Local events offer plenty to do and lots of variety

From Valentine's events at various restaurants -- the Saint Francis Hearts and Swing Dinner Dance pulled in several hundred for dinner and dancing at the Arena Building -- to the rodeo at the Show Me Center and dinner theater at Port Cape and much more (read the newspaper!), this area continues to hop. Because of the recent weather, indoor activities have been at a premium. Thankfully, there's no shortage of them here.

Local chambers of commerce have been busy. Middle of last week, Jackson chamber members packed the Old Bavarian Sausage factory on North High Street for an after-hours event. It was quite an affair with fun music, delicious and authentic German food, and lots of good cheer. Brigitte and Henning Bollerslev were the gracious hosts, along with son, Daniel. Taste their bratwurst, and you'll know why they've become such a success with sales around the world. Ken Parrett, executive director, did his typically masterful job of emceeing.

The Jackson chamber then met for breakfast on Friday with Missouri Chamber of Commerce director Dan Mehan to talk about a new state chamber initiative to control health-insurance costs for members. The plan promotes a new kind of medical savings account. Parrett, as he should, pressed Mehan not to close local insurance providers from participating in the effort.

Another business-related event was the Tri-State Advertising and Marketing Professionals annual ADDY Awards banquet on Thursday night. Club president Keith Whitworth and his team did an excellent job organizing the event, and Elvis made a surprise showing. Congratulations to Southeast Missouri Hospital's marketing department, Red Letter Communications, and the Wright Group of Perryville, for taking home the three Best in Show trophies.

Not a local event, but something significant with local participation, was a symposium on juvenile justice held in Jefferson City recently. Spearheaded by Missouri Chief Justice (and Cape native) Stephen Limbaugh, this gathering of state legislators (including senators Peter Kinder and Bill Foster and Rep. Scott Lipke), Gov. Bob Holden, juvenile officers (including Cape's Randy Rhodes), judges (Cape's Pete Statler), state agency staffs, advisory boards and media, took a quick tour of the history of juvenile justice in Missouri and highlighted openly some of the current challenges. One of the themes was that the state is doing a lot right -- although there are problems.

Held up as an example of the state's success was its Division of Youth Services, which is regarded by national experts as one of the best -- if not the best -- in the country. In a moving speech, Tyrone Flowers, a former St. Louis gang member now in a wheelchair from gunshot injuries, talked about the life transformation the state helped him through. Not only did his time with DYS help him graduate from high school, he went on to college and earned his law degree from the University of Missouri. A remarkable man with an inspiring message, he echoed the words of an earlier speaker, "Don't give up" on troubled youth.

Jon K. Rust is co-president of Rust Communications. jrust@semissourian.com.