Funeral services will follow at 11 a.m. in the funeral home chapel with Mike Stevenson officiating.

City firefighters responded at 7:10 p.m. Tuesday, May 28, to a report of a structure fire at the 106 S. B St. residence occupied by Crystal Dailey and owned by Bill Strange. According to the report, the fire was out upon the arrival of the fire department...

While most everyone is thinking about fishing, gardening, mowing and spring sports, there is something else you need to be aware of if you live in or near the Ozarks in Missouri, and that something is black bears. These normally secretive and docile creatures become quite active this time of year and they forage for food and the younger males look for a new home range. In their travels, they can become much more visible and put themselves into strange new locations...

Big changes are in the works for the waterfowl draw system at the Missouri Department of Conservation’s managed wetlands across the state, and if approved, they’ll go into effect this fall. First and foremost, the QuickDraw system used at the Otter Slough, Grand Pass and Eagle Bluffs conservation areas since 2010, finally is going away. ...

MALDEN, Mo. — Thomas Schoemehl, 70, of Lake St. Louis, Mo., died Monday, May 27, 2019 at St. Joseph Hospital in Lake St. Louis. Visitation will be from 2-3 p.m. Sunday, June 2 at Landess Funeral Home in Malden. Memorial services will follow at 3 p.m. in the Landess Funeral Chapel with Rev. Bob Phillips. Burial will be in Park Cemetery in Malden...

FISK, Mo. — Barbara Irene Tamargo, age 75, of Fisk, died Friday, May 10, 2019 at Westwood Hills Health Care Center in Poplar Bluff. Memorial services will be at 1 p.m. on Saturday, June 1 at White-Sanders Funeral Home in Fisk. Condolences: www.whitesandersfuneralhome.com

5th Grade Honor Roll Evan Bonifield, Skyla Edelman, Hunter Kerley, Wyatt Lewis, Bo Lilly, Zane Morgan, Thomas Patterson, Kennan Siebert, and Eli Thurman. 5th Grade Merit Roll Thomas Brown, Seth Davidson, Kimberly Goings, Jada Jarred, Poppy King, Emily Lawrence, Melody Maclin, Seth Ogelvie, Jayden Parks, Alexis Parson, Maddison Pierce, Hayden Strong, Coleton Trainer, Camron Trout, and Addysen Whitlow...

Members of Southeast Missouri Search and Rescue were in Carter County last weekend to help find a missing man. A few weeks ago, the group was out to search for a missing woman along the Black River in Poplar Bluff. The nature of their work requires the group of 30 to be ready to go at a moment’s notice, and be prepared for all types of terrain and weather...

SALEM, Mo. — A Doniphan man preempted his upcoming murder trial by pleading guilty Wednesday afternoon to fatally shooting his brother-in-law during an apparent argument. Benjamin Michael Ruhl entered his plea on a lesser murder charge in Dent County before Circuit Judge Kelly Parker after the state, represented by Ripley County Prosecuting Attorney Ted Thompson, filed another amended information with the court...

DONIPHAN — A Poplar Bluff man is facing multiple charges of burglary and stealing following his arrest by the Ripley County Sheriff’s Department. Dylan R. Pigg, 27, was scheduled to appear Wednesday for a preliminary hearing in Ripley County Circuit Court. He is charged with three felony counts of second-degree burglary, three counts of felony stealing and three counts of misdemeanor stealing...

Life with Victor Moss was a journey his widow Judy Pruett Moss of Poplar Bluff told those gathered Saturday to dedicate a statue of a great blue heron in his memory at the Poplar Bluff Municipal Library. A journey she loved taking with him and their children...

Numerous trees were reported down across Ripley, Butler and Stoddard counties by early Wednesday evening due to straight line winds and heavy rain, causing widespread power outages. Poplar Bluff Municipal Utilities reported 2,322 customers were impacted by an outage that started at 6:15 p.m. Wednesday.