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Birthdays and Scrapbooks

Based on best wishes I’ve received from friends on Facebook, a lot of folks thought it was my birthday yesterday. Because Bad Guys use social media to sniff out all kinds of personal data I will neither confirm nor deny that.

Y’all have figured that I’m a bit of a pack rat.You might have figured that out when I posted Valentine’s Day cards from elementary school.

I got it from my parents. Being the firstborn, everything associated with my young life was recorded in detail in a number of scrapbooks. By the time Number Three, Bro Mark, came along, his scrapbook just said, “See Previous.”

This wasn’t just Mother’s project, either. That’s Dad’s handwriting. When I really dive into the Baby Book, I’ll post the great diary he typed of my early years.

Make no bones about it

When I say EVERYTHING was recorded, I mean EVERYTHING

First Birthday

The house trailer that moved from town to town while Dad was building roads and bridges is behind me.

What are you doing with those balloons?

Birthday cakes are cool. This was shot in my grandparents’ yard in Advance.

OK, one balloon is fun, but what is my grandmother, Elsie Welch, doing behind my back?

Once I figured they were trying to launch me into the air, I decided a protest was in order.

Celebrating higher education

There are a bunch of me dressed in a cap and gown and holding my Trinity Lutheran School Kindergarten diploma. I think my parents were afraid that might be the only time I’d wear a cap and gown, so they wanted to make the most of it.

Actions have consequences

On what appears to have been my sixth birthday, I made the mistake of (A) wearing a funny hat and (B) chewing with my mouth open.

The next thing I know, I’m dressed with some kind of funky collar around my neck (left) and dragooned into a Trinity Lutheran School play with some equally excited kids.

I recognize, in no particular order, Jerry O’Connell, Della Heise, Cheri Huckstep, Judy Schrader and, maybe, Bonnie Strom.

Career Choices: Jockey?

Before long, it was time to think about career choices. Dad made it clear that he didn’t want us boys to follow his tracks into the construction business, so he first sized me up as a jockey. That wasn’t a good fit.

How about cowboy?

I tried the Hopalong Cassidy look for about a year, but that was too much like my jockey experience. Not for me.

How about  the Air Force?

This was my favorite outfit. I still have it. We dressed Grandson Malcolm in it when he was the right size. It’s as close to military service as I ever got. (Except for that trip to National Guard camp.)

Trust me, this is NOT the last time we visit my childhood scrapbooks. I haven’t looked at them in years, but they contain a wealth of photos worth sharing.

Learn from others

Learn from others: that was the most important lesson I learned in my childhood. I found this expression equally useful against recalcitrant public officials, obstreperous editors and tight-fisted vendors.

 

 

a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury
Signifying nothing!
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Greetings from Cape Girardeau

I’m always looking for Cape memorabilia. I think I picked this Souvenir of Cape Girardeau postcard packet at Annie Laurie’s Antiques on one of my recent visits. It could have been mailed for 1.5 cents (without message) when it was new. (Click on any image to make it larger)

Sold at Strom’s News Agency

There’s a tiny note that says Strom’s News Agency, Cape Girardeau, Mo., on this sheet that has all kinds of factoids about Cape. I’m going to guess the information dates back to the late 20s or early 30s.

Bridge, bluffs and steam boats

The Mississippi River Traffic Bridge opened to traffic Aug. 22,1928, so this had to have been published after that.

The rock bluffs have me guessing unless they are on the stretch on South Sprigg south and west of the cement plant. I can’t think of any other bluffs that are that close to the highway on The Kings Highway. I’m not even sure that South Sprigg carried that moniker.

Someone much more ancient that me will have to come up with the last time three steam boats docked on Cape’s riverfront.

Is that the KFVS tower?

These postcards were hand-colored, so the artists had to make assumptions. Unless the facades changed, both the Common Pleas Courthouse and St. Vincent’s College were made of red brick.

The only radio tower that I can think of between Cape and Jackson was the KFVS Radio tower that I photographed in 2009. The one on the postcard doesn’t look like it’s on the crest of the hill but the perspective might be off.

Burfordville, Arena Building and SEMO

The Bollinger Mill and Covered Bridge at Burfordville looks pretty much like when I photographed them last year.

The Arena Building looks pretty much the same, too, but this was years before the Radio-Active Girl Scouts showed up there.

St. Vincent’s, Marquette and SE Hospital

Southeast Hospital certainly has changed a lot since this was taken.

The Marquette Hotel looked pretty close to this in the 60s when it was in the background of a fender-bender I covered at Broadway and Fountain. The artist missed on the color of the facade, though.

St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church has red brick in the real world, too.

St. Francis Hospital long gone

St. Francis Hospital was torn down in 2000.

They must have run out of things to show in Cape, because the rest of the images are from around the Big Springs region.

Curt Teich & Co.

As a photographer, I’m pretty careful about appropriating photos that others have taken because I don’t like mine to get ripped off. In tiny, tiny print there was a note that the Souvenir Folder was © Curt Teich & Co. Figuring the copyright had probably expired – or the company probably had – I Googled the name.

I had seen this style of card over the years, but I didn’t realize exactly how many the company had produced. There’s a whole collection of them that includes images of more than 10,000 cities and towns.

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Backyard Baseball and Bad Pictures

Some pictures should stay lost. This is one of those photos (not to mention the ones that DIDN’T run) I wish I had never taken.

Oh, the story is valid: neighborhood kids need a place to play ball, so they clear off a vacant lot. The city health department, instead of stopping them, sends a mower by to help cut the high grass.

I probably heard about it from Lila, who lived on Sheridan Street, and “sold” it as a story to The Missourian. In later years, I made it a rule not to cover events my family was involved in, but I’ll even let the slight conflict of interest slide.

Don’t set up pictures

A couple of years later, I hopped on a train in Cape to go to a National Press Photographers Association Flying Short Course where Louisville photographer Bill Strode talked about ethics. “If there are only two people in the room if I set up a picture – me and the subject – that’s two too damn many people in the world who know I’m a liar.” he drilled into us.

Don’t set up BAD pictures

These photos go one step worse: they are set-up photos that are done badly, which is hinted at in the caption that notes the ball in the catcher’s mitt.

Neighborhood ball field

The story said that Johnny Perry (who became the brother-in-law you’ve read about here), Alex Snider and Keith Lathan were the ones who hatched up the plot to clear the lot behind Alex’s home on Sheridan Drive.

The neighborhood kids had been tackling the jungle two days when city health officer Russell Matzen saw their efforts and sent over a city mower to make short work of it.

It’s not hard to field a team. One night there a quick count turned up 33 children, ranging in age from 2 to 17, four mothers and Peggy the Pup. (In the interest of full disclosure, Peggy the Pup was Lila’s family’s dog.)

Mothers play, too

A number of neighborhood mothers are content to serve as spectators. However, four of them, Mrs. Lucille Perry, 315 Sheridan; Mrs.Bill Snider (who made the bases), 308 Sheridan; Mrs. Bill Harris, 2214 Good Hope, and Mrs. Jerry Schweain, 317 Sheridan, “get into the swing of things.

In one of those coincidences that could only happen in Cape, I ran into Jerry Schweain on Independence Steet last year. We didn’t recognize each other.

When I told him my name, he said,“I’ve got something to show you that you probably never thought you’d see again.”

He reached for his wallet, fumbled around for a bit, then pulled out a worn and faded Palm Beach Post-Times business card with my home phone number scrawled on it. “You told me to give you a call if I ever got down to your neck of the woods. I never got closer than around Tampa, so I never called you.”

Do dishes and dash

Asked how hard the softball fever had struck them, Mrs. Snider said, “The minute the dishes are done, I dash out the door.”

Non-posed photos more interesting.

Lisa’s Snider’s glasses look almost as big as she is.

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Cape’s Sewage Treatment Plant

I’ve been seeing stories pop up that Cape Girardeau residents are going to vote on whether or not to build a new waste water treatment plant by 2014. You can read more about it on the city’s website. I don’t have a dog in this hunt, so I’m not going to weigh in.

I flew over the treatment plant last fall. It looked smaller than I remembered it.

Front page story with byline

I did a front page Missourian story on Aug. 15, 1967, back in the day when we called it a “sewage treatment plant.” Not only did it run on 1A, but it ran with a byline, something that didn’t happen often.

Overall, it wasn’t badly written. The lead is a little long – “Cape Girardeau’s sewage treatment plant’s most important function is anti-pollution, but a byproduct of its operations is proving to be a substantial help to area farmers who literally reap the benefits when they harvest their crops.”

Treated sewage made excellent fertilizer

“After the raw sewage – which once had a direct line to the Mississippi River – is detoured, detained, treated and dried, the solid wastes make excellent fertilizer, farmers say.”

I loved stats and obscure factoids: “…about 35,000 pounds of sludge rolls off the plant’s 12-foot-wide vacuum coilfilter every other day, Tom Sides, supervisor, pointed out; this amounts to about 200 tons a month or about 7,200 tons in the three years the plant has been in operation.”

You don’t know how hard it is to write a story like this without slipping in some bad puns. John Blue was the only guy I ever worked for who would have given me this assignment without making some comment about it being a “[deleted]” story.

Some odor after rains

I quoted farmers Ervin Hobbs, Fred Theile and Mrs. Denver Perkins. All said their yields had increased. Mr. Thiele reported “there is some odor – particularly after it rains – but there aren’t any other farmers too close to here and it doesn’t bother anyone.”

Dr. S.B. Beecher of the State Public Health office in Poplar Bluff said that the state has never objected to the use of solid treated waste. Some St. Louis nurseries even used the liquid sewage, he said.

Came out  as felt-like material

Cape County Health Officer Marvin Campbell was less sold. “I don’t know how adequate the treatment is, I don’t know whether all the pathogenic organisms are being killed; I don’t know the strength of the chemicals being used, and I don’t know if any tests are being made to see if the organisms are being killed.”

Raw sewage flowed into the plant at the rate of 2,500 to 3,500 gallons a minute. By the time it got through the complex system of pumps, still wells and filters, it came out as clear water which was “almost drinkable” or as a slightly-damp, felt-like material. The latter is what the farmers used.

Two employees in addition to Mr. Sides work at the plant: Elmer J. Perry, operator, and Cecil Bierschwal, truck driver.

 

 

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