Stories from Thursday, April 2, 2015

Mother Nature continued to wreak havoc on the Bernie and Dexter softball teams Wednesday afternoon. About 24 hours after a hail storm postponed the Bernie-Holcomb and Dexter-Kennett varsity softball games Tuesday a bolt of lightning ended the Dexter-Bernie softball game an inning early Wednesday...

DEXTER, Mo. - The Dexter Bearcats varsity boys tennis team improved to 3-0 with a 6-0 home victory against Cape Central in a rain-shortened affair Wednesday afternoon. "We are off to a good start and have played well for the most part," Dexter coach Kurt Lovelady said of his team's latest win. "I know we will see all of these teams again in the coming weeks and they will be gunning for us harder next time."...

Bernie's Brock Beacham doubled both of his times at bat as the state-ranked Mules baseball team trounced host Chaffee 14-3 on Wednesday in a rematch of last year's Class 2 District 3 Tournament championship game, which Bernie won 22-10. Alex Guzman was the winning pitcher. He threw five innings and allowed three runs -- one earned -- on three hits and had eight strikeouts and five walks...

Doug Halford was born on Sept. 7, 1932, in Reyno, Ark., to the late John Halford and Ninny Mae Parker Halford and died April 1, 2015, at the age of 82. Doug Halford was a farmer, he worked for Pepsi for 17 years in Malden and was the owner/operator of the Chat and Chew Restaurant also in Malden. He was a member of the First Southern Baptist Church in Malden...