Stories from Saturday, July 21, 2018

The annual Homecomers Celebration begins Tuesday and runs through Saturday on the streets in uptown Jackson. South High Street between Main and Madison streets, and all of Court and Barton streets will be closed to traffic beginning at 1 p.m. Sunday to allow set-up time for vendors, carnival employees, city crews and representatives of the American Legion Hall, according to a city news release...

Southeast Missouri State University soccer player Jordan Nelson, right, tosses a littered softball to teammate Esmie Gonzales, left, while volunteering Friday at Riverfront Park in Cape Girardeau.

Hope Children’s Home in Jackson is closing temporarily to refocus its efforts, said Crissy Mayberry, director of parent organization Hope For One More. Initially, when the three-story, red-brick home was established in 2010, the intent was to provide emergency and short-term foster care for children, Mayberry said, and while that’s been happening, an increasing number of foster children in the region has meant the home instead has provided longer-term foster care...

Race and place matter when it comes to breast cancer survival rates, according to a study published last month, which identified clusters of so-called breast cancer hot spots in the United States. Justin Xavier Moore, lead researcher on the study and cancer epidemiologist at Washington University in St. Louis. ...

Cape Girardeau hasn’t seen a daylong music festival in nearly eight years, but Sept. 22, The Shipyard Music Festival at Ivers Square is set to bring back that experience with an eclectic mixture of seven nationally touring bands. A 32-foot stage will be positioned between the Common Pleas Courthouse and Ivers Square gazebo — facing the Southeast Missourian — where bands will provide a mixture of high energy, rock ’n’ roll and country...

Today is Saturday, July 21, the 202nd day of 2018. There are 163 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On July 21, 1925, the so-called "Monkey Trial" ended in Dayton, Tennessee, with John T. Scopes found guilty of violating state law for teaching Darwin's Theory of Evolution. (The conviction was later overturned on a technicality.)...

Cape Girardeau police closed Big Bend Road early Tuesday, giving up the battle to keep floodwater off the roadway between Olive and First streets; the Mississippi River rose to 46.7 feet yesterday, more than 14 1/2 feet above flood stage; it is expected to crest tomorrow at 47.7 feet...

Michael Medlin of Paducah, Kentucky, and Karen Medlin of Scott City announce the engagement of their daughter, Erika Medlin, to Cody Pratt, both of Scott City. He is the son of Mark Pratt of Sikeston, Missouri, and Lisa Head of Sikeston. Erika is a 2012 graduate of Scott City High School. ...

Bill and Doris Weissmueller of Gordonville celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary on July 8. They were married July 8, 1978, at Trinity Lutheran Church in Shawneetown. The couple has two children, Ryan (Amy) Weissmueller of Shawneetown and Traci Weissmueller of Farmington, Missouri. They also have two grandchildren...

Alvie and Gladys Baker of Scott City will celebrate their 65th wedding anniversary Wednesday. Baker and the former Gladys Hensley were married July 25, 1953, in Mississippi. Their attendants were Bob and Barbara Hensley. The couple has three children, Debi Baker of Morse Mill, Missouri; Cyndi Baker of Scott City and the late Terry Baker. They also have six grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren...

Tylyn Rhea Mayberry and Logan Scott Friedrich were married Oct. 21 at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Jackson. The Rev. Eric Longman performed the ceremony. Matt Palisch of Jackson was organist. The bride is the daughter of Rick and Shelbey Mayberry of Jackson. The groom is the son of Eric and Annie Friedrich of Jackson...

Submitted by Safe Harbor Animal Sanctuary Sally is a sweet 2-year-old female looking for a loving home. She is available for adoption at Safe Harbor; call (573) 243-9823.

The sun hadn't yet risen as vendors began arriving to stake out their space at the Fruitland Swap Meet for poultry, small animals, plants and produce. Every second Saturday from March through October, the event draws poultry people, buyers, sellers and spectators, to the parking lot of the Fruitland Livestock Auction barn in Fruitland...

This photo shows a little "Birdhouse Gourd" growing with the flower still attached. Birdhouse gourds come in many shapes and are more accurately called Calabash gourds. The vine can grow 30 feet long or more and produce several gourds if it is watered regularly. The gourds should be left on the vine until the vine dies from drought or at first frost...

Monday: Glazed ham slice or turkey tetrazzini, candied sweet potatoes, fruited spinach salad, whole-grain bread and chilled apricots or brownies. Tuesday: Chicken and rice or cabbage roll, green peas, pickled beets, whole-grain garlic bread and blushing pears or banana pudding...

The Town and County FCE Club met on July 12, for its annual family picnic at the University of Missouri Extension Center in Jackson. The picnic committee consisted of Mary Klaproth and Sue Jones. The club purchased fried chicken from Food Giant and members brought side dishes. Mary Klaproth voiced the table prayer. Eleven club members and 27 guests, totaling 38 were present. Shirley Heise had the most family members present...

Back when we were living in Bartlesville I was attending the Wesleyan College there. One of the courses we had to take was Biblical Greek. One of, if not the, hardest courses I have ever taken bar none. I've taken chemistry and physics and math classes in college and none even come close to Biblical Greek. ...

The Salvation Army will host Meals with Friends daily this week from noon until 1 p.m. at 701 Good Hope St. in Cape Girardeau. Monday: beef stroganoff, corn, roll, fruit Tuesday: ham and beans, corn bread, fruit Wednesday: fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, roll, fruit...

The names of several local students are included on the deans' and president's lists of Mississippi State University at Starkville. They include Seth Michael Essner of Benton, Missouri; Rylie Katherine Gant of Scott City; Payne Aubrey Guilliams, Allyson Marie Jansen and Randa Lee Norman of Jackson, and Blake Louis Schlitt of Oran, Missouri. The students making the lists maintain a 3.8 or higher grade point average...

Recently, I was feeling overwhelmed. It seemed that my plate was overflowing and I was having a hard time keeping up with everything was being asked of me. I felt myself growing short and curt with those who interacted with me, and I knew that I was not operating at my best...

There are two sides to planning. The positive side of planning takes an idea, fleshes it out and acts on it. Like a conductor unites individual instruments into one orchestra, so you bring all the pieces of your idea together and act on them. The negative side of planning though begins similarly. ...

The great attraction in growing perennial flowers is that you never have to replant them, at least in theory. This doesn't make all perennials care-free, though. Few of them let you just sit back to enjoy them year after year once they're planted. Take coreopsis, for example, a wonderful perennial that ends its first flush of bright yellow blossoms around midsummer. ...

When you think of the South, you might think of sweet tea, banging screen doors, lightnin' bugs, and sitting on a front porch, but I bet the first thing you think of is good ol' stick-to-your-ribs comfort food. Whether it's biscuits and gravy, a catfish po'boy, fried green tomatoes, or shrimp and grits, Southern cooks do it like no one else. The South has a culinary style all its own: comforting, hearty, frequently fried... and always delicious...

Some people know Jane Cooper Stacy as the former First Lady of Southeast Missouri State University. To others it's her connection to sister Betty Hearnes (wife of the late Gov. Warren Hearnes). But most know her as the longtime alumni director at Southeast Missouri State, a position she held for 35 years...

MOSCOW -- Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump discussed the possibility of a referendum in separatist-leaning eastern Ukraine during their Helsinki summit, Russia's ambassador to the U.S. said Friday. Ambassador Anatoly Antonov revealed the discussions amid confusion and concern in the U.S. about what the two world leaders actually agreed upon behind closed doors...

BERLIN -- Chancellor Angela Merkel acknowledged Friday a bitter fight over migrant policy hurt Germans' confidence in her government, but said she never thought of quitting and insisted her administration is doing solid work. Merkel's fourth-term government took office in March after a six-month effort to put together a new governing coalition. ...

SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea said Friday an August reunion of Korean families separated by war may not happen if South Korea doesn't immediately return some of its citizens who arrived in the South in recent years. The 2016 arrival of a group of 12 female employees from a North Korean-run restaurant in China has been a source of contention between the rival Koreas. North Korea has accused South Korea of kidnapping them, while South Korea says they decided to resettle on their own will...

Patricia Karen Gendron Pierce Wright, 69, of Black Mountain, North Carolina, passed away peacefully with family and friends Friday, July 20, 2018, at her best friend Marlyn Ernst' home in Cape Girardeau. She was born April 19, 1949, in Gale, Illinois to the late Lewis Gendron and Frieda Augusta Adams Pierce...

WASHINGTON -- The White House rejected Friday a Vladimir Putin-backed effort to hold a referendum in eastern Ukraine on the region's future, distancing itself from the idea in the aftermath of President Donald Trump's controversial summit with the Russian leader...

CHAFFEE, Mo. -- Charles W. Vickery Jr., 87, of Chaffee died Thursday, July 19, 2018, at Southeast Hospital in Cape Girardeau. He was born Oct. 16, 1930, in Chaffee to the late Charles William and Hattie Pearl Parmeley Vickery Sr. He and Virginia Lee Roney were married July 2, 1949, and she preceded him in death Jan. 15, 1994. Charles later met and married Dorothy Scheeter Halbert on March 15, 1995, and she survives of the home...

VILLA RIDGE, Mo. -- Betty L. Parker, 85, of Villa Ridge passed away at 8 a.m. Thursday, July 19, 2018, at her home. Betty was born May 29, 1933, in rural Pulaski, Illinois, daughter of the late Fred and Elizabeth Marie Denfip Miller. Betty was a member of the Mount Pleasant Baptist Church in Pulaski, where she was a Sunday school teacher. She retired from Shawnee Community College, where she was a cook...

Henry H. Kirn, 97, of Cape Girardeau died Friday, July 20, 2018, at Missouri Veterans Home. He was born Oct. 14, 1920, in Randles to Joseph and Willemina Werth Kirn. He and Norma Caton were married Aug. 22, 1953, at Jackson. She preceded him in death Oct. 30, 2000...

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Farmers rushed to save their livelihoods as a wildfire roared through vast Oregon wheat fields Thursday and crushed their hopes at the peak of what was expected to be one of the most bountiful harvests in years. Farmers used water tanks on the backs of pickup trucks and tractors to battle flames whipping across fields for the third straight day. ...

MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa -- Thousands of people were without power Friday after a flurry of unexpected tornadoes swept through central Iowa, injuring at least 17 people and flattening buildings in three cities. The storms even surprised weather forecasters when they hit the region Thursday afternoon, causing extensive damage to a manufacturing plant and prompting the evacuation of a hospital...

NEW YORK -- President Donald Trump's former personal lawyer secretly recorded Trump discussing a potential payment for a former Playboy model's account of having an affair with him, people familiar with an investigation into the attorney said Friday...

CAPE GIRARDEAU The Cape Girardeau Fire Department responded to the following calls: Thursday n Medical assists were made at 1:24 a.m. on North Farrar Drive, 11:18 a.m. on Fourth Street, 12:31 p.m. on North Kingshighway, 12:37 p.m. on North Sprigg Street, 12:42 p.m. on North Kingshighway, 2:50 p.m. on North Sprigg Street, 5:59 p.m. on North Kingshighway and 6:26 p.m. on North Sprigg Street...

CAPE GIRARDEAU The Cape Girardeau Police Department released the following items. Arrests do not imply guilt. Arrests n Drew Thomas, 27, of Haywood, Missouri, was arrested on a Miner, Missouri, warrant. n Bahirom Figueroa, 19, of Springfield, Missouri, was arrested on a Cape Girardeau County warrant...

Daughter to Donzell Jamar Foster and Kierra Nicole McCain of Cape Girardeau, Saint Francis Medical Center, 2:31 p.m. Tuesday, June 19, 2018. Name, A'layla Jazell. Weight, 6 pounds, 3 ounces. First child. McCain is the daughter of Teresa Rivers of Cape Girardeau and Gary McCain of Poplar Bluff, Missouri. She works for SEMO Alliance for Disability Independence. Foster is the son of Jacquline Blacksure of St. Louis and Calvin Foster of Kansas City, Missouri...

BRANSON, Mo. -- The country-and-western tourist town of Branson mourned Friday for more than a dozen sightseers who were killed when a duck boat capsized and sank in stormy weather in the deadliest such accident in almost two decades. Divers found four more bodies in Table Rock Lake, bringing the death toll to 17, including nine people from the same family and the crew member who was steering the amphibious vessel. ...

Route Y in Scott County, from Ridge Drive to U.S. 61, will be reduced as contractor crews make drainage repairs. A Missouri Department of Transportation news release says the work will take place from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily Monday through Sept. 1...

5 Generations

O Lord Jesus, it's our joy and honor to worship you our Savior. Amen.