Stories from Tuesday, February 5, 2019

“Remember when we drove out 12-Mile Road and parked by the lake and smooched?” Don Bollinger asks, his eyes twinkling in delight. “Oh my goodness,” his wife blushes with school-girl embarrassment. “You’re not supposed to tell that!” After 70 years of marriage, Don and Darlene are blessed with a plethora of tales that chronicle their life-long journey together...

Stoddard County commissioners took another step with the county’s jail expansion project by awarding the old Methodist Church demolition at 201 E. Court Street to Ferrell Enterprises Inc. of Sikeston, Mo. Ferrell submitted the lowest bid of $29,822 of the six applicants during Monday morning’s document opening. A base bid of 20 days was submitted by the company as well...

DEXTER — The Dexter Board of Aldermen repealed an earlier ordinance Monday night awarding its sidewalk project to Hessling Construction of Dexter after its bid was rejected by the Missouri Department of Transportation due to a bid irregularity. During its regular meeting, the board voted 4-0 to approve accepting the next lowest bidder — Mike Light Cement Finishing Inc. — for the TAP (Transportation Alternative Program) project...

BERNIE, Mo. — A pedestrian who died Sunday may have intentionally stepped in front of a train in the Bernie area, officials said Monday afternoon. “(The) preliminary investigation and evidence available indicates it is an apparent suicide,” said Sgt. Clark Parrott, Missouri State Highway Patrol public information officer...

After all the planning and preparations, the finish line is in sight for the new 911 system in Stoddard County. A tax increase passed in 2016 made this upgrade possible and now Stoddard County will be the first in Missouri to implement Zuercher CAD-911. The new system will allow the departments on it to receive a 911 call at the same time rather than passing the information along...

Bonnie Zuane Romanowski age 80, passed away on February 3, 2019, at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau, Mo. She was born March 11, 1938, in Red Bay, AL., to the late Richard Howard and Mattie Pearl Strickland Morrow. On March 28, 1957 in Wyandotte, MI., she married Arthur R. Romanowski, who survives of the home...

Karen Louise Hays, daughter of the late Dallas Williams and Ruth Lincoln Williams Patton, was born on May 31, 1944 in Hanleyville, Mo. and departed this life on Saturday, February 2, 2019 at her residence in Dexter, Mo. at the age of 74 years. Mrs. Hays owned Karen’s Mane Event and was a hairdresser for 45 years. ...