HIGH NOON AT BLACK FOREST CRAFTFEST

At high noon Saturday, four outlaws with guns drawn surrounded Judge Parker, the Hanging Judge. From the center of this deadly circle, the judge pleaded for mercy, but revenge was in the scalawags' black eyes. The judge dropped to his knees an instant before the shots began popping.

You can see for yourself what happened to the outlaws again today at Black Forest Villages Craftfest '99. The festival at the villages 3 miles north of Cape Girardeau continues from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Arlen Graham is the coordinator of gunfights at the Black Forest Villages Craftfest '99. He also plays the Hanging Judge, a man who'd as soon dispense justice with a Colt .45 as waste a good rope.

The buckskin chaps, the neckerchief, the Union Army shirt and Colt .45 strapped to his hips make Graham look like an extra in a Western movie.

"I go for a cross between Clint Eastwood, John Wayne and authenticity," he says.

Graham has been choreographing Wild West gunfights for about 20 years. As a younger man in East Texas, he built a stage and a set with break-away windows. He and a group of re-enactors formed a Wild West production company.

Graham, who works for United Electric Supply, moved to Oak Ridge six years ago. He has robbed some trains for the St. Louis & Iron Mountain Railroad rides and once a year orchestrates re-enactors for gunfights at the Black Forest Villages.

In the past at the Craftfest, Graham has strung up his stepson, Adam Pavelka, from a tree twice a day. Immediately afterward, Adam would jump up and show the children the harness that made it possible for him to appear to be hanged. But someone was upset about the pretend hanging so they've contented themselves with blowing each other away in gunfights on the villages' main street.

Safety is the first priority in staging these vignettes, Graham says. A blank fired at very close range can still have a lethal effect, he points out.

The Craftfest '99 offers its usual array of working craftspeople, yard ornaments and food. There are brooms, soaps -- including one made from vodka -- and leather goods.

Among the craftspeople are basket-maker Viola Lankford, who weaves egg baskets made from reeds imported from China. Art Bender sells dulcimers and psaltries and uses the opportunity to put in a good word for Jesus.

Back in Texas, Graham used to do five or six shows a day. "It was grueling,' he said. He likes being a gunfighter better as a hobby.

"Everybody tells me I was born 100 years too late," he says. "But I still like to sleep in an air-conditioned bedroom."