Stories from Thursday, June 16, 2005

The third annual Stars and Stripes Jubilee in Tyronza is set for this weekend and has tons of family entertainment and fun planned including competitive contests, good food, varied vendor booths, exceptional music and even a carnival and street dance to top things off...

Tribune Sports Staff "It's a dream come true," Mike Scott of the Marked Tree Baseball Indians said last Thursday as he signed a letter of intent to baseball at Williams Baptist College in the 2005-2006 school year. "It's been what I've been working toward since I was four."...

Randy Earnest Stidem, 50, of Marked Tree died Thursday, June 9, at his residence in Marked Tree. He was an employee of E.H. Ritter for 26 years. He is survived by his wife, Connie Stidem of the home; one daughter, Misty Dawn Hicks of Marked Tree; his parents, J.E. and Geraldine Stidem of Marked Tree; and one brother, Gary Stidem of Marked Tree; and a grandchild, Brayden Allen Hicks of Marked Tree...

LEPANTO -- Patricia Ann Hatcher, 66, of Lepanto died Saturday, June 11, at Rose Care Center of Trumann. A homemaker, she was a member of First Baptist Church of Lepanto. Survivors include two sons, Gerald Hatcher of Bloomington, Ind., and Eddie Hatcher of Lepanto; four sisters, Sue Pepper of Avon, Ind., Bev Wells of Nashville, Ind., and Reda Brosius and Mary Jo Humble, both of Indianapolis; three brothers, John Humble of Greenwood, Ind., and Jim Humble and Matthew Humble, both of Indianapolis; two grandchildren, Holly Hatcher and Tommy Hatcher; and two step grandchildren, Leslie Hall and Allen Hall.. ...

Betty Loyal Bragg, age 76, of Marked Tree, died Saturday, June 11 at St. Bernards Regional Medical Center in Jonesboro. She was a member of Central Baptist Church where she taught children's Sunday School for 52 years. She was the owner/operator of Bragg's Flowers in Marked Tree...

When 80 year old Gaulena Higgins of Marked Tree first opened the doors to the Powder Puff in 1955, she had no idea that it would still be open 50 years later. Her main focus was finding a way to provide for her six children, and the beauty parlor was the perfect solution...

It was business as usual Monday night as the Marked Tree City Council met in regular session to pass a resolution to adopt the national incident management system. The NIMS was developed by the Department of Homeland Security at the president's request. It seeks to provide a standard, comprehensive framework for response to emergency incidents...

In Monday night's meeting, the East Poinsett County Board of Education voted to hire four new teachers. At the meeting, held on the Lepanto campus, board members voted unanimously to approve the hiring of Pamela Bryan, Rosalie Slaughter, Sandra Needhemeir, and Chrissy Parks. Bryan will become the new fifth grade reading teacher in Tyronza, Slaughter will teach in Lepanto and Tyronza, Needhemeir will teach a second speech class in Tyronza and Parks will become a special education teacher...

The Poinsett County Quorum Court met in its regular meeting Monday night with three main issues on their agenda. After dispensing with the reading of the minutes and the disposition of the financial reports, Judge Doyle Hillis opened the floor for new issues and the Court went immediately to the first of those three issues...

Tribune Sports Staff In Little League-Major baseball action, the Marked Tree Indians traveled to Trumann Monday night and split a double header, 3-4 and 7-1. In the first game, Tyler Blagg pitched the opening four innings and took the loss, striking out seven while giving up two earned runs. Phillip Bickerstaff came in to finish the game pitching the fifth and six innings allowing no runs and one walk...