Vicissitudes

Historical December 1989 report or notice. Original dates, prices and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.

What did one frog say to the other? “Time’s fun when you’re having flies!’ Well we’ve been having lots of fun around here. I decided to give up on honest work and become self-employed on a fulltime basis.

This means, of course, that forty-hour work weeks are past history; what with startup adventures and all I’ve been busier than a one-armed paperhanger. That’s how I utterly missed the deadline for last month’s column. Sue Rothschild hasn’t shot me because I had a note from my mommy.

So let’s get on with the rest of the news. First and foremost, let me urge you to come to the Camerata Singers’ Christmas concert at 4:00 P.M. December 10 at St. Roch Catholic Church.

The concert is free and open to the public.

There is also a reception afterward.

This chorus originally was brought together as a scratch group to do a Christmas concert at St. Roch last year.

The group had such a good time that the members decided to stay together and form a permanent group. Under the direction of Greg Schweizer, who persists in doing the difficult so well that it looks easy, the chorus gave a successful presentation of the Schubert Mass in G earlier this year.

They will continue to perform in this area, so don’t miss out on what I assure you will be an excellent time. St. Roch is suffering from another strange epidemic. Last time, the pastor, assistant pastor, and parish secretary took turns getting banged up.

This time, the epidemic is almost scandalous. Every adult woman in the Contemporary Choir is pregnant! Fortunately, there are only two of them. Carolyn Farrell is expecting in June and Alison Barcheck is due around the first of February.

Congratulations to both. Incidentally, Contemporary Choir Director Bob Dowgwillo (and his wife Heidi) of 61XX Pershing, had a little boy named Alex on the day before Halloween. Everyone’s fine. Lana Stein, of UMSL’s political science faculty, has been elected the resident representative to the Nina Place Condominium board. Nancy Farmer, Executive Director of the Skinker DeBaliviere Community Council, was named by Mayor Schoemehl to a special committee for input on the budget cuts that will be necessary because of the failure of the sales tax election and other revenue losses.

We are sad to have to relate that Mrs. Irma White of 61XX Pershing passed away a couple of weeks ago after a bout with cancer.

Most months I report the coming and going of peoples’ lives. It’s not often I have the opportunity to report the saving of a life.

It is with great pleasure that I relate to you that such an event has occurred.

On November 17, Officer Ottie Edwards, the Parkview patrolman, overheard on his scanner an emergency dispatch, directing a rescue team to a neighborhood house to save a six-month-old baby who was choking. Officer Edwards rushed over to the house, found the infant, and cleared the obstruction before rescue workers arrived.

While setting up the new business, I had occasion to visit Joe’s Copy Shop on DeBaliviere.

This place has a marvelously whimsical atmosphere; manager Michelle Harrison has named all of the copying machines after characters from the tales of King Arthur and the Round Table.

This is cute and in no way interferes with her ability to do a good job quickly and spice it properly with good advice.

She saved my neck twice in the last two weeks. OTTIE’S CORNER This month there is lots of good news.

We don’t have any good arrest stories, as malefactors seem to have avoided the area.

However, we have the Halloween Report and an old crime story for you.

This was a banner Halloween night: no trouble at all.

Many families in the area bring their children to Parkview to trickor-treat.

In the past, there has been trouble with older bullies stealing candy from the little kids.

This year, Ottie fielded extra volunteers, two on mopeds and several on foot.

Each one had a radio. Result: no trouble at all.

One story we missed last month was that the garage belonging to Luke Hart of 63XX McPherson burned down.

This was not a trivial fire—this garage was big enough to have its own basement! Ottie was helping clean up when he discovered two automobile fender skirts—in prime condition,—in the wreckage.

He pointed them out to Mr. Hart. Luke told him that he had found them in the wee hours of a summer morning in 1948, when he was sneaking into the house after a rather boisterous night out. Figuring that their loss would be reported, he stashed them in the garage.

There they had sat ever since. Officer Edwards was then going through some of the old watchman reports to compare complaints and crimes of older periods.

While going through the 1948 records, he discovered that John Green’s sister, on Westgate Avenue, had reported the theft of some fender skirts that matched the ones he had found in Luke Hart’s garage. Fortunately, the Greens still live at the Westgate residence, so Ottie was able to return the stolen merchandise to its rightful owner.

After 41 years, case closed.

Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, December 1989.

Read this article in the original newspaper issue.

Original source: SD_Times1989_12.pdf, printed page(s) 4; PDF page(s) 4.