The Breese Police Department is warning area residents of scam phone calls in which the caller claims they are from the Social Security Administration, with attempts to get information from the recipient of the call.
Sgt. Mark Berndsen said that a person will call claiming to be with the agency, and that the intended victim's Social Security card was compromised.
"The caller is very persuasive and tries to talk to the person to have them give their identification and details," he said, adding that the scammer will say that the person will be arrested if they do not give out their information.
He said these scammers work all day and are good at what they do.
He urged residents to not fall victim to the scams.
"If it is legit, they will not call, email or mail you," he said. "They would contact you in person."
Berndsen said that you should never give out bank or credit/debit information, Social Security information, etc., over the phone to the alleged scammers.
For more information, call Breese Police Department at (618) 526-7226.
Top: “Performing for Rae” show organizer Nickie Mitchell (center) and host MiKeith Teague (left) pose with the contestants before their opening dance number. Contestants included Callie Ferguson, Marin Reeves, Mary Kathryn Broughton, Haley Stinnett, Madeline Venhaus, Marley Kock, Audrey Rahm, Margaret Bass, Landyn Mitchell, Amanda Brink, Grace Nordike, Nicholas Adams, Christina Carter and Fallyn Meyer. Middle row: Marin Reeves of Germantown shares a stage moment with host MiKeith Teague Sunday night; RaeAnne Toennies of Germantown enjoys the closing moments of the performance; Bottom row: Marley Kock of Carlyle plays “Amazing Grace” on the saxophone; Nicholas Adams of Breese performs his piano solo. He was named the Judges’ Pick award winner. (Photos by Bryan Hunt) While awards were handed out to the top performers, the winners were those who gave for a good cause at Sunday’s “Performing for Rae” talent show, a benefit for RaeAnne Toennies of Germantown.
The event was held at Carlyle High School’s Harriss Gymnasium and staged by Moments Like This owner Nickie Mitchell, of Carlyle, a small band of friends and volunteers, and made possible, financially, by a host of sponsors and donors from throughout Clinton County and beyond.
The nine judges — Amanda Register-Jones, Demetria Johnson, Marvin Linton, Erin Johnson, T.J. Boyd, Bob Hammel, Sara Hassel, Kendra Rose and Tim Bone — had the tough task of choosing the top three from among the 14 area youth presenting 12 acts: vocal music, piano, comedy, dance, ballet, tumbling, instrumental music.
First place went to Grace Nordike of Carlyle for her contemporary ballet performance, second to Madeline Venhaus of Germantown for her vocal solo, and third to Christina Carter of Albers and Fallyn Meyer of Carlyle for their hip-hop dance duet.
Most Unique award went to Mary Kathryn Broughton and Haley Stinnett of Carlyle for their comedy skit. The Crowd Favorite award went to Landyn Mitchell of Carlyle for his foreign language comedy solo/vocal performance. The Judges’ Pick was Nicholas Adams of Breese for his piano solo.
Adams told the audience, “I want to help the family of RaeAnne and I want to do something with my life.”
Other entrants were: Marley Kock of Carlyle, saxophone solo; Audrey Rahm of Carlyle, vocal solo; Marin Reeves of Germantown, vocal solo; Margaret Bass of Carlyle, artistic painted sculpture; Amanda Brink of Carlyle, tumbling; and Callie Ferguson of Trenton, piano solo.
Auditions for the show were held Sept. 8 at Carlyle Junior High School.
MiKeith Teague, an on-air personality at Z107.7 FM and 100.3 the Beat in St. Louis, served as the emcee.
“Have fun, smile, don’t be nervous,” Mitchell told the contestants during a pep talk outside the gym. She singled out some of the kids: “You’re going to have both tumbling mats and your new song; you’re going to have your new dress. You guys are changing colors from what you wore at dress rehearsal …
“Get out there, you guys. I love you, I love you so much — have fun!”
Firefighters were called to the Cedar Pointe Apartments early on Oct. 11 for a structure fire in a second-floor apartment. (Photo by Kelly Jo Ross) Several families have been displaced from an apartment fire that occurred early Friday morning, Oct. 11, at an apartment complex in Carlyle.
Carlyle Fire Chief Kevin Rolfingsmeier said that a call came in at approximately 1:50 a.m. on Oct. 11 regarding a fully engulfed structure fire at the Cedar Pointe apartment building on Franklin Street in Carlyle.
Rolfingsmeier said the fire started on the south end of the second-story apartment building.
"It sounded like a lightning strike caused the fire," Rolfingsmeier said.
Emergency personnel assisted occupants out of the apartment complex and they were all brought to safety.
Rhonda Grisamore has an apartment unit directly below the most impacted unit.
Grisamore said she saw a white light flash while she was in her bedroom and the smoke alarm went off and stopped.
"Two minutes later, someone was banging on my door to get out," she said.
She added that a family with small children were in the unit that caught fire, and believes that they may have heard a loud boom.
Grisamore said that they were all lucky; her unit only had water damage.
Beckemeyer and Huey-Ferrin-Boulder firefighters were also paged to the fire. Santa Fe Volunteer Fire Department provided an engine and tanker. Clinton County Emergency Management Agency also provided rehab.
Rolfingsmeier said that the fire was contained mostly in the one unit. The one below the unit and next to the unit had water and smoke damage.
"The crews from all fire departments did an amazing job getting it knocked down before more damage could have occurred," Rolfingsmeier said. "It was confined to the one unit of the building and the nearby units were damaged from water and smoke."
In all, the fire departments spent three hours at the scene. The occupants of the apartment units affected are all either staying in a hotel or with family.
No injuries were reported, fire officials said.
| Fri., Oct. 11 |
445.27 |
| Sun., Oct. 13 | 445.70 |
| Tues., Oct. 15 | 445.80 |
| Oct. 9 | .00" |
| Oct. 10 | .00" |
| Oct. 11 | 1.80" |
| Oct. 12 |
.016" |
| Oct. 13 | .00" |
| Oct. 14 | .00" |
| Oct. 15 | .00" |
