Stories from Friday, January 17, 2014

DEXTER, Mo. - The Dexter Bearcats varsity girls basketball team put together one of the best halves of basketball longtime coach Chad Allen has ever seen Thursday night against the Neelyville Tigers. Dexter scored the first 26 points of the first half, did now allow a field goal until the 4:18 mark of the second period and tallied the final six points of the second quarter as it cruised past Neelyville 75-23 at the Bearcat Event Center...

With the deadline to file rapidly approaching, voters will find contested races for the Dexter School Board and for mayor of Bernie in the April 8 local election. Six candidates have filed for the three positions on the Dexter School Board and incumbent Bernie Mayor James Tilmon faces David Teeters for mayor. The deadline to file for a position in the election is Jan. 21...

The community of Dexter lost a familiar face on Thursday. Loyce Reed was an employee at the Dexter City Library, later named Keller Public Library, for 44 years, 26 of which were spent as the library's director. Reed's career in that post began when the library was situated on Vine Street near the downtown area, the building that currently serves as the municipal building...

Relay teams are gearing up for 2014's Stoddard County Relay for Life event, scheduled to take place on Friday, May 2 at Dexter's West City Park. A full schedule of activities is on tap throughout the evening and into the early morning hours of Saturday, according to event co-chairs, Jennifer Hartlein and Belinda Worley...

Stoddard County 911 Services Board Chairman Mike Reinbott, at left, presented a plaque to Hank Trout for his nine years of service on the board. Reinbott was acting on behalf of the entire board and Administrator Carol Moreland. Trout served from 2004 through 2013, and served as board treasurer. Trout, a sheriff's detective, represented the sheriff's office on the board. He is being replaced by Deputy Andy Holden...

A Sikeston company, ABC of Southeast Missouri, LLC, has been awarded the management contract for the Dexter License Office, it was announced by the Office of Administration late Thursday. That office operates in conjunction with the Missouri Department of Revenue...

Loyce L. Reed, daughter of the late L. R. "Pat" Patterson and Talitha Ann Aslin Patterson, was born on Feb. 28, 1920, in Dexter and died on Jan. 16, 2014, at the Golden Living Center in Dexter at the age of 93. Mrs. Reed was a member of the First Baptist Church in Dexter, a life long resident of Dexter and had worked as the Director of the Dexter Public Library for 44 years. She was a member of the Altrusa Club and the American Legion Auxiliary for 54 years...

The Advance Hornets varsity boys basketball team fell behind 24-14 after one quarter, but made up all the deficit before halftime and won the second half by 11 points on its way to a 69-58 win against the Scott City Rams Thursday night. Lane Below tallied 37 points for Hornets. He hit six of the Hornets' nine 3-pointers...