by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist
Last month in this space I wrote about a mass shooting that occurred in a small community of Charleston in the Missouri "boot heel" and near the Mississippi River - not too far from where I live. A large group of young people were at a private party when shooting erupted. Sixteen individuals were shot, and two of them died. A few days later local police announced the arrest of two young men from he town of Charleston, a 19-year-old and a 21-year-old, who were each charged with second-degree murder.
Up until that time the little berg of Charleston (population 5,600) was best known for being the hometown of Missouri's first two-term governor, Warren E. Hearnes, and his wife Betty, a state representative who ran an unsuccessful campaign for governor on her own behalf several years after her husband left the governor's office.
This past Thursday morning Charleston, Missouri, once again made national news - this time over a very dramatic traffic accident. A massive pileup occurred on Interstate 57, a busy thoroughfare just north of Charleston, in a fairly dense fog. One vehicle struck another, and others quickly piled on. The Missouri Highway Patrol put the number of vehicles ultimately involved at forty-seven, twenty of which were large tractor-trailer rigs..
The wreckage was spread out over half-a-mile of the interstate, and the vital traffic artery had to be closed in both directions for several hours. Reports from the scene described it as resembling a war zone.
Six people died in the melee of crashing vehicles, and at least fourteen others suffered injuries. One news account said that a temporary morgue had to be established in Charleston.
The mass shooting at the party in Charleston occurred on February 19th, and the traffic catastrophe happened on March 17th. The residents of the small Missouri town have had more than their fair share of grief and suffering, and they are undoubtedly ready for the news spotlight to move elsewhere!
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