Line-up for all the parade participants will be at 5:00 PM today. With only thirty minutes before the parade begins, everything has to be planned down to the "T". Area streets have been marked off with paint on Bain Street, Chautauqua Street and others surrounding the traditional starting line in front of Harp's Supermarket.
At 5:30, the whistle will blow and the parade will begin.
Many long time attendees of the festivities are well aware that they must arrive early to get their specific spot on the parade route. In the early afternoon, lawn chairs and tents could be found along the route marking spots that people want to view the parade.
The City of Dexter Street Department worked furiously through the past weeks to repair a section of Stoddard Street so it would be ready for today's event. The project was completed just in time with fresh smooth blacktop laid at the end of last week.
Make your plan to attend the parade and fair this year. Activities get underway at the Stoddard County Fairgrounds following the parade.
Written by SMT writer
Jessica Snider
This weekend the annual Miss Stoddard County Pageant was held in Dexter. This pageant is specifically for contestants who have placed in a pageant within the past twelve months.
The Xi Lambda Psi Chapter of Beta Theta Pi Sorority sponsored the event and all proceeds go to help local charities in our communities. There was a great turn out of contestants in all categories this year. Though every girl looked beautiful on stage, however the judges must narrow it down to a queen, a first alternate, and a second alternate. The job of judging is one that many of us would find very difficult to do in a beauty pageant.
The Miss Stoddard County was crowned Sunday afternoon. Sophie Thorn of Bloomfield, Missouri, took the crown and is now the 2012 Miss Stoddard County. Along with her, Lauren Thrower of Dexter took home first alternate, and Taylor Owens won second alternate.
Sophie is the Daughter of Tony and Laura Thorn of Bloomfield. Lauren is the daughter of Lori Hawkins and Bob Thrower of Dexter. Taylor is the daughter of Ken and Shannon Owens also of Dexter.
A big congratulations goes out to these three girls along with all of the contestants who participated! All of the contestants work very hard to get ready for these pageants and deserve this moment in the spotlight.
Be sure to attend the Stoddard County Parade that begins at 5:30 today. The parade will be filled emergency vehicles, bands and of course the area queens.
All three of these young ladies have been crowned queen in various area events and will be involved in the parades as well.
The State FFA Vice-President made a chapter visit to the Dexter FFA Chapter on Thursday, September 13th. He didn’t have far to go since this year’s State FFA Vice-President representing Area 16 is Sam Turner of Bernie.
Sam Turner is a senior at Bernie High School and a very active member of the Bernie FFA Chapter. During the visit, Sam spoke to four of Dexter’s high school agriculture classes. He shared with them the importance of being an FFA member, and the things FFA can do if they take advantage of it.
Part of Sam Turner’s yearlong service to the FFA is to make chapter visits to all the FFA chapters in the Area he is from.
Turner will be away from home approximately sixty days this year and will travel nearly 10,000 miles to represent the FFA. He encouraged two ninth grade AG Science I classes to get involved, set their priorities, and stay focused on their goals.
Dexter Greenhands are pictured with Sam Turner in the photo. Picture from left to right Chelsey Cox, Matney Davis, Alex Whitehead, Hannah Craft, Sam Turner, Devin Aslin, Keaton Francisco, Cody Pullum, and Michael Hurst.
For the first time this year, the Ben Kruse 18 Fore Life Carnival was held in June. With only a few days to prepare and to spread the word, many area residents came out to enjoy the rides, carnival food, and games in support of the charity.
The event was sponsored by the local businesses of Montgomery Bank, County Wide Insurance Agency, and the ShowMe Times.
A portion of the proceeds were donated by the carnival group to the charity. In all, the four day event raised over $3,800.00 for the charity. These funds will be put to immediate use by the charity in helping area people and families that are dealing with cancer.
"18 Fore Life has been able to give away over $100,000.00 since June of this year," says Scott Kruse. "... and we still have names of the list."
Above, a very enthusiastic Ed Gargas of County Wide Insurance Agency and Scott Nelson of Montgomery Bank are shown presenting the a check to Kerri Kruse.
Written by
Jessica Snider SMT Writer
There was a big turn out Friday morning at Hickory Log in Dexter as many citizens excitingly awaited the arrival of Congressman Todd Akin. The Stoddard County Republican Club sponsored this event. There were many interested citizens, elected officials, and members of the club in attendance.
Carol Beam, a very active member in the Republican Club, started the event by talking about the Stoddard County Republican club. Carol noted that candidates would come in to talk to the club to inform them. “We need to be informed,” said Beam, “This is the most important election of our lifetime.”
After a few minutes of information about the club, Carol Beam had the privilege of introducing the guest speaker of the day, Todd Akin. On November 6th, Akin will be running for U.S. Senate against Claire Mccaskill who currently holds the position.
Akin started the speaking event with, “Thanks so much for coming out and for the understanding you show about where we are as a nation and the seriousness of the times we face.”
Akin said he was offered a lot of advice from a lot of people, some from the top level telling him to step-down in the race. He noted that he stopped and asked himself what was the right thing to do.
“Over the years my rule of thumb has been, what’s the principle, what’s the right thing to do, and to dickens with the politics,” Akin noted about the decision he faced of whether or not to stay in the race.
“When you as a state elect somebody and then the party bosses want to appoint somebody different, that’s not a good idea. We decided I was chosen to replace Mccaskill, and we’re focused on that.”
Akin made it known that his point is that we have to stand on principle. “I’ve been a Republican for twenty-four years and the very last thing I would want to do is in anyway divide the party. I have one thing I’m focused on and that’s replacing Claire Mccaskill. "Akin said he’s been traveling a lot throughout the state of Missouri and his confidence in the state is only growing. Akin notes that he feels Missourians take the U.S. Constitution seriously.
“As Americans, we always get right back up. We learn from our mistakes. America is built one dream at a time. In this election it’s our opportunity to fight for freedom in America. God bless you.”
After Akin finished his speaking, Carol Beam returned to the microphone to say congressman Akin would take a short break before question and answers would begin.
As the question and answer session began, many people were eager to get some feed back from their answers from Akin. Some of the questions from concerned citizens included: Mccaskill’s voting record, spiritual state of the nation, and views on social security.
Akin reminds everyone to take a closer look at how elected officials voted.
Akin concluded the question and answer session by saying, “God bless you all and thank you for being here today.”
Carol Beam returned to the microphone one last time to conclude the event. She reminded everyone of certain events the Republican club holds, and invited everyone to talk to elected officials in attendance. “Todd Akin is a man of character and integrity. We need to get behind him and support him with our prayers.”
