Stories from Thursday, August 29, 2024

We honor the 2024 Difference Makers at our annual banquet tonight at the Black River Coliseum. The Difference Maker of the Year will be also be announced. Thank you to everyone who helps make our communities better every day! This year’s 10 Difference Makers are, in alphabetical order: Dr. John Blaich, Corretta Bishop, Amber Brown, Mike Fleetwood, Gina Ginocchio, Travis and Amanda Gowen, Laura McElroy, Michael “Mikey” McKuin, Rev. Sandra Mick-Shockey and Chris Waite...

Altrusa International of Poplar Bluff will host a car show beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 7, at 508 Bartlett St., to raise funds to purchase books for Santa Land. The show will end at 2 p.m. Cost is a $20 entry fee for each vehicle. There will be food, drink and games at the Northside Nutrition Center next to Twin Towers...

Laura McElroy knows what it takes to succeed in the medical field. She’s done it. The current nursing instructor and director witnessed her students graduate with a 100 percent pass rate. “Our 100 percent pass rate was in December. Those who graduated had a 100 percent pass rate,” said McElroy. “This was after I put in all these things that I wanted to do … supporting them and making sure they had employment and health care and a better support process.”...

This weekend offers a chance to paint, as well as enjoy good food and good music. The Poplar Bluff Library is hosting Dala horse painting class at 1 p.m. Saturday at the main branch. Dala horses are painted wooden horses originating in Sweden and the event is part of the Book in the Bluff activities...

The Butler County Centennial Jubilee wrapped up with a 206-member stage production of local history in 1949. The show featured music, elaborate stage design and a live bear. Other headlines included a Navy seaman’s new posting and two near-misses with a tornado...

An enthusiastic and grateful community loudly cheered and applauded the Rev. Sandra Mick-Shockey on Thursday night as she was named the Daily American Republic’s Difference Maker of the Year for 2024.

“What can you do today to make a difference?” RT McCain challenged audience members Thursday evening during the sixth annual Daily American Republic Difference Maker Banquet. The banquet celebrated the unsung heroes of the community and raised $11,199 for the charity Sleep in Heavenly Peace. SHP is a charity specializing in building and distributing beds to children in need...

Poplar Bluff announced plans to close off its unsanitary sewer bypasses in 1974. The system kept sewer lines from being overwhelmed by rainwater and backing up into homes, but accomplished this by flushing waste into open ditches instead. In other years, communities reckoned with tragedies: a train accident in 1924 and a drowning in 1949...

To the Editor, The Wappapello Civic Center board members would like to say Thank You to the DAR for publishing the story about out Modern Woodmen Matching Funds Fundraiser (up to $2500) we had on Aug. 24, for the benefit of sealing our asphalt parking lot. The Spaghetti Dinner/Dance/Gun Raffle was a success. Gearld Oliver won the Ruger 9mm gun...

I’d appreciate it if (Poplar Bluff) would stop killing the dogs that are in custody by the gas chamber method. That is cruel and unnecessary.

As a young kid, I always loved helping out on my grandparents’ farm. It was an opportunity to spend quality time with family and it helped me learn the value of hard work. It’s also what inspired me to join FFA, study agriculture in college, and do whatever it would take to one day purchase the farm, which I was able to do using the money I made from harvesting timber on the property while I was in law school. ...