TRIALS SET FOR MAN JAILED FOR DRUNKEN DRIVING

BLOOMFIELD, Mo. -- Two trials set within a month of each other have been scheduled for Harry Don Foster of Dexter, who has been in jail for the past three months on drunk driving and other charges.

The jury trials on the misdemeanor charges -- one brought by the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the other by the Dexter Police Department -- were set Thursday afternoon by Associate Circuit Judge John Beaton of Dunklin County, who will hear the case.

Foster will be tried Aug. 25 on a rash of traffic charges -- including drunk driving -- resulting from an arrest by the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

An Oct. 17 trial date has been scheduled on a drunk-driving charge that stems from an arrest by the Dexter Police Department.

On a related front, a lawsuit that Foster filed against Dexter, its police department, Patrolman Chris Foster and Stoddard County resulting from that arrest has been dismissed. A letter to Stoddard County Presiding Commissioner Jerry Elder, who, as the chief elected official of the county, was named as a defendant, noted that Foster's attorney said the Dexter man had decided to drop the lawsuit. The letter was from the law firm that represents the county's insurance carrier.