Stories from Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Filing for countywide offices opened at noon on Tuesday, March 21, at the Piggott and Corning Courthouses. Candidates filing notices within the county as of 1 p.m. on Tuesday, March 23, were (*denotes incumbent, I as Independent, D as Democrat and R as Republican):...

Spring usually brings rain showers, which is great for flowers, but not great for baseball. Due to the typical spring weather, local baseball has been hampered. The Mohawks were only able to hit the field one time this week when the team traveled to Campbell, Friday, March 24, to face the Camels in nonconference play. The Mohawks suffered a 24-4 loss to the Camels...

Charles E. Gettings, 69, of St. Louis died on Friday, March 17, 2006, at his home. He was born Jan. 21, 1937, in Piggott, the son of John and Clara Vaughn Gettings. He was the beloved husband of Velma Smith Gettings. He was preceded in death by one brother, Melvin Gettings; and four sisters, Lorene Raines, Kathern Young, Martha Gettings and Betty Gettings...

James "Uncle Jim" Brandon, 68, of Piedmont, Mo., formerly of Campbell, died on Thursday, March 23, 2006, at The Manor in Poplar Bluff. He was born Sept. 10, 1937, in Malden, the son of Fred and Opal Provance Brandon. He was a veteran of the United States Army and a member of the Campbell American Legion Post 109...

Cathey Carlene Fisher, 71, of Piggott died on Saturday, March 25, 2006, at St. Bernards Regional Medical Center in Jonesboro. She was born on May 17, 1934, in Senath, the daughter of the late Clint Adkins and Effie Pearson Davis. She was united in marriage to Earl Fisher on May 15, 1976...

Sharon Fears, 55, of St. Francis died on Friday, March 24, 2006, at her home. She was born July 6, 1950, in Piggott, the daughter of the late Charles and Leota Glass High. Her maternal grandparents, the late Jess and Pearl Parker Glass, raised her. She was united in marriage to Alfred Fears on Nov. 8, 1969. Together they raised three daughters...

Pat Franklin Tanner, 71, of Piggott died Thursday, March 23, 2006, at the Piggott Community Hospital. He was born Nov. 18, 1934, in Piggott, the son of the late Robert Celeston and Rosetta Trout Tanner. He was united in marriage to Neva Joan Vancil on Aug. 25, 1954. They had five children...

Sidney Alan Cluck, 51, of Piggott died Thursday, March 23, 2006, at his home. He was born Sept. 8, 1954, in Piggott and was the son of Donald and Joyce Smith Cluck. He was preceded in death by his father, Donald Cluck; and his brother, Jim Bill Cluck...

Arnold Collins, 53, of Piggott died Tuesday, March 21, 2006, in the Memphis Veterans' Hospital. He was born Aug. 14, 1952, in Kennett, the son of the late Walter and Dorothy Collins. He was united in marriage to Kathy McCormick on Oct. 2, 1992. He is survived by his wife, Kathy Collins of Piggott; two sons, Luke Collins of Piggott and Jason Collins of St. ...

Annie Lois Ramey Neel, 89, of Piggott, formerly of Deering, Mo., died on Tuesday, March 21, 2006, in Piggott. She was born March 20, 1917, in Dyer County, Tenn., the daughter of the late Freeman E. Ramey and Mary Maude Ramey. She was united in marriage to A.L. Neel Jr. in 1934 in Caruthersville, Mo...

According to Clay County Office of Emergency Management Coordinator Jeff Puckett, the application period for assistance grants to fix destruction caused by the storms on March 9 has been extended through March 31. "The Individual and Family Grant Program, (IFG) administered by Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), assists disaster victims with serious needs or necessary expenses that were incurred as a result of the disaster. ...

The Clay County Fairgrounds will be buzzing with activity on Saturday, April 1. The Piggott Area Chamber of Commerce will be sponsoring its annual Ag Expo in conjunction with the 32nd annual Piggott High School FFA Auction. Expo exhibits and booths will be set up in the Commercial Exhibit Building. Chamber members will also be selling desserts...

A hot check coordinator is ready to go to work for the people of Clay County. Rhonda Thomas, who since 1995 has worked as hot check coordinator in Greene County, now will work in Clay County to recover monies lost to local merchants and individuals due to worthless checks...

Joan Book, 74, of Piggott died Tuesday, March 21, 2006, in the Piggott Community Hospital. She was born Dec. 31, 1931, in Piggott, the daughter of the late Druie Allen and Effie Scarbough Blair. On Sept. 8, 1951, she married Dennis A. Book. They had two daughters...

Betty Sue Lawrence, 72, of Harviell, Mo., died Wednesday, March 22, 2006, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born on Feb. 9, 1934, in Piggott, the daughter of the late James Willis Parker and Lora Mae Hinchcliff Parker. She was united in marriage to Charles Wicks on Feb. 9, 1950. He preceded her in death on Aug. 12, 1970. She was united in marriage to Everett Lawrence on July 1, 1967. He preceded her in death on Jan. 6, 1998...

Jason A. Chilcutt, 35, of St. Louis died Thursday, March 23, 2006. He is survived by his father, Charles (Toni) Chilcutt; mother, Judith (John) Pickering; sisters, Shona Chilcutt and Elicia Cary; and was a dear uncle, nephew and friend. He is also mourned by the friends he left behind...

Edith Newsom, 94, of Paragould Nursing Center died Monday, March, 27, 2006, in Paragould. Born July 24, 1911, in Walker County, Ala., she was a homemaker. She was preceded in death by her husband, Lee P. Newsom; one son, David Newsom, and three brothers...

Kenneth Dale Watson, 51, of Rector, died Wednesday, March 22, 2006, in Ravenden. Born Dec. 7, 1954, in Rector, he was of the Baptist faith and worked for Simmons Farms. He was preceded in death by his father, Joe Watson; his paternal grandparents, J.A. and Dora Watson, and his maternal grandparents, Clyde and Beatrice Bolton...

A Greene County Justice of the Peace was killed and four others injured in a two-vehicle accident at 6:15 p.m. Tuesday, March 21, on Highway 49 near Brookland. Mark Reed, 42, of Paragould, who recently announced he would run for a second term as JP, died when he was thrown from the vehicle in which he was a passenger. He was a longtime employee at Darling Store Fixtures in Paragould and a member of First Free Will Baptist Church, where he recently was named as youth minister...

He's known as one of the funniest men in Arkansas, and Desha County Judge Mark McElroy is coming to Rector. The Rector Area Chamber of Commerce will host McElroy for a night of side-splitting laughter and fun at its annual spring banquet set for 6:30 p.m. Thursday, April 13, at the Rector Community Center...

A number of area soldiers are among those to be deployed to Iraq in the fall. The Army National Guard's 875th Engineer Battalion, 87th Troop Command, received its mobilization order Friday, March 24, to support the global war on terrorism. The order calls the battalion to federal active duty in mid-July for initial mobilization training at Fort McCoy, Wis., with a deployment to Iraq expected in the fall. The 875th anticipates mobilizing over 400 soldiers for the deployment...

The administrative costs of the Rector School District fall well within guidelines recently suggested by Gov. Mike Huckabee in his assessment of educational issues facing the state. The local district's total administrative costs are $197,156 on a total budget of $3,963,021, coming in at 4.97 percent...

(Editor's Note: Parts of this story were contributed by Joseph Price of the Cherokee Villager Journal staff). After almost three years, the missing person case of 23-year-old Bridgett Sellers of Marmaduke has come to an end. Memorial services for Sellers will be held Friday in Marmaduke...

Memorial services for 23-year-old Bridgett Juanita Sellers of Marmaduke, who had been missing since May 2003, will be held at 2 p.m. Friday, March 31, 2006, in the Irby Funeral Home Chapel at Marmaduke with Bro. Tom Wellman officiating. Her remains were found in November 2005...

Sharon Fears, 55, of St. Francis died on Friday, March 24, 2006, at her home. She was born July 6, 1950, in Piggott, the daughter of the late Charles and Leota Glass High. Her maternal grandparents, the late Jess and Pearl Parker Glass, raised her. She was united in marriage to Alfred Fears on Nov. 8, 1969. Together they raised three daughters...

Thelma Mozell (Hayes) Ogden, 86, of Campbell, Mo., formerly of Rector, died Monday, March 27, 2006, at Piggott Community Hospital. She was born Sept. 18, 1919, in Langley, Ark., to the late Thomas Mark Smith and Nora (Burkhead) Smith and was married to Ira Hayes, who preceded her in death Aug. 6, 1990. She then married Paul Ogden of Campbell...

It was an unpleasant wake-up call that brought the Cougars back from spring break on Monday, as Rector was downed at home by Biggers-Reyno, 8-5. Untimely miscues hurt both teams, but especially hindered the Cougars. Rector had seven errors on the day. None of Biggers-Reyno's runs was earned...

The Marmaduke Lady Greyhounds were victorious during their visit to Monette on Monday, coming away with a 16-10 softball victory over host Buffalo Island Central. Marmaduke took advantage of 10 walks by BIC to pick up the win in the high-scoring affair...

An 11-day layoff came back to haunt Marmaduke on Monday as the hosting Greyhounds were given their first lost of the season by Corning, 10-7. "Rain-outs and cancellations have hurt us," Marmaduke assistant coach Bill Muse said. "I think a lot of it's just rust. We hadn't played a game in 11 days and it started to show on the field. At one point in the sixth inning, we had more errors in the game (six) than we had all year...