Human Interest

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Winter Storms: Car & Home Safety Tips

January 1, 2009 in Features, General Articles, Goverment, Holiday Posts, Human Interest, Military, Uncategorized by A Semo.net User

Provided by the Butler County Health Department

Winterizing a car includes checking: the ignition, cooling, fuel and exhaust systems, battery, lights, tires, heater, brakes, wipers, defroster and oil. Before a winter storm hits your area, fill up your car’s gas tank. A car survival kit consists of: flashlight, windshield scraper, paper towels, extra clothes, blankets, matches and candles, booster cables, a compass, maps, sand, chains and high calorie non-perishable food. Defensive Driving and Travel smart! Pump your breaks to stop on ice or snow. Plan your trip and let someone know your travel plans, route and estimated arrival time. Do NOT leave your car unless you see a building close by where you know you can take shelter. Once a storm is over, you may need to leave the car to get help. Follow the road if possible. If you need to walk across open country, orient your route toward distant landmarks to maintain your sense of direction.
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Winter Storms: Severe Weather And Power Outages

December 30, 2008 in Features, General Articles, Human Interest by A Semo.net User

Provided by the Butler County Health Department

Develop a Family Disaster Plan for a Winter Storm
Missouri families are encouraged to have a Family Disaster Plan. Since hundreds of thousands of citizens experienced power outages due to five ice storms in the past two years, it is important to develop a winter storm-specific family disaster plan.

The understanding and being able to respond to Winter Watch, Winter Warning, and Wind Chill is important. A Winter Storm Watch indicates that severe winter weather may affect your area. A Winter Storm Warning indicates severe winter weather is in the area or expected immediately. Wind Chill is a calculation of how cold it feels when the effects of wind speed and temperature are combined. A strong wind combined with a temperature of just below freezing can have the same effect as a still air temperature about 35 degrees colder.
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President-Elect [of the World?]

December 15, 2008 in Features, General Articles, Human Interest, Political/Government by Brian Becker

The day following the election of Barack Obama as President of the United States, I saw a CNN article stating that Obama was being seen by media as “President of the World.” My first thoughts were “this is more media bias” since the entire article was about how the media around the world was reacting to the results. Since I hadn’t heard that term before associated with our highest office, it certainly piqued my interest.

As I read that article, I found myself thinking of a dear friend that spends his life traveling throughout Europe. I emailed him asking to give me a sense of the people he meets on a day to day basis and whether they consider Obama the “President of the World.” Here are his comments gathered over the past month:

In the parts of the world I find myself, it is certainly true that the folk are smiling about our choice. The Herald Tribune had an article about how [expatriates] can now smile when they say they are from the USA.
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Locals Become Missionaries To Ireland

December 7, 2008 in Features, General Articles, Human Interest by A Semo.net User

Riley and Tara March were both “born and raised” in Ripley County but now find themselves raising their own family in Northern Ireland.

Riley felt the call to missions while attending Indiana Bible College. Before getting married, he told Tara (Slusher) about the call he felt on his life to make sure she would be willing to one-day raise a family in a foreign land while working for the Lord.

After a stint at college they moved back to Doniphan to raise a family. Flash forward 14 years and the March Gang now includes Peyton (11), Kirsten (7) and Simeon (4), but the conversations of “where and when” frequently came up as the couple continued to wait, year after year, for the “timing of God” to come.

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Civil War: A Small Death

December 2, 2008 in Civil War, Features, General Articles, Human Interest by Tom Turner

The Civil War in Missouri was fought primarily as a partisan, no-holds-barred, guerrilla style of combat. No house or family was safe from either side. Each side raided, robbed and destroyed indiscriminately, regardless of the allegiance of the people affected. It was ‘war with the knife and the knife to the hilt.’ Fighting occurred in virtually every part of our state, but some of the roughest and wildest was here in our own backyard.


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Hearing Technology – Part II

November 10, 2008 in Features, General Articles, Human Interest, Medical, Science by Shelly Culp

You wouldn’t normally think that a hearing impaired individual would get into trouble talking in class, but one teenage boy would beg to differ.  Adam, who is 15, received his Cochlear implant at the age of 2 after a bout with meningitis resulting in his being diagnosed deaf.  Adam doesn’t feel that his implant prevents him from being just another kid.  He enjoys talking on his cell phone and says that no one at school makes fun of him and he feels very much a part of his school.

When Mardie’s mother was diagnosed with Rubella while she was pregnant, it resulted in her being born with a major hearing impairment.  Although she could not hear, her parents insisted upon treating her normally and using oral language to teach her rather than sign.  Growing up in the 1940s, there were no special education options available for a hearing impaired individual.  Mardie attended regular public schools and learned the art of lip reading.  She even went on to receive a college degree in English.

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A Treasure In Our Own Back Yard

November 7, 2008 in Features, General Articles, Human Interest, Science by Toni Becker

dsc01020.JPGThere are oh so many treasures of nature right in our back yard and I experienced one of those very special places with my two young boys just the other day. A warm invitation from a good friend initiated the adventure on this crisp fall morning to the Mingo National Wildlife Refuge, located just a mile north of Puxico, Missouri.

With picnic packed and four very excited boys, we arrived at the Visitor Center and checked out wonderful exhibits the educational center had on display. Our favorite was a “preserved” (or less elegantly described by a seven year old as “stuffed”) pair of 10 and 12-point White-tailed deer, their horns locked in a deadly tangle seconds before they both fell into Stanley Creek, surrendering not only battle, but breath. Just as they were found back in 2004, so shall they remain, giving us humans an almost sacred look into their real life in the wild bottomland forest and wetland realm that is Mingo National Wildlife Refuge.

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Red vs Blue – Blue Wins!

November 6, 2008 in Features, General Articles, Goverment, Human Interest by Brian Becker

As a republican looking back at the last election and this election, I’ve wondered how much really changed in this country. I remember four years ago, the bitterness and outrage that was waged against me by family and friends because I “voted red.” I woke up on Wednesday morning and felt no anger, no bitterness, but I did wonder how President-elect Obama had won.

In looking at an Electoral College Vote study by a professor at the University of Michigan, Mark Newman, it’s interesting to see the changes that took place between this week’s election and the one from four years ago.
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Hearing Technology

November 5, 2008 in Features, General Articles, Human Interest, Medical, Science by Shelly Culp

In 2001, conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh found himself having difficulty hearing callers on his radio show.  Doctors eventually diagnosed Limbaugh with an auto-immune ear disease, which would leave him virtually deaf.  A Cochlear implant was a great option for Limbaugh and the procedure was performed in December 2001 and after outpatient auditory therapy he returned back to work in January of 2002.   Now seven years after the surgery, Limbaugh booms across the U.S. airwaves without missing a beat.

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Willie Goes to Washington

November 4, 2008 in Features, General Articles, Goverment, Human Interest by Toni Becker

One great idea can take on a life of its own, which is exactly what has happened to former President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s idea of bringing ordinary citizens from all over the globe together to communicate face to face, in an effort to solve differences and discover ways to live peacefully together on the planet. The People to People Ambassador Program was launched in 1956, setting in motion a vehicle wherein his mission of global citizenship did flourish.

williefrancis.jpg

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