23 ARRESTED IN DWI ROADBLOCK NEAR BRIDGE

The Missouri Highway Patrol called the drunken-driving problem in Cape Girardeau "serious" and "alarming" after 23 people were arrested in a five-hour period at a sobriety checkpoint.

In a joint sobriety checkpoint effort begun Saturday night and continuing into Sunday morning, the Highway Patrol, Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department and Cape Girardeau police stopped about 500 vehicles on Morgan Oak near the Mississippi River bridge.

During the checkpoint, 102 drivers -- about 20 percent -- were found to have been drinking and were asked to submit to field sobriety tests.

"We have a very serious problem if one out of every five drivers had to be pulled out of the vehicle to check his sobriety," said Lt. Jim McNiell of the Highway Patrol.

Of the 102 drivers, 33 were asked to take a Breathalyzer test. Two drivers refused and had their licenses immediately suspended.

Of the 31 who took the test, 23 were found to have blood-alcohol levels of .10 or higher. They were arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated.

Nine of the drivers had blood-alcohol levels registering more than .20, and six had levels between .13 and .20, McNiell said.

He referred to the numbers as "serious, alarming" and "ungodly."

"Never have I seen a sobriety checkpoint so successful," he said.

McNiell said most of the intoxicated drivers were young people who had been drinking in Illinois and were returning to Missouri. But he said some of the drivers arrested were headed to Illinois and were already drunk.

"This is not just a college thing," he said.

He said that on Friday night a man was arrested near Sikeston by a Highway Patrol officer and charged with driving while intoxicated. The man, who was driving 105 mph while drunk, told the officer that he had just come from the Purple Crackle in East Cape Girardeau, Ill.

In addition to the arrests made at the checkpoint, Cape Girardeau police arrested a man shortly after 9 a.m. Saturday and charged him with driving while intoxicated while he was on his way to Southeast Missouri State University's homecoming parade. University student Anthony L. Douglas, 22, was arrested after he stopped and asked police for directions to a float.

Two other men in the crowd at the parade were taken into protective custody by police because the men were intoxicated.

"Each year we have a problem around homecoming," said police Cpl. Kevin Orr.

Arrested and charged at the Morgan Oak checkpoint were Louis Felder, 42, of 401 Morgan Oak; Lisa J. Hahn, 34, of 1499 State Highway 34; James W. Mathena, 31, of 2806 Perryville Road; Jacob G. Sladin, 21, of 510 Washington St.; David B. Carlyle, 21, of Commerce; Charles Nocera, 31, of Chaffee; Nathan Williams, 23, of Ironton; Leif Thompson, 29, of 1105 Patricia; Elbridge Robinson Jr., 25, of 725 William; and Teddy Meggs, 46, of McClure, Ill.

Formal charges against the remaining 12 drivers are in the process of being filed.

McNiell pledged the patrol would return as often as needed in an effort to reduce drunken driving.

"As soon as Cape Girardeau is ready, we'll be back," he said. "We've got to be back."