Stories from Friday, July 12, 2013

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) -- A southwest Missouri man will serve five years in prison with no chance of parole for sexually abusing a 12-year-old boy he met through Boy Scouts. Twenty-year-old Nicholas Rountree of Nixa was sentenced Thursday after pleading guilty in April to four counts of statutory sodomy in April...

Drake Channell will be a fourth grader when classes resume in Dexter in August. By then, he might be notified that he's among the best gardeners in the state of Missouri. Drake was one of the third grade students during the 2012-13 school year who opted to take part in the Bonnie Plants 3rd Grade Cabbage Program. ...

POPLAR BLUFF - Lily Hoggard has been selected "National Hospital Volunteer of the Year" by the Veterans of Foreign Wars Ladies Auxiliary. Hoggard is a member of the VFW Auxiliary Unit 4517 in Piggott, Arkansas, and volunteers at the John J. Pershing VA Medical Center in Poplar Bluff, as well as the community-based outpatient clinic in Paragould, Arkansas. She has served 21 years as a volunteer, devotedly caring for hospitalized and elderly Veterans...

Air Force Airman David L. Cline graduated from basic military training at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, San Antonio, Texas. The airman completed an intensive, eight-week program that included training in military discipline and studies, Air Force core values, physical fitness, and basic warfare principles and skills...

Editor's note: Verlon "Boo" Parker is a familiar face to Stoddard County. He is an active member of the Patriot Guard and is often seen at services conducted at the Missouri State Veterans Cemetery at Bloomfield, especially on those occasions when ceremonies are held to honor the work of U.S. ...

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. -- The FBI said in a news release Thursday that the same person may be responsible for robbing four banks along Interstate 55 since May, including one bank in Cape Girardeau. The news release said in all four cases, the suspect used a demand note and did not show a weapon but implied he was armed. The news release describes the "I-55 Bandit" as 18 to 25 years old, 6 foot to 6 foot 3 inches tall and thin with short brown hair...

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (SMNS) -- Three Sikeston, Mo., men previously found guilty by a jury of conspiracy to possess more than 5 kilograms of cocaine with intent to distribute and multiple other distribution charges were sentenced to life in prison Thursday by United States District Judge John A. Ross in Cape Girardeau...

CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO. (SMNS) -- A jury on Wednesday convicted a St. Louis man of molesting a 13-year-old girl in Cape Girardeau. Sean Williams, 33, faces up to 15 years in prison after being found guilty of first-degree child molestation Wednesday evening, according to a news release from Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Chris Limbaugh...

JEFFERSON CITY -- Missourians from every corner of the state worked together in April to collect almost 130,000 bags of litter during the 2013 No MOre Trash! Bash. The Bash is an annual event through which volunteers and others clean up litter all across state -- from roadsides and parks to rivers and streams...

The new radio base station for the dispatch center at the Stoddard County Ambulance District (SCAD) has been shipped and should be arriving for installation soon, SCAD Manager Dave Cooper told the board at their regular meeting Wednesday night. Cooper said he and SCAD Technician Kevin Francis met with a Motorola engineer to make sure all the wiring and connections were in place for the installation. ...

Editor's note: Dexter's Kenady-Hanks American Legion Post 59 has begun a program through which local veterans will be recognized for their military service. Veterans will be honored on a quarterly basis. The initial presentation was made Thursday night at Post 59 with Lt. Col. Clifford T. Manlove (Ret.) receiving the initial Legionnaire of the Quarter honor. The following dialogue was submitted by Post 59 in recognition of Manlove's service:...

KENNETT, Mo. - A former Dexter man accused of raping a Dexter woman was sentenced to 50 years in prison. Moses Grayson made his final appearance in a two-year long case Thursday afternoon in a Dunklin County Courtroom. Judge Benjamin F. Lewis, a Cape Girardeau County judge, sentenced Grayson to serve 30 years on the forcible rape charge and an additional 20 years on the second degree burglary charge...

KENNETT, Mo. - A local man sentenced to prison for rape Thursday is revealed to have had prior victims. Stoddard County Prosecuting Attorney Russell Oliver, while commenting on the 50-year prison sentence of Moses Grayson, told of two prior victims...

Dexter Police July 11, 2013 Travis Scott Harmon, 31, of Fisk was arrested Thursday at 9:21 a.m. at the Cape Girardeau Police Dept. .on a city municipal warrant for failure to appear and no proof of insurance. Bond was set at $125. Ronnie A. Brown, 37, of Dexter was arrested Thursday on Rainey St. at 5:02 p.m. for driving while his license was suspended and for not wearing a seat belt...