GALLERIA MARKS 10 YEARS ON ICE

When Chad Deimund first skated at The Ice in the Plaza Galleria, he hated it. Eight years later, he spends part of almost every day on skates.

Deimund is one of the home-grown ice skaters helping celebrate the Plaza Galleria's 10th anniversary this week.

"Probably the most thrilling thing has been watching the students who started very young and have grown into positions of responsibility here," said Bettie Talbert, who owns Plaza Galleria and the ice rink with her husband, Dr. C.R. Talbert.

Deimund recalled his first trip to The Ice: "My grandma brought me and my cousins skating. We fell down a lot, and I swore I was never going back," he said.

A couple years later, Deimund was enticed back on the ice by friends. That time he enjoyed it. "I started coming every Friday night," he said, "then it was every day."

Deimund found his forte playing hockey. He also works for the rink supervising public skating sessions and repairing the mechanical system of the ice.

Deimund, 19, plans to attend college this fall, but expects to continue skating and working with youth hockey programs. "I enjoy it too much to quit now," he said.

Crystal Jones was eight years old when her mother forced her to go ice skating at the Plaza Galleria for the first time.

"I fell down 25 times. I remember exactly," said Jones, who is 16. "My mom thought I would never go back, but I was afraid my mom would never let me go back."

Jones has been ice skating ever since. She teaches skating lessons at the Plaza Galleria and falls a lot less. "It's kind of like getting paid for something you really like to do. Thank goodness there is a rink in Cape Girardeau," said Jones.

Ashlee S. Hale was nine years old when she arrived for her first skating lesson. Her teacher convinced her she had talent and over the years coached her in competitive skating.

"He was a really good teacher, a really good motivater," Hale said. "That's what I try to do with my students."

She said three five-year-old students she coaches show potential. "They are doing exceptionally well and have their first spins and jumps."

"If there were no skating rink, a lot of people with a lot of talent would never have been found," Hale said.

Among the talent developed at The Ice is the skating pair Matt Buttrey and Sarah Booth. The team competed last spring at national competition in the same arena as Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan.

Their advanced training takes place out of town, but they still put in hours of practice in Cape Girardeau.

Talbert credits her husband for coming up with the concept of an ice rink in Cape Girardeau. During a 1983 visit to see their son, who was attending college in Dallas, Texas, he took his parents to see a skating rink in a shopping mall.

"My husband said Cape Girardeau would love an ice skating rink," Talbert said.

In 1984 an ice rink and retail mall was installed in the former Kroger Grocery Store along Independence Street.

"We have people come many miles to skate," Talbert said. Churches, day care centers and schools bring bus loads of ice skaters to Cape Girardeau from Southeast Missouri, Southern Illinois and Western Kentucky.

"We've had people drive 100 miles for weekly lessons," she said.

She doesn't expect the rink's popularity to wane soon. "In the future I envision these skaters who started here coming back and bringing their children," Talbert said. "It's very special thing to watch these kids develop these skills. To make it is such a tremendous lesson in perseverance. They make it all worth while."