Lawyers, Guns and Money
Emily Priddy covers crime and courts for the Southeast Missourian. A Southern Illinois girl and proud SIU-C alumna, she grew up fighting with her siblings in the car on the way to visit relatives in Cape Girardeau. You probably don't want to know what she thinks about flavored coffee or the designated hitter.
-
Don't forget Winona
Posted Wednesday, July 8, 2015, at 9:26 PM6I'd been driving for the better end of 13 hours Sunday when a cop pulled me over on U.S. 60 in Winona, Missouri. As I extracted my license from my purse, I asked why I was being stopped. He explained an informant had told police a car matching the description of mine was running drugs, so officers were stopping "all the cars that match this description."... -
Running buddies
Posted Thursday, January 1, 2015, at 7:20 PMI couldn't find a logical place to work them into my story today, but I met a rather inspiring pair of training partners this morning at the MyTEAM TRIUMPH Resolution Run. Doug Ambler came to the 5-kilometer race this morning with his running partner, Zoe, a 4-year-old vizsla... -
"But what does he look like?"
Posted Friday, November 21, 2014, at 2:34 PMInvariably, when we run stories about crimes that have been reported in Cape Girardeau or the surrounding areas, we get questions about the suspect's physical appearance. People are understandably eager to keep an eye out and help police catch suspects before they have a chance to victimize someone else... -
Shameless self-promotion
Posted Wednesday, May 14, 2014, at 8:06 PMIt's more than a year overdue, but I finally got around to setting up a Twitter account last night. My handle is @semocrime. I'll be live-tweeting from crime scenes and stuff like that whenever I remember to do it -- which may not be very often, because in my day, we didn't have all this newfangled social media to keep up with. ... -
A fond farewell
Posted Monday, March 31, 2014, at 5:30 PM2Journalists aren't supposed to get attached to sources, but I'll be honest: I'm really going to miss Roger Fields. When I met him last spring, Fields was serving as interim police chief, and I was just starting my job as the Missourian's new crime reporter... -
Passion for Popeye
Posted Friday, March 21, 2014, at 12:35 PMComic enthusiasts are nothing if not passionate. In the past two weeks, I've met a guy who built his own replica of the TARDIS (an acronym for Time and Relative Dimension in Space) from Doctor Who, a guy whose father-in-law moved from California to small-town Southern Illinois for the sake of Superman and a couple who moved from Elvis' hometown to Popeye's to open a Popeye-themed store and museum... -
Insecurity
Posted Tuesday, February 11, 2014, at 5:37 PMFrom the "If I still taught high school, I'd use this to teach irony" files: A man was arrested Wednesday afternoon on suspicion of shoplifting a security camera from a hardware store. A security camera. I have questions. What was the thought process here? I mean, I guess a thief would know, better than anyone else, that you can't trust anybody, but still...... -
Layers of laws
Posted Thursday, January 30, 2014, at 4:26 PMA reader raised an interesting question this morning after seeing my story about a candidate for Perryville city marshal being disqualified for failing to pay his city personal property tax before the end of the filing period. Sgt. Brad Pitts of the Perryville Police Department was disqualified under RSMo. ... -
Scriptural larceny
Posted Saturday, January 4, 2014, at 2:37 PMWhen I was little, my mother taught me not to leave valuable items out in plain sight. If I had to leave anything important in the car, Mom encouraged me to hide it under the seat or throw a coat or blanket over it and lock the car door to discourage thieves... -
Investment advice for seniors
Posted Wednesday, December 11, 2013, at 1:40 PMI've covered several stories in the past few months that involved allegations of investment scams. Many of these schemes involve older people handing over their life savings to an unregistered investment adviser or broker who promises a big return on a questionable investment... -
There's no place like home for the holidays
Posted Thursday, November 28, 2013, at 1:59 PMAs I sit in the office on this Thanksgiving afternoon, keeping an ear on the police scanner and rifling through my notes for my next story, it occurs to me that this is probably the most appropriate place I could spend a holiday devoted to gratitude... -
Theft prevention
Posted Monday, November 11, 2013, at 5:54 PMWhile the holiday season tends to bring out the best in most of us, the Cape Girardeau Police Department is reminding the public that the Grinch isn't the only one who likes to steal around Christmas. A flier from the department notes that thefts and burglaries tend to increase around the holidays each year and offers five quick tips for making thieves' jobs more difficult:... -
More on domestic violence
Posted Thursday, October 24, 2013, at 1:46 PMIn the course of researching the articles on domestic violence that appeared in today's paper, I came away with three points I think bear repeating and emphasizing. 1. Domestic violence is everybody's problem. If you see or hear a domestic in progress, call 911. NOW. Don't wait. Don't decide it's none of your business. Don't assume that she'll call when she's ready. Call... -
Was this necessary?
Posted Monday, October 7, 2013, at 2:14 PMI covered a rather unusual court proceeding last week. On Thursday, David Salzmann -- who is accused of detonating a homemade pipe bomb as a police officer approached his car -- found himself in Judge Gary Kamp's courtroom for a second preliminary hearing in connection with the case... -
Why didn't you cover that?
Posted Friday, September 20, 2013, at 7:02 PM2Readers often ask, "Why didn't the Southeast Missourian do a story about _?" I've heard all sorts of theories attempting to answer this question. Most of them involve blackmail, bribery or favoritism. I'm sure it's fun to imagine that reporters live thrilling, Hollywood-style lives full of excitement and intrigue and mysterious sources who whisper cryptic tips in dark parking lots before vanishing in a puff of cigarette smoke, but here's the reality: If we didn't cover something newsworthy, we probably either didn't know about it or couldn't verify it.. ... -
All a-Twitter
Posted Tuesday, September 17, 2013, at 2:34 PMOne of my regular sources tells me Cape PD is going to be stepping up its social media game with more frequent Twitter posts. The department's Twitter handle is @CapePolice. If you're not a regular Twitter user, hop over to twitter.com/capepolice to see what's shaking... -
A friendly reminder
Posted Sunday, September 1, 2013, at 4:16 PMThree-day weekends are great. You can spend 72 solid hours watching ballgames, scarfing down chocolate-chip cookie dough straight out of the tube, geeking out over a season or two of Dr. Who reruns or provoking unwinnable confrontations with your liver -- whatever makes you happy... -
"Go, and sin no more"
Posted Tuesday, August 27, 2013, at 7:42 PM3The first time I saw the quiet, wide-eyed woman leaning on a walker and inching toward the bench, I wondered what on earth she could have done to land herself in criminal court. I wasn't there to cover her case, but her court dates frequently landed on the same docket as some higher-profile crimes, so our paths crossed several times during the next few months, and over the next few hearings, I learned some things about her... -
Somebody stole what?
Posted Thursday, August 22, 2013, at 7:26 PM1I think I was about 6 when I read a newspaper article about someone stealing bags of garbage from a parked car in Southern Illinois. I was amused -- and baffled. Why would somebody want to steal trash? "People are crazy," my mom explained. Valuable life lesson, that, and one I thought of yesterday when I looked over the incident summary from the Cape Girardeau Police Department and discovered that a grease-service company had called police to report the theft of used food grease from a local restaurant.. ... -
Why the judge "talks too much"
Posted Sunday, August 18, 2013, at 5:44 PM1A few weeks ago, I was sitting in court, watching a defendant plead guilty, when I overheard part of a whispered conversation behind me. "He talks too much. He needs to shut up," a woman said, referring to the judge. I understood her frustration. Even under ideal circumstances, court proceedings can seem terribly tedious, and if you're waiting to hear a loved one's fate, they must feel interminable. ...
View all blog posts (22)