June 18, 2008

Stories of Sprigg

KIT DOYLE ~ kdoyle@semissourian.com Gale Phillips, left, scrubbed, Mark Starnes rinsed, and JoJo Stuart dried as the Cape Girardeau firefighters washed an engine Tuesday afternoon, June 17, 2008, at Station 1 on South Sprigg St. Station 3 is on North Sprigg St.

KIT DOYLE ~ kdoyle@semissourian.com Gale Phillips wiped down an engine Tuesday afternoon, June 17, 2008, at Station 1 in Cape Girardeau.

KIT DOYLE ~ kdoyle@semissourian.com In addition to the Cape Girardeau Police Department headquarters being located on Sprigg St., officers practice at the shooting range on South Sprigg St. near La Croix Creek.

KIT DOYLE ~ kdoyle@semissourian.com Joe Kitchen worked on an F-150 Monday afternoon, June 16, 2008, at his shop, Kitchen Automotive, on South Sprigg St. Kitchen grew up in Smelterville, an area south of Southern Expressway, where a vibrant community used to almost be independent of the city, as Kitchen describes it. Smelterville was bought out after 1993 floods, but Kitchen returned to open his auto shop three years ago.

KIT DOYLE ~ kdoyle@semissourian.com Eugene Robinson cleared areas of South Sprigg Tuesday, June 10, 2008, where more than 20 sinkholes have caused problems over the past year. South Sprigg is closed at La Croix Creek, where many of the sinkholes have emerged, threatening businesses, the city's wastewater treatment facility and transportation routes for both streets and rail lines.

KIT DOYLE ~ kdoyle@semissourian.com Washing an engine at Station 1 on South Sprigg St. Tuesday afternoon, June 17, 2008, in Cape Girardeau.

KIT DOYLE ~ kdoyle@semissourian.com "An American Business" reads the flag emblazoned company car of Kitchen Automotive on South Sprigg St. in Cape Girardeau.

KIT DOYLE ~ kdoyle@semissourian.com Looking out for your neighbors is simply the way of life on South Sprigg according to Joe Ayers, who trimmed trees for his neighbor Wednesday, June 4, 2008, in the 1100 block of South Sprigg St. One of Ayers' largest concerns is the speed at which tractor trailers barrel through the residential neighborhood.

KIT DOYLE ~ kdoyle@semissourian.com Barber Bill Sisco joked with Frank Batchelor Friday afternoon, June 13, 2008, at Sisco's Barber and Hairstyling near the intersection of Sprigg and Broadway in Cape Girardeau. Batchelor was one of Sisco's first customers 48 years ago when Sisco was then referred to as "Junior" and had the back room as his father Bill Sisco Senior had the front room. "I wouldn't take a spot in the mall if they gave it to me," Sisco said. "This is the pace to be."

KIT DOYLE ~ kdoyle@semissourian.com Flowers in the cooler at Baisch & Skinner Wholesale Florists on South Sprigg St. Monday, June 16, 2008, in Cape Girardeau.

KIT DOYLE ~ kdoyle@semissourian.com Vernon Nicholson searched through the Baisch and Skinner Wholesale Florists cooler for roses Monday afternoon, June 16, 2008, in Cape Girardeau. Nicholson, of Farmington, picks up flowers for his wife, who is a florist in Farmington. Baisch and Skinner serves a 350 square miles and is one of few wholesale florist distributors between St. Louis and Memphis.

KIT DOYLE ~ kdoyle@semissourian.com Firefighters wash engines every day at Station 1. Tuesday evening, June 17, 2008, a control panel was dried.

AARON EISENHAUER ~ aeisenhauer@semissourian.com Joe Lorberg uses a magnifying glass to reference a chart as he looks up the sales tax on a television set on Monday, June 9, 2008.

KIT DOYLE ~ kdoyle@semissourian.com Tools of the trade at Kitchen Automotive on South Sprigg St. Monday, June 16, 2008, in Cape Girardeau.

KIT DOYLE ~ kdoyle@semissourian.com South Sprigg St. is dotted with empty store fronts between Good Hope and Morgan Oak in Cape Girardeau.

KIT DOYLE ~ kdoyle@semissourian.com Washing an engine at Station 1 on South Sprigg St. Tuesday afternoon, June 17, 2008, in Cape Girardeau.

KIT DOYLE ~ kdoyle@semissourian.com Father Tom Kiefer, center, talked with parishoners Saturday, June 7, 2008, as they exited St. Mary Cathedral following the 4 p.m. mass in Cape Girardeau.

KIT DOYLE ~ kdoyle@semissourian.com Emilie Martin, left, passed 11-week-old Jackson Jones to his grandmother, Debbie Profilet, as the family talked Saturday, June 7, 2008, after 4 PM Mass at St. Mary Cathedral on South Sprigg St.

AARON EISENHAUER ~ aeisenhauer@semissourian.com Joe Lorberg works with a television set in his repair shop at the Lorberg Company on Monday, June 9, 2008.

AARON EISENHAUER ~ aeisenhauer@semissourian.com John Reecht, a Southeast Missouri State University junior and resident of Cape Place Apartments, jogs down North Sprigg Street on Wednesday, June 11, 2008.

AARON EISENHAUER ~ aeisenhauer@semissourian.com A Cape Girardeau fire truck hurries down Sprigg Street to a call on June 3, 2008.

KIT DOYLE ~ kdoyle@semissourian.com Larry Mobley, left, and Malik Maxwell, of McClure Roofing, put new shingles on the Cape Area Family Resource Center Wednesday, June 4, 2008, along South Sprigg St. in Cape Girardeau. After several problems earlier in the year, many local residents are eager to see the center back on its feet.

KIT DOYLE ~ kdoyle@semissourian.com Washing an engine at Station 1 on South Sprigg St. Tuesday afternoon, June 17, 2008, in Cape Girardeau.

AARON EISENHAUER ~ aeisenhauer@semissourian.com Sprigg Street

KIT DOYLE ~ kdoyle@semissourian.com Bill Sisco cut Frank Batchelor's hair Friday, June 13, 2008, at Sisco's Barber and Hairstyling on North Sprigg St. in Cape Girardeau. Sisco has been at five locations near the intersection of Sprigg and Broadway over the past five decades. Batchelor, one of Sisco's first customers when he began 48 years ago, comes for a cut every two weeks. Both men laughed about how their hair has changed over the years.

AARON EISENHAUER ~ aeisenhauer@semissourian.com Frieda and Joe Seyer have been married for more than half a century, living on South Sprigg Street.

KIT DOYLE ~ kdoyle@semissourian.com Doris Bentley has run an antique store for 26 years in the 600 block of Good Hope St., near the intersection with Sprigg. "The only thing I'm scared of is a snake," said Bentley, when asked about the vacant spaces surrounding her. Bentley hopes that the new courthouse and the River Campus could revitalize the area, where her shop is one of very few in the area.

KIT DOYLE ~ kdoyle@semissourian.com Four-year-old Jazyln Patterson watched the neighborhood as her aunt, Felicia Smith, did her hair Wednesday, June 4, 2008, at Patterson's home in the 800 block of South Sprigg. Smith, who doesn't live on Sprigg, comes to do Jazyln's hair every two weeks.

KIT DOYLE ~ kdoyle@semissourian.com Flowers in the cooler at Baisch & Skinner Wholesale Florists on South Sprigg St. Monday, June 16, 2008, in Cape Girardeau.

KIT DOYLE ~ kdoyle@semissourian.com Doris' Antiques and Collectibles is one of few open stores in the 600 block of Good Hope St., near the intersection with Sprigg. "The only thing I'm scared of is a snake," said owner Doris Bentley, when asked about the vacant spaces surrounding her.

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