Eleven reported dead in holiday weekend traffic accidents

Tuesday, September 2, 2003

Although no fatal accidents occurred in Vernon County, 11people were reported killed in traffic accidents on Missouri highways over the long Labor Day holiday weekend, one more than died during the same period a year ago. Missouri State Highway Patrol Troop A investigated an accident in Bates County that injured four people over the weekend. Joe Ghere, 79, Butler apparently pulled into the path of a car driven by Jennifer Koch, 28, Leavenworth, Kan., at the intersection of U.S. 71 and Missouri 52 highway. Ghere, Koch, and her son, Rocky, 7, were taken to Bates County Memorial Hospital. Koch's husband, Rockland, 28, was lifeflighted to Research Hospital with serious injuries. A citation was issued to Ghere by Highway Patrol Corporal C.M. Gach for careless and imprudent driving. William A. Douglas, 23, of Perryville, was the final fatality reported by the patrol on Monday. The patrol said Douglas was southbound on Route B in Perry County at 4:30 p.m. when he drove off the right side of the road, overcorrected and went off the left side of the highway. His vehicle went into a drainage ditch, where it struck an embankment and overturned. James D. Bales, 71, of Ellington, was killed at 1:55 p.m. Sunday when his vehicle ran off Missouri 21 near Ellington, went over a guard rail, struck a tree and overturned, the patrol said. Earlier Sunday, Claud Hicks, 81, of Fair Grove was killed at 7:03 a.m. in Greene County just north of Springfield. The patrol said Hicks was southbound on Route H when a northbound car crossed the center line and struck Hicks' vehicle head-on. Casey Galasso, 22, of Ballwin, and Jason Faigle, 26, of Hillsboro, died in a single-car crash Saturday morning in Franklin County when the car they were in skidded across the center lane, ran off the road and hit a tree, the patrol said. Anthony Sprugeon, 25, of Festus, was killed at 1 a.m. Saturday on a Perry County highway in McBride when the southbound car he was driving hit the rear of a tractor-trailer, the patrol said. Kevin Morrow, 32, of Neosho, died in a single-car crash when his vehicle ran off the right side of U.S. 54 in Laddonia and struck a building and utility pole about 9:15 p.m. Friday, the patrol said. Phillip Logan, 58, of Hartville, was killed at 7:15 p.m. Friday when the northbound vehicle he was driving crossed the center lane and struck a sport utility vehicle head-on in the rain on Missouri 60 in Willow Springs, the patrol said. Passenger Darlene Lynch, 53, of Hartville, was pronounced dead at a Springfield hospital. Cory M. Vandament, 17, of Festus, died Friday when the pickup truck in which he was a passenger ran off Route TT near Festus and struck a tree about 6:20 p.m., the patrol said. Wallace Petro, 83, of Peekskill, N.Y., was killed about 5:45 p.m. Saturday in an accident on eastbound Interstate 44 near St. Clair. The patrol said Petro moved his vehicle to the right to avoid hitting a mobile home that had partially entered his lane, then overcorrected. The car struck the mobile home, ran off the road, struck an embankment and overturned. Last year, 10 people were killed in traffic crashes during the Labor Day holiday counting period, which runs from 6 p.m. Friday to 11:59 p.m. Monday.

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