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Van Rhodes didn’t grow up with black powder guns. “My family just had the typical kinds of guns and shotguns around the house,” he said. But the moment he fell in love with guns was the first time he saw one at an auction. He bought it. “After that first black powder pistol I bought, I found they were just fun to shoot,” Rhodes said. “I’m intrigued by their history and the fact that they are beautiful guns,” he continued. He said black powder firearms originated in the U.S. in the 1800’s. They were the weapon of the American Civil War. As with everything having to do with the Civil War, there were divisions. “The Union forces used guns with

CPR training was recently extended to the entire Poplar Bluff R-I staff after Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital medical professionals credited our athletic trainer and coaching staff this summer for saving the life of a student athlete by using mouth to mouth. About 85 district employees representing all buildings and numerous departments participated in the voluntary training offered by R-I Health & Drug Free Coordinator Sheryl Talkington and her school nursing staff after business hours in the Missouri Room. “CPR saves lives every day,” Talkington stated. “We certainly have witnessed that firsthand this year.”

For those who read this column and enjoy the outdoor colors in the fall of the year, it would be wise to take a trip this weekend as the colors will begin to fade pretty soon. For reasons that only Mother Nature knows, the colors did not begin to appear as early as they normally do and therefore the early October color watching didn’t happen. The late spring, the warm conditions during part of the winter seems to have messed up everything outdoors.  I have recently seen doe deer with young ones that still have their spots.  During the normal weather, the young buck deer have nubbins on their heads that you can see if you get close enough.  Usually

There is nothing that fits the description of “Americana” more than an old fashioned “five and dime” store. There was a time when almost every small town had a “Ben Franklin” store, a five and dime named after the famous American forefather who declared “a penny saved is a penny earned.” Not many Ben Franklin stores have survived in our country, but one does in Dexter. “This store, originally Weber’s Variety Store, was founded in 1909,” explained Donna West, now the store’s manager. Then in the 1930’s, she said, it became “Weber’s Ben Franklin.” West said the stores are franchised, but now less than a hundred “Ben Franklins” still survive nationwide. The store is still a “five and dime,” but

We have heard a lot about partisan gridlock lately, but the truth is that over the past two years the House of Representatives passed hundreds of bills that would improve the lives of Americans. We've passed bills to put Americans to work, get energy costs down, and ease burdens on businesses. But where are those bills now? They’re stuck in the Senate. The 387 bills stuck in the Senate are the solutions America needs to prosper and the solutions Americans have been demanding. Take the American Energy Solutions for Lower Costs and More American Jobs Act. It would help the Keystone XL pipeline move forward by removing the Presidential Permit process and would keep the EPA from implementing even more