Area briefs 05/12/04

Public meeting on sales tax set for Thursday

Cape Girardeau city officials will hold a public meeting Thursday to inform voters about the quarter-cent fire sales tax on the June 8 ballot. The meeting will be at 7 p.m. at the A.C. Brase Arena Building. Police and fire department officials will be on hand to answer questions. The proposed tax would generate $2 million a year for capital improvements and operating expenses.

Cape couple killed in Interstate 57 rollover

A Cape Girardeau couple was killed Monday on Interstate 57 in east-central Illinois. Iroquois County Coroner Bill Cheatum said that Essie Harris, 62, with her husband and daughter as passengers, was driving south on I-57 near Buckley, Ill., around 2 p.m. Monday when the vehicle veered off the road. Harris overcorrected, and the vehicle rolled over several times. Harris' husband, James M. Harris, 84, was pronounced dead at the scene. Essie Harris and her daughter, Tiffany Harris, 22, were taken by ambulance to the Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana, Ill. Essie Harris died there; Tiffany Harris remains hospitalized.

-- From staff reports