Stories from Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Cyrena M. DeBerry Bragg, daughter of the late Rally and Mattie Lou King Hawkins, was born on June 25, 1921, in Tyler, Mo. and died at her home in Dexter, Mo. on Nov. 9, 2012, at the age of 91. She had lived most of her life in Southeast Missouri and lived in Dexter the past several years. She was of the Protestant faith. She had worked as a seamstress at the Elder Manufacturing Company...

SUBMITTED photo Check presented for Veterans VAMC Cookie Fund Flo Deardroff, at right, a member of the American Legion Post #59 Auxiliary, is shown presenting a check from the auxiliary to Donna Reynolds with Volunteer Services at the John J. Pershing VAMC in Poplar Bluff. The donation will go to the Cookie Fund for Veterans...

Staff Reports A nine-year-old child from Dexter was airlifted to a Cape Girardeau hospital late Sunday morning after being struck by a vehicle in a gravel driveway. According to Dexter Police, Austin Oakes was on his knees playing in the gravel when a Dexter woman, 52-year-old Patricia Ann McKinney, was backing into the drive in a 2001 Dodge and hit the boy...

By COREY NOLES Statesman Staff Writer BLOOMFIELD, Mo. -- A Bell City man is back behind bars this week following an arrest in Texas while out on bond. Shawn Al Green, 33, was arrested in April 2012, for first degree sodomy. On April 26, 2012, he was released on his own recognizance, with special stipulations, as the case advanced through the system...

NOREEN HYSLOP- nhyslop@dailystatesman.com Middle School and High School students at Bernie were bussed to the south edge of town late in the school day on Friday, Nov. 9 to witness what might occur if they text and drive. After hearing of the dangers of texting and driving all week, students were provided an unnounced mock scenario in which a student who was texting ran a light, striking a fellow student's car and killing at least two fellow students. ...

By JIM SALTER and JIM SUHR Associated Press ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon and the barge industry are imploring the federal government to take steps to keep enough water flowing on the drought-ridden Missouri and Mississippi rivers to avert a potential "economic disaster."...

By NOREEN HYSLOP Managing Editor The entire Dexter student body, school staff, administration and several dignitaries gathered in the Bearcat Event Center Monday morning to thank some very special guests -- area veterans -- for their service. Following an invocation by Dexter's First Christian Church newly installed pastor, Chaplain Mike Williams, USAF Reserve, and the Pledge of Allegiance led by 95-year-old Lt. Col. Cliff Manlove, USAF, Retired...

Olivia Sitzes, an eighth grade student at T.S. Hill Middle School, won the contest sponsored annually by the American Legion Auxiliary in Dexter for the best patriotic essay. This year's theme was "The Freedom I Enjoy the Most." Olivia's essay was ready aloud at the Veterans Day observance on Monday at the Bearcat Event Center. It follows:...