Broseley Man Killed In Illinois;

Fatal Crashes near Poplar Bluff leaves three persons dead

Traffic over the holiday weekend through this morning claimed the lives of three
out-of-state residents in the Poplar Bluff area. 

Burned to death at about 5 a.m. a Tulsa, Okla., trucker.  Today after being pinned
in his rig off Highway 60 west of Poplar  Bluff.  An  Illinois  couple  died
Saturday afternoon south of the city in a head-on crash.

Heavy snow to the north of Poplar Bluff snarled much of  the  returning  traffic
Saturday and Sunday with some jams of more than 20 miles in length reported.

Authorities identified the trucker killed this morning as Harm James Boven,  22,
Tulsa, a driver for Midwest Distribution Co. Butler County Coroner Larry Cotrell
pronounced him dead at the scene of the 5:05 a.m. crash eight miles northwest of
Poplar Bluff on top of the Cane Creek Hill.

Trooper J.J. King said Boven was eastbound in a 1976 White  tractor  pulling  an
empty trailer. Authorities theorized he fell asleep at the wheel and the rig ran
off the right side of the road, struck several trees and burned.

Boven was pinned in the wreck, Cotrell said.

A passenger, however, who was riding in the  sleeper  of  the  tractor,  Richard
O’Conner, 31, Lamar, escaped with minor injuries.

He was treated at Doctors Hospital for foot injuries and released.

According to reports, O’Conner had been picked  up  this  morning  by  Boven  at
Lamar.