Stories from Tuesday, February 24, 2015

With their motto, "Medicine to the Highest Power," Saint Francis Medical Center officially celebrated their presence in the Dexter community on Friday with a ribbon cutting sponsored by the local Chamber of Commerce. Gerry Salter, who serves as the director of orthopedic services for Saint Francis, is also the project manager for the hospital's Outpatient Clinic in Dexter. The clinic is temporarily housed in the medical building at 115 E. Business 60 in the former Rehm Clinic facility...

The Dexter Fire Department's Extrication Team was called out just before 5 p.m. Friday when a Dexter man, 20-year-old Eric S. Wood, struck an eastbound train on the tracks at Two Mile Road. Wood sustained moderate injuries in the wreck. According to the Highway Patrol, Wood was northbound on Two Mile Road when he attempted to stop for the train on the ice-covered roadway. ...

BLOOMFIELD -- A convicted Stoddard County drug dealer is going away for a long time, thanks to a petition for an enhanced sentence. On January 6, 2015, a trial was conducted in the case of State of Missouri v. John Kacy Jones. Jones was found guilty of the Class B Felony of distribution of a controlled substance (Methamphetamine)...

Chris Welch is a 2008 graduate of Advance High School, but he's currently living in St. Louis and writing and singing his own music. "When I first started playing I was playing red dirt country and Americana, so I guess you could say that's what my genre is," says Welch. "It's really just my own stuff."...

JACKSON, Mo. - Following an 11-day layoff the Dexter Bearcats varsity girls basketball program opened the final week of the regular season a bit rusty Monday night at Jackson. The Bearcats shot just 34 percent (16 of 47) from the field. Jackson on the other hand shot 46 percent (23 of 50) from the field and hit eight of the 19 3-pointers it attempted...

Rita L. Bader, daughter of the late Michael Litzler and Mary Dietsch Litzler, was born on Oct. 27, 1921, in Dexter and died on Feb. 22, 2015, at the Malden Nursing Center at the age of 93. Mrs. Bader was a member of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Dexter and was a resident of Dexter. She had worked as a Small Farm Specialist for the University of Missouri Extension Office and retired in 1991...