After weekend crash, Discovery Playhouse to reopen Tuesday

About half a dozen people spent the past two days cleaning up Discovery Playhouse after a car crashed into the downtown building Saturday. The museum will reopen at 10 a.m. today.

Two large glass windows were broken when a driver who was reportedly drunk drove his car onto the sidewalk and into the front of the building at 502 Broadway.

Executive director Jennifer Mullix said safety glass was installed when the windows were replaced last April, so that helped to make cleanup easier. Instead of shards and splinters of glass, it broke into round, pea-sized pieces, she said. The accident occurred in the water play area of the Discovery Playhouse called Kim's Secret Water Garden. Mullix said the entire area was carefully cleaned, including dismantling the rubber floor tiles and then reassembling them to make sure all glass was removed before children were allowed back in to play.

A glass company came to measure for replacement windows Monday, Mullix said.

Trever L. Johnson of Commerce, Mo., was charged with striking a legally stopped or parked motor vehicle, failure to drive in a single lane, driving while intoxicated and possession of a controlled substance.

"We're still trying to get details from the police report to see if the driver has insurance we can potentially file a claim with," Mullix said. The museum also is insured, she said.

Although the windows will still be boarded up today, Mullix said, the museum will be open and fully functioning.

"We're not going to let it delay the opening of our new exhibit, Grandma Ruth's Farm" on Friday, Mullix said.

The exhibit teaches children how food gets from farm to market and includes orchard and veggie patch areas, a chicken coop and a life-size milking cow.

A ribbon cutting for the new exhibit will be at 11:30 a.m. Friday.

mmiller@semissourian.com

388-3646

Pertinent address:

502 Broadway, Cape Girardeau, MO