Stories from Friday, July 17, 2015

Walter Jerrell Belew, age 79, of Jonesboro, former longtime Portia resident, died Thursday July 16, 2015 at St. Bernards Medical Center. Born in the Lesterville community, he was the son of the late Walter and Flossie Webb Belew and lived most of his life in Lawrence County...

Okay, so I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that if you've never found yourself kneeling in front of a bathtub at 7 a.m. on a Sunday, scooping out unbelievable amounts of toddler poo...well, you're not me. I was going to say "you're not a parent," but I'm sure there are plenty of you out there who've managed to raise children and also avoid this type of situation. Maybe you should teach a class. Call me...

The Delta Gateway Museum, 210 W. Main in downtown Blytheville, announced the opening of a new exhibit this week honoring NASA's Apollo space program. The exhibit features objects on loan from Dr. Jerrell Thomas, a native of Cooter, Mo. and from NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL...

Blytheville Mayor James W. Sanders, speaking before the Blytheville Finance and Purchasing Committee Thursday afternoon, announced that he would be proposing both a one cent sales and usage tax and a 13 percent increase city wide over a two year period to the city's payroll. ...

Dorothy Sharkey saw a need in her community and decided to remedy it. Sharkey operates the "Beyond Words After School Program" located at 211 West Moultrie (next to Gary's Food Mart). The program currently enrolls sixty to seventy children aged 2 to 18. There is no charge for the program. Until now, all expenses have been paid by Ms. Sharkey...

Thursday, July 23, 2015, a once-in-a-lifetime event is happening - the date when Blytheville's postal code, 72315, matches the date, 7-23-15. Inspired by this, Main Street Blytheville is hosting an event Thursday, from 6-9 p.m, at the historic Greyhound Bus Station in downtown Blytheville. According to Executive Director of Main Street Blytheville, Tucker Nunn, the event will include an evening of music, food and reflection on Blytheville's past...

The following are reports from the Blytheville Police Department. Wednesday, July 15 -- Police investigated a criminal mischief report in the 600 block of North Ridgeway. The victim's mailbox was hit and destroyed. -- Officers took a report of a fraudulent use of a credit card...

Keith Edwin Austin, Sr. perished on Thursday, July 16th at the age of 49 years old. He served in the United States Navy as an Airman, and received a letter of recommendation for S.E.A.L. training by his Company Commander. Keith was a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, a lifetime member of the International Dean's List Society, and was nominated by the President of Nicholls State University for the "Who's Who" of American Universities...

Geneva Estelle Jackson passed away on Friday, July 17th at her home in Manila at the age of 63. Born in Manila on April 12th, 1952, she was the daughter of the late James Woodrow Macon and Rosie Lee Lutz and had lived several years in the Leola and Sheridan areas before returning to Manila. She was a certified nurse aide and was a member of the Bethabara Baptist Church near Lake City...

The Blytheville Courier News has moved its website from www.couriernews.net to www.blythevillecourier.com. The new site has all of the features of the old site. In fact, the only change is the domain name. For those who contact us via email, the new email addresses will stay the same, for the most part, but they now end in @blythevillecourier.com, rather than @couriernews.net. We apologize for any inconvenience...