Region digest 12/04/02

260 drivers issued tickets over holiday

The Cape Girardeau Police Department issued 260 tickets to drivers during the week of Thanksgiving, with officers' salaries supplemented by a $2,500 traffic enforcement grant.

Cape Girardeau officers issued 73 safety belt tickets, 150 speeding tickets and 37 tickets for other traffic violations. As a result of the Selective Traffic Enforcement Program grant, the department also increased DWI enforcement.

Law enforcement agencies in 20 counties participated in STEP, designed to make Missouri safer for drivers and passengers. The grant was awarded by the Missouri Division of Highway Safety, the Missouri Police Chiefs Association and the Missouri Safety Center.

Two teenagers held in armed robbery

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- Two Poplar Bluff teenagers are under house arrest awaiting court appearances after they allegedly robbed two women at gunpoint Saturday.

The suspects, both age 16, were "positively identified" by the victims, Donna Lynn Short, 40, and Angela Marie Metz, 24.

Both Short and Metz told police that they were returning home from shopping at the Wal-Mart Supercenter.

The women stated that one of the teens approached Metz and demanded her money, according to the police report on the incident. Both juveniles ran away with about $60, the report said.

Man gets 20 years for crimes in Butler County

NEW MADRID, Mo. -- A Tallapoosa, Mo., man was recently sentenced to 20 years in prison after a jury convicted him of attempting to two steal vehicles in Butler County.

According to Butler County Prosecuting Attorney Kevin Barbour, Darrell Hufford, 36, was sentenced to two concurrent 20-year sentences by Presiding Circuit Judge Fred Copeland last week.

This came after a New Madrid County jury took fewer than 30 minutes to convict Hufford of two charges of first-degree tampering at an Oct. 11 trial, Barbour said. That same jury acquitted Hufford of second-degree burglary.

The charges stem from a July 17, 2001, incident in which Hufford had been accused of burglarizing a home in Qulin. When his vehicle broke down leaving that residence, "he tried to steal a couple of vehicles to try to get away from the original burglary scene," Barbour said.

No arrests made yet in Pemiscot County death

CARUTHERSVILLE, Mo. -- The results of the autopsy verified Pemiscot County Sheriff Tommy Greenwell's conclusion that a Bragg City, Mo., man was murdered.

Greenwell reported the death of Jimmy D. Grills, 52, was ruled a homicide. The victim, who was found in his rural Bragg City home at 2 a.m. Nov. 30, had been stabbed numerous times and bled to death.

Authorities said Tuesday that no arrests have been made in connection with the death; however, they noted more than 50 interviews had been conducted as part of their investigation.

"No clear motive has been established," Greenwell said.

Man faces murder charge from fatal car accident

DEXTER, Mo. -- A Dexter man will soon be facing trial for second-degree murder as the result of an accident which stemmed from a felony act of driving while having his license revoked.

According to Stoddard County Prosecutor Briney Welborn, Samuel A. Davison, 27, of Dexter was arrested last week on warrants for driving while revoked and second-degree murder.

According to Welborn, with Davison having had his driver's license revoked, his driving was a felony. And if a death comes about as a result of the commission of a felony, under law that death is automatically considered a murder.

According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Davison failed to stop at a stop sign and struck a ditch north of Powe, Mo., on Nov. 21. His passenger, Sarah D. Williams, 24, of Dexter, died from her injuries.

Davison is being held at the Stoddard County Jail on a $75,000 cash bond.

-- From staff, wire reports