Top Stories of 2013

No publication can resist doing Top 10 lists at the end of the year. Not much news is happening, staffers are burning up their saved vacation time and readers are distracted, so it’s natural to turn to stories that can be done in advance and aren’t particularly significant.

So, here are the 10 most-read stories of 2013.

1. Snapshots of Cape Girardeau

Ken Steinhoff 2013-2014 CalendarI was surprised to see that my pitch for my 2013-2014 Snapshots of Cape Girardeau calendar was the top story of the year. I still have a handful left here in Florida, but Annie Laurie’s Antiques has sold out. (Click on the photos to make them larger.)

2. Smelterville 1967: Where Are They?

Smelterville 06-04-1967 10This is a 2011 story about the “suburb” of Smelterville and the people who lived there in 1967. With the help of readers and much knocking on doors, I’ve identified most of the people in the photos. I hope to eventually turn the project into a book. I’ve gone through two printings of an “in-progress” version. Copies are available at Annie Laurie’s or by mail (see link in #2).

3. Big magnet passes Cape

Big magnet passes Trail of Tears 07-17-2013High school buddy Jim Stone tipped me off to a story about a huge scientific magnet that was going to be transported up the Mississippi. It just so happened that we were both in town to witness it. The story picked up some readers from Jim’s colleagues in the scientific community after I posted links poking gentle fun at him.

 4. SEMO’s Dempster Hall fire

SEMO Dempster Fire 07-15-2013I like it that I no longer have to chase sirens, but I couldn’t resist checking out a big column of smoke coming from the direction of Southeast Missouri State University in July. I offered photos of the Dempster Hall Fire to The Missourian for the same token $5 I would have gotten back in 1963, but they opted for a “submitted” photo. (“Submitted” means “free.”)

5. How to repel flies (maybe)

Fly bags at Jackson BBQ stand 07-02-2011Even after years of blogging, I can’t predict what readers are going to like. Wife Lila doesn’t like it when call a blog post a “throwaway” story – defined as something I’ve dashed off so I can go to bed. This 2011 post about putting pennies in plastic bags to repel flies is still drawing readers.

6. Blue Hole BBQ Sauce

Blue Hole Garden BBQ sauce 08-16-2013If you want to start a discussion, just mention some of the touchstones of our youth: Wimpy’s, Blue Hole, Pfisters, Cape Rock…

Over lunch on Brune Standard Time, Brad Brune told Terry Hopkins where you still could buy legendary Blue Hole BBQ sauce made by a family member in the one of the original pots.

I put Terry in charge of navigating through an area so remote from civilization that neither of us had cell service and my GPS said, “Why are you asking me? I’m lost, too.” Eventually, we made it out to Barbecue Billie Haupt, who sold us half a bathrub of the magic elixir. Here’s a link to how you can get it yourself. Hint: don’t let Terry navigate unless you want to see a good chunk of SE Missouri (which is not a bad thing).

7. Cape Tornado of 1949

01 Kathrine Lamkin 1949 Cape tornado letterI’m glad this account of the 1949 Cape Tornado by a pregnant newlywed, written on torn-out calendar pages is still in the top 10 for another year. It’s one of the best accounts I’ve found of the storm that killed 22, hospitalized 72 and injured hundreds more. Thanks to the Lamkin family for sharing it.

8. Majorettes and others

Central High School students and teachers c 1964-65The first line of my post says it all: “Here’s a fact of Internet life: you get a lot more search engine traffic if you have the word “Majorettes” in the headline than if you say ‘Boring Guys in Suits.’”

9. Purple Crackle becomes the Pony

The Pony Gentleman's Club - Formerly The Purple Crackle 12-08-2011 This is another 2011 story that still has legs. It seems like there are a lot of memories of the Purple Crackle.

10. The Boat House

The Boat House 03-16-2010_0134Eddie Erlbacher’sBoat House” has been an iconic Cape landmark since it was built in the early 1940s. This 2010 story is still popular.

2012 Top stories

Cape Girardeau Central High School girls in physical education uniformsNone of the 2012 top stories were in the top 10 in 2013. In fact, the two Rush Limbaugh stories: Horse Patootie (#8) and Terry Jones / Rush Limbaugh (#9) didn’t even make it into the top 100. Maybe the bloom is finally fading off Rush’s rose.

There’s a good chance you’ve seen this volleyball photo that went with the top story in 2012. Someone violated the copyright on Jane Womak, Rosanne Hecht and Joni Tickel, created a meme that went viral and it showed up all over the Internet. I finally tracked down the source and got it linked back to the blog, but I still get email from people who claim the photo was taken at their high school in Pennsylvania or Kansas and that one of the girls is a sister/cousin/best friend.

Eye-numbing stats

  • First blog post: October 20, 2009
  • Average blog posts per month: 26.8 (higher for the past year)
  • Total number of posts: 1,366
  • Average words per post: 715
  • Words in Posts: 977,274
  • Comments: 10,681
  • Words in Comments: 696,233

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I learned early on in the newspaper business that you can either work for love or you can work for money. I was lucky enough to find a career where I got paid for meeting interesting people and seeing history being made. I didn’t get rich working for papers, but I really enjoyed going in to work most days.

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The Achievement Edition

1967 Achievement - Cape Wishy-Washy 50The Missourian’s big annual extravaganza was the Achievement Edition, published after the first of the year and looking back at the previous year’s accomplishments. We started working on the copy and photos well before Christmas.

Back in the old days before computers, we didn’t have filenames to keep track of stories, headlines and layouts. We used “slugs,” a line of lead type with a descriptive title. If the reporter was sending the story in several “takes” or pieces, then he or she would create a slug that might say, “murder1, murder2.” Since the composing room would occasionally miss taking the slug out, it was a good idea not to use titles that could be embarrassing (like labeling the religion news “god junk”).

Because the Achievement Edition copy was done so far in advance, it was given an additional slug “Atomic” so it wouldn’t get crammed into the daily paper. Or, at least that’s the way I remember it.

One Christmas break when I came home from Ohio University – it was probably 1967 – Editor jBlue asked if I would have time to roam all over the region shooting buildings like The Wishy-Washy Laundr-O-Mat. The 1968 City Directory says it was at 1526 Independence and that Homer R. Dickmann was the manager. At five bucks a shot, plus mileage, I jumped at the opportunity.

Start at the outside and work in

1967 Achievement - Cape Ricardos 47In those days, The Missourian was a regional paper. My negative sleeves said I went north as far as St. Genevieve, as far south as East Prairie and as far west as Lutesville. jBlue, always cost-conscious, instructed me to start at the far ends of the region and work inward toward Cape “so I don’t have to pay you to drive the same roads more than once.”

I was told to shoot any commercial buildings that looked new or remodeled and a representative sampling of any new homes that looked “expensive,” defined as costing more than $25,000. By the time I got done with the project, I could have qualified as a tax assessor.

I must have thought Ricardo’s Italian Swiss Chalet Ristorante looked recently spiffed up. The City Directory says it was also known as Rich House Inc. and was located at 731 Broadway. It was flanked on the left by Sisco’s Professional Barber Salon (Wm. D. Sisco), and optometrists Joe L. Mosley and James A. Drace on the right.

Sterling replaced the St. Charles Hotel

1967 Achievement - Cape Sterling 16The Sterling store replaced the historic St. Charles Hotel at the corner of Main and Themis. I photographed it being torn down.

Personal Finance Loans

1967 Achievement - Cape Personal Finance Co 13John H. Jarrett was listed as manager of Personal Finance Loans, 31 Main Street. The other buildings include Zickfield’s Jewelers, Tony’s Jewelry and Gift Shop and the Sweet Shoppe.

Eggiman’s

1967 Achievement - Cape Skinners Barber Shop 39Skinner’s Barber Shop must have had a short life. It doesn’t show up in the 1969 City Directory, and there is a sign in the window that says “For Lease, Inquire at Eggimann’s.”

Eggiman’s Authorized Dealer of Maytag and Admiral Appliances (Richard L. Eggiman, mgr) was at 225 South Plaza Way. That’s my old 1959 Buick LaSabre station wagon parked in front of Eggiman’s.

Swann & Son Garage

1967 Achievement - Cape Swan - Sons 07From the off-kilter angle of this photo, I wonder if I might have just changed rolls of film and this was a shot where I was advancing the new roll of film to get past the leader. Swann & Son Garage (C. Elwood Swann) was located at 430 William Street.

Missourian Litho and Printing

1967 Achievement - Cape Missourian Litho and Printing 06Missourian Litho and Printing Co. (John Beaudean) was at 500 William.

Cape Chiropractic Clinic

1967 Achievement - Cape Cape Chiropractic Clinic 7Cape Chiropractic Clinic, 726 Independence, was occupied by Drs. Wm. D. and R.M. Edwards.

Dr. M. Allen Brock

1967 Achievement - Cape Dr M Allen Brock 27The building on the right has a sign large enough to read that says “Dr. M. Allen Brock – Chiropractor.” The City Directory has Dr. Brock’s address as 148 S. Ellis, but this doesn’t look like Ellis to me. I can’t read the sign on the building on the left. If I had to guess, I’d say this is Independence.

Ford’s Meat Company

1967 Achievement - Cape Fords Meat Co 33Ford’s was located almost directly across from the Steinhoff, Kirkwood and Joiner Construction Co. on Hwy 61 near Sprigg Street. Managers were Bessie N and Lloyd N. Ford.

Power substation

1967 Achievement - Cape 35I think this might be the power substation located on the east side of old Hwy 61 that leads to the Diversion Channel boat ramps. It has been expanded in recent years and is protected from flooding by a huge dike around it.

Photo gallery of Cape and St. Genvieve buildings

Some of the negatives were in sleeves that said “Cape;” a few, though, said “Cape – St. Gen.” I’m going to assume that the ones with snow in them were Cape. I didn’t bother to try to identify the residential buildings because The Missourian’s microfiche in Google was missing the dates when the Achievement Edition ran. You’ll have to give me your best guess if you see something that looks familiar. Click on any photo to make it larger, then click on the sides to move through the gallery.

If there is interest, I’ll scan buildings from East Cape, Scott City, Illmo, Charleston, Bertrand, Lutesville, Marble Hill, Chaffee, East Prairie, St. Mary, Perryville, Old Appleton, Oak Ridge, Fruitland, Brewer, Thebes, Olive Branch, Tamms, Delta, Bloomfield, Aquilla, Diehlstadt, Oran, Morley, Benton, Kelso, Delta, Advance, Patton and Brownwood. Oh, and I just found another sleeve of Cape buildings. As you can see, there isn’t much of Southeast Missouri I haven’t prowled. Unfortunately, I won’t have any IDs on the buildings. I’ll be lucky to get the town right.

A Smell You Don’t Forget

It was time for my biannual body inventory at the dermatologist this morning. I had a hunk of skin cancer hacked off my face a few years ago, so I’m supposed to go back for inspection once or twice a year.

Hinkle Young fatal fire 01-11-1967(When I showed up at the office with a huge bandage on my face back then, I answered the inevitable question by saying, “I was just sitting there minding my own business when this gang wearing masks and gloves surrounded me demanding money for drugs. Even though I paid off, they cut me anyway.” Well, it WAS true, kind of.)

After a bunch of uh-huhs and some picture taking of various and sundry body parts, he froze some places, scraped some places and sliced away at some others.

When he hit a couple of spots with a cauterizing iron, I commented, “That’s a smell I’ve never forgotten. The first fatal fire I worked was a guy who fell asleep with a cigarette smouldering in a feather bed.”

I could tell by the expression on his assistant’s face that’s not a comment she hears every day.

Just by the luck of the draw, I was scanning a queen crowning tonight when I found that fire on the same roll of film. I’m not going to provide a link to the story or any details except to say that the guy in the white jacket on the right is coroner Don Kremer. The remains of the featherbed are scattered all over the yard.

I hadn’t turned 20 yet

Hinkle Young fatal fire 01-11-1967That wasn’t the last smoking-in-bed fatal I encountered, but it’s the one I flash back to.

I just looked at the file date on the film. I hadn’t turned 20 years old yet. That’s a long time to hold onto a memory.

 

Aven Kinder, Farm Editor

Aven Kinder - Missourian Farm Editor - Summer 1966Aven Kinder was one of the most buttoned-down guys I ever worked with. In a business made up of characters and misfits on their way up or on their way down, Mr. Kinder (I couldn’t imagine calling him by his first name) was a model of stability.

Even though he was the Farm Editor and had to roam all over the area dodging cow pies, I never saw him with his sleeves rolled up or his tie at anything but full mast.

He had only two speeds: Slow and Steady. I never saw him get angry or get in a hurry. He was the most methodical guy in the newsroom.

I was there when he retired in 1967. after 38 years at The Missourian. The front page story about his last day said that he was honored by management and his fellow workers who presented him with a $100 savings bond. It’s hard to tell in the badly-reproduced microfilm photo, but I’m almost sure there was a flicker of a smile on his face. He doled those out sparingly.

Mr. Kinder hired on with the paper in 1929; he and One-Shot Frony were the only ones left of the original five members of the staff from that era. For three consecutive years, 1962-1964, his farm pages were judged best in the state. The paper came in second in 1965.

The story said he had no plans for retirement except to “fish a little and hunt a little.” He and Mrs. Kinder, a teacher at May Greene School, lived at 1456 Rose Street. (His obit said 1457 Rose Street, but the City Directory confirms 1456. I bet he did a spin in his grave over that.). What I find amazing in retrospect is that Mr. Kinder retired at 65 with 38 years in the business. I always thought of him as an “old man.” I retired at 62, with 45 years under my belt, 35 of them at The Post, and didn’t think I was old.

Aven Kinder obituary

Aven Kinder, 84, died Jan. 23, 1986, at the Lake Ridge Health Care Center in Roseville, Minn.

On Oct. 5, 1930, he married the former Berenice Piles at Piedmont. She died in March of 1970. On May 5, 1973, he married the former Verrell Whittaker at Advance. She preceded him in death May 21, 1973. (Those are the kinds of dates Mr. Kinder would have come over to ask, “Are you SURE of that?” The dates, sadly enough, are right. The two were married on May 5, and the new Mrs. Kinder died “unexpectedly” on May 21.)

Surviving are a daughter, Mrs. Eugene (Sherrill Sue) Wright, St. Paul, Minn.; sisters Mrs. Elna Amsden, St. Louis, and Mrs. Marie O’Neal, Scott City; and two grandchildren.