ATV accident seriously injures two

MINER - Two Sikeston residents were seriously injured in an ATV accident just as the Labor Day weekend got under way.

According to Missouri Highway Patrol, at 6:15 p.m. Warren K. Brown, 47, was traveling south on private property near County Road 541, two miles southeast of Miner, when his all-terrain vehicle overturned on a steep embankment. He was thrown from the cycle.

Brown was transported by ambulance to Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. His passenger Kemberly N. Mays, 46, also thrown from the cycle, was airlifted to St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau.

The Labor Day counting period will begin at 6 p.m. Friday and end at 11:59 p.m. Monday. The Patrol, along with local law enforcement, will participate in Operation C.A.R.E. (Combined Accident Reduction Effort), which will coincide with the "You Drink, You Drive, You Lose" campaign.

In Troop E, which includes Southeast Missouri, the Patrol will heavily enforce the "Slow Down, Move Over" law this weekend. The law requires drivers to slow down and move over through construction sites.

Last year, 11 people were killed and 483 were injured in 1,029 traffic crashes occurring during the Labor Day holiday counting period. That is one person killed or injured every 9.5 minutes. Over the past five years, 64 people were killed and 2,913 were injured in Labor Day holiday crashes.