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Roy
Harri-
son
holds
his
grand-
daugh-
ter Alisa
Maier, 4,
as she
arrives
home
Thurs-
day.
CHRISTIAN
GOODEN
ST. LOUIS
POST-
DISPATCH
Traffic cones, barriers and signs are in place for a new phase of the diamond interchange at South National Avenue and James River Freeway.
Diamond opening on Monday
National, James River National Avenue diamond interchange nearly complete
bridge will close this A $9.7 million project will add a diverging-diamond interchange at National Avenue and the James River Freeway. An underpass
on the project’s north side will give ambulances better access to the new Cox South emergency room.
weekend for more work.
By Kathryn Wall
KWALL@NEWS-LEADER.COM NLL
For the people ONLINE NE
who travel the Video re-
southern portion of port: Watch
the medical mile on a video
National Avenue, walkthrough
Monday’s opening of a diverg-
of the diverging-di- ing diamond
amond interchange intersection
will be a welcome with this
relief from months story at
of tricky traffic. News-
That won’t come Leader.com
before one more in-
convenience — but city, state
and hospital officials say they’ve
been working for months to
make the transition flow as eas-
ily as possible. The National Av-
enue bridge over James River
Freeway will be closed tonight
and throughout the weekend to
Ride the Ducks suspends all operations
By Patrick Walters
and Geoff Mulvihill
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
PHILADELPHIA — Hope faded
Thursday for two Hungarian
students missing after a barge
and a duck boat collided in the
Delaware River on Wednesday,
dumping dozens of tourists into
the water.
Officials said a 16-year-old girl
and 20-year-old man were miss-
ing. Visibility in the 50-foot-deep
water was too low to send divers
in.
The six-wheeled duck boat,
which can travel seamlessly on
land and water, had driven into the
river Wednesday afternoon and
suffered a mechanical problem
and the small fire, officials said. It
was struck about 10 minutes later
by the tugboat-pushed barge.
The boat had no history of me-
chanical problems before it
Get your fix of local data
THE CRIME SCENE
Ozarks
Abducted girl welcomed home
Kidnapping suspect, a
convicted sex offender,
fatally shoots himself.
By Jim Salter
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ST. LOUIS — Four-year-old
Alisa Maier clutched a teddy
bear and smiled broadly at the
crowd gathered Thursday in
the yard where she was abduct-
Underpass
Bradford Pkwy.
Traffic signal
intersection
New
bridge
Cox South
SOURCE: MISSOURI DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
make final touches to the inter-
change before the Monday
opening.
“I have no doubt, with the co-
operation from all the entities
out there, that we shouldn’t have
any hiccups to worry about,”
said Rod Schaffer, vice president
caught fire, said Chris Her-
schend, president of Ride the
Ducks, the Norcross, Ga.-based
company that owns it. The cap-
tain appears to have followed all
proper procedures during the
emergency, Herschend said at a
news conference. The company
hoped to raise the boat to the
surface soon, he said.
The Hungarian group on the
tour was hosted by a Methodist
church in suburban Philadel-
phia.
While crews searched for the
missing, the tour company said
Thursday that it was suspending
operations nationwide, a day af-
ter it suspended its Philadelphia
tours. It also operates tours in
San Francisco, Atlanta, New-
port, Ky., and Branson. Ride the
Ducks is part of Herschend Fam-
ily Entertainment, which got its
start in 1950 in Branson. Today,
Visit News-Leader.com/data to get
a deeper look at what's going on in
the area. See the latest restaurant in-
spections, school incident reports, 911
calls and warrants from around
Springfield. Check back every day to
see what's new.
ed three days earli-
er, then held cap-
tive before being
abandoned alone
in a faraway town.
Police said they
Smith are confident Paul
S. Smith, a 38-year-
old convicted sex offender who
fatally shot himself Wednesday
as officers approached him,
was the man who took the girl
from in front of her home.
Widen
existing 60
ramp
Widen
Widen 60 existing
existing bridge
ramp
of facilities management for
CoxHealth.
The ramps on the four sides of
the bridge will remain open, but
only right turns will be allowed.
Missouri Department of
Transportation crews will have
signs up and detours clearly
Ride the Ducks is suspending operations nationwide after a crash.
Herschend Family Entertain- Water in Branson.
ment runs attractions such as
Silver Dollar City and White
Weekly features
Sunday: Reporter’s notebook
Monday: Ozarks exposure
Tuesday: Births, Milestones
Wednesday: School spotlight
Thursday: Community columns
Friday: Weekend calendar
Saturday: Young achievers
“It’s over,” St. Louis County
Police Chief Tim Fitch said.
“There’s no reason to believe at
this point that anyone else was
involved.”
Relatives hugged Alisa and
each other as she returned to
the family’s small frame home
in Louisiana, Mo. Well-wishers
came up and shook their hands.
Louisiana Police Chief Rich
Hughes noted the town of 3,800
had rallied around the girl and
JEROME T. NAKAGAWA / NEWS-LEADER
Kingsley St.
Traffic signal
intersection
National Ave.
Springfield
Widen
existing
ramp
NEWS-LEADE
NEWS LEADE
marked.
And although Springfield po-
lice will be out to help direct
traffic, drivers won’t likely see
them.
“They will have signs and bar-
See Diamond, Page 2B
DEAN CURTIS / NEWS-LEADER
See Ducks, Page 2B
Lottery PICK 4
4-9-5-5 (midday)
PICK 3 1-0-7-0 (evening)
2-8-5 (midday) SHOW-ME CASH
1-7-9 (evening) 2-7-29-31-35
Â
Friday
July 9, 2010
News-Leader.com 1B
her family.
“A small community, you can
imagine how this impacts
them,” Hughes said. “To see Al-
isa come back home is great.”
Alisa’s ordeal began Monday
night as she and her 6-year-old
brother, Blake, played in the
front yard while their mother
cooked dinner. Blake told au-
thorities a man in a dark-col-
See Girl, Page 2B
Services
scheduled
for Regan
By Tara Muck
TMUCK@NEWS-LEADER
O ZARK — Purple and black
bunting hung over the entrance
into the Ozark Fire Station Thurs-
day.
It’s one of the many ways the de-
partment is honoring board
member Stephanie Regan, who
was shot to death
Monday.
Regan, 65, was a
longtime board
member of the
Ozark Fire Pro-
tection District,
recently serving
as secretary. Stephanie
Funeral ser- Regan
vices are sched-
uled for 10 a.m. PHOTO COURTESY
OF CHRISTIAN
Monday at COUNTY HEADLINER
Adams Funeral NEWS
Home in Ozark.
Fire Chief Darren White said
the department will be involved
in both the funeral service and
the visitation, which is scheduled
for 2-4 p.m. Sunday at the funeral
home.
White said there are three lev-
els of services offered for fire-
fighters or staff, as outlined by the
Missouri Fire Service Funeral As-
sistance Team.
The first level is the highest lev-
el of ceremony, conducted for
firefighters who die in the line of
duty or a job related incident.
Level two is offered for active
firefighters who die off duty.
The third level, which includes
Regan, is available to inactive
members or an individual who
has served in some capacity with
the department.
As part of the ceremonial ser-
vices to honor Regan, the depart-
ment will have a casket vigil dur-
Area of
ing visitation, which includes two
detail firefighters “standing guard,”
White said.
The funeral service will also in-
clude a bell ceremony, a tribute to
the work Regan gave the fire de-
partment.
“In Chicago and New York a
long time ago, they used to ring a
bell to signal the end of a shift,”
White said. “It’s a somber mo-
ment.”
Regan was found dead in the
kitchen of her Ozark home about
8 p.m. Monday after she called au-
thorities saying she had been
shot. She had suffered multiple
gunshot wounds.
Christian County authorities
named Regan’s son-in-law, Ger-
ald “Jerry” Kubowicz, as a suspect
in the killing.
Kubowicz died of a self-inflict-
ed gunshot wound Tuesday after-
noon after officers stopped him in
his pickup truck at a road block
just off Christian County W north
of Interstate 44.
Authorities will continue to in-
vestigate the homicide to make
sure Kubowicz was the one re-
sponsible for Regan’s death,
Christian County Sheriff Joey
Kyle said.
Regan worked as a field coordi-
nator for the Christian County
Coalition on Aging. She also was
a member of the Christian Coun-
ty Republican Women and Cos-
mopolitan Club.
Regan is survived by her
daughter, Cindy Kubowicz; a
granddaughter, Jill Moore; and a
great-grandson, Alexander Jack-
son.
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