Stories from Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Recent reports from the Blytheville Police Department:

Floyd Max "Bo" Jackson, 59, of Leachville, passed from this life Thursday, Oct. 31, 2013, at the NEA Baptist Hospital in Jonesboro. Born in Manila, he was a lifelong area resident and was the son of the late Robert and Lucy Reed Jackson. ...

Estell Hammons, 77, of Watervliet, Mich., passed away from this earth Monday, Oct. 28, 2013, at Lakeland Regional Medical Center in St. Joseph, Mich. Services were held at 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 2, at Duffield & Pastrick Family Funeral Home in Watervliet, where visitation was held from 5-7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 1...

Geneva Leanna Cooksey McKinney, 89, of Gosnell, widow of Silas Edward McKinney, died Thursday, Oct. 31, 2013, at the Great River Medical Center in Blytheville. Born at Selmer, Tenn., she was the daughter of the late Everette Christopher and Francis Louisa Flatt Cooksey and had been a Blytheville area resident since 1959. ...

Clyde Edward Petty, 64, of Lakeland, Fla., former longtime Manila area resident, died Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2013, at the South Florida Baptist Hospital in Plant City, Fla. Born in Manila, he was the son of the late Ernest and Marie Finley Petty and had attended Manila High School. ...

Wanda Lee Tatum, 87, of Manila, passed from this life Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2013, at the Manila Nursing Center. Born in Manila, she was the daughter of the late Herbert and Alma Pierce Finley and had been a lifelong area resident. She was a retired seamstress and was of the Pentecostal faith...

Buffalo Island Central improved to 4-0 on the season, drilling Armorel 71-48 Friday night at Leachville. Austin Pike poured in a game high 21 points while Alan Carmichael chipped in 17 more to lead the Mustangs...

Buffalo Island Central's Lady Mustangs stampeded Armorel 46-17 in senior girls basketball action Thursday night at the Mustang Athletic Complex in Monette. Kelsey Strickland drained four three pointers and finished with 12 points on the night to lead the Lady Mustangs. ...

Osceola quarterback Harold Weeden tossed four first half touchdown passes to spark the Seminoles to a 55-0 rout over winless Manila in 3A-3 conference football action Friday night at Lion Field...

ARMOREL--The Armorel Lady Tigers are still looking for their first win of the season after a 56-45 loss to the Buffalo Island Central Lady Mustangs Monday night at Armorel. BIC forced eight first period turnovers and held the Lady Tigers (0-5) scoreless over the first six and a half minutes as they jumped out to a 15-2 lead after one. Mustang center Taylor McKuin scored 13 of her game high 22 points in the first period...

The biggest game of the year in the 3-4A -- and maybe the top matchup in northeast Arkansas this week -- will be held Thursday night at Gosnell's J.W. Rea Field. The Pirates entertain Valley View in the regular season finale with an outright conference championship at stake...

Manila's fourth grade Lions completed the 2013 football season with an undefeated 6-0 record, outscoring its opponents by a margin of 124-12. The Lions shut out Trumann, Cedar Ridge, East Poinsett County and Marked Tree while defeating Harrisburg 18-6 and Gosnell 30-6...

Mr. Julius Jack Parnell Sr., 73, of Monette, died Saturday, Nov. 2, 2013, at the Flo and Phil Jones Hospice House in Jonesboro.

Jessie Lou Walker Lusby, of Malvern, died Nov. 3, 2013, in Hot Springs.

Mr. Robert Lee Franklin, 55, of Blytheville, died Saturday, Oct. 13, 2013, in Chicago.

I'm sure most of you already know, but for those who don't, something incredible happened this past Wednesday -- the Boston Red Sox won the World Series.

As the leaves on the trees change colors and fall, the landscape empties out as fields and gardens are harvested and plowed under, and the days grow shorter, our efforts change from those of sunny weather activities to the more intensive activities that come with being stuck indoors for longer periods of time.

Riverside claimed a key early season road victory, knocking off the defending Class A State Champion Bay Yellowjackets 67-60 Tuesday night in senior boys basketball action. The Rebels scorched the nets, draining 13 three pointers on the evening, including 11 in the first half alone, to improve to 2-0 on the young season...

Organizations represented on the Emergency Food and Shelter local board voted last week on how to divide up grant funds recently received from state government.

The Arts Council of Mississippi County will be presenting The Legendary Drifters at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Ritz Civic Center.

Now that the weather has turned cool, rodents are looking for a warm place to spend the winter, and according to Mississippi County Extension Agent Jason Osborn, there is no better place than your house.

The city of Blytheville's tax attorney has a differing opinion than that of City Attorney Mike Bearden regarding how former Blytheville Mayor Barrett Harrison's tax refund money was applied.

In response to new legal challenges brought by Nucor Steel against the Big River Steel project which he is attempting to bring into Mississippi County, John Correnti told the CN he is ashamed to have ever been associated with the company which would be his only competitor in the area.

Buffalo Island Central Junior High Homecoming was held Friday, Nov. 1, at the junior high gymnasium in Leachville. Will Jackson served as Mater of Ceremony and Kensie Walker served as Mistress of Ceremony. Beau Weeks was the music master...

Manila veteran Mike Warrenfells has joined the VFW Mane Event kicked off by football playerTroy Polamalue in a fund-raising effort to raise money for veterans. Warrenfells has almost $300 raised in his campaign and as of Monday, Nov. 4, a total of $183,296 has been raised for the VFW Mane event...

Baylor Jett Matheny was born Oct. 8, 2013, at Arkansas Methodist Medical Center. He weighed 8.6 pounds and measured 20 inches long. Parents are Trevor and Ashley Matheny. He has an older brother, Braxton Matheny. Grandparents are Mike and Beverly Matheny of Monette and Bobby and Barbara Tate of Leachville...

The Manila High School play, Zombie Wedding, by Jeff Lovett, will be performed at 6 p.m. Friday, Nov. 8, in the high school auditorium. Admission is $2 for adults and $1 for students. The play is under the direction of Martha Lawrence and Jennifer Harper...

Manila Veterans Day program The City of Manila and the Manila Middle School will honor Manila veterans with a program at the Herman Davis Monument State Park at 11 a.m. Monday, November 11. Manila Middle School students will welcome the veterans by waving flags as they arrive...

Marsha and Robert Chambers of Monette and Sherry Ladd of Lake City were very involved in working with the Disaster Relief effort in Caraway on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The group prepared 500 meals each day for delivery by the Red Cross to workers and displaced townspeople. ...

Manila School Board moved forward on a site selection for a new high school at the special called meeting on Monday, Oct. 28. All board members were present to discuss building matters including land acquisition, millage, and building plans...

I have passed by the old granite coffee pot sitting on the wood cook stove at the Buffalo Island Museum many times and not thought much about it. A couple of weeks ago, a boy stopped at the stove and said "Look, there is a coffee pot just like the one Chester makes coffee in for Marshall Dillon." This old gray speckled granite coffeepot was made in the early 1900s and was donated by Christine Lawson. ...

Pink wrapped cotton modules have caused a lot of excitement this past week, after they first appeared along Highway 412 in the field of Senath farmer Jason Chandler. Chandler went to great pains to locate the pink plastic wrap for his cotton modules to honor his sister Misty Edmonston, who lost her battle with breast cancer in 2010, and to raise awareness of the disease. ...

Clean-up began early Friday morning following the Thursday night EF1 tornado, with winds up to 100 mps, that left major damage to the downtown area and residences throughout the area of Caraway...