Region briefs 6/19/07

Salvation Army offers meals with friends

The Salvation Army, 701 Good Hope St. in Cape Girar­deau, will serve meals from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Monday to June 29. All are welcome to enjoy meals at no cost. Monday's menu is ham and potato casserole, corn, peaches, biscuits and butter; Tuesday, turkey and noodles, green beans, cranberry sauce, rolls and butter; Wednesday, ham and beans, potatoes, peaches, cornbread and butter; Thursday, nachos, refried beans, peaches; Friday, chili dogs, peaches, chips. Dessert is cake or pie each day.

Baptist church holds a community cleanup

Second Missionary Baptist Church will hold a "Community Clean Up" in south Cape Girardeau from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday. The cleanup will span a two-to-three block area including Sprigg and Elm streets. Area cleanups are one way the Keep Southeast Missouri Beautiful organization works with various community groups to take a greater responsibility for their neighborhoods and surrounding environment. Keep Southeast Missouri Beautiful is a national affiliate with Keep America Beautiful. For more information about volunteering, call the Rev. Cecil Thomas at the Second Missionary Baptist Church at 335-1915.

Red Cross trades concert passes for blood

The Southeast Missouri chapter of the American Red Cross is trying to entice high school and college students to give blood by giving them VIP access passes to a big summer concert tour. Today through Saturday and Monday through June 30, the Red Cross is giving out VIP access passes to the Vans Warped Tour -- a touring festival featuring alternative rock acts like New Found Glory and Relient K -- to donors at its collection center at 20 S. Mount Auburn Road. The tour will visit the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre in St. Louis on Aug. 14. The passes allow special access, including backstage, but a ticket to the concert must be purchased. Volunteers from six schools in the region -- Central High School, Notre Dame Regional High School, Jackson High School, Saxony Lutheran High School, Scott City High School and Chaffee High School -- are recruiting fellow students for the blood drive. Donors must be at least 16 years old. The drive is part of a national program called Music Saves Lives.

Injured motorcycle policeman has surgery

Cape Girardeau police motorcycle officer Cpl. Kevin Eudy collided with a car that failed to yield Friday, sending the officer flying. Eudy was admitted to Saint Francis Medical Center and had surgery to repair a broken wrist. Sgt. Barry Hovis said the Cape Girardeau Police Department currently has two motorcycles, with one under repair due to Friday's accident. They are used mostly for policing traffic and parades. Eudy was northbound on East Rodney Drive when a car driven by a 16-year-old girl failed to yield at the Hawthorne Road intersection. Hovis said the car had stopped at a stop sign, but the driver did not see Eudy and pulled through the intersection into his path. Eudy was thrown from his motorcycle, according to Hovis. The girl, whose name was not released because she is a juvenile, received a summons for failure to yield resulting in a motor vehicle accident.

Immigrant pleads not guilty to manslaughter

An illegal immigrant costing the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department thousands in overtime pay was arraigned Monday. Juan P. Vargas, 25, of 1416 Jefferson Ave., pleaded not guilty to one count of first-degree manslaughter and two counts of second-degree assault. A motion to reduce Vargas' $100,000 cash-only bond was denied by Judge Gary Kamp. Vargas' trial is set to begin July 21. Vargas is being held at Saint Francis Medical Center on 24-hour guard.

-- From staff reports