MOOVE OVER, MELVIN

The cows didn't talk, but Cape Girardeau City Councilman Melvin Gateley got the message: A new milking champion is in our midst.

Gateley, who gained notoriety as the winner of the VFW's July Fourth milking contest, was upstaged Saturday afternoon by area dairy youngsters.

Gateley, outfitted in a football referee's jersey, served as one of the judges of the latest milking contest.

The milk flowed freely on the Kirchdoerfer dairy farm west of Cape Girardeau as eight boys and girls vied for the title of grand champion milker.

In the end, the winner was Katie Hemmann, a 13-year-old who has grown up on a dairy farm in Oak Ridge. She beat out her cousin, Melinda Schoen of Oak Ridge, to win the $50 gift certificate presented by the Cape Girardeau VFW post. The other contestants received $25 gift certificates.

The milking contest, billed as the only one in Missouri, was videotaped.

The VFW's Rodger Brown said the tape will be professionally edited and music will be added.

Brown said Star Wars music from the canteen scene might be a good choice to accompany the milking video

The tape will then be sent to the Nickelodeon cable television channel in Orlando, Fla., for possible inclusion in one of its children's shows. Hemmann and her family may be flown to Florida to appear on the show, Brown said.

The video also may be shown on local cable access Channel 5.

About 50 friends and family members turned out to cheer on the contestants Saturday.

Four cows were used in the milking contest. Hemmann won the final milk-off by milking a Jersey named Brunette.

The other cow in the finals, Prime Time, missed her chance for the limelight.

The milking contest comes on the heels of "Milkgate," the continuing controversy caused by southpaw Gateley's decision to milk a cow from the left side during the July Fourth celebration.

Hemmann won the contest by milking her cow from the right side.

The runner-up milked Prime Time from the left side and the rear.

After the contest, Hemmann wasn't ready to take sides. "I didn't think about it," she said.

Gateley was philosophical about the good-natured kidding. "Apparently, right is right and wrong is wrong, and maybe I was out in left field," he said.