Region digest 7/24/02

Package leaking acid causes UPS to evacuate

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- Poplar Bluff firefighters and the Department of Natural Resources responded around 5 a.m. Monday to acid leaking from a package being loaded from a conveyor belt to a waiting UPS delivery truck.

Assistant fire chief Sam Parks said that employees at the UPS building noticed vapors coming from the package.

"They shut down the line, evacuated the building and notified us," Parks said. "We notified DNR and set up a decontamination and barricaded the area."

Nine UPS employees were working at the time, Parks said. One was taken to the hospital after complaining of a headache and an upset stomach.

Jackson Bostic of the DNR and firefighter Charles Garrison, who is trained to deal with hazardous material, discovered the substance in the package was muriatic acid, a diluted form of hydrochloric acid used to clean masonry.

Sikeston man suffers spinal cord injury on lake

WAPPAPELLO, Mo. -- A Sikeston, Mo., man is in a Cape Girardeau hospital with a possible spinal cord injury following a weekend water-skiing trip to Wappapello Lake.

According to Missouri State Water patrolman David Nelson, Chad Wilson was wake boarding on his knees near Possum Creek at about 7:30 p.m. Sunday when the accident happened.

Wilson had been trying for a month to do a 360-degree flip, Nelson said. While trying to do the flip Sunday, he landed on his head and shoulder.

"He didn't think he was hurt," Nelson said, but then he "realized he couldn't use his legs."

Wilson, who is in his 20s, was taken to a Poplar Bluff hospital, then transferred to St. Francis Medical Center in Cape where he is "under supervision," Nelson said.

Bluff stabbing victim recovering after surgery

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- A 42-year-old rural Poplar Bluff man is in the hospital following a stabbing incident Monday night, and a 41-year-old Poplar Bluff woman is in jail, arrested on suspicion of first-degree assault and armed criminal action.

According to Poplar Bluff Police, around 6:30 p.m. Monday officers found bleeding Jerry Lee Johnson bleeding on South 10th St. He had been stabbed in the upper abdomen.

After Johnson identified his assailant, police arrested Tamella E. Stacy and seized a knife as evidence.

Johnson underwent surgery Monday for a severed artery.

Man being questioned in hit-and-run accident

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Police were questioning a man Tuesday in connection with a fatal hit-and-run accident outside a Springfield bar July 11.

Investigators believe they have located the car that struck Jesus Rodrigues, said Springfield police spokesman Matt Brown.

Police learned of the man through an anonymous tip, Brown said.

Rodrigues, 40, backed into traffic and was hit by a westbound car. He died at the scene.

-- From wire reports