REMARKS: ON-LINE FRIENDS ENVY MY JOB

This week I couldn't help mentioning my visit to historic Uniontown in posts on a couple of the on-line clubs I belong to. A fellow member of the Yahoo Missouri People Club posted back later, commenting on what a neat, adventurous life we journalists get to live.

This can certainly be true at many times. Poking through a mid-19th century basement or hearing stories of how old structures were formerly used, has always been one of my favorite parts of my job. This was probably what I missed most during the years I was doing only sports.

Seeing people like Jim Frentzel and Diana Thompson work to save two of the bulwarks of the once-proud Uniontown "business district" has been refreshing. Too often our historic gems are either allowed to die or are ripped down by greedy owners or developers. (I have also joined the on-line Historic Preservation Fanatics club!) Like bridges, they can't ALL be saved, certainly, but it is painful to see each one destroyed. Efforts such as these in Uniontown to reverse the dying/aging process of a community must be applauded.

Meeting a funeral on Kingshighway this week was my first such experience since passage of the new funeral procession law. Actually I had always assumed it WAS a law that one had to yield to funerals! Twice in my life I have accidentally wound up in the middle of processions. Once, some 10 years ago in either Stoddard or Dunklin County, I was desperate enough to get where I was going that I stayed in the pack, heading on when the others turned off. (I've felt guilty for a decade for nothing, it turns out!) The second time came just a few weeks ago in Chaffee, when I suddenly realized I was in the middle of one. This time I quickly pulled over. I hope funeral drivers will therefore try to stay together. When cars lag way behind, it causes all sorts of confusion.

I have to admit, my first instinct when I read about the law was frustration. I've always toyed with the thought that such processions should, perhaps, be banned in this high-speed age. Or at least, I've often thought, couldn't a law be passed that anything on a street, road or highway can go one mile at a slow speed. Beyond that (whether it is a funeral procession, piece of farm equipment, bicyclist, or fiddle-fart driver), they must increase to at least the posted limit or exit.

Reflection on the subject during less stressed times, though, reveals that this might be moving in the wrong direction. In an age when common courtesy seems to be disappearing, along with respect for the elderly, the deceased and the mourning, maybe the ending of the funeral procession WOULD be another step int he wrong direction. Frustrating as it is when we're almost late for an appointment, or suffering in 95 degree heat with no Freon, showing proper respect for a funeral procession is probably something we DO need to stress.

I was delighted to see such good turnouts at local schools for last week's See You at the Pole. We are fortunate to have a strong Christian influence within our communities and schools in Cape County. Teenagers have never needed the Lord more than today; of course the same goes for the rest of us.