Stories from Wednesday, December 23, 2020

Children are able to go home with a few extra books this holiday season thanks to the Massey-Brown Foundation. In the past week, kids at the Mississippi County EOC Head Start program received up to five or six books each in an effort to spark early interest in reading...

Lake City Council approved bonuses, accepted water/sewer audit, approved employee raises, declared a vacancy in the mayor's position, appointed an interim mayor, added to the police policy, and voted to purchase new vehicles at the Dec. 14 meeting. Lake City Mayor Jon Milligan presided over the final meeting of the year and his last one to serve as mayor. Milligan recently won a run-off election to serve as Arkansas State Representative...

The Mississippi County Quorum Court held a called meeting Thursday at the Osceola courthouse. Eight of the 11 justices were in attendance either in person or virtually. Present were Justices Rick Ash, Fred Fleeman, Bobby Hinton, Betty Hepler, Molly Jackson, Bill Nelson, Howard Norvell and Michael White...

The number of COVID-19 cases remains high in Mississippi County, though the numbers did drop from 401 active cases last Wednesday to 343 as of Tuesday morning. Thus far, there have been 4,072 cases, with 3,637 recoveries and 91 deaths in Mississippi County...

The Leachville City Council held their December meeting on Monday, Dec. 14, with Mayor Rodney Robertson presiding. The council members voted to show their appreciation to the employees with an extra check for hazardous pay for working through the pandemic this year...

Clytee Ava McRea, 86, of Fenton Missouri, formerly of Blytheville, passed away in the evening of December 17, 2020. She was born on July 1, 1934 in Sumner Mississppi to Wilbur Allen Palmer and Hallie Carol Downs Palmer. She was a high school graduate...

Mark Hudson, 61, a lifelong resident of Blytheville, died after a brief illness at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Little Rock. He was the son of James H. (Jim The Barber) and Josephine Jarratt Hudson. Mark graduated from Blytheville High School in 1977. He was active in ROTC where he achieved the rank of Lt. ...

Julian Stokes of Earle was born March 22, 1964 in Blytheville to the late John Stokes and the late Rosa Ramsey Stokes. He was a truckdriver. Mr. Stokes passed away on December 18, 2020 at Great River Medical Center in Blytheville, at the age of 56. He was preceded in death by his father John Stokes, his mother Rosa Ramsey Stokes, four brothers John Stokes, Jr., Willie David Stokes, Larry Stokes, and John Wayne Stokes. ...

A storm caused power outages in the Blytheville area Wednesday night. Some lines and poles were downed by the winds, including in the area of Highway 151 and Highway 18 near Nibco, according to Blytheville assistant police chief Ricky Jefferson. Poles and lines at Holland and Main and Elm and Locust were also damaged, he said. That left a number without power...