Stories from Friday, July 20, 2018

An obituary of a former meat cutter at a Cape Girardeau grocery store is generating thousands of smiles. The obit of Mark Ervin depicts the father as a nonserious, mischievous man who worked hard at being lazy and simply liked to have fun and make people laugh. And maybe he felt OK making folks a little uncomfortable while doing so...

Marcellus Jones poured his friendship into the hearts of so many during his years as a bartender that a downtown Cape Girardeau pub crawl has been planned for July 28 to benefit the Marcellus Jones Memorial Foundation. President of the Marcellus Jones Memorial Foundation Jen Carothers said in a phone interview Thursday she has been overwhelmed with the support shown by sponsors and volunteers to honor Jones, who died unexpectedly of natural causes June 9 at the age of 50...

A sold-out crowd of about 400 people gathered to hear Gov. Mike Parson speak at the 106th annual Cape Girardeau County Farm Bureau annual meeting and dinner, held at the Jackson Knights of Columbus Hall Thursday night. "It isn't hard to be passionate about agriculture," Parson said, since he and his wife Teresa both grew up on dairy farms...

The Cape Girardeau City Council should approve tax-increment financing (TIF) to redevelop the vacant Esquire Theater for use as a concert and event venue, the city's TIF Commission concluded Thursday. The 11 commissioners unanimously approved the recommendation, setting the stage for the council to take final action on the proposal...

Today is Friday, July 20, the 201st day of 2018. There are 164 days left in the year. Today's Highlights in History: On July 20, 1944, an attempt by a group of German officials to assassinate Adolf Hitler with a bomb failed as the explosion only wounded the Nazi leader. President Franklin D. Roosevelt was nominated for a fourth term of office at the Democratic convention in Chicago...

In the early 1950s, everyone of voting age in the Ozark hills over yonder was either a Republican or a Democrat. There were no Communists in the brambles that I know of, and that had nothing to do with the McCarthy witch hunt. Most everyone in the vicinity of Killough Valley was a Republican or a Democrat because his parents and grandparents and great-grandparents were. ...

When it comes to the city's dispute with carGO, things ended up where they should have begun: with the business and the city working together to find solutions that make sense. For those who haven't followed the situation, carGO is a locally based ride-share business, whose business model relies heavily on personal delivery of food from restaurants and, more recently, but less importantly: alcoholic products...

Inaccurate data from electronic equipment that transmits Mississippi River stages by telephone from the Cape Girardeau river gauge has prompted the national Weather Service to raise the expected flood crest here; the river is now expected to crest at Cape Girardeau on Wednesday at 47.7 feet...

Last weekend was all about the food, but this weekend is all about the tunes. Your weekend is split equally into family-friendly entertainment and adult-only entertainment. We have music and fun for the entire family at the Cape Girardeau Public Library today, then tomorrow it's more music and food in Marble Hill, Missouri. ...

LOS ANGELES -- "Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation" has checked into the No. 1 spot at the box office in its opening weekend and left the Dwayne Johnson action thriller, "Skyscraper," in the dust. Sony Pictures estimated Sunday that the animated family movie earned $44.1 million from North American theaters. As the first in the franchise to open in the summer, it's just slightly under the previous installment's $48.5 million debut in September 2015...

WASHINGTON -- Unbowed by swirling criticism of his summit encounter with Vladimir Putin, President Donald Trump swiftly invited the Russian leader to the White House this fall for a second get-together. Cleanup from the first continued with no letup Thursday, as Trump belatedly decided Putin's "incredible offer" of shared U.S.-Russia investigations was no good after all...

WASHINGTON -- Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin may have reached several historic agreements at their summit in Finland this week. Or, they may not have. It depends on who you talk to. Three days later no one was quite sure. With no details emerging from the leaders' one-on-one discussion Monday -- other than the vague outline they offered themselves -- officials, lawmakers and citizens in the U.S. ...

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- A Poplar Bluff police detective was shot once Thursday morning as officers attempted to serve an arrest warrant on a man inside a Kinzer Street apartment building. Detective Corey Mitchell was hit in an arm by one of the multiple shots allegedly fired by James Odell Johnson Jr., who then barricaded himself inside the apartment for about one and a half hours...

Cape County Park South's lake is more of an empty pit at the moment, but in an overhaul officials estimate might take about two years, the lake will be rebuilt with improvements, and restocked with fish. Those planned improvements include fishing jetties, a new fishing dock, an island with a gazebo and lighted sidewalks, according to the Missouri Department of Conservation...

Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley has filed felony criminal charges in Wayne County Circuit Court against former Greenville, Missouri, city clerk Pamela S. Birmingham in a public corruption case. Birmingham faces charges of receiving stolen property and forgery, according to online court records...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Three carnival workers have been arrested in the deaths of two vendors who disappeared from a fair in Kansas and whose bodies were found days later in a shallow grave in an Arkansas forest. Police Cpl. Jonathan Wear said the suspects have been jailed without bond in Van Buren, Arkansas, on suspicion of abuse of a corpse, felony theft and tampering with physical evidence in the deaths of Sonny and Pauline Carpenter of Wichita, Kansas...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A southern Missouri sheriff and a subordinate with whom he was having a romantic relationship have been indicted on multiple felonies following a year in which more than 40 sheriff's office employees were fired or quit. The indictment returned Wednesday charges Texas County Sheriff James Sigman and Lt. ...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Ricky Gadberry, 63, of Sikeston died Monday, July 16, 2018, at his home. He was born Nov. 1, 1954, in Clayton County, Missouri, to Doye Fay and Claudia Mae Freeman Gadberry. He and Cindy Sheeley were married April 23, 1983, and she survives...

GLENALLEN, Mo. -- Everett Boyd "Bub" Frymire, 69, of Glenallen died Thursday, July 19, 2018, at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. Visitation will be from 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday at Hutchings Funeral Chapel in Marble Hill, Missouri. Funeral service will begin at 5 p.m. Sunday, with military honors. Burial will be at a later date at Grassy Friendship Cemetery...

Peggy Barks, 81, passed away Tuesday, July 17, 2018, at Southeast Hospital in Cape Girardeau. She was born Dec. 9, 1936, in Hannibal, Missouri, to Charles Henry and Lillian Bone Smith. Her early childhood years were spent in Esther (now part of Park Hills), Missouri. She graduated from eighth grade in Desloge, Missouri, and from ninth grade in Esther, where she was co-valedictorian of her class. She was also valedictorian of her 1954 graduating class in Berkeley, Missouri...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Marnilla Vern Ariola, 79, of Sikeston, formerly of Jackson, passed away Wednesday, July 18, 2018, at Hunter Acres Caring Center in Sikeston. She was born March 17, 1939, in Jackson to Myron Henry and Inola Tucker Goehman. She and Glen Z. Ariola were married Feb. 22, 1971. He preceded her in death Feb. 22, 2010...

O Lord Jesus, may we forgive one another as you forgive us. Amen.

I guess the wisdom of, "Keep your friends close and your enemies even closer," doesn't apply to Trump's meeting with Putin. I don't think I am standing alone when I say I have had it! I have had it with every word President Trump says being scrutinized by every Democrat and some Republicans. ...

CAPE GIRARDEAU The Cape Girardeau Fire Department responded to the following calls: Wednesday n Medical assists were made at 2:36 a.m. on Clark Avenue, 2:45 a.m. on Franks Lane, 8:01 a.m. on North Sprigg Street, 12:05 p.m. on North Park Avenue, 12:11 p.m. on South Hanover Street, 3:40 p.m. on North Sprigg Street, 4:13 p.m. on South Sprigg Street, 8:47 p.m. on East Plaza Way and 9 p.m. on Delwin Street...

Emerson Bridge approach reduced for repairs Highway 74/Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge approach in Cape Girardeau will be reduced to one lane in each direction as Missouri Department of Transportation crews remove a bump along the bridge approach. The work will take place from 5 p.m. to 6 a.m. Sunday, according to a MoDOT news release...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- State conservation officials said six black bears have died after being hit by vehicles in Missouri this year. Missouri Department of Conservation biologist Laura Conless said the number of deaths is higher than last year but is not an unusually high number...

BRANSON, Mo. -- A tourist boat apparently capsized on a lake Thursday night in Missouri, leaving at least eight people dead and several others hospitalized, a sheriff said. The Springfield News-Leader reported Stone County Sheriff Doug Rader said a Ride the Ducks tourist boat reportedly sank on Table Rock Lake with more than 30 people on board. He said weather was believed to have caused the boat to capsize. High winds had hit the area, according to weather reports...

Local author and blogger Sarah Geringer first started writing at the age of 10 when she received her first journal as a Christmas present. Three decades of journaling and three devotionals later, she is embarking on her first book, set to debut in 2019...