Post-Dispatch photos: Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Date: 5/22/2012 Album ID: 1474003
Photos by David Carson/
Photographs by staff photographers
(From left to right) UAW Representative Assistant Director Gary Jones, Wentzville Mayor Nick Gucione, UAW 2250 Chairman Mike Bullock, Gov. Jay Nixon, plant manager John Dansby, St. Charles County Executive Steve Ehlmann, Renae Tallon, and Van Simpson break ground at the future site of a 500,000 square-foot expansion of General Motors Wentzville assembly plant Monday, May 21, 2012.
Photo By David Carson, dcarson@post-dispatch.com
Email Page to FriendBuy this PhotoEnlarge this Photo
Nicole Pondrom, 17, hlua hoops as her friends Becca Kaiper, 17 (left), and Darrah Higginbotham, 15 (right), lay out on the sand volleyball courts at St. Ferdinand Park in Florissant on Monday, May 21, 2012. We like to pretend like we are on the beach and this is the closest we can get, Pondrom said. 
Photo by Emily Rasinski,  erasinski@post-dispatch.com
Email Page to FriendBuy this PhotoEnlarge this Photo
A view of St. John's Regional Medical Center in Joplin on Monday May 23, 2011 (left), a day after a tornado struck portions of the city and  on Tuesday May 1, 2012 (right), nearly a year after. 2011 photo by J.B. Forbes, jforbes@post-dispatch.com, 2012 photo by Huy Mach, hmach@post-dispatch.com
Email Page to FriendBuy this PhotoEnlarge this Photo
Scott Rocha, 43, from St. Louis, puts a new coat of paint on the clock at the entrance to Memorial Park Cemetery in Jennings Monday afternoon, May 21, 2012. We're trying to make it look nice so that everybody is happy, Rocha said. I have a plot here, said Rocha, so this is kinda personal for me. And the clock is on time.

Photo by J.B. Forbes  jforbes@post-dispatch.com
Email Page to FriendBuy this PhotoEnlarge this Photo
Known by area residents as the 'blue shirts',  Ozark Center community crisis workers including Jason Martin, hold tornado survivor support group meetings four days a week.  This meeting, held Thursday May 10, 2012, inside Duquesne City Hall, a small town just east of Joplin in the path of the storm.
Robert Cohen rcohen@post-dispatch.com
Email Page to FriendBuy this PhotoEnlarge this Photo
Marcinda Hempen (left) listens as Pam Black describes trying to return to her job as a St. Mary's preschool teacher the day after the tornado, during a support group meeting Thursday May 10, 2012.  But when her husband drove her to the church and school, she was shocked.  The school wasn't only closed - the church and school were gone. Then it dawned on me, all my kids were in this, said Black. Her preschoolers lived in the neighborhoods surrounding the church.
Robert Cohen rcohen@post-dispatch.com
Email Page to FriendBuy this PhotoEnlarge this Photo