CAR SLAMS INTO BUILDING AT JACKSON, HURTING FOUR

JACKSON -- Four people were injured in a two-vehicle accident Friday in which one of the cars crashed through the front of an insurance company office, police said.

The accident occurred at 11:04 a.m. at Missouri and Main streets, Jackson police said.

The accident occurred when a northbound vehicle on Missouri Street, driven by Anna C. Barks, 49, of Jackson Route 6, pulled away from a stop sign and into the path of an eastbound car on West Main Street driven by Sharon Botello, 36, of Jackson, said police.

The Botello vehicle struck the Barks auto. As a result of the collision, Barks lost control of her vehicle, which went crashing through the front of the Farmers Insurance Group office at 200 W. Main, police said.

Barks and three people inside the insurance office, including two employees, were injured, police said. Botello escaped injury.

Barks was taken to Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau where she was reported in fair condition Saturday.

The two insurance office employees, Pat Davenport, 67, of Jackson, and Sally J. Kiplinger, 42, of Millersville, were taken to St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. Davenport's legs were broken in the accident, while Kiplinger's right hand was injured. Both were reported in stable condition Saturday at St. Francis Medical Center.

Hazel Duhaime, 72, of Jackson, the sister of insurance agent Joe Gohn, was visiting in her brother's office at the time of the accident. She suffered a minor injury.

"Hazel's hand was just nicked," said Stuart Garrison of the Farmers Insurance office. He said she simply bandaged her hand and went home.

Garrison said the crash tore out the front door and a plate glass window of the insurance office. "The car was 90 percent inside my office when it was all done," he said.

"The car hit the counter in the front of our office and knocked it and the desk and the two secretaries flying," said Garrison.

"This is a bad intersection," he said. "We have things happen here all the time."