RE MARKS: JACKSON, CAPE COUNMTY LOOKS LIKE GREAT PLACE TO BE

Greetings and salutations!

Punxsutawney Phil and Girardeau George were not the only ones to pop out of a hole on Groundhog's Day. Also poking his head out for the first time in Cape County is a new editor for the Jackson USA Signal. So far this creature likes what he sees.

Taking this position is actually the fulfillment of a goal that first entered my mind nearly 10 years ago. Editing a weekly newspaper has been something I have thought about many times. My duties during my professional career have taken me many directions. I have spent several years as sports editor at daily papers and have done news for a bi-weekly. I have also edited, owned and published my own monthly general interest magazine. Now I finally have my chance in this arena.

While I have never lived in Cape County, I have had the pleasure of knowing several people from the area over the years. I knew the Pannier family, attending Central Methodist College with Darryl and Darren. The crushing sadness of seeing the extraordinary Darla Pannier lying in state is an image I will never lose. She was a unique individual.

While serving as a sports writer in Poplar Bluff and as sports editor/associate news editor in Ste. Genevieve, I have met a number of Jacksonians and Cape Girardeau residents. At Poplar Bluff I had the pleasure of covering the slugging Carrie Robert (daughter of Recorder Janet Robert) and Amy Eckelmann of Cape, as well ad Jackson products Melody Hagans, Jennifer Mathews and Kim Speight, all of whom starred in the Three Rivers softball program.

At Ste. Genevieve I got to meet Emilie LeFevre, who was taking part in a SEMO-Murray State archaeology field school there one summer. By the way, in case our readers are wondering by now -- yes, I have met (and remembered) a few area natives who were not attractive females!

At Poplar Bluff I also got to cover Jackson native Ben Ressel for the Raiders and once did a feature on Jackson's Mike Kiehne and Kyle Thoma, who were playing at Columbia College at the time. (I later got to see Mark Kiehne at Three Rivers, although he left before I took over the men's beat.) In addition, one of my North County (Bonne Terre-Desloge) classmates, Mark McDowell, is now an area business owner. (To stay civilized, we will not discuss Jackson-North County football games here!)

Branching out of Cape County, I have also had dealings with Woodland and Leopold High Schools -- mainly in volleyball. As sports editor of The Daily Statesman in Dexter, I got to cover the Lady Cardinals' first Final Four team in 1986. That Glee Collins squad featured the incredible Sherry Green, Lisa Lax, Pam Crader, Amber Page and others. Had Sherry not blown out her knee during pool play, Woodland might well have had a state champion several years earlier than it finally did.

I was also sports editor when Lanet Calvin's young squad fielded five freshmen and one sophomore at times, in 1991, and began pulling major Stoddard County Activities Association upsets. I coined the team nickname "Wunderkind" in the Statesman. I said to myself that if the youngsters pulled off one more upset, "Wunderkind" tee-shirts would probably start appearing. They did and they did, but unlike Pat Riley, I made no attempt to copywrite the phrase. I also saw some great matches between the Leopold girls and (then) arch-rival Advance, with Greg Nenninger and Mildred Wiggins matching wits.

I look forward to taking over this post and meeting as many of you as possible. History is a favorite subject of mine; therefore I hope to do some historical features. (Please note the call for Fruitland High School alums elsewhere in this issue.) Please feel free to contact me with story or photo ideas or submissions.