Stories from Thursday, March 15, 2012

With about 60 pounds of provisions and a 200 lb. rider on his back, a nine-year-old Utah mountain horse named Dillon is making his way through Stoddard County this week. It's just a fraction of a journey Pat Schumacher is making on horseback from Birmingham, Ala. all the way to Uehling, Neb. - nearly an 1,100 mile ride in the saddle...

Norman and Laura Robinson, of Dexter, have been asked by the Stoddard County Association for Retarded Citizens to serve as their honorary membership chairmen this year. "I am proud to be part of such a worthwhile organization, and I am asking the public to join me in this effort," Robinson said Wednesday. ...

CHARLESTON -- Back in the Show-Me Showdown for the second straight year, the Charleston Bluejays will return to Columbia looking to make up for last year's semifinal letdown that left the Bluejays out of the championship game. "My guys are in the right frame of mind," Charleston head coach Danny Farmer said. "They want to make it in the finals and be in the championship game and that's the frame of mind I want them to be in."...

Julia Ruth Morse, daughter of the late John and Emma Schwebel Day, was born on Feb. 20, 1916, in Horine, Mo., and died at her home near Essex, Mo., on March 14, 2012, at the age of 96. Mrs. Morse had lived in St. Louis and Jefferson County before moving to Southeast Missouri 71 years ago. She was a member of the Beech Grove General Baptist Church. She had worked at Maupin's Variety Store for many years...

Walter Junior Tilley, son of the late Walter and Lydia Lucresia Elledge Tilley, was born on Aug. 6,1940, in Bloomfield, Mo., and died at his home in Bolivar, Mo., on March 13, 2012, at the age of 71. Mr. Tilley had lived in Bloomfield most of his life. ...