Musician Dan Peek dies in Farmington

One of the founding members of the 1970’s group America has died.

Dan Peek passed away this Sunday morning at his home in Farmington. He was 60 years old.

Peek rose to stardom as one of the vocalists and multi-instrumentalists in the band America, which scored big hits with songs like “Horse With No Name,” “Sister Golden Hair” and “Ventura Highway.” Peek left the group in 1977 and moved to Farmington, where he had briefly lived during his childhood. There, he embarked on a career in the growing contemporary Christian music scene.

Peek’s funeral will be Monday at the Farmington Presbyterian Church.

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Farmington to host US Championship Anvil Shooting Competition

Farmington’s Country Days festival will host a unique attraction this weekend: The U-S Championship Anvil Shooting Competition.

The premise is simple. Contestants stuff black powder underneath an anvil, light it, and blast the 100-pound anvil up to 150 feet in the air.

Points are assigned for height and for landing the anvil near the launching pad.

The Farmington Chamber of Commerce organizes Country Days. CEO Doug McDermott credits former mayor Gay Wilkinson for drawing the event to Farmington.

"He has been in the anvil shooting world for a long time. He’s very much a goodwill ambassador on behalf of anvil shooting. So he had generated some recognition along with some other folks in town who shoot anvils," McDermott says. "It just became the right thing to do and we thought it was a great opportunity to bring all of those folks together to make Farmington Country Days even a little bit more special."

Tory Belleci of the Mythbusters will be in Farmington to shoot a special for the Science Channel.

Farmington Country Days take place June 1 through June 5. The anvil shooting will be held on Saturday.

Jacob McCleland, KRCU

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Contaminated soils found in three St. Francois County schools

The EPA is removing lead-contaminated soil and replacing them with clean soils at three schools in Farmington.

Action to remove and replace soils began last week and should be completed, weather permitting, by the end of the week.

The schools are Jefferson Elementary School, W.L. Johns Early Childhood, and Truman Kindergarten. Those three facilities are attended by children whose ages put them at greatest risk of health effects from toxic lead exposure, according to a release by the EPA.

Removal work also began recently at five other area schools, including North County Primary in Bonne Terre; Parkside Elementary in Desloge; and Central Elementary, West Elementary and Special Acres in Park Hills.

Meanwhile, EPA risk assessors are reviewing the results of recent tests showing elevated levels of lead in soils at 10 of 11 public parks surveyed in St. Francois County.

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Farmington pays $61K in fines to EPA

The City of Farmington has agreed to pay over $61,000 in fines to the Environmental Protection Agency for two separate issues.

The city was fined for spreading sewer sludge on private land in four counties. The sewer sludge contained a higher level of nickel content than is allowed under EPA regulations.

The other issue deals with Farmington’s wastewater treatment plants. The two plants emitted excessive levels of ammonia in treated wastewater. Excessive levels of ammonia in water can have adverse impacts to the environment, affecting water quality and aquatic life, according to an EPA press release.

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Cape Girardeau predicted to miss big storm; Farmington is not so lucky

The massive winter storm that is pummeling much of Missouri and Illinois led forecasts to use the word ‘blizzard’ yesterday.

The developing storm will be heaviest north of St. Louis, where 20 inches of snow is forecasted, according to meteorologist Doug Tilly with the National Weather Service in St. Louis. That doesn’t mean that communities south of St. Louis, like Farmington, will escape the storm.

“The temperatures are below freezing so we’re going to start looking at the ice accumulation starting up this morning already. And that’s going to be lasting through today and in to this evening, gradually transitioning over the sleet this evening and then it should be all snow late tonight,” Tilly says.

Ice accumulation in Farmington is expected to be around half-an-inch. One to three inches of snow is likely.

In Cape Girardeau, the storm should manifest itself primarily as rain. Dave Humphrey, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Paducah, says that cold air will come in to the region tonight. The rain will change over to sleet and snow in Cape Girardeau, probably resulting in an inch of a slushy mix of snow, ice, and sleet.

Severe snow and ice are not predicted at the moment for Cape Girardeau, Humphrey says. But the area is so close to the winter storm that anything could happen.

“If there is any change at all to that forecast, as we all know things evolve quickly and can change, we kind of need to stay a step ahead of the game and be prepared just in case the cold air invades a little bit quicker," Humphrey says.

Even without the significant levels of snow, freezing rain, and sleet, Cape Girardeau and other southern regions will be impacted by heavy winds beginning tonight, according to meteorologist Doug Tilly. Still, the winds will bring the most damage to the northern areas that are covered in ice.

“The strong winds are still going to be in place through at least Wednesday morning. And that’s going to be impacting the ice accumulations with possible power outages,” Tilly says.

As of 7:30 this morning, Farmington street supervisor Terry Ferguson reports that the ice and freezing rain has yet to hit his city’s roads. “Right now it’s just all rain," Ferguson says. "It’s 30 degrees and raining pretty hard. We have a couple of slick spots on a couple of bridges. But other than that, it’s just all water right now.”

Ferguson says that his crews have not yet begun to work the streets. When the water freezes, Ferguson says, things could get treacherous pretty quickly.

"It’s freezing on the vehicles and that type of stuff. Not on the wires or the trees as of yet, but on the mirrors and the vehicles it is, but not the sidewalks and the streets yet," Ferguson says.

Ferguson will dispatch his crews when more ice is present.

Jacob McCleland, KRCU

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Road crews brace for massive winter storm

Road crews across Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois are on stand-by, in anticipation of the massive winter storm that is expected to cover much of the Midwest in snow and ice.

In Perryville, the city's three salt trucks and eight plows are fueled up and ready to treat the city's 52 miles of road.

Superintendent of public works Dave Clements says that his crew of 35 people can plow the city streets in 12 to 15 hours. Dealing with the ice is a treacherous task, but Clements also warns that snow is a difficult challenge for his road crews.

"Where do you put 10 or 12 inches of snow?" Clements rhetorically asks. "Plowing a street is one thing, but what do you do with all the snow you get in front of the plow when you get to the end of the street?"

Perryville's road crew will start working on the streets as soon as the storm starts.

In Farmington, street supervisor Terry Ferguson makes sure all of his fleet's trucks and chainsaws are in order. The city contracts local companies to help with tree limbs and other debris.

Ferguson says that his crew doesn't lay down salt or any materials prior to a storm. The city's primary snow routes can typically be cleared within a couple of hours.

Ferguson doesn't worry so much about the 4 inches of snow that's predicted to fall on Farmington and the surrounding region. He is more concerned about the anticipated inch of ice.

"Everybody talks about having snow plows. That doesn't touch the ice," Ferguson says.

"We have to back up a lot of our streets with any kind of a grade on them. You have to back them and spread the abrasive out so we can even go anywhere. It's just treacherous. You can't stomp on it or anything. Those heavy trucks are hard to handle in that ice."

The city of Farmington will have 16 or 17 employees tackling the ice and snow on its 200 miles of streets. An additional 15 to 20 workers will clear limb breakage.

Jacob McCleland, KRCU
Image courtesy of the National Weather Service.

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