MORE INJURIES REPORTED THIS HOLIDAY PERIOD

Fewer traffic accidents but more injuries occurred in Southeast Missouri over the Memorial Day weekend, the Missouri Highway Patrol said.

Cooler-than-normal temperatures kept most people away from area municipal pools. The high in Cape Girardeau Monday was 70; the low 47.

The Memorial Day weekend is traditionally a busy time for municipal pools. As in past years, several area pools opened over the weekend.

As of late Monday night, 30 people had been injured in 20 accidents in the highway patrol's Troop E district over the holiday period. The holiday period began at 6 p.m. Friday and ended at midnight Monday. Through midnight Sunday, state troopers in Troop E had made 14 drunk-driving arrests.

Nearly a third of those injuries occurred in a one-vehicle accident on Interstate 55, 10 miles north of Sikeston.

Nine people were injured in the 4:40 a.m. accident Monday when a northbound van driven by Rita Macklin, 29, of Chicago, ran off the road, swerved back onto and across the roadway, and overturned in the median, the patrol said.

Macklin suffered moderate injuries. Also injured were eight passengers, all from Chicago. Several of the injured were young children.

Two of the passengers were wearing seat belts; the others were not, the patrol said. All nine were taken to Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston.

Statewide, as of late Monday night, three people had been killed in accidents over the holiday period, none of them in Troop E, said Sgt. Brent Davis of the patrol's Troop E headquarters in Poplar Bluff.

But the statistics don't include the death of an Arkansas man, who was struck by a train as he stood on railroad tracks in front of a tavern in Campbell in Dunklin County.

Rickie Steward, 29, of Piggott, Ark., was standing on the tracks shortly before 1:30 a.m. Sunday when a Union Pacific freight train approached, the patrol said.

Witnesses said another man on the tracks jumped off to avoid the train, but Steward was struck.

Davis said Steward's death was not included in the traffic fatality statistics because it happened on private property.

In Southern Illinois, no holiday fatalities were reported in Union, Alexander, Pulaski and Massac counties as of late Monday night, State Police said.

Last year there were 1,348 traffic accidents in Missouri over the Memorial Day holiday. Thirteen people were killed and 706 were injured. "Drinking was involved in 36 percent of the fatal traffic accidents," said Davis.

Last year over the holiday period, the patrol in Troop E worked 33 accidents. There was one fatality and 28 people were injured, Davis said. The patrol made 23 DWI arrests.

Davis attributed the fewer number of accidents this year to the unseasonably cool weather.

"It obviously has a lot to do with it," he remarked. "It just kept a lot of them home, I would say."

Monday's chilly weather didn't deter some people from taking in a Memorial Day swim.

Scott City pool manager Kathy Hotop said early Monday afternoon that approximately 35 people were swimming at the pool, where the water temperature had reached only 71 degrees. The pool opened Saturday, she said.

At Capaha Pool in Cape Girardeau, the number of swimmers early Monday afternoon totaled about 10, said Manager Randy Barnhouse. Barnhouse put the temperature of the water, which also opened Saturday, at about 67 degrees.

"Any heat that we gained on Saturday, we lost," he said. Given sunny, 80-degree plus days, he estimated the pool would reach a temperature of 78 degrees or better in a week's time.

The Jackson Municipal Pool early Monday afternoon had about the same number of swimmers as Capaha Pool.

"We've had about a dozen kids come in," Amy Koch, one of the pool's two managers, said Monday. Koch said the pool opened May 15.

The pool's temperature Monday afternoon was 69 degrees, she said. Koch said the temperature didn't bother the swimmers at all.

In contrast to Monday, the three municipal pools were busy places Saturday. Capaha had 144 people, Scott City had about 80 to 90, and Jackson had over 200, according to the managers.

Neither Capaha nor the Jackson pool had swimmers Sunday. The number of swimmers at Scott City Sunday was unavailable.

Because no one showed up at the Jackson pool Sunday, Koch said the pool didn't open. Barnhouse said the lack of swimmers at Capaha gave pool workers an opportunity to hose down the decks, do some extra cleaning and complete some other tasks.

Capaha Pool is now only open part time, Barnhouse said. The pool will open full time on June 4, the same day the city's second pool, Central Municipal Pool, will open for outdoor swimming. Cape Central Pool's protective bubble, Barnhouse said, is scheduled to be removed May 28.

The part-time hours at Capaha are 3-6 p.m. weekdays and 1-5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. The full-time hours for both city pools will be 1-8 p.m. daily.

Admission is 50 cents for children 13 and under and $1 for adults.

Jackson Municipal Pool is open 1-7:30 p.m. daily. Admission is $2 a person from 1-5 p.m. After 5 p.m., the charge is $1.

The hours at Scott City Pool are 1-6 p.m. daily. Children under 13 pay 75 cents admission. Adults pay $1.25.