Mike Malone of Poplar Bluff became American Taekwondo Association World Champion, Weapons Division, in competition at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock, Arkansas late last month. Little Rock is world headquarters for the ATA, and competition was held in a broad range of categories for 2008 honors. Malone’s victory was especially sweet since he had placed second in the same category in the world championships last year.

When this 70-something man was but a wee lad, his father made a prediction of the sort a little boy wouldn’t be expected to understand. But my good friend remembers his father’s words to this day, and he has marveled over the years at his father’s foresight. “We were in Neelyville, farming with mules,” says my friend, who retired some time ago from a colorful array of occupations, including key posts in the floral and furniture-manufacturing industries. “One day, my father saw that a neighbor had bought a small, one-row Allis-Chalmers tractor,” he continues. “He said to me then, ‘Son, one of these days, we won’t have enough gas to run those’.”

In our previous column, Neelyville’s MSG Jeffrey Pennington did not mention the exact drill involved in gassing up vehicles at Patrol Base Kaufman, Iraq, but if his operation’s entire electrical system is powered by fuel regularly hauled in along roadways where sniper-fire and explosives are an ongoing threat… Well, that kind of revelation could lead to a serious homefront reality check, couldn't it?

The offices of semo.net will close at 5:00pm on 7/15/08 for a company event. We will resume normal business hours on 7/16/08.

As Monday evening approached, both coaches did all they could to trim the nerves of these 8- to 10-year-olds as they took the field for the semi-finals game against Lynch's Lawn Service. After an entire season where double-digit leads were common and balls were hit to the fence nearly every inning, it was hard for fans, coaches and players to keep their wits in a low-scoring, defensive duel. By the end of the game, it was clear that semo.net's bats were not going to come alive and it was up to their defensive skills to keep them in the game. Going into the top of the sixth and last inning, semo.net took the field leading 2 - 1.

In the first part of MSG Jeffrey Pennington’s email home, he touched on the atmosphere and his current mission centered near the ancient Iraqi city of Samarra, a 2007 UNESCO World Heritage Site north of Baghdad. In today’s column, we’ll see how he describes the everyday living conditions he and his fellow soldiers face at Patrol Base Kaufman. If you don’t count the sand---or the cheesy children’s wading pool the troops brought in for heat-relief---then there is nothing at PB Kaufman that remotely resembles a day at the beach.