Region briefs 01/03/03

Fire destroys Oak Ridge office building Thursday

Fire destroyed an office building at Ed's Auto Sales in Oak Ridge Thursday afternoon.

No one was injured, but the structure, once a small house that had been converted into office space, was considered a total loss, said fire chief Richard Oehl of the North Cape Girardeau County Fire Protection District.

"It didn't fall in or anything, but it was gutted out," he said.

The car lot sits at 10555 State Highway D, about 2 miles east of Interstate 55.

An official cause for the fire was not determined, but Oehl suspected an electrical problem. Inside, a small electric heater was found.

Conservation director to address chamber

John Hoskins, director of the Missouri Department of Conservation, will talk to area business leaders about the proposed Nature Center in Cape County Park North at 7:30 a.m. today at the Show Me Center.

Originally, the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce announced that Convention and Visitors Bureau officials would give an update at the First Friday Coffee event. The event is sponsored by the CVB, but the program will be about the proposed Nature Center.

For more information, contact the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce at 335-3312.

Hunting magazine praises Otter Slough

CAMPBELL, Mo. -- The secret's out. Whether area duck hunters like it or not, every hunter in the country probably knows now about the area's best hunting site -- Otter Slough.

The not-so-secret popularity of the local wildlife conservation area was released in the November/December issue of Ducks Unlimited magazine. The article, "Missouri's Bootheel Mallards," was written by Lee Salber, who shared his first-hand experiences duck-hunting at Otter Slough and other prolific hunting sites in the area during a three-day visit in early December 2001.

Salber was joined by local duck-hunting enthusiasts Jimmie Darnell of Campbell, a Ducks Unlimited regional chairman who oversees 13 chapters of the organization; then-Zone Chairman David Beaird of Poplar Bluff, Mo., now a Ducks Unlimited Regional Director in Minnesota; and former Ducks Unlimited Regional Director for Southeast Missouri Joe Breidenbach (replaced recently by Kevin Willsey).

Another participant during Salber's visit to the area was Dexter's Steve Brown, who hosted the group at his family's cabin adjacent to Otter Slough.

Prison inmate accused of murdering cellmate

CAMERON, Mo. -- An inmate serving time for murder at the maximum-security Crossroads Correctional Center was charged Thursday with strangling his cellmate.

Lawrence Schuster, 26, is accused of killing Stanley Hoelscher on Dec. 18 in the cell they shared, said DeKalb County Prosecutor Bart Spear.

Hoelscher, 47, was found unresponsive on the floor of the cell as corrections officers were conducting a routine count of inmates. Prison medical staff and paramedics were unable to revive him.

An autopsy concluded someone strangled Hoelscher with their hands.

The two inmates were alone in the cell when Hoelscher was found and there were reports the two had argued that morning, police said.

Schuster is severing time for convictions of second-degree murder, two counts of escaping from custody, tampering, first-degree burglary, felonious restraint and armed criminal action.

Hoelscher had served 11 years of a 30-year sentence for two counts of sodomy in St. Louis.

Man dies after leaping from Kansas City overpass

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Authorities are trying to identity a man who apparently leapt from an overpass and was struck and killed by by a vehicle on Interstate 70.

The man was not carrying identification when he jumped around 7 p.m. Tuesday. The victim, identified as a white man, was wearing a long-sleeved, button-up blue shirt, blue jeans and a black belt, said police Sgt. Randy Sims.

-- From staff, wire reports