Jul 31, 2008

Two members of a well-known eastern Douglas County family died in an early morning wreck in Shannon County Tuesday. Charles B. (Chuck) Cooper, 60, and his father, Charles B. Cooper, 88, both of Drury, died in the one-car crash that occurred at 4:30 a.m. on US 60, two miles east of Winona. The Missouri State Highway Patrol said the younger Cooper was driving the 1990 Cadillac that was eastbound on Highway 60 when the car ran off the left side of the roadway, struck a rock wall and a tree. Both men were pronounced dead at the scene by Shannon County Coroner Tim Denton. The crash was investigated by Tpr. M.C. Downey, assisted by Patrol Cpl. J.S. Brumble, the Shannon County Sheriff's Department and the Winona Fire Department. Neither of the men was wearing a seat belt, according to the patrol report. The deaths are Nos. 31 and 32 in Troop G this year, compared to 23 traffic fatalities at the same time last year. Services for Charles and Chuck Cooper will be held at Clinkingbeard Funeral Home in Ava Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. A 41-year-old Ava man was seriously injured just after midnight last Saturday when he was struck by a vehicle on County Road 436 in Douglas County. Tpr. Charley Hogue, of the Highway Patrol, said Allen L. Baird was lying in the roadway, 60 feet from CR 435, when he was hit by an unidentified vehicle which left the scene. Baird was airlifted to St. John's Hospital in Springfield with serious injuries. An Ava man is recovering at a Springfield hospital after the motorcycle he was riding was hit on North Jefferson Street in Ava last Wednesday night. Ava Police said William Dale Akers, 43, was traveling south on Jefferson Street on a 2007 Suzuki motorcycle and was hit by a northbound 1991 Toyota pickup driven by Stephen D. Lansdown, 55, of Ava. Akers was taken to Cox South Hospital in Springfield by St. John's Ambulance with serious injuries including numerous broken bones and internal injuries. Lansdown told Policeman Cassidy Martin that he moved to the left to avoid a vehicle that pulled out in front of him. In his report, Officer Martin stated that, from the point of impact, it appears Akers may have also been moving to the left turn lane to turn onto NE 5th Ave. Lansdown, who was not hurt, was issued citations for failure to provide insurance and failure to maintain the right half of the roadway.