6.3.11 SEMO Times

FREESEMOTIMESwww.semotimes.com

June 3 - 9, 2011

The Underworld of Brick’s to be Featured

on National TV

SOUTHEAST MISSOURI’S NEWS-MAGAZINE OF POLITICS AND CULTURE

www.SEMOTIMES.cOMpage 2

SEMO TIMES6.3.11 Volume 3 Issue 30

2725 N. Westwood Blvd.Suite 17

Poplar Bluff, MO 63901573-785-2200

Inside this editionThe Week in Review - 3The Social Network - 3

Feature: Brick’s - 4News Briefs - 5

Your Local Expert - 6Working Daze - 6

Opinion: Brighton Jay - 7Letter to the Editor - 7

Tech Talk - 9The Rambler- 9Blind Insight - 9The Scene - 14

Hooked on Science - 14+bluffee Event’s Calendar - 15

Scott R. Faughn, [email protected]

Tim Krakowiak, managing editor

[email protected] Harlan

creative [email protected]

Rachel Woolard,marketing director

[email protected]

It was a good week for the Animal Welfare Alliance of Southeast Missouri, which collected $3,500 dur-

ing its “art for animals” fundraiser held at Artfully Framed.

It was a bad week for the Raiders basketball pro-gram. Three Rivers Col-lege will now self-report vi-

olations to the NJCAA, due to recent infractions, as advised by an athletic consultant the Board of Trustees hired.

It was a good week for our veterans, who were re-membered for their cour-age on Memorial Day.

It was a bad week for Oprah Winfrey, who got dominated by KFVS-12’s weatherman extraordinaire

Bob Reeves during her final talk show episode.

It was a good w e e k for the

near 500 gradu-ates of Three Rivers College, and those who participated in the recent com-mencement held at the Black Riv-er Coliseum, and got to listen to Fox News Chan-nel personality Mike Huckabee’s keynote.

If you see some-one in the com-munity who de-serves a thumbs up, email us at [email protected].

www.semotimes.com current events Section


www.SEMOTIMES.cOM page 3

The Week in Review

1. Become a friend of SEMO Times on Facebook

2. Reply to our questions for a chance to be featured with your profile pic in the

newspaper

Las MargaritasMiCasa II

Las Margaritas (though Mi Casa II is good)

El Acapulco

Pink Floyd, just not football

never seen it

a cheerleadernever seen it

the social network

how to join our social network:

#1 What’s your favorite Mexican

restaurant in Poplar Bluff?

#2 Which “Dazed and Confused” movie charac-ter did you resemble the

closest in high school?

from our

friends at:

www.semotimes.com News Section



Photo providedMatt Steele, host of “Trucks Gone Wild,” interviews Joe Crane, who

went the furthest in the mud truck challenge in 2010.

The Underworld of Brick’s to be Featured on National TVTim KrakowiakManaging Editor

The classic fusion of characters and high horsepower wrecks has attracted various promoters to Brick’s Off Road Park over the past several years in hopes of land-ing the next hit reality show.

Two separate national produc-tion crews will be visiting Butler County June 10-12 to compile footage of the recreation known by enthusiasts as mudding for a new Outdoor Channel series entitled “Mudslingers,” along with an-other installment of “Trucks Gone Wild,” a DVD series strictly avail-able through the Internet.

“They like a controversy such as ‘Or-ange County Chopper,’ where you have the father and son always arguing. On other reality shows like ‘Survivor’ or ‘The Amaz-ing Race,’ there’s a competition, and viewers want to see who’s going to win,” said Jay Brickell, owner of the 4x4

farm on County Road 484 south of Poplar Bluff. “Is that what ours is going to be all about, who’s going to win the mud truck challenge?”

Highlighted as one of America’s top mud parks in the trade maga-zine “Four Wheeler,” and having spawned a subculture of mud peo-ple upon opening on New Year’s Eve of 2005, Brick’s is a repur-posed cattle farm with four wheel-er trails, hills for rock crawlers, an all-terrain vehicle drag strip, a mud field for monster trucks and primi-tive camping.

MUD TRUCK CHALLENGE“What we were told going into

this is cre-ate a hill they can’t climb and a mud hole they can’t get through,” explained Jay’s son Scott Brick-ell, who owns Brick-house En-tertainment, a man-agement company in Franklin, Tenn.

The undefeated mud truck challenge in

“The nation’s going through hard

times and people just want a place to go

to forget about all that, if only for a

- Scott Brickell,

the infamous mud slough located in a sectioned off portion of Bea-ver Dam Creek running through the 400 acres has served as a catalyst for highlight reels, begin-ning with Hollywood director Jeff Ross of Country Music Television “Hit Trip” fame, who first filmed at Brick’s in 2007 for a pilot he produced, available at Hastings in Poplar Bluff.

Among a couple dozen drivers gearing up to take the muddy dip next weekend is Michael Ballew, owner of South Central Customs on U.S. 67 North, with a tricked

out Chevy Blazer suspended on 66-inch tires.

“It’s just human nature that everybody wants their 15 minutes of fame,” stated Ballew, who has had to get his truck towed out of the slough on three previous oc-casions. “There are just so many variables when you’re dealing with a mechanical piece of equip-ment and Mother Nature, two of the most volatile things. If I didn’t think I had a chance, I wouldn’t go through with it.”

The ante is up to $6,000 for the 4x4 truck that makes it 300 feet

couple hours.”

Brick’s Off Road Park



www.semotimes.com News Section

semotimes.comdaily updates

MON - subfeature Tues - local expert

WEDs - almost famousthurs- guest column

fri - print edition

Poplar Bluff License Bureau Moving to New Location June 20

The Poplar Bluff License Bureau will soon move from its current lo-cation at the former Pear Tree Inn to its new home on Three Rivers Boulevard.

FEMA Opens an Office at Three Rivers College

Following Pres. Barack Obama’s declaration of Butler and other Missouri counties as disaster areas, the Federal Emergency Manage-ment Agency is opening a disaster recovery office on the Three Rivers College campus in Poplar Bluff.

Essex Man Arrested for Al-leged Armed Rape

DEXTER, Mo. – An armed Es-sex man was arrested for allegedly breaking into a house and forcibly raping a 31-year-old woman.

Three Rivers College Honors Employees During ACE Awards

Three Rivers College recog-nized the best and brightest among its faculty and staff at an awards banquet.

Huckabee Addresses Three Rivers College Graduates during

CommencementThe largest class ever to gradu-

ate from Three Rivers College received their degrees and certifi-cates in a commencement ceremo-ny at the Black River Coliseum.

Read the full story on the daily fix over at the .com.

@ semotimes.com

“As boys, we all loved trucks. I don’t think that changes. It’s all part of us as men never growing up.”

-Matt Steele,

Trucks Gone Wild

through the slough without need-ing assistance of the trackhoe and chain on permanent standby. If no one hails victorious, monetary awards will be given to the 10 drivers that make it the furthest, plus $1,500 for the ‘best of show’ determined by a panel of judges.

DUELING FILM PROJECTSIn addition to the mud truck chal-

lenge slated to kick off at 11 a.m. June 11, “Trucks Gone Wild” will

bring cameras and a cherry picker for the fourth consecutive year to capture car crushing action and the long jump, where vehicles will catch airtime off a dirt ramp.

The Orlando, Fla., based pro-duction crew has made Brick’s a staple of their tour of mud parks across the country because of its centralized location, along with the heightened enthusiasm of visitors the forested farm draws out, ac-cording to founder Matt Steele.

“As boys, we all loved trucks,” pointed out Steele, who also hosts “Truck U” on the Speed Channel and is the national spokesman for Autogeek.net. “I don’t think that changes. It’s all part of us as men never growing up.”

This year’s footage will appear on either Trucks Gone Wild: 11 or 12, which will be available for purchase at www.trucksgonewild.com in October, he said.

“Mudslingers” will premier on cable television June 27. The 13-episode season will focus on a different “off road amusement park” each week, described show producer Rob Campbell of Tulsa, Okla.

“Visually, a good portion of

SEMO Times: Tell us about your background?

Nicole Conover: I am a buyer with The Gift Connection in Poplar Bluff as well as work in cusotmer service. I work here with my mother Sue Fox and grandmother, and my huband Jer-emy, and I have a 4-year-old daughter Katelyn.

ST: Where do you begin in when attempting to find the perfect gift?

Conover: You can start with things like favor-ite colors, do they like things sitting around their home or are they a minimalist? Do they carry a purse or wear jewelry? Really you start with what they like, and go from there.

ST: What is the best story about someone com-ing into the store clueless, and you helping them find the right gift?

Conover: Last week a man came in looking for a mother’s day gift for his mother and wife. We asked him a few questions about them and came up with the right gift. We knew it was the right gift because his wife was in the day after moth-er’s day adding on to the bracelet he bought.

ST: What advice would you give couples when putting together a wedding table?

Conover: The first piece of advice I give is don’t forget about the groom. I think it is also impor-tant to think about things that are practical kitch-en-wise, and coasters and ice buckets always come in handy.

ST: What are some ideas for people who are at-tending baby showers?

Conover: One thing I always encourage people to think about w h e n p u r c h a s -ing baby s h o w e r gifts is buy things that will still be useful six or eight m o n t h s later.

Typical ly you have a ton of new-born gifts, but what can really come in handy are gifts that are useful after the inital newborn gifts are too small. Also, books are a great idea. They have longevity and are a great hobby to get kids into.

Nicole Conover can be reached by calling 573-785-0384 or emailing [email protected].



Business

Nicole conover, Buyer and customer

Service at Gift connection

Looking for a New Career?Do you hate time clocks?

Do you have a Facebook page?Do you know Charlie Sheen’s one-word catchphrase?

If you got four affirmations on our pop quiz, then we may have the opportunity you have been searching for.

We, at 573 Media, are expanding our sales team. If you are looking to join Southeast Missouri’s fastest growing media company in this seemingly desolate industry, e-mail your best resume to [email protected]. Let’s see if we have a winning combo on our hands. No phone calls necessarily.

“Buying the Right Gift”



Opinion & Editorial“I Wish We’d All Been Ready”By Brighton Jay, Poplar Bluff

“There’s no time to change your mind, the Son has come and you’ve been left behind.”

The haunting lyrics of this song still ring in my ears, despite the decade and a half since it last made it on any of my mix tapes. As a teenager, this Larry Norman apocalyptic ballad represented the fervent beliefs of the rapture-ready set; one I was groomed by my parents to be a part of.

Such a singular belief in the Glori-ous Abduction elicited quite an unset-tling mix of horror and hope in the minds of believers such as us. On one hand, it was wonderfully exciting to think that any day, our beloved Messi-ah would return to spirit us away from the human condition. The antithesis being that many of our closest friends and family, as well as millions of non-believers around the world would not only be left behind, but would poten-tially suffer the Great Tribulation as well as eternity in Hell.

Along with the apprehension of losing our loved ones to such a ter-rifying end, there was the ever present fear that we ourselves might be found wanting by our Lord. Had we forgot-ten to seek forgiveness after uttering a little white lie? Skipped a daily Bible reading to watch a baseball game instead? Missed church because we were too tired after a long fishing trip? Any number of infractions could potentially bar us from the rapture; indeed, simply being human rendered us unworthy without constant effort to seek redemption.

In my family, rapture-ready belief is not just a passing fancy buried in standard religious dogma. My father is a self-styled student of the apoca-lyptic; from the teachings of prophecy preachers such as Jack Van Impe and Hal Lindsay to his own studies of Biblical numerology, genealogies and a plethora of conspiracy theories. As a result, I was constantly reassured that Christ would be appearing in the clouds at any moment. My mother and I were frequent readers of Christian fiction, which guaranteed that such novels as those of Tim LaHaye’s “Left Behind” series often graced our book-shelves. I was entrenched in the rap-ture ready culture – part and parcel.

As a non-believer who no longer

gives credence to such beliefs, I recently found myself chuckling at the latest end of days prediction, in which Jesus was to beam up the believers on May 21. In the midst of my scorn, however, a friend introduced me to an article which included interviews with some of the doomsday devotees. These convictions go beyond a quirky idea concocted by a fringe subset of religious culture; they have a darker side – a harmful side.

Those who believe in the imminent return of the Judeo-Christian Messiah often have little care for planning the future for themselves, their children or for future generations. What’s the point in saving for college? Protecting the environment? Investing in your retirement? After all, God will teach us all unknown things, destroy this habitat and give us an endless vaca-tion once we are safe and cozy within the heavenly gates. It’s a sad situation that not only affects the people who hold these beliefs, but their children and ultimately, the world.

As May 21 passes, and your mind drifts to thoughts of the end of the world (or the lack thereof), maybe it would be a good time for some intro-spection. What of your own beliefs might not stand up under the scrutiny of logic? Are any of your cherished ideas harmful to yourself, your chil-dren or our fellow man? If so, perhaps those should be laid to rest alongside the disappointments of the May 21 doomsayers.

“A Call for Resolution on Hospital Site”To the editor:What a quandary the HMA Corporation finds itself in once again. The

current HMA owned Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center is an outdated facility. The battle for a certificate of need has finally been won, and we as a community are poised to receive what is likely to be the most up-to-date facility, technologically speaking, between St. Louis and Memphis. That is provided the HMA Corporation holds up to their end of the deal.

Never have we been in such need for an updated, state-of-the-art facil-ity. Gas prices are on the rise, medical treatment costs are on the rise. The population of Butler, as well as the surrounding counties, is at an all-time high. So what is the hold up? We have the certificate of need. We have a multimillion dollar, nationwide corporation ready to break ground on the new hospital. We have blueprints for the new facility. It would seem all systems are a go.

Just as we are on the cusp of development, something unexpected hap-pens: the discovery of the abandoned Shadle Cemetery. No one knew the cemetery was there, and no one has taken any responsibility for the burial site until now. What a terrible situation. How sad it would be to be aban-doned after death in a cemetery that time and family forgot.

No one wants to disrupt anyone’s final resting place. We all agree that burial sites should be treated as sacred ground. However, no one wants to hold up the development of a new, technologically advanced medical center, either. Sadly, no one seems to be able to find a peaceable, satisfac-tory solution to this problem.

Please, Shadle Cemetery family and HMA Corporation, do what you must to find an answer to this problem. We need this hospital. We need it now.

-Jennifer Broxton,Fisk

To submit a letter to the editor or become a contributing colum-

nist, e-mail the managing editor Tim Krakowiak at tim@

semotimes.com.

SUNSETPool, Spa, & Metalcraft

573-785-9094

3345 S. Westwood Blvd. Poplar Bluff, MOWHERE YOUR FUN IS OUR REPUTATION



News section www.semotimes.com

the show is about the big trucks, big tires, ATVs and highlight reels, but it’s equally about the camp-sites, the groups of friends that come out for the camaraderie,” Campbell said. “We’re not there to make fun of this lifestyle like so many other shows tend to do, our main focus is to celebrate.”

The “Mudslingers” production crew will begin filming at Brick’s June 10, with hosts Marc Ryan, a comedian, and Colt Ford, a musician, who will also perform that evening at the Black River Coliseum, alongside southern rock group The Lacs and Powder Mill based out of Van Buren.

“I’m from Southern Louisiana, so I live for this stuff,” Ryan said. “I rode four wheelers growing up and had an old jeep in my family, but I did not know this world existed where you go and spend three days in a mud haze and sort of disappear off the grid.”

The Brickells are preparing the land to accommodate thousands of people. While a courageous few will take the spotlight, Scott Brickell

Photo providedA Monster Truck Topples over two buses at Brick’s Off Road Park last year during a filming of “Trucks

Gone Wild.”

Columns www.semotimes.com



John n.

FoXorthodontics &

dentoFacial orthopedicschildren - teens - adults

1-800-FOX-GRIN(1-800-369-4746) 785-1466JOHN N. FOX, DDS MS PC

1300 N. WESTWOOD SUITE B Poplar Bluff

“Get an iPad for a Penny?!”The snake oil sales continue to find a foothold and

prey upon unwitting, everyday people. The new-est craze online is the penny auction site. Dozens of these sites are opening nearly weekly. While I will claim no legal expertise, these sites comes across as almost pure gambling.

In a simplified analogy, penny auctions come off as a cross between eBay and a common raffle. You buy bids somewhere in the range of forty to sixty cents per item. You then use the bids at a penny increment for each bid to try and win a desired item like an iPad. Each time a bid is submitted, several seconds is added to the time left for bidding. There are auto-mated ‘bid bots’ to make the process a bit easier than sitting at the computer for hours hoping to snare a win from potentially thousands of other bidders.

In reality, one needs to be very careful to track what is spent for bids and how many bids are submit-ted. The exaggerated, advertised claims of winning large, flat-screen TVs, laptops and more are pure luck. No, not impossible. Odds of winning varies, de-pending on how many others are bidding on the same item. I think it would be within reason to suspect bidding would ease as the price gets close to the true value of the item. Total cost for time would be the win price plus the cost of the bids and shipping.

Reflections from some of my customers who have tried penny auctions: no one has given me a good outcome story yet. Best win story was for an e-Read-er at about half-price, but the customer still didn’t come out ahead because they were bidding on several items at the same time, and lost the other auctions.

Warning to those susceptible to the gambling itch: these penny auctions can get you glued to your com-puter screen much the same way as the slots at the casino. To date, I know of no legislation or govern-ing of penny auctions. However, the complaints have been rolling into attorney general offices everywhere. I agree with consumer advocate Clark Howard in saying penny auction sites are games of chance and should be regulated as such.

Bret and Judy Ladewig are local business owners of 1-2-1 Computer Services providing Web services, online marketing, computer training and repair. Go to www.1-2-1computerservices.com.

“Shoo Fly”Memorial Day weekend a few years ago I was at

my older sister’s farm in Nebraska. There were some flies around, and my sister said they weren’t as bad as they used to be now that there are no livestock near the house. “They used to be terrible,” she said, “and nothing would keep them away.” Her husband said, “You kill one and four take its place.”

Then I was at my younger sister’s house near Fair Grove, and her husband told me he had heard that you should fill a Ziploc bag with water and hang it in your doorway. The idea is that the fly sees its distorted reflection in the bag and mistakes it for a predator and so does not enter.

I mentioned this at work and two people told me they had heard variations on this theory. Christy, who lives in Fisk, said you are supposed to put a penny in the bag. Her aunt had heard this from an acquaintance who had vacationed in Louisiana. “They seen all these plastic bags hanging by the doors, so finally they asked what they were for, and they said, ‘It keeps flies out of the house.’ If you put more than one penny in the bag, it doesn’t work.” Christy didn’t know what the penny was supposed to do, but I’m sure this is all written up in a scientific journal someplace.

Another co-worker, Beth, said you put vinegar in the bag. At a Labor Day family reunion in Hernan-don, Miss., her aunt had bags of water hanging up at the corners of a portable canvas pavilion and one by the side door into the house. She asked her aunt why she had a bag of water hanging from her lamp, and her aunt said she was at a church picnic and somebody told her to do it. Beth said there weren’t any flies around the pavilion until they brought out the food, “and then we had flies, and yellow jackets, too.” She didn’t know the exact recipe, but it’s the vinegar that’s supposed to ward off the flies.

This was about 10 years ago, and as far as I know, it hasn’t caught on in a big way in this part of the country. I’ve got a reunion coming up in Nebraska on July 4 for my aunt’s 90th birthday. It’s probably a bring-your-own-flyswatter affair, but maybe I’ll see if she wants to hang a bag of water from her lamp.

The Ramblerwith Gordon Johnston

“Perseverance”[Phil. 4: 13]: I can do all things through Christ

which strengtheneth me.Words have meaning; whether productive or not.

They encourage, or discourage. They can make you laugh, or cry. Some words have no action, while oth-ers can have a major impact. Perseverance is one of those words. It means: to persist in spite of resistance.

Perseverance is one of the strongest and most suc-cessful words in the English language. It has fought many wars, conquered deadly diseases, won several games, saved countless lives, raised numerous chil-dren and educated millions of people.

While one may stop at a wall and say “I can’t go any further,” perseverance will say, “I see what’s on the other side of this wall and I’m going to obtain it.” A person’s inner voice should be telling them that no matter what they have to go through or how big the struggle becomes, I must keep going!

As a young boy growing up, I recall saying the phrase, “I can’t do it!” to which my parents would reply, “Can’t couldn’t ever do anything.” I took this to heart. Sometimes I’ve failed, but there were those times where persistence paid off. In fact, persistence will always pay off. Strength and knowledge are gained and soon an overcoming attitude will follow.

Thomas Edison tried over 900 times before he was able to invent a battery. Abraham Lincoln ran for Con-gress and lost, started his own business and it failed. Because of perseverance though, Edison did invent a battery and many other inventions that we use today. Because of perseverance, Lincoln became our six-teenth president. Perseverance is also the reason I am writing this article.

One obstacle I overcame was blindness. God didn’t put a spirit of fear in me, but of love, and of power, and of a sound mind. When I say I can’t, He tells me I can. It would be vain for me to tell you that I gained the persistence on my own, for God had given it to me.

My best success story of persistence will happen in July, when my dream girl Linda will become my wife. The best way that I can say it is, great persistence comes from God. Trust in Him and watch what He will do.

That’s how this blind man sees it.Danny Sisco of Poplar Bluff is a pastor at Morgan

Corner Pentecostal Church, a published author and a mixed martial arts practitioner. He is also blind.

noted that bogging is mostly a spectator’s sport.“The nation’s going through hard times and people just want a place to

go to forget about all that, if only for a couple hours,” Scott Brickell said. “Let your hair down, so to speak, have fun, breathe some fresh air. Well, it might have a little dust in it.”

To rent a campsite, the cost for the entire weekend is $35, Saturday through Sunday is $25 and the price is $20 for Sunday only. Kids 10 years old and under enter for free. For more information, visit www.bricksoffroadpark.com.

Tim Krakowiak can be reached by emailing [email protected].



News Section www.semotimes.com



W H E R E N E E D T O B E T H I S W E E K

Blue Moon KaraokeRachel Joy woolard,

SEMO Times

There’s one absolute truth that very few people can deny: a fun night is guaranteed when karaoke is in store. At the newly owned and operated Blue Moon on High-way 67 South, karaoke is a big hit with both locals and visitors to Poplar Bluff alike.

The Blue Moon has state-of- the-art sound equipment and a wide variety of songs to choose from. Ka-raoke nights at the Blue Moon have even drawn in a few regular perform-ers, which makes the Blue Moon the hottest spot in Southeast Missouri for karaoke lovers.

If you are part of the scene, and want to be spotlighted, email Rachel Woolard at [email protected].

Activity section www.semotimes.com



8 pm Friday June 3The Wine RackDustin Martin and Friends

9 am Saturday June 4Markham Spring Park11th Annual Old Tyme Country

Festival

7 pm Friday June 10Black River ColiseumColt For and The Lacs with

Powder Mill

8 pm Friday June 10The Wine RackAndy Tanas

11 am to 3 pm Saturday June 11Highway PPPoplar Bluff Garden Tour

11 am to 3 pm Sunday June 12Highway PPPoplar Bluff Garden Tour

6 pm Sunday June 12Agee Fellowship ChurchLive Recording with Comedian

DC Foster

1030 am Tuesday June 14Poplar Bluff Public LibraryMagic Show with Marty

Hahne

10 am to 7pm Friday June 17Patterson MOUFO Revival

8 pm Saturday June 18The Wine RackHilary Scott and Friends

To submit an event go to www.semotimes.com and click on the +Bluffee tab

Ladies Night Wed. & Fri

New Owners

TUESDAY NIGHT: DART LEAGUES l WEDNESDAY NIGHT: KARAOKE lTHURSDAY NIGHT: POOL LEAGUES lFRIDAY

NIGHT: KARAOKE l SATURDAY NIGHT: BANDS

Going out with a Group

text 5737187803 and well set everything up

follo

w us

on Facebook

FREE LUNCH FRIDAYS

The Esquivel Family is always HAPPY TO SEE YOU

OUR BANQUET ROOM ISPERFECT FOR MANY EVENTSAsk your server about reserving the room for your next party

contest every week

Documents

6.3.11 SEMO Times