COUNCILMAN IN CHAFFEE DIES IN WRECK

ORAN - Virgil Keith Moore, a well known businessman and longtime member of the Chaffee City Council, was killed late Tuesday afternoon in an automobile accident.

Scott County Coroner Scott Amick said Moore, 62, and his wife, Wanda, both died instantly following the head on collision of two cars on Highway 77 and Scott County Route W, at the east city limits of Oran.

The bodies were taken to the Amick-Burnett Funeral Home in Chaffee, where funeral arrangements are pending.

Amick said Moore and his wife were traveling to Sikeston to attend a meeting when the accident occurred.

The Missouri Highway Patrol said a pickup truck driven by Stephen Hess, 23, of Chaffee, was traveling north on Highway 77 when it came upon a car stopped in the northbound lane of the highway. The stopped car was waiting for Moore's southbound vehicle to pass, before making a left turn into Oran.

Investigators said Hess apparently tried to pass the stopped vehicle at the intersection and collided head on in the southbound lane with the Moore vehicle.

Hess was taken to Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau with moderate injuries. The driver of the stopped car was not involved in the accident.

Moore was completing his 19th year on the Chaffee City Council, where he served as councilman from Ward 4. He was re-elected to a two-year term on the council last April.

Moore owned and operated Moore's Standard Service Station, and a used car dealership in Chaffee.

He was also a longtime member of the Chaffee General Hospital board of directors, until his resignation late last year.