The Answer Man (11/12/06)
Q: Who is Beetle Bailey? A: A long standing cartoon character. Each addition of the Daily Dunklin Democrat has a black & white Beetle Bailey cartoon. The Sun. -- Mon. addition has the black & white, plus full color presentation. Even if you are a person who never looks at a cartoon, it would be difficult to somehow completely miss Beetle Bailey. The cartoon has been around for 56 years...

Business development courses available through extension (10/22/06)
I have mentioned earlier about our plan of work process that was used to identify needs related to the six state program areas. These are agriculture and natural resources, business development, community development, 4-H youth development, human environmental sciences, and continuing education...

Bombs (09/24/06)
Q: Does the United States have to take all the responsibility for dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki? A: Japanese fanaticism must take its share of the blame. A question was brought up some time back in the Daily Dunklin Democrat about the ever controversial atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki...

What is a cotton snake (08/06/06)
Q: What is a Cotton Snake? A: A Cotton Snake is friendlier than a rattlesnake, and it doesn't bite. It is doubtful if very many people haven't had an encounter sometime with a blue racer, or a copperhead, maybe a king snake, a chicken snake, or an occasional water moccasin. The Bootheel has a large variety of snakes we would rather avoid...

The Answer Man (07/30/06)
Q: What is the finest looking creature on this earth? A: A woman dressed in full battle gear and armor. A woman is undoubtedly God's greatest achievement. But there is an unfortunate tendency for too many women to take their gender for granted, and dress more and more like a man -- the all too often androgynous look. Ugh...

The Answer Man (07/23/06)
QUESTION: Are sports fans today more interested in sensation, rather than substance? ANSWER: There seems to be no reason to think otherwise. The homerun contest prior to this year's baseball All Star game brought to light some things that are being far too common in sports today...

The Answer Man (07/16/06)
Q: What is a SQUIDGE? A: A squidge could be called an apprentice cotton classer. The various cotton companies have their own interpretations and codes, but yesterday's squidge could give you the meaning of: "Good Middling," "Strict Middling," "Middling," "Strict Low Middling," "Low Middling," "Strict Good Ordinary," "Ordinary," and "Dog."...

The Answer Man (06/25/06)
Q: It would be interesting to know if anyone in Southeast Missouri, or within this reading area, has ever seen a presentation (TV, movie, or live) of the comedy play, "Our American Cousin." A: This is a question hopefully waiting for an answer....

The Answer Man (06/18/06)
Q: Who is Barbara Webb? A: She is a lady involved in a work that should be of interest to all Kennett High School graduates. Kennett High School has a lot of loyal fans. In this case we're not talking about sports fans, but those KHS graduates still very much interested in their old school, and their classmates from years gone by...

The Answer Man (06/11/06)
Q: Who is Rick Monday? A: Rick Monday was a baseball player who did the right thing at the right time. Today virtually everything we once considered worthy, or traditional, is under attack: Our religious values, our established laws, our borders, and of course any of the symbols that have helped to unify our country into a great nation...

The Answer Man (05/28/06)
Q: Why does the wind seem to increase about noontime, and then reach its maximum from 1pm to 5pm in the evening? A: It would take a meteorologist for a definitive answer, but it must have something to do with the sun. People in England are generally congenial, and quite often make an amusing remark. You walk into a grocery or some other commercial establishment, and the clerk will say, "Isn't the weatha (sic) horrid today?" The English long ago did away with the letter R...

The Answer Man (05/21/06)
Q: What is a conundrum? A: A conundrum is a question or problem having only a conjectural answer. The May 10, 2006 issue of the Daily Dunklin Democrat had a well written letter to the editor in which Linda Holt describes a hair raising encounter with a pit bull dog...

The Answer Man (05/14/06)
Question: What is the Gamma Knife? Answer: The Gamma Knife Procedure uses non-invasive surgery. This is by no stretch of the imagination an attempt to meddle in the affairs of dedicated professionals who have worked for years through education and practice to diagnose and advise...

The Answer Man (04/30/06)
QUESTION: What is the Most Extreme Pest in the Missouri Bootheel? ANSWER: The female mosquito. Every section of the country has their share of bugs. For instance, Florida tourist brochures never mention the mass of flying and crawling insects that inhabit that state...

The Answer Man (04/23/06)
QUESTION: Do we need more conservatives in this country? ANSWER: Cokie & Steve Roberts say we do. The April 16-17 edition of The Daily Dunklin Democrat has another article by Cokie & Steve Roberts with their continuing education course of "Illegal Immigrants 101"...

The Answer Man (04/16/06)
QUESTION: How many straw hats can we expect to see in the Bootheel this summer? ANSWER: None. Clark Gable took off his shirt in the 1939 Academy Award winning movie, "It Happened One Night." When this revealed that he was wearing no undershirt, it supposedly spelled doom for the undershirt industry...

The Answer Man (04/02/06)
QUESTION: Will the on-coming summer in the Bootheel reveal a new flurry of tattoos? ANSWER: If the basketball season, and March Madness indicates anything, the Kennett Square will be resplendent in tattoo artistry. Life is often a matter of observation, and perspective. ...

(03/26/06)
QUESTION: Why do the newspapers always print such bad news? ANSWER: The newspapers don't generally make news. They just print what they see. There's the old expression: If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it's a duck. Quite often the duck turns out to be bad news...

The Answer Man (03/19/06)
QUESTION: What would be the greatest Cardinal lineup ever? ANSWER: It would be a matter of personal choice, but the St. Louis Post Dispatch has a bird's eye view and they made a pretty good selection. The St. Louis Cardinals are busy with spring exhibition games, and the question arises: Can they turn in another banner season? The last two have been fantastic...

(03/13/06)
Q: Is George Bush responsible for the tremendous outsourcing problem we have in this country? A: He may have to take his share of the blame for not slowing it down, but outsourcing was running rampant long before Bush came along. The March 4, 2006 issue of the Daily Dunklin Democrat had an article coming out of Washington where Representative George Miller said George Bush had failed the country on his handling of the outsourcing situation. ...

The Answer Man (02/19/06)
QUESTION: How did the state boundary of Missouri come to include the "Bootheel?" ANSWER: This is due primarily to a man named John Hardeman Walker. There is a fellow named Bill Bryson who wrote a book about his travels across America. When he got to Cairo, Illinois he asked a filling station attendant if the people in town ever thought about pronouncing the town's name Cairo, as they do in Egypt. "Not here in KAYro we don't," answered the attendant...

The Answer Man (01/29/06)
QUESTION: What are some of the distinctions between legal and illegal immigration? ANSWER: Basically they are the same distinctions that exist in any nation on this earth. In the January 8-9, 2006, issue of the Daily Dunklin Democrat there was an article by nationally syndicated columnists, Cokie & Steve Roberts, giving a stirring account about the virtues of legal immigration. It was a well-written and passionate reminder of what dedicated new Americans can contribute to this country...

The Answer Man (01/22/06)
QUESTION: Are Veterans Hospitals up to modern standards? ANSWER: We can't assume anything based on rumor, or speculation. It proves nothing. A very respected friend, one who has worked many years for the Veterans Administration, is duly concerned that VA Hospitals are taking a bad rap...

The Answer Man (01/01/06)
QUESTION: Who are the Puxico Indians? ANSWER: The Puxico Indians were undoubtedly the most sensational basketball team the state of Missouri has ever produced. TV's ESPN ran a November 29, 2005 show about a high school basketball game called the "Milan Miracle."...

The Answer Man (12/25/05)
Question: What is the perfect age for a man? Answer: 35 The Daily Dunklin Democrat's Parade Magazine for Sunday, Dec. 11, 2005, had a glowing article about how wonderful it can be to reach age 60 or older. The article is primarily dedicated to the "baby boomers," who are about to hit age 60. It is almost euphoric in its description of the "Golden Years" that are to follow. The author uses terms like: "Second Adulthood," and "Age of Mastery." (Whatever that means.)...

The Answer Man (12/18/05)
Question: Do the kids in small towns today look shabby or deprived? Answer: Yes, It's what they wear that makes them look like young citizens of a poverty stricken nation. A number of years ago the male undergraduates from the Missouri University St. Louis area all dressed alike...

The Answer Man (12/11/05)
Question: Is the Christian religion under attack? Answer: You could hardly call it friendly persuasion. The 12-02/03, 2005 issue of the Daily Dunklin Democrat had an Associated Press story where the Americans United for Separation of Church and State has informed Florida Gov. Jeb Bush that he has offended the Constitution by choosing "Lion" for his state's annual student reading campaign because it's "filled with allusions to Christianity."...

The Answer Man (12/04/05)
Question: What rivalry in sports today has the most bitterness? Answer: Believe it or not, it's the Missouri -- Kansas rivalry. Notre Dame vs. Southern Cal., Alabama vs. Auburn, Texas vs. Oklahoma, Cardinals vs. Cubs, Dodgers vs. Giants, Cowboys vs. Redskins. All mere backyard scuffles...

The Answer Man (11/20/05)
**QUESTION: What is a worthwhile program for citizens of Dunklin County to support? ANSWER: It's called MOREnet. The November 9, 2005 issue of The Daily Dunklin Democrat had a story about the nine library branches of the Dunklin County Library System urging state legislators not to cut funds for MOREnet. (Missouri Research and Education Network.)...

The Answer Man (11/06/05)
**Question: Is there anything to be concerned about when learning that only 9% on Major League Baseball rosters are black men? Answer: Not when you look at the facts Jack Rollins, in his Oct. 28-29 column of the Daily Dunklin Democrat, points out that college level and pro-level athletes are certainly adult enough to choose which sport they want to play...

The Answer Man (10/30/05)
Question: Will there ever be a time when Bootheel towns will connect, one with the other? Answer: Maybe. But you will probably have to be very young to ever to see it. There was a time not so many years ago when you would be in Clearwater, Fla., and decide to return home north on Hwy. 19, along the west coast...

The Answer Man (10/23/05)
Question: Is the loss of Emerson Electric Co. eventually going to be a good thing for Kennett and the rest of the Bootheel? Answer: There are many people, identifying themselves as highly intelligent, who say that this is just the inalterable progress of modern business...

The Answer Man (10/16/05)
**Question: Does the Bootheel have a mole problem? Answer: If the Bootheel doesn't have a mole problem, then the Gulf Coast doesn't have a hurricane problem. Unbelievable! Unbelievable! Unbelievable is currently the most over used word in our language. At least 10 plays in every football game are "unbelievable." Baseball homeruns are "unbelievable." Hurricane Katrina was "unbelievable." The weather when really bad is "unbelievable." A near perfect day is "unbelievable."...

The Answer Man (10/09/05)
Question: Where in America could we take a terrorist to show we are not such terrible people? Answer: A good place to start might by Kennett's Delta Fair Parade. Let's say that by some strange twist of fate you were thrown together with a frothing terrorist. ...

The Answer Man (10/02/05)
Question: What is a Baseball Purist? Answer: A baseball purist is a grungy, old, curmudgeon who thinks the divisional playoffs in baseball are a classic example in sports of sensationalism over substance. We baseball purists are regarded as rusty, crusty, musty, dusty, remnants of days gone by. We are dinosaurs, anachronistic relics of the past, over-the-hill, one foot in the grave. In short, we ain't with it. "I'll be glad when your dead, you old, rascal, you."...

The Answer Man (09/25/05)
Question: Is Southeast Missouri subject to a catastrophe similar to the one that hit New Orleans and the Gulf Coast? Answer: A person does not have to be an expert on the science of earthquakes to know that seismologists all over the world predict that there will be a series of earthquakes along the new Madrid Seismic Zone similar to the ones that struck this area in 1811 & 1812...

The Answer Man (09/04/05)
Question: Who is Jim Little? Answer: Jim Little is a man who has lived 52 years of his life in federal service, but whose career is too multifarious to capsule in a few short paragraphs. Some sort of succinct chronology becomes a necessity: * Originally from Willow Springs, Mo...

The Answer Man (08/28/05)
Question: Does the steroid problem in professional sports prove that the big money available there corrupts individuals? Answer: That big money often corrupts is an unfortunate truism. It is easy, however, to blame professionalism, but much more difficult to recognize that the attempt to get away with something sometimes starts at a very early age...

The Answer Man (08/21/05)
Question: Who was Tom Crunk? Answer: Tom Crunk was a Kennett native who was involved in one of the most strangely coincidental happenings of World War II. Those of us old enough to have such recollections, remember newsreels showing doddering old men, dressed in blue or gray. ...

The Answer Man (08/14/05)
Question: Who is the best female athlete the Bootheel has ever produced? Answer: Who knows? You hear a great deal of conversation about the top male athletes in the Bootheel. Arguments normally form between the old-timers, and what happened in history, versus the youngsters, who are only interested in what is happening now...

The Answer Man (08/07/05)
Question: How much change in the Bootheel social agenda has been brought about by television, and video stores renting movies that can be watched at home? Answer: There was a time in the Bootheel when movie theaters were not only plentiful, but the very backbone of social life....

The Answer Man (07/31/05)
Question: Missouri has the St. Louis Cardinals and the Kansas city Royals. Was there ever another Major League baseball team in the state? Answer: Well ... sort of. Modern baseball is defined as being from 1901 until now. There was a team named the St. Louis Browns that played for 52 years in this time frame. They finished dead last in the American league a mournful 10 times. Just to prove they were not entirely horrible, they finished next to last a dismal 13 times...

The Answer Man (07/17/05)
Question: Is the future good for small town business? Answer: We hope so. Actually it is a matter of tenacity versus the every changing world of marketing and sales. Somewhere out there in the circulation area of the Dunklin County Democrat is the oldest business around. Just who that might be is unknown. It would be interesting to find out if anyone knows with certainty . . Riggs Supply has been in business since 1859. So we can go from there...

The Answer Man (07/10/05)
Question: Is it true that during World War II there was a prisoner of war camp in Kennett? Answer: Yes it is true. It was located east of the Kennett Square in an area just across the street, or south, of where the Senath Bank is now. There was a drainage ditch running north and south where the prisoners caught small fish. There are presently several businesses in operation where the camp was laid out...

The Answer Man (07/05/05)
**Question: Who is Larry Pritchard? Answer: Larry Pritchard is a colorful character who plays a lot of golf out at the Kennett golf course. When he gets himself in just the right position he can put a mean whack on a golf ball, and send it a long way. He can hold his own with most players, and beat a number of them...

The Answer Man (06/26/05)
Question: Who is Mo Baker? Answer: Mo Baker is a man who will be in Kennett next week to help celebrate a class reunion of the Kennett High School classes of 1949, 1950 and 1951. His old friends will tell you that Clinnard Baker lived with his parents and siblings at 401 E. Washington Ave. He was popular in high school, and enjoyed the normal activities of most graduates of KHS...