SOME MUST WORK ON CHRISTMAS

The parking lot of the Wal-Mart Supercenter exemplified Christmas Day in Cape Girardeau -- closed for business and devoid of cars.

While many people were at home enjoying Christmas with their families, a skeleton crew of hard-working people watched over and took care of those enjoying their holidays.

Perhaps the earliest to work Christmas morning were the crews of the Cape Girardeau Fire Department, arriving at about 7 a.m. to relieve the Christmas Eve bunch.

"It's not a big deal; I've done this for 15 years now," said firefighter Charles Brawley. "Some Christmases you have to work; others you are off.

"Someone has to do the job; working on holidays kind of goes with the territory," he said. "It's not so bad."

Another firefighter, Randy Morris, was able to spend part of Christmas morning with his wife and three children before going to work at about 9 a.m. Saturday.

"I had come in early a couple of times during hunting season to relieve (a fellow firefighter)," Morris said. "So today, he stayed late while my family and I opened presents.

"The kids understand that I have to go to work," he said. "My brother-in-law works for the police department and his wife works in the emergency room at Southeast Missouri Hospital, so the kids are pretty used to at least one of us not being there on Christmas."

The fire department was not the only city department fully staffed on Christmas Day. Even though calls were few and far between, Cape Girardeau police officers patrolled the streets all day Saturday, ensuring the peace of the deserted streets was kept.

Police jailer Chet Going came in at about 7 a.m. Saturday to care for the 19 inmates of the city jail. At 6 p.m., he was on his way home to celebrate Christmas with his family.

"I came in and said Merry Christmas to everyone this morning, but this is really no different than any other day," Going said.

"I work Saturdays; this one just happened to fall on Christmas," he said. "This isn't the first time I've worked on Christmas, and I'm sure it won't be the last."

Police dispatchers Kim Amelunke and Paul Johnson were able to catch up on some paperwork with the decline in emergency calls Saturday.

"No one here gets special consideration because a day is a holiday," said Amelunke. "If your shift falls on Christmas, then that's the day you have to work."

Johnson's children urged him to "call in sick" Saturday and stay at home with them.

"They are pretty well used to my schedule now," said Johnson, who worked last Christmas as well. "We opened presents (Saturday) morning and celebrated Christmas together."

But emergency service personnel were not the only people who were working on Christmas Day.

Heather Rentfro, a clerk at the Rhodes 101 Stop, 1610 N. Kingshighway, had plenty to do waiting on people who needed just about everything on Christmas Day.

"We've been really busy," said Rentfro while taking a short break. "People are coming in here and buying just about everything we have -- from milk and bread to cold medicine and batteries."

Rentfro spent Christmas morning with her family before going to work at 10 a.m., she said.

"My mom didn't really like the idea of my coming to work today," she said. "But everyone is so friendly today -- all the customers are really in the Christmas spirit. I think most of them are just thankful to find someplace open."

Some people found that finding a place to get gas and snacks was one thing -- finding a restaurant open for business was another matter.

La Bamba and Captain China Liu's were just about the only places in the city open Saturday.

"We've been open every Christmas since we've been in Cape Girardeau," said Mike Sams, owner of La Bamba. "There has got to be some place for people to eat; a lot of the hotels and motels along the interstate know we are open and send people here for dinner.

"On Christmas, we meet people from all of the United States," he said.

The Sams family has a tradition of their own on Christmas: The family opens gifts and celebrates the holiday on Dec. 24, and then everyone in the family works in the restaurant on Christmas Day.

"We don't ever request our employees to work on Christmas -- they work only if they really, really want to," said Sams.

Another area business which took volunteers to work on Saturday was Fun Flicks, 215 S. Broadview.

People who rented movies on Christmas Eve did not have to return them on Saturday, which meant many of the films in the store had been checked out by Christmas evening.

"A lot of people asked for Christmas movies -- "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" was our number one request," said employee Tommy Johnson. "We don't have much of anything left now -- they wiped us out (Friday) night."