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Photo - A customer making a selection of spices at The French Market Cooks from far and wide gather here to survey the more than 350 spices and unlimited mixes arranged on floor-to-ceiling shelves. Owner Brian Crawford, who also co-owns The Loft just across the street, was inspired to reinvent the former drug store into a modern day cooking extravaganza. "Most of the shelving and stuff was here when we bought the building," he said. "Including the old apothecary jars and glass items." Folks who visit The French Market find scores of items for cooking and entertaining, including spices lining row after row and displayed along the store's long walls. "When I visited Saint Charles, there were these neat spice shops,

Poplar Bluff - The Poplar Bluff Mules Booster Club has selected Poplar Bluff High School Tennis star Stephanie Hobbs and Mules Football standout Steven Haley as the September Athletes of the Month. Haley, a junior, completed nine games with 113 tackles, 14 tackles for loss and three sacks. His cumulative GPA is 11.036 weighted. Hobbs, also a junior, is the No. 4 varsity player with a singles record of 7-5 and a doubles of 5-7. Her cumulative GPA is 11.2 weighted.

Poplar Bluff - A total of 11 students from the Graduation Center were awarded certificates for completing the Gateway 2 Jobs program with distinction on Thursday, Oct. 23, at the Greater Poplar Bluff Area Chamber of Commerce. This is the fourth year the Chamber has hosted G2J as a way for students to better position themselves to land a job following school. Chamber President Steve Halter credits Sharon Kissinger of Sharon Kissinger Investments for helping the Chamber with the conception of the program, which includes a series of visits from business leaders and exercises such as mock interviews. For the first time this year, the Three Rivers Endowment Trust awarded a $500 scholarship for a G2J graduate to attend the

Poplar Bluff - The Poplar Bluff Public Library hosted its first Local Author Fair—featuring two recently published authors from the R-I school district—on Saturday, Oct. 4, during the Iron Horse Festival. Communication arts teacher Rachel Stiber of Poplar Bluff Junior High School released “Elise’s Choice” via Creative Prose Publishing based in Utah on Aug. 25. “Elise’s Choice” is a fantasy novel about a young lady who must make a choice that ends up affecting her life as well as the lives of everyone in her village, according to Stiber, who writes as a hobby. Art teacher Charles Gearhart of O’Neal Elementary School released “Never Nurse a Grudge” via Rocking Horse Publishing in St. Louis on Sept. 23. “Never Nurse a

Emily Parks wants to be Butler County’s new County Collector. She feels she has both the experience and the desire to do an outstanding job in the position. “I’m a sixth generation Butler Countian,” said Parks. She knows the county well, and with a degree in business administration from the University of Missouri, she feels that she is well-equipped for the position. Since graduating with that degree in 2004, she has held three different positions. She started her career as an account manager in political fundraising, and in 2008 she was appointed by then Missouri Matt Blunt to fill a vacancy of the position of Circuit Court Clerk in Butler County. Then in 2010, she became the Director of Development