Stories from Friday, April 6, 2012

Barbara Sue Walker McMullin, 69, of St. Peters, Mo., died April 4, 2012, following a prolonged illness. Mrs. McMullin was born on Oct. 10, 1942, in Dexter, Mo. She was the fifth of 12 children born to William Earl and Lvara Walker. Mrs. McMullin worked for most of her life in the tele-communications industry and loved gardening, crafts, sewing, and doing home improvement projects with her husband. She was a gifted writer and left behind several poems beloved by her family...

Cora Mae Putnam, daughter of the late Charles H. Perry and Myrtle Brown Perry, was born on May 26, 1913, in Dexter, Mo., and died on April 4, 2012, at the Central Gardens Residential Care in Dexter at the age of 98. Mrs. Putnam was a homemaker, member of the Pleasant Grove Community Church in Dexter, worked on the Stoddard County Election Board for many years, and was a resident of Dexter...

Lawson Blocker, son of Cory and Stacy Blocker of Dexter, answers a series of questions during this week's Kindergarten Screening held at Southwest Elementary. A total of 177 children were registered to be tested for the 2012-13 Kindergarten class, the largest class in recent history at the school...

CAPE GIARDEAU, Mo. - Chances are the Red Headed Stranger will be familiar to many area residents when he rides through town Sunday evening. Known as an expert performer with a relaxed and poignant style, Willie Nelson's outlaw charm and humor have won him fans for more than 50 years. And Sunday, he's coming back to the Show Me Center after a canceled date in 2011 and a memorable performance in 2005...

ST. LOUIS - A year after a Missouri sheriff was arrested in a methamphetamine sting, his court case remains on hold. Carter County Sheriff Tommy Adams was arrested April 2, 2011, accused of distributing meth to a confidential informant working with the Missouri State Highway Patrol. A probable-cause statement said Adams, now 32, snorted meth in front of the informant. Adams was also accused of distributing cocaine...

BLOOMFIELD, Mo. -- They numbered over 40 - most of them doning pink T-shirts in support of the victim of a rape that took place in rural Stoddard County in the early morning hours of March 18. The group included the woman who police reportedly found being raped in an isolated cemetery south of Advance. ...

BLOOMFIELD, Mo. -- A Tuesday drug bust in rural Dexter resulted in five individuals being arrested on drug charges. According to Stoddard County Sheriff Carl Hefner, after an ongoing investigation into illegal drug use in the county, deputies issued a search warrant for a residence in rural Dexter...

Betty Jane Doerschlen, daughter of the late John and Elsie Fischer, was born on Oct. 31, 1928, in Niles, Mich. and died at her home in Dexter, Mo. on March 31, 2012, at the age of 83. On April 11, 1955 she was married to Eddy J. Doerschlen in Lordsburg, New Mexico...

Albert Donald Henson, son of the late Walter Joseph and Pearl Babbs Henson, was born in Gideon, Mo., on Dec. 11, 1928, and died at Barnes Hospital in St. Louis, Mo., on April 4, 2012, at the age of 83. He was of the Freewill Baptist faith. On Sept. 2, 1964, he was married to Sarah Walker. She preceded him in death on Jan. 4, 2005...