Region briefs 3/27/07

Dedication for battle plaque Wednesday

Cape Girardeau will dedicate a plaque commemorating its Civil War battle Wednesday. The ceremony will take place at 1 p.m. at the corner of Thilenius Street and Caruthers Avenue near where the Battle of Cape Girardeau unfolded in 1863. The event will be attended by reenactors. "Missouri is third behind only Virginia and Tennessee in the number of Civil War battles ..." Cape Girardeau CVB director Chuck Martin said. "So with the sesquicentennial of the Civil War coming up in 2011 there is beginning to be a groundswell effort of trying to put a number of pieces in place for people looking for those opportunities" to learn about the Civil War and visit landmarks.

Two area men injured in two-car accident

Two men with serious injuries were transported by ambulance about 9:30 a.m. Sunday to a local hospital after a two-car accident on Highway 74, one mile west of Cape Girardeau, police said. According to a Missouri State Highway Patrol report, a 1993 Chevrolet driven by Kelly N. Blankenship, 18, of Jackson was westbound on the highway when it hit the rear of the 1997 Ford driven by Thomas L. Yarbro, 51, of Bismark, Mo., who was trying to make a left turn. Yarbro and Thomas J. Fleeman, 25, of Cape Girardeau, a passenger in Blankenship's vehicle, were transported to Saint Francis Medical Center with serious injuries, according to the report.

--From staff reports