Cape Girardeau History and Photos

March 10, 2015

Track Meet Taping

This was one of those technically challenging situations where I didn’t quite measure up to the challenge. The subject is leaning over with his face in the shadows, and the background is full of confusion and clutter.

It’s a nice moment, but I could have done a better job of capturing it. (If I was in one of my Fine Arts classes, I would have tried bluffing: “I made his face dark because I wanted to show him alone with his thoughts.”)

Still, I’m pretty sure it won at least an honorable mention in a photo contest, probably because it was different than most sports action shots.

Spring athletes got shorted

I’ve written before that the students who participated in spring athletics got the short end of the stick. By that time, everybody is focused on getting out of school, and the yearbook has already gone to press, so they won’t get recognition until the following year.

Here are some earlier track and field posts:

March 9, 2015

BSA Official Twin Signal Set

Right here in front of you is an Official Boy Scout Twin Signal Set bought in the basement of Buckner’s for $4.25 about 55 or 56 years ago. Click on the photos to make them larger.

Contained two “sturdy plastic instruments”

Inside were two “sturdy plastic instruments” that would allow you to send Morse code to a buddy using buzzers or lights. Included was a length of wire to go between the two units and the batteries to power them.

Cheat sheet provided

In case you didn’t KNOW your Morse code, there was a handy-dandy chart on the top of the sending and receiving unit.

My KFVS television debut

I wrote about my first TV appearance in a 2011 post. (By the way, your computer isn’t broken. We didn’t have sound movies back in the old days.) Here’s how I told the story:

I think my TV debut might have been during Scout Week in the eighth grade or my freshman year. Boy Scout Troop 8 was supposed to have someone tap out “Scouting is fun” in Morse code, but the guy who was supposed to do it backed out at the last minute for some reason or other. I could send like a demon (but couldn’t receive worth two cents), so I was sent in as a sub.

Dad set up the family’s Bell & Howell 8mm movie camera to record the moment off the Zenith television in the basement. For what it’s worth, he had a guy working for him who could read code who pronounced my transmission flawless. I’m not sure who the Scout was looking in awe over my shoulder.

The whole escapade ended with future debate partner John Mueller being interviewed. I’m sure he said something about how important being able to send Morse code would be in an emergency. Unspoken was the fact that my buzzer couldn’t be heard on the far side of the room and that the little light on the key was a tiny flashlight bulb. I guess it was OK for close emergencies.

I could sell it for a profit

The bugs have gotten to the box in a few places, but I see a “Vintage Official Boy Scout Twin Signal Set” priced as high as $75 (or best offer) on ebay. One just sold for $9.99 a few minutes ago, so that’s probably what it’s really worth, give or take. Of course, MINE could carry the tag, “As seen on TV.”

You know, I should hold onto in case there’s an emergency where I need to send a message to someone sitting across from me in the same room. I can tap out “Scouting is fun” and S-O-S really well, but don’t expect me to translate anything you send me.

March 7, 2015

Trinity Lutheran Group Shots

I’m not sure both of these photos are mine. This photo’s lighting and overall tone looks more like it could have been taken by Master Photographer Paul Lueders.

I don’t recognize anyone in the photo. I’m going to guess they are members of a Trinity Lutheran School confirmation class. Click on the photos to make them large enough to see the faces.

Trinity graduates, maybe?

This looks like a different group than the one above, and their caps and gowns might make it an eighth grade graduation. Trinity Lutheran School also had a kindergarten graduation, but it’s pretty safe to say these aren’t kindergarteners.

The technical quality of this photo makes me think I took it. Where the picture at top of the page is evenly lit and has a full range of tones, this one appears to have been shot with one strobe light held high and off to the left. It got rid of most of the shadows, but the light is a bit harsh. The highlights are a little blown out, too. That’s because I tended to overexpose and overdevelop “to be safe,” leading to contrasty photos. That’s not a good thing when you’re shooting people in white robes.

So, Mr. Lueders, if that WAS your shot at the top, please forgive me for stealing your picture. I imagine you are too busy taking pictures of angels lounging around on cloud tops to have noticed, though.

Dodged a bullet

While I was still in high school, I was contacted by a company that wanted to hire me to shoot photos for a church book at Trinity. I don’t remember the details, but it was going to involve me convincing families to show up at the church to be photographed. The results would be assembled into a book the company would take advance orders for. I’d get a cut of the action, plus be able to sell prints to the families.

I turned the idea down. I figured if they offered ME the job, they were shady to begin with. It sniffed of something where they used a local to rope in the marks and collect the money for a product that would never be delivered. I didn’t have confidence that I had the technical skills to pull of the job, and I sure didn’t want to get run out of town on a rail by a bunch of German Lutherans with pitchforks if this turned out to be a scam.

March 6, 2015

Linemen Hanging Around

Editors like feature photos with unusual shapes because they allow them to do something different with page layouts. You wouldn’t want to go running in with some extreme like this on deadline, because of the work it would cause to change headline sizes, story placement and jumps, but it was great to have in the bucket for a slow day.

In West Palm Beach, Florida Power & Light (AKA FP&L or Florida Plunder & Loot) had a bunch of poles set up for training. Rookies would climb and reclimb the poles until they got good at it. You’d drive by to see half a dozen guys (is was all male then) playing catch with basketballs. A miss meant you had to climb down, retrieve the ball and climb back up.

I thought maybe that’s what was going on here until I looked more closely. It looks like the three guys on the poles are positioned to attach another piece of diagonal bracing after the fellow on the ground hoists it up to them.

The Kiss of Life

They would also practice doing the Kiss of Life: mouth-to-mouth resuscitation while hanging in the air.

Photographer Rocco Morabito won a Pulitzer prize for one of the most dramatic rescue photos I’ve ever seen, and one I had in the back of my mind on every spot news run.

Follow this link to see the photo, read Marabito’s account of taking it, and to find out what happened to the guy whose life was saved.