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I have always heard that history repeats itself and after the past week, I am a stronger believer in that happening. Sixty years ago on Halloween, Elaine York and Paul Woods were united in marriage. Very few people that I know would venture into the marriage on a date like that as there are all kinds of ghosts and goblins associated with Halloween. We met at a church sponsored Halloween party at the Priest farm on Township Line Road. We hit it off and after two years of dating, decided to make it a permanent venture and to remember our first encounter by setting our wedding on that same holiday. (And besides, it would be easy for me to remember

29-year old Brittany Maynard was living on borrowed breath. She was told that the days that stretched out before her were going to be few and fraught with debilitating illness and agony. On New Year’s Day of this year, just fifteen months after her wedding, Brittany was diagnosed with stage IV terminal brain cancer. With no hope in her heart for a cure, only a plan for dying on her own terms, she placed a lethal dose of pills upon her tongue and chose which remaining breaths would be her last. On Saturday, surrounded by her most-loved ones, she said goodbye and went to sleep never to awaken again. What should have been a first year of marriage filled with

By Angie West As I sit here in my comfy chair, sipping coffee and finishing the book Blackdeath 23, I am more thankful than ever to be an American. Blackdeath 23 is a book written by Poplar Bluff High School graduate of the class of 1991, Rob Mills. The book chronicles his daily life in the United States Cavalry as a Chief Warrant Officer 2 as an Army helicopter pilot during Operation Iraqi Freedom. As a young boy, Rob would draw helicopters and dream that someday he would be able to fly them. But as he grew up, jobs, marriage, kids and their associated responsibilities became the order of the day. However, as months turned into years, Rob felt like

There are about 33 million retired Americans. While some are in poor health, many of them are in relatively good health, and still very capable of serving their communities. That’s the idea behind RSVP (Retired and Senior Volunteer Program). “The local chapter of RSVP was started in Poplar Bluff in 1973,” explained Jennifer Rosener, director of the Poplar Bluff program. That was just two years after the program was launched nationally. “We started as a non-profit organization for volunteers aged 55 and older,” said Rosener. Now it has become one of the largest volunteer organizations locally and nationally. “Locally we have about 210 volunteers. They help out at our hospital, UCAN, Child Concern, the VA Hospital, Twin Towers, and the

This week’s “You Paid For It” (or YPFI for short) is a twofer worth over $2.7M. First, a quick one from the recently published newsletter issued by the Poplar Bluff City Manager, Heath Kaplan. On Nov. 4, Kaplan released an eleven-page document “to provide information to our community regarding financial decisions I have made thus far and the reasoning behind those decisions.” The final six pages of the document include 18 responses to non-factual information reported in the editorial of the Rust-owned daily (also known as the DAR). Buried on page eleven, an amazing fact about Health Insurance reads: Last year the decision was made (past city manager) to fund the plan at rates that were 35% lower than the