LETTERS: CAPE GIRARDEAU GETS GOOD MARKS

To the editor:

It seems that as the 20th century winds to a close, all we are faced with are the negatives of our society.

Cities are judges and remembered for the actions and deeds of their worst citizens, not their best. For my wife and I, Cape Girardeau was an exception.

In late July my wife and I departed Minnesota in our 30-foot sailboat for our dream trip. It was to be a cruise down the inland waterways to Florida. The first two weeks were everything we had hoped for, despite a torn ligament in my knee which slowed me a bit.

Unfortunately, when we arrived in Cape Girardeau in early August, I became ill with a very bad bacterial infection. It not only left me very weak with a fever, but it made it almost impossible to concentrate on even the most routine tasks aboard our boat.

While anchoring our boat in the canal just south of town, I accidentally wrapped a line solidly around our drive shaft. After two unsuccessful dives, I decided I was too weak to cut the line loose myself.

The next morning, I took our dinghy and started up the canal toward the boat landing in hopes of finding some help. About a mile from the landing, I inexplicably lost the prop on the dinghy motor. This was not my day.

With an aching knee, a fever of 102 degrees and what little energy I had left, I rowed my dinghy to the landing.

It was here I met my guardian angel. He names was W.E. "Junior" Sides. Junior Sides proceeded to spend the better part of the day driving me all over Cape Girardeau to find a diver, to obtain a replacement dinghy motor and to a bank to get money to pay for it all. At one point he even offered to take me to Cairo, Ill., when we thought we couldn't find help in Cape Girardeau.

Finally, with a diver arranged for, a new motor in hand and money to pay for it all, Junior Sides joyfully drove me back to the landing to await the arrival of the diver early that evening. I gave him my thanks, and we said our goodbyes.

But that was not the last I would see of Junior Sides. I went back to our anchored boat to let my wife know that all would be well. Upon my return to the boat landing, there was Junior Sides. "I think that old boy might still need my help," he told his wife. So he returned to the boat landing, his fishing boat in tow, to help me ferry the diver, his assistant and gear to my boat. The next day, we were on our way, knowing we had met a very special person.

And so I would like to thank the many people of Cape Girardeau who were so kind and helpful to me in my time of need. But mostly I would like to thank Junior Sides. It's not often one has the privilege of meeting such truly loving and giving individuals. Junior, you did yourself and Cape Girardeau proud on that rainy day in August. God bless.

ALFRED A.E. WOLFRAM

New Brighton, Minn.