Semo.net gets Dropped from City Cable Network... - SEMO Times

PETITIONS THE PEOPLE
Semo.net gets
Dropped from City
Cable Network...
June 10 - 16, 2011
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page 2
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI’S NEWS-MAGAZINE OF POLITICS AND CULTURE
semo times
6.10.11 Volume 3 Issue 31
2725 N. Westwood Blvd.
Suite 17
Poplar Bluff, MO 63901
573-785-2200
Inside this edition
The Week in Review - 3
The Social Network - 3
Feature: Semo.net - 4
News Briefs - 5
Expert: Garden Club - 6
Working Daze - 6
Opinion: Shadle Family - 7
Column: Bottom Line -9
The Mad Hatter - 9
Bleeding Cardinal Red - 13
Magic the Gathering - 13
The Scene: Brick’s - 14
+bluffee Event’s Calendar - 15
Take the Times with You - 16
Scott R. Faughn, publisher
scottfaughn@semotimes.com
Tim Krakowiak,
managing editor
tim@semotimes.com
Jenna Harlan
creative director
jenna@semotimes.com
Rachel Woolard,
marketing director
rachel@semotimes.com
www.semotimes.com

www.semotimes.com current events Section
The Week
the social network
in Review
It was a good week for @
semotimes Twitter favorite
@cjb2m5 otherwise known
as Corey Brown for being
named to the Black River Coliseum
advisory board. He will do a great
job, and hat tip to Mayor Ed DeGaris for
appointing someone younger and talented
to the board.
It was a bad week for Congressman
Anthony Weiner,
maybe better known as @
RepWeiner on Twitter. You
know it’s a bad week when
pictures of your… well weiner are the
topic of a hastily called news conference.
Thumbs has a piece of advice for
the next public figure caught up in a sex
scandal: Tell the wife, tell everyone else
it’s none of their darn business, continue
on and don’t be all hypocritically uppity
when the next guy is embarrassed.
It was a good week for the
St. Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals
sent three of their marquee
players who are also on
the disabled list: Adam Wainwright,
Matt Holiday, and Kyle McClellan
to Joplin to visit with people whose
lives have been
upended by the tornado.
Class act. Editor’s
note: Member
of the Kansas City
Royals were also in
attendance. Publisher’s
note: All the
charity work in the
world will not make
up for stealing the
1985 World Series.
It was a
bad week
for MissouriRepublicans.
Politico and former
KY 3 reporter Dave
Cantanese wrote a
hit job piece on Missouri
Lt. Gov. Peter
Kinder last week,
but what is thumbs
down worthy was
the number of “state
elected officials”
who took shots at
Kinder but remained
anonymous. Come
on—man (or woman)
up, and if you
have something to
say, go on record.
from our
friends at:
#1 ‘Pawn Stars’ or
‘American Pickers’
how to join
our social
network:
Both
Neither
Pawn Stars
Pawn Stars
#2 What Internet
service provider
do you use?
City Cable
City Cable
City Cable
Windstream
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
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI’S NEWS-MAGAZINE OF POLITICS AND CULTURE
www.semotimes.com page 3

www.semotimes.com News Section
Semo.net gets Dropped
from City Cable Network...
Tim Krakowiak
Managing Editor
After a yearlong battle with the
city of Poplar Bluff in what he
calls a “government takeover of his
business,” the owner of Semo.net
has shifted his posture to questioning
whether the people believe in
democracy itself.
In a citizen petition drive
launched last week, Brian Becker
has thus far gained 474 signatures,
221 of them from residents within
city limits, urging City Council to
pass an ordinance that establishes a
referendum so voters can decide if
open access to the city’s broadband
communication system gets reinstated.
“All we’re doing is asking,
‘Should the citizens of Poplar Bluff
who bonded themselves to $9
Photo provided
Brian Becker, president and Chief Executive
officer of Semo.net, discusses
his petition drive Tuesday with the
Poplar bluff Lion’s Club.
million for this network have the
right to decide how the network is
used?’” Becker explained.
page 4
Voters determined in 2000 that
the city should borrow the money
through its public building corporation
to develop the infrastructure
for providing cable television
services to its residents, and the
following year City Cable added
Internet.
By 2002, open access to the
city’s broadband was offered to
multiple local Internet service
providers all the way up until last
month, when City Council ultimately
discontinued the service,
claiming ISPs were being subsidized
by the city due to bandwidth
overuse.
PENDING LAWSUIT
“By state statute, Brian has the
right to do a petition drive,” stated
City Manager Doug Bagby, who
as Municipal Utilities & City
Cable general manager worked
with Becker on creating
the open access policy
years ago. “I obviously
wouldn’t be commenting
on the merits of the
petition drive because
there is currently a lawsuit
on those issues.”
Becker is suing the
city and Municipal Utilities
& City Cable for
$1 million for damages
to his business in addition
to legal costs. The
city has filed a $120,000
counterclaim in Butler
County Circuit Court,
seeking unpaid bills from Semo.
net, which has operated since 1995
under Poplar Bluff Internet, Inc.
In May, Carter County Judge
Michael Ligons denied Becker’s
motion for a preliminary injunction
to halt the termination of open access
until the jury trial he requested
reaches its verdict on an as yet
unscheduled date.
“He didn’t like the opinion the
court gave him,” Municipal Utilities
& City Cable General Manager
Bill Bach said of Becker’s petition
drive. “If you don’t like whom you
have in office, then you vote them
out.”
Having led the effort to phase out
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI’S NEWS-MAGAZINE OF POLITICS AND CULTURE
the open access policy last summer
after the city’s bond counsel firm
reported that revenue was being
lost as private sector competition
““He didn’t like
the opinion the
court gave him.”
-Bill Bach,
Municipal
Utilities & City
Cable
www.semotimes.com

www.semotimes.com News Section
grew, Bach said maintaining the
ISP’s modems became “burdensome”
on the city’s resources.
The city was losing $7,000 per
month, added Councilman Loyd
Matthews, who motioned in August
to speed up a final round of
monthly rate increases for ISPs to
utilize the city’s broadband during
the phase out of open access.
“That’s taxpayer money. I’m not
for that,” he said.
“More than half
the City Cable users
switched over
to our service.
That’s what triggered
all this.”
-Brian Becker,
Semo.net
Councilman Tracy Edington,
who serves as liaison for the Municipal
Utilities advisory board,
said he would oppose voting to reinstate
open access. “City Cable is
owned by the city. We don’t have
any public funds or subsidies that
make up our infrastructure in how
we run our business,” he said.
Becker is welcome to speak during
the open portion of the June
21 council meeting, Mayor Ed
DeGaris noted. “If the city attorney
[Wally Duncan] says we’re required
to put it on the ballot, we’ll
follow state law,” he said.
According to Becker, at least 264
votes from Poplar Bluff citizens
are needed to bring forth the ballot
issue, 5 percent of the city’s 5,272
votes from the most recent gubernatorial
election in 2008.
“My question is, what statute
says that?” Bach asked. “I think
he’s wrong.
Duncan did not immediately
return phone calls for comment,
but City Clerk Pam Kearbey referenced
Missouri Revised Statute
78.573, which reads: “When a peti-
tion to adopt an ordinance is signed
by at least 25 percent of the registered
voters, the council shall pass
the ordinance without alteration.”
Another petition signing will be
held from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. at The
Bread Company, with the drive
slated to wrap up at 7:30 p.m. June
17 at The Wine Rack, with Becker’s
musician wife Toni performing.
“Maybe the City Council will
listen to us, and let us decide,”
suggested Barb Rexroat of Poplar
Bluff, one of three voluntary petition
coordinators. “Our city should
allow fair competition—that’s
what America’s all about.”
A recently retired government
employee, Rexroat was among
hundreds of customers who were
forced to leave Semo.net and
switch over to City Cable, which
she said has comparable rates, but
she preferred the customer service
Semo.net provided.
When asked to publicly endorse
the referendum, the Greater Poplar
Bluff Area Chamber of Commerce
Board of Directors decided during
its meeting Tuesday to remain neutral,
although Chamber President
Steve Halter and Board Chairman
Mike Burcham Sr. signed the petition
as individuals, according to
Becker.
Becker, who has paid the city
about $1.4 million in connection
fees over the past nine years, said
City Cable raised its ISP rates 20
percent in January 2010, so Semo.
net hired an outside marketing
consultant, and began a successful
campaign toward gaining new
customers.
“More than half the City Cable
users switched over to our service,”
Becker said. “That’s what
triggered all this.”
In May of last year, the city
restricted Semo.net from adding
new customers due to the enforcement
of an 8-megabit limit, Becker
claimed.
@ semotimes.com
Three Rivers Rodeo Coach
Wins Bareback Riding
Competition
Andy Carter of Ellsinore continues
to compete in, and win, major
rodeo competitions in addition to
his work as rodeo coach for Three
Rivers College.
Summer Enrollment at Three
Rivers up 20 Percent
Students are taking more summer
classes than ever at Three Rivers
College.
Relentless Media to Host Marketing
Intervention June 21
Relentless Media Productions
announced they will be hosting a
marketing intervention workshop
featuring the Reset Agency’s Dave
Jones and Jason Faber on June 21
at the Black River Coliseum.
Agape Christian School Reunion
next Month
Former Agape Christian School
of Poplar Bluff will hold its first
reunion July 29 and 30.
Poplar Bluff License Bureau
Moving to New Location June 20
The Poplar Bluff License
Bureau will soon move from its
current location at the former Pear
Tree Inn to its new home on Three
Rivers Blvd.
The office will remain open
through Thursday, and will close
June 17 through 19 in preparation
for the re-opening in the new location
on June 20.
Read the full story on the daily
fix over at the .com.
semotimes.com
daily updates
MON - subfeature
Tues - local expert
WEDs - almost famous
thurs- guest column
fri - print edition
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI’S NEWS-MAGAZINE OF POLITICS AND CULTURE
www.semotimes.com page 5

Business
SEMO Times: What is the Poplar Bluff Garden
Club?
Cindy Boyers: The Poplar Bluff Garden Club
has been in existence for 74 years. We meet
monthly. We are a member of Southeast District
Federated Garden Clubs of Missouri. The club
flower is the tulip poplar. The motto is plant,
grow and beautify.
ST: What is some of the work that you have done
around the community?
Boyers: We planted the roses, tried to get Poplar
Bluff to be the crape capitol of Missouri, planting
over 1,200 crape myrtles in the clover leaf of
U.S. 60/67. They landscaped the library, city hall,
the city welcome sign and the monument located
on the chamber of commerce. We just recieved a
grant from the state and we are working in conjunction
with Missouri Forrestry Department in
cleaning up tires and taking them to Raben Tire
Company to be recycled. We expect to clean up
2,000 dumped tires.The other thing doing for
page 6
“Garden Club”
community
is
trying
to help
restore
railroad
stairs at
the depot
by selling
prints.
ST: How
do you
qualify
for garden
of the
month?
cindy Boyers
President, Poplar Bluff
Garden club
Boyers:
There’s a
committee of ladies that tour the town looking
for unique homes with gardens that the homeowner
placed. We try to pick people who haven’t
gotten it before, or parts of town we haven’t visited
yet. The garden group looks at it and awards
the honor. We started doing businesses this winter,
which means we will start awarding two gardens
a month. The business can be professionally
landscaped.
ST: Can you explain to our readers what they can
expect at the 7th Town & Country Garden Tour?
Boyers: It will be a leisurely stroll at your own
pace to visit with different types of garden enthusiasts.
Some of the locations will show you a
city garden, you will see an old fashioned garden
with a bludbird habitat, you will see a shade garden
on a lake, you will see a woodland trail with
organic type gardening,
you will see very well
manicured country living,
and then we are
featuring two different
businesses that have installed
water features.
Cindy Boyers can be
reached by calling 573-
785-3631, or emailing
cboyers@boycomonline.com.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI’S NEWS-MAGAZINE OF POLITICS AND CULTURE
‘Art for Animals’ a Major Succes
A two-week-long fundraiser for the Animal
Welfare Alliance recently ended on a festive note,
as supporters of the nonprofit organization gathered
at the Artfully Framed gallery in Poplar Bluff for a
reception and one last chance to bid on 54 original
paintings by local artists.
The affair netted $3,500 for AWA. “We are so
grateful to the artists, the bidders and to Barbara
Pelton,” AWA president Charlotte W. Craig said.
“The financial result is wonderful. But better yet,
the whole process was fun for everyone! We definitely
want to do this again next spring.”
Pelton, proprietor of Artfully Framed, proposed
the event, recruited the artists, provided low-cost
5-by-7-inch canvases and framing for each of
the paintings and posted the entries on the store’s
Facebook page. Restaurant owner Herman Styles
provided dinner tickets to Colton’s Steak House as
prizes for artists getting top bids.
A bird portrait by nationally known wildlife artist
Kathy Dickson garnered the highest bid at $250.
Ted Tackett’s cosmic portrait of planets and comets
received the highest number of bids at 14. Recognized
as “most seasoned” artist was Pauline French,
96; “newest rising star” among the painters was
two-year-old Dillon Lambert.
The AWA spends up to $650 a month on its
programs (vaccinations for puppies in the city
pound and $25 to $50 vouchers for low-income pet
owners to help with spay/neuter costs). In addition,
the group plans to build a no-kill animal shelter
to serve Butler, Ripley, Carter and Wayne County
residents.
For more information on AWA activities, or to enlist
as a volunteer, visit the organization’s Website
at www.awasemo.org.
www.semotimes.com

opinion & editorial
“Shadle Family Cemetery Descendent Contests Allegations”
To the editor:
Though usually not one to respond
to the uninformed snide
comments that are being flung at
my family, I feel I must at least respond
in some kind considering the
latest letters printed about us and
the Shadle/Cedar Valley Cemetery.
Maybe just a very brief history
of the cemetery and rebuttal to a
couple of the more offensive and
false comments.
The cemetery was originally created
as a one-acre private family
cemetery by George Shadle out of a
tract of land he was given by Pres.
Harrison for his service during the
Civil War. In 1892, George deeded
40 acres to his son Samuel Shadle,
and on that deed the exception of
the one-acre cemetery is noted as
having been donated to The Cedar
Valley Church. The donation of the
cemetery to the church opened it
for burial to any of the members,
and the cemetery became known
as the Cedar Valley Cemetery, and
now contains the remains of people
from at least 34 other families.
My family is not grandstanding,
simply responding to attempts to
disturb the remains of the people
interred in Cedar Valley Cemetery.
We would welcome communication
with the hospital and or property
owner, and have given contact
information on more than one
occasion. Our last communication
was at the [May 9] meeting for the
certificate of need. We were told
they had tweaked the plans and
would be in touch.
The landowners and Poplar Bluff
Regional Medical Center/Health
Management Associates did not
know about the cemetery prior to
my family’s opposition: not true. If
that statement was true, why then
did the HMA’s hired consulting
company advise that the issue must
be resolved prior to going ahead
with the project (SEMO Times
article)? How would the landowner
have known to hire and have a paid
mediator present at the March 21
council meeting to interrupt our
statement of opposition announcing
he was hired to work with the
families? (Wanting to work with
us, they might have actually tried to
contact us prior to that meeting instead
of waiting for us to hear about
it one day before from someone
else. My Great Aunt has wanted to
fence in the cemetery and as such
contacted a representative of the
landowner and obtained permission
for a survey to be performed about
two years ago. No one returned
her attempts to contact them for
permission to complete the project,
but you see, someone would have
known who she was and how to
contact her).
PP Highway prime commercial
property? Really? Wonder why
that parcel of cleared and yet to be
developed land there by the new
school has been sitting so long,
with no building on it. Looks to
me most of the new building has
been north of town. (We’ll save
the tangent of urban sprawl and the
abandonment and decay of current
infrastructure for another day).
I would love to take the time and
space to reply to each of the false
statements and accusations that
have been made against my family
but know it will most likely
be futile. The fact of the matter is
if PBRMC had not made the last
minute decision to change building
sites after nearly two years
of planning: 1) We would still be
trying to work with the landowner
to gain permission to provide care
to the cemetery 2) Everyone would
be watching site prep up at Eight
Points for the new much needed
facility 3) You would have continued
to not know of the Cedar Valley
Cemetery and we would have
continued to live in peace and out
of the limelight.
In closing, when voicing your
opinion or making comments about
an issue, take the time to gather and
verify your information. SEMO
Times and Daily American Republic
archives have articles going
back 18-24 months on the PBRMC
plan to build a new facility. Most
of those pertain to the site at Eight
Points, so look to about March of
this year for anything about the new
PP Highway [site] and cemetery.
The CON application also has
thousands of pages of interesting
information, including the contract
for the option to buy the land, and
can be found online at the CON
website. Oh, and you may want to
make sure you know where all your
relatives have been interred for
the last 100 years or so. Following
current opinions, unless they are in
a well preserved area and you are
placing flowers at the site routinely
(proof to someone else you were
there), you simply have abandoned
them and thusly no longer care,
so they are free to be dug up and
moved about.
Kristy White,
Atlanta, Ga.
PS If we were concerned about
money and a profit, we would have
accepted that generous offer of several
thousand dollars made a few
weeks ago. And thanks for the repeated
warnings that continuing our
fight would end us up in court. We
already knew that. You can’t move
graves without going to court.
To submit a letter to the editor
or become a contributing columnist,
e-mail the managing
editor Tim Krakowiak at tim@
semotimes.com.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI’S NEWS-MAGAZINE OF POLITICS AND CULTURE
www.semotimes.com page 7

News section www.semotimes.com

Columns www.semotimes.com
John n.
The
Bottom Line
by
“Ripples in the Water”
Sir Isaac Newton had it going on when he said
every action has an equal and opposite reaction. You
throw a ball in the air, it’s going to come down; put
gas in a car, it is going to run out .One thing results in
another happening.
The point is it matters what you do in life, the
decisions you make, because your decisions impact
others. For instance, if you have a bad attitude then
eventually the people you hang around with are not
going to want to hang around you much anymore.
Another possibility is your bad attitude will rub off
on them and the cycle continues. If you tell your
child to “shut up” chances are they will learn the behavior
and tell others the same. Bad behavior begets
bad behavior.
On another note, good behavior begets good behavior.
Let’s say you bake a pie for your neighbor whom
you have not been getting along with for quite some
time, for no other reason than just to be a friendly
neighbor. When you deliver the pie, your neighbor
is astonished and can’t believe that you would do
something so thoughtful for her. As she sits and ponders
on it, and she will, she starts thinking about how
she could do something nice for you in return. See
what just happened here? Now the neighbor is having
thoughts of good and wanting to do good for others.
So without a doubt she is going to pay it forward.
People get excited when somebody does something
out of the ordinary and good for them. I believe God
convicts our hearts and lets us know that we ought to
be doing the same for others. Hence, “ripples in the
water.” Once you get it started, it just keeps going.
One of my favorite scriptures in the Bible is Matthew
25: 35-36, which states: “For I was an hungered
and ye gave me meat. I was thirsty, and ye gave me
drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked,
and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I
was in prison, and ye came unto me.” What we do
unto others the Lord says we also do unto Him. I
challenge you this week to go out of your way to be
extra thoughtful to someone.
The bottom line: Do unto others as you would have
them do unto you!
Linda Smith of Poplar Bluff works at The Bread Company.
FoX
orthodontics &
dentoFacial orthopedics
Linda
Smith
children - teens - adults 1-800-FOX-GRIN
(1-800-369-4746) 785-1466
JOHN N. FOX, DDS MS PC
1300 N. WESTWOOD SUITE B
Poplar Bluff
“The Mad Hatter”
I believe this is going to be the year of the hat. I
base my reasoning on three events:
1. The Royal Wedding.
True… Princess Beatrice’s hat, which incidentally
fetched $130,000 for charity… was like something
out of a Dr. Seuss book. But it definitely put hats
front and center this year in the fashion world.
2. The Kentucky Derby
The hats are even more of a spectacle than the
thoroughbred horses. And while the race may be the
most exciting moment in sports, the hats are forever.
I’ll drink a Mint Julip to that.
3. This summer’s Mad Hatter Party, being held as
a fundraiser for the American Red Cross and disaster
relief for Missouri.
Yes... Hilderbrand Diamond Company and SEMO
Times are pairing up for the best party of the year.
And… since I love hats, and find disturbingly few
occasions to get to wear them… this is going to be a
Mad Hatter Party.
So… drag out every hat in your closet. Drag
out every hat in your mother’s closet… even your
grandma’s closet. Buy a hat… make a hat… it really
doesn’t matter, as long as you have a hat to get you
in the door of Las Margaritas in Poplar Bluff at 6-10
p.m. June 23.
Jesse Hammock III of Powder Mill will be there
performing… and yeah… I’m going to try to get him
to wear a hat, too. This is, after all, the Mad Hatter’s
Party.
We’re going to have lots of surprises… including
some surprise guests.
We hope to have some celebrity hats for a celebrity
hat auction. So if you know any celebrities… and
believe me, I use that term pretty loosely, get them to
donate a hat to us. I find these days everyone knows
someone… musicians, politicians, athletes, media
types. Get them to donate a hat. Get them to come to
the party. A hat is a small donation, and every dollar
raised will go to disaster relief in Missouri through
the American Red Cross. Besides… the more the
merrier. Missouri Speaker of the House Steven Tilley
has already donated a hat. Way to go Steven! Now
it’s time for everyone else to step up!
Ten dollars will get you in the door for a great
night, and of course, that, too, will go to the American
Red Cross.
And be prepared to lose your hat. Mad Hatters can
buy each other’s hats, with the
money, of course, going into the
hat for the American Red Cross.
There are three things I love:
1. People
2. People doing good things
for other people
3. And hats
This is going to be a blast!
Mad Hatters reign!
Tammy Hilderbrand is the
owner of Hilderbrand Diamond
Company in Poplar Bluff. You
can reach her by emailing
tammy@hilderbranddiamondcompany.com.
Social Calendar
by The Gift
Connection
Sarah Smith & Nicholas Willard
June 11th
Rachel Blaich & Aaron Aden
June 18th
Sarah Stevenson & Matthew Miller
June 18th
Hope Allen & Tyler Hillis
August 9th
Gennie Gieselman & Jim Long
August 20th
Also Find:
2223 S. Westwood Blvd.
Poplar Bluff (573) 785-0384
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI’S NEWS-MAGAZINE OF POLITICS AND CULTURE
www.semotimes.com page 11

News Section www.semotimes.com
inside Baseball Central
The Cardinals are now a third of the way
through the season, and they sit atop the Central.
Not bad. But the order of the teams chasing
them is a little surprising and, consequently, a
little unsettling to the leading Cardinals correspondent
from Stringtown.
Before this season started, most thought the
Central would be jammed up tighter than a
congressman who has been sexting between
two to four teams. The likely players were the
defending division champion Cincinnati Reds,
the new-look Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago
Cubs, and of course God’s own Cardinals. No
one could agree on the specific order in the
standings, but those were the clubs that seemed
to be best put together. The Pittsburgh Pirates
and Houston Astros were both stuck in a perpetual
rebuild and did not figure into the division
race.
But a funny thing happened on the way to
summer. The Cardinals are the team in the
driver’s seat (even with Adam Wainwright’s
contribution to the team equaling that of the
commissioner’s contribution to economic
development), and the Cincinnati Reds games
out and already has trouble holding it together.
In between the two are the Milwaukee Brewers,
the team that revamped their pitching in an
effort to catch it up to their potent offense. Next
come the Pittsburgh Pirates, who seem to be
heading in the right direction for the first time
Over the past year, Semo.net has lost 960
customers, laid off seven of 17 employees, and
Becker’s family was forced to sell their Highway
M home in order to economize.
“I always felt none of this was necessary,
there has always been a reasonable solution
available,” Becker said. “I will personally gain
from this, but I’m doing it because I’ve seen an
injustice take place. I don’t mind to struggle, as
long as it’s for what is right.”
Tim Krakowiak can be reached by emailing
tim@semotimes.com.
in a couple of decades. And finally, the Chicago
Cubs (#jennakay), and the Astros bringing up
the rear.
It seemed like, before the season started, the
Cardinals were relishing the underdog role just
a little. In the grand scheme of things, labels
like that don’t matter. The Cardinals are doing
a good job of hiding their weaknesses (nearly
as good as the DAR hides a lawsuit against the
sheriff). But loosening that championship expectation
even a small amount may have helped
the players relax a little and allowed them to go
out and do their thing. And here they are, once
again in front in the standings and hovering
around 10 games over .500… yet the overall
feel is not quite the same.
I would like to see a knock down drag out
pennant race real down and dirty (think Stephenson
vs. Bess dirty), but typically one team
rises out of the central to run away with it. I’m
just glad at the one-third post, it’s the redbirds
out in front.
Scott R. Faughn is the
president of 573 Media,
publishers of the SEMO
Times and 573 Magazine;
a Capricorn; commissioner
of WWCW wrestling; and
a grape farmer. Twitter: @
scottrfaughn.
Magic the Gathering is the hottest trading card
role playing game sweeping the gamer culture,
and it has a headquarters right here in Poplar
Bluff. Zani Coin and Collectibles has set itself
apart as the “Magic headquarters” by being
home to the Spellcasters
Union Local
#160.
For those who
aren’t too sure as
to what Magic: The
Gathering entails,
the player takes on
the role of a powerful
wizard called a
planes walker that
battles other planes
walkers for power, conquest and glory. Each
deck of cards contains the spells the planes
walker knows and the creatures the planes
walker can summon for battle.
“Magic is a great game because players of all
levels of skill and interest can have a role. If you
are a weekly player or only play sparingly you
can enjoy yourself and find a place,” said the
local authority on “Magic,” Magic Matt, who
when in town plays at Zani Coin and Collectables.
Whether a beginner or an expert, magic games
are hosted every Friday night at Zani Coin and
Collectables located at 2201 N.Westwood Suite
2. Give them a call at 573-686-2200 or find them
on Facebook.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI’S NEWS-MAGAZINE OF POLITICS AND CULTURE
www.semotimes.com page 13

page 14
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI’S NEWS-MAGAZINE OF POLITICS AND CULTURE
WHERE N EED TO BE THIS WEEK
bricks 4x4 farm
Rachel Joy woolard, semo times
If you’re into big trucks,
loud engines and general
fun, Brick’s Off Road Park
is the place for you this
weekend.
Owned by Jay and Scott
Brickell, Brick’s has attracted
national media
attention and devoted parkgoers
from all over the
United States.
Famous for its mud
slough, people come from
all around to attempt to
drive their trucks through
this pit of muddy water.
A few production crews have filmed at Brick’s over the years, and this
Friday-Sunday, the Outdoor Channel will be there to shoot for a new
series called “Mudslingers” with hosts Marc Ryan and Colt Ford. The
“Trucks Gone Wild” crew will also return to shoot for their Internet series.
There’s a huge campsite area, with plenty of space allowing for everything
from ATV mudding to monster trucking. 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.
If you want to be part of the scene, and spotlighted, email Rachel Joy Woolard
at rachel@semotimes.com.
www.semotimes.com

Activity section www.semotimes.com
7 pm Friday June 10
Black River Coliseum
Colt Ford and The Lacs and
Powder Mill
8 pm Friday June 10
The Wine Rack
Andy Tanas
11 am to 3 pm Saturday June 11
Highway PP
Poplar Bluff Garden Tour
11 am to 3 pm Sunday June 12
Highway PP
Poplar Bluff Garden Tour
6 pm Sunday June 12
Agee Fellowship Church
Live Recording with Comedian
DC Foster
10 am to noon Tuesday June 14
Black River Coliseum
Relentless Media Casting Call
1030 am Tuesday June 14
Poplar Bluff Public Library
Magic Show with Marty Hahne
10 am Wednesday June 15
Black River Coliseum
Tickets go on sale for
Disney Live
All day Friday June 17
Poplar Bluff Public Library
Green Lantern Celebration
10 am to 7pm Friday June 17
Patterson MO
UFO Revival
To submit an event go to www.semotimes.com
and click on the +Bluffee tab
New Owners
Ladies Night Wed. & Fri
Going out with
a Group
text 5737187803 and
well set everything up
TUESDAY NIGHT: DART LEAGUES l WEDNESDAY NIGHT:
KARAOKE lTHURSDAY NIGHT: POOL LEAGUES lFRIDAY
NIGHT: KARAOKE l SATURDAY NIGHT: BANDS
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI’S NEWS-MAGAZINE OF POLITICS AND CULTURE
www.semotimes.com page 15

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