Stories from Thursday, December 17, 2009

Santa Claus stopped by the annual Piggott Lions Club pancake breakfast Saturday at the community center. Organizers report that this year's breakfast was a big success, with a large crowd turning out to support the club's many sight conservation projects. Pictured with old St. Nick are Lions Club members Bob Byrd and Sharon Williams. (photo courtesy Frank Staples)...

More than 300 people were on hand Saturday night for the third annual Rector Elementary GT Christmas, Talent and Project Show, which allowed elementary gifted and talented students to display their talents in many areas and raised $233 for gifts for local needy children...

Six-year-old John Ford Hendrix of Rector listens carefully as Santa talks with him Saturday morning at the Rector Lions Club's third annual Breakfast with Santa at the Community Center. About 40 children came to meet Santa, enjoy pancakes, have their faces painted by Santa helper Barbi Terry and play on several inflatable toys provided by Delta Cotton Co-op. ...

Farming has always been very important to the father and son duo of Terry and Bret Palmer. The Palmers come from a rich farming tradition, continued today with their recognition as the 2009 Clay County Farm Family of the Year...

More than 12,000 people have witnessed a beautiful re-creation of the birth of Christ over the last 25 years through the Hitts Chapel General Baptist Church's "Journey to Bethlehem" live nativity. As the church celebrates the 25th year of the display, visitors are invited from 7 to 9 nightly Friday through Sunday, Dec. 18 through 20...

Which way to the exit in Afghanistan? The President, having recently been awarded the Nobel Prize for peace, saw fit to follow the recommendations of General McChrystal and ordered 30,000 extra troops on the ground, with a stipulation that they be withdrawn in about 18 months. At that time they will have accomplished their mission and will be brought home. Yeah, right! (What mission?)...

Are you listening, God? I've been trying to reach you for several days. I'm stressed and I need your help. I'm not like your servant Job. I don't have his patience. I'm a woman and a worrier. How can I not worry, God, when problems loom all around?...

Joseph "Joe" Edward Jr. Whitaker of Detroit died at his home on Sunday, December 6, 2009. He was born April 17, 1928, in Rector, the son of the late Joseph and Eva Whitaker. Joe is preceded in death by son Joey and brothers Don and Albert Whitaker...

Patricia Susan "Patty" Settlemoir died October 29, 2009, in Burbank, California. She was 84. Mrs. Settlemoir was born in Marmaduke, Arkansas, in 1925 to Dr. O.H. and Olinda Clopton. She attended Rector High School and Murray State College and married William Settlemoir of Kennett. They were married for 53 years until his death in 2003...

Mamie Etta Hargrave was born on July 21, 1916, to the late Clifford T. Linam and Mamie Etta Linam in Rector, Arkansas. She departed this life at the age of 93 to be with her beloved Savior on December 11, 2009, in the Florida Hospital Memorial Medical Center in Daytona Beach, Florida. Her family was with her as she was translated to her new home in heaven...

Deborah Anne Gist, age 39, of Kennett, Mo., daughter of Richard and Karen Langille of Rector, passed from this life on December 2, 2009, in the Twin Rivers Regional Medical Center in Kennett. Deborah was born August 25, 1970, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma...

The Cougars cruised to a 56-28 win over Marked Tree on the hardwood Friday night in Rector. The game opened with a sluggish pace offensively, as neither team was able to manufacture much in the way of points, resulting in a 6-4 Marked Tree lead after the first period...

The Lady Cougars were able to hit from both the inside and the outside on their way to rolling over the Marked Tree Lady Indians, 69-39, on Friday. Rector buried nine three-pointers in the game, while also routinely attacking the basket in a balanced attack...

Piggott High School observed basketball homecoming this week, with the annual dance set for Friday evening. Last week was Spirit Week at PHS, Monday morning this year's queen and court were introduced at the annual royalty assembly and Tuesday evening the homecoming games were set against the Harrisburg Hornets. ...

Much like the story of Jesus, the annual "Journey to Bethlehem" at Hitts Chapel General Baptist Church north of Piggott had humble beginnings. From that first December in 1985, when the display was just a single stable scene, the live nativity has grown into a full-blown production that includes over two dozen people in costume, 8-10 live animals, four parking attendants and another half-dozen or so church members to tend the welcome center. ...

The campuses of the Piggott school district soon should be safer places to attend classes, thanks to action taken by the board of education at its meeting Monday night. The board voted unanimously to have security cameras installed at both the high school and elementary school, along with the district bus garage. ...

Becky Thompson, 62, of Piggott passed away Friday, Dec. 11, 2009, at the Piggott Community Hospital. She was born June 21, 1947, in Granite City, Ill., and was the daughter of the late Robert Jefferson and Anna Mae (White) Poarch...

Juanita Gambotto, 85, of Lapeer, Mich., formerly of Piggott, passed away Sunday, Dec. 6, 2009. She was born Nov. 14, 1924, in Piggott, and was the wife of the late Louis Gambotto and the daughter of the late Amon and Marie (Holcomb) Smith...

1969 With the arrival of the holiday season, the Piggott Jaycees announced their annual lighting contest 40 years ago this week. On a more somber note, Kenneth Rodery of Piggott sustained a serious head injury Dec. 12 when the tire from a big truck he was working on exploded. He was listed in satisfactory condition at Baptist Hospital in Memphis at last report...

Are you listening, God? I've been trying to reach you for several days. I'm stressed and I need your help. I'm not like your servant Job. I don't have his patience. I'm a woman and a worrier. How can I not worry, God, when problems loom all around?...

The Piggott Mohawks earned their first win of the season Friday night, as a last second shoot by sophomore point guard Spencer Coomer propelled them to a 65-63 non-conference win over Harrisburg at the Pre-Holiday Tournament at Brookland. Monday night the Tribe traveled to Hoxie and dropped a 55-67 conference loss to the Mustangs...

The Piggott Lady Mohawks got first-year head coach Alan Rabjohn his first varsity win Monday night, as they held on down the stretch to beat the Harrisburg Lady Hornets at PHS. The Tribe had three players score in double-figures on the night, as they notched the conference win 49-42...