Region briefs 9/22/08

Weather trips up Sock Hop benefit

Once again, weather put the kibosh on the Sock Hop benefit for the Family Resource Center for a second time — but organizers refuse to give up. "What we're doing is we're still going to have it, but we want to do it at the Family Resource Center," said James Coley. "The Red Bird Auditorium is big enough to host it. It's big enough to have the event there." He said the center's board will choose a new date and the announcement will be forthcoming. The party is an annual event. Last year, Sock Hop money paid for new windows at the Family Resource Center. This year's proceeds are intended to finance a new roof.

Harvest festival set for Saturday in Patton area

The annual Harvest Festival at Reagan's Chapel United Methodist Church be held Saturday at the church. Dinner is from 3 to 6:15 p.m. and includes kettle beef, chicken and dumplings and fried chicken. At 7 p.m. there will be an auction for quilts, handmade items and produce. To find the church from Patton Junction, go north on Route 51 about 2 1/2 miles to Route NN and follow the signs to the church.

Fire ousts three from Cape Girardeau home

Cape Girardeau firefighters responded to a one-alarm blaze at 1022 Independence St. in the early hours of Sunday morning. Battalion chief Steve Niswonger said no one was injured in the blaze, which caused an estimated $37,000 in damage. Neighbor Chenecia Aldridge said she and some friends saw smoke and three people run out of the home at 4:07 a.m. Sunday. "There was no big boom or anything. Just some smoke, and then flames from the basement," she said. "It was a beautiful house." Charlie Herbst, a Cape Girardeau city councilman who lives just a few houses away, said the home had received awards in past years for Christmas yard decorations.

Jury selection in church shooting to be in July

NEOSHO, Mo. — Jury selection for a 52-year-old Neosho man accused of killing three Micronesian church leaders and wounding four people last year will be held next July. The Neosho Daily News reported Sunday that a panel of jurors from Greene County will be selected on July 13, 2009. The jurors will likely be sequestered for a trial to begin next summer. Eiken Elam Saimon, who remains in jail without bail, was bound over for trial last week on three counts of murder, four counts of assault and one count each of felonious restraint and armed criminal action. The charges stem from an August 2007 shooting rampage during a Sunday service at a Neosho church.

— From staff reports