The Springfield News-Leader from Springfield, Missouri • Page 7

BUSINESS: Japan slow to resume beef imports Japan lifted its ban U.S. beef two weeks ago, but imports have been slow to resume, reflecting consumers' concerns about its safety. 5B Nevvs-Leader Tuesday August 22, 2006 City editor 'A 836-1199 Experts to probe sMdhole's depth The exploration effort is to determine the hole's extent before it is filled Online Poll Question: Do you think older adults with higher incomes should pay a bigger share of their Medicare costs? To vote yes or no, go online to Vote by 8 p.m. and see results in Wednesday's newspaper. MONDAY RESULTS Do you think landlords should be prosecuted for renting to persons who cannot verify legal residence? YES: 69.5 percent NO: 30.5 percent TOTAL VOTES: 832 Only online Photo gallery: View aerial images of the sinkhole that swallowed part of a Nixa home.

Got sinkholes? Examine a Greene County map to find sinkholes near you. as we had on Mr. Scrivener's lot, bedrock being so much deeper." While trying to determine the makeup of the sinkhole and surrounding soil has been inconclusive so far, Pendergrass said he hopes seismic tests beginning today by researchers from the University of Mis-souri-Rolla will reveal information. The tests are similar to what oil geologists use to check for deposits thousands of feet underground, but are done on a much smaller scale, said UMR geological engineering professor Neil Anderson. Sensitive instruments will be used to trace vibrations that travel said he's hopeful the tests will have better results that the DNR tests.

Checking the area with ground-penetrating radar also has been considered, but probably won't be done, Anderson said, because soil conditions probably won't allow radar waves to penetrate deep enough to reach bedrock. "Clay is a little bit like lead for the ground-penetrating radar," he said. "It absorbs the signal." Nixa also is continuing to have a surveyor check the site daily to detect any collapsing, Pendergrass said. Other than more dirt falling into the sinkhole, there haven't been any changes, he said. downward and rebound from blows on the ground by a 20-pound sledge hammer.

"It can give you an image of the subsurface," he said. "They can use that to estimate depth to bedrock, whether you're looking at soil or rock and God forbid, if there's a cavern," he said. "Obviously, everybody is hoping there's not a cavity." Expenses involved in having UMR personnel go to Nixa and conduct tests are being covered by the university as a community service, Anderson said. The UMR crew visited Nixa over the weekend and did resistivity testing Click on this story at By Mike Penprase Residents of a quiet Nixa neighborhood whose peace was jolted when a rumbling sinkhole appeared nine days ago will hear more thumping today. The pounding is part of an effort to probe the sinkhole on Delaware Street and determine its extent before work begins to fill it.

A consultant working with Nixa officials said Monday that exploration done during the weekend could reduce neighbors' concern that the sinkhole that swallowed much of Norman Scrivener's home on Aug. 13 will spread. Two bore holes drilled along the street showed bedrock on the east side of Scrivener's property ranges from 35 to 45 feet below the ground's surface, Gary Pendergrass said. Bedrock where the sinkhole appeared is estimated at 75 feet below ground. "That should be very encouraging to the neighbors around there," Pendergrass said.

"Those depths being so much shallower, there's not as much chance of collapse similar to what Missouri Department of Natural Resources researchers did last week, Anderson said. That testing was inconclusive. Results of the weekend testing weren't available Monday, but Anderson Shorn of cost, parents find free haircuts kindest of all Suspect to be arraigned in road death Man is accused of driving rig while drunk when parked car was struck. i Hundreds of young noggins go under scissors in effort by area hairdressers. A By Melissa DeLoach Trooper K.D.

Walters didn't buy Fred Wilson's story that exhaust fumes leaking into the cab of his tractor-trailer rig caused him to pass out and strike a parked vehicle, killing Lake of the Ozarks Body of drowned man found The body of a 24-year-old man from West Virginia was recovered from the Lake of the Ozarks on Monday morning after he fell overboard and drowned Saturday night near Sunrise Beach, according to a report from the Missouri Water Patrol. Andrew Marchetti was one of two men who fell from a pontoon boat about 9:30 p.m. Saturday night, the report said. A third man on the boat was able to save one of the men, but Marchetti did not resurface. The body was recovered in about 25 feet of water near the 11-mile marker near Davie Hollow Cove, the report said.

His was the second drowning at the Lake of the Ozarks in the past week. The body of Spencer Wilkes, 19, of Holts Summit was recovered by divers about 7:30 p.m. Friday near Lake Ozark, a re-port said. Wilkes had climbed on the rear deck of a boat to pull in the parachute from a parasail when he fell overboard and did not resurface Friday morning. ROGERSVH.l.E Signup is Saturday for fall soccer league Soccer teams and players from across the area ages 3 and up are invited to participate in the fall soccer league at the new Rogersville Sports Complex and Park, just south of U.S.

60 on Farm Road 247. Signup will be held at the park from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday. Deadline to register is Sept. 5.

Cost is $30 per player, which includes a T-shirt and a soccer clinic conducted by Missouri State University soccer players. There will be no refunds after Sept. 16. The season will include six games played on Saturdays, Sept. 16-Oct.

28. Coaches are needed as well as concession volunteers. Admission to all games is free. For a registration form or details, call 753-2723. I fi hi- pitalized and missed her husband's funeral, which was attended by hundreds of Conway residents.

Wilson faces two counts each of involuntary manslaughter and assault in the second degree one for being under the influence of alcohol and another for driving recklessly. Court records show he had a blood alcohol content of .082. Sgt. Albert Brown, accident reconstructionist for the patrol, testified that the speed of the tractor-trailer rig was undetermined. But the impact accelerated the car at least 65 mph into a ditch not a proper speed for a tractor-trailer to be traveling on the interstate, Brown said.

Freddie Savage, a paramedic with CoxHealth in Webster County, was dispatched to the accident to attend to his parents. Another son, Rob Savage, is a Highway Patrol trooper assigned to Springfield-based Troop D. The Savage family was awarded $850,000 earlier this month by the trucking company that employed Wilson. Boomerang Transportation Inc. awarded Joyce Savage $599,273.46 and $40,000 each to her four children with the remaining for legal and other expenses.

By Sarah Overstreet As Stephanie Shoemaker watched her daughter Tory Ackley's hair go from a ponytail-to a sophisticated, layered 'do that just kissed her shoulders, she looked at the seventh-grader in a new light: "It gives her face so much more structure," Shoemaker said. "Now she looks her age, like a teenager." All Tory had to do was tell stylist Sharon Maples how she wanted it: "Curled and just to my shoulders," which allowed her natural curl to escape the slick-backed blond tail. "I really like it." At the back-to-school Crosslines Cuts for Kids at the Academy of Hair Design at 1832 S. Glenstone Ave. on Monday, volunteers from several salons styled more than 350 young pates by the end of the day.

Parents of the kids had received vouchers for free haircuts at the Aug. 8 Victory Mission school supplies giveaway day at Central Assembly of God. The event was co-sponsored by the Academy of Hair Design, National Cosmetology Association, State Beauty Supply and Salon Service Group. Lisa Higgins, mom of six all in tow Monday morning said the haircuts were a godsend. She was amazed at how accommodating and kind the stylists were.

"They fixed 'em up listened to what they wanted and put gel on them. They even cut my 3-year-old's hair, even though she's not in school yet, because they didn't want any of the kids to feel left out." "I like it," said 11-year-old Justin Higgins of his new buzz-cut sides and spiky, gelled See Haircuts, Page 2B Wilson a Conway man and injuring his wife. "The way he's sitting in the patrol car I can smell it (alcohol) coming off his breath as he speaks," the Missouri Highway Patrol officer testified Monday during Wilson's preliminary hearing. Associate Division Judge Mark Powell ruled there was enough evidence to bind the case over to trial. Wilson will be arraigned Sept.

15 in Greene County Circuit Court. Wilson, 56, of Mount Vernon is accused of driving his rig while drunk and striking a vehicle parked on the eastbound shoulder of Interstate 44 just west of Strafford. Killed in the Feb. 25 crash was Fred Savage, 71. Joyce Savage, who had been released from the hospital just before the accident for neck surgery, was airlifted from the scene.

She spent another two weeks hos Above, Roger Rudd jokes with Jacob Higgins, 7, while giving him a trim. At left. Lisa Hoff-pauir, 15, likes the look of her new hairdo. STEVE P. LIANG NEWS-LEADER i JL i-J Court: Sexy sign ban unconstitutional New jail's price tag too high Lawrence County judicial center is still on the table as survey dropped.

The law, which took effect in August 2004, sought to reduce the possible negative effects that sexually suggestive billboards supposedly posed, including harming minors, reducing traffic safety and dropping property values. But the appellate judges ruled that the Missouri statute had no such effect. The ruling said the law was not "narrowly drawn" to meet those goals, and the state "failed to make a showing that a more limited speech reg- See Signs. Page 2B By Jeff Douglas THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ST. LOUIS A 2-year-old state law banning sexually suggestive billboards along Missouri highways is unconstitutional, a federal appeals court panel ruled Monday.

The ruling by the three-judge panel for the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis overturned a U.S. District Court's ruling earlier this year that banning such billboards within a mile of state highways was a constitutional regulation of commercial speech. retail or tax base to support it unless we pass more tax," he said.

Commissioners want a judicial center to free up more space for employees in the aged, cramped Mount Vernon courthouse. Judicial employees would move to the new building while nonjudicial ones remain. Officials are also concerned with the safety of detainees being escorted outside from the jail to the courthouse. Jurors must walk among the public from the courtroom to a jury room. "Security is getting to be a big challenge in a building that's 100-plus years old," Dotson said.

A new center could have an entrance where detainees go directly to court without passing people in public, the commissioner said. It would have been more expensive to try to reno- See Jaii, Page 2B Correction The Task Force on Gangs and Youth Violence meets at 10 a.m. Sept. 12 at Community Partnership of the Ozarks, 330 N. Jefferson Ave.

The date was incorrect in a story published Monday. Members of the public are invited, but are asked to call 888-2020 if they plan to attend. For information on how to request a correction, see Page 2B. By Ryan Slight Lawrence County officials have canceled an independent citizen survey after learning a new jail would be too expensive. Commissioners intend to ask residents for a half-cent sales tax increase in November to construct an estimated $6 million judicial center.

They won't also ask for a jail as originally planned. A jailer indicated a 200-bed facility would cost $1.2 million to operate annually, which would triple the jail's estimated $400,000 budget, Commissioner Earl Dotson said. "There's not enough TOYOTA Rent a Car tSSSBtm II mi I I I i in i i mi ml i ii in i 11 i 1 1 i i nun i I 1 1 i ni i i. 11 m.ir .1 i.iii. .1 mm ri I 111 11 in mil I 111 11 tJ.