Audio by Nadia Samie, Photos by Adriane Matkovitch, Julia Rendleman and Steve Berczynski
Murphysboro residents came out for a Saturday auction at 21st and Dewey Streets on a bright October morning. The house and all its contents—pots, pans, cutlery, books, tools and games—were up for sale following the death of one the homeowners.
The auction attracted all types of people: farmers looking for power tools, women eyeing teapots and football fans disappointed with the days sports offerings so they headed to the auction instead. David Canning Auction Service facilitated the lively bidding process. Auctioneer Adam Cripps described auctions as, “the last competitive sport in buying.” Bob Eaton, who’s mother used to live in the house, remembered the many Christmas and Thanksgiving dinners that the family had enjoyed in the there. The property was sold for $82,500.
Beth Smout, a traveling art teacher who works with students at both Caruthers Elementary School and the John A Logan School, says two things motivate her in her classroom. First is her love for children, and second is her love for teaching them how to use different materials and techniques and then seeing their excitement for what they create.
Over the course of six days, Beth teaches approximately 1,000 elementary students in Kindergarten through fifth grade at the two schools. On her own time, Beth enjoys painting and drawing and often has more than one project going at a time. In their home pottery studio, Beth and her husband Gene collaborate on potter pieces together. They enjoy different parts of the process, Gene the symmetry of the potter’s wheel and the problem solving aspects of design and developing the right glaze while Beth enjoys designing and altering pieces through carving or adding carved pieces to something that Gene has thrown for her.
John Medwedeff has been creating beautiful metal sculptures in Murphysboro since he first opened the doors of Medwedeff Forge and Design in 1988.
Medwedeff, who originally moved to southern Illinois to complete his Master’s Degree in metalsmithing at SIUC, caters to a wide variety of customers that range from corporations to city governments to private individuals. Medwedeff says he began to blacksmith at 19 but knew what he wanted to do from the age of seven. “It’s definitely a lifelong passion,” said Medwedeff.
The man behind Breading’s Shoes at 1310 Walnut St. says he’s in a business he loves.
Russ Breading, a lifelong resident of Murphysboro, has a way of proving it to you: He saves a customer card for every patron he’s had in the nearly 60 years he’s been selling shoes. Name, size and width, cost, phone number and address – Breading carefully keeps the information cataloged until the next time the customer comes in.
Breading said he feels lucky to be successful in the retail business and to have the chance to consistently talk with people of the community. He said it’s the interaction with people that he’s enjoyed the most since he started in 1950, when he first helped at a local shoe store during high school.
Shortly after, Breading joined the Navy. He stuck with it for three years before he returned to his hometown.
“I came back from the service, and they said, ‘You want to come back to work?’ Well yeah, I’ll go to work ’til I find something better, I said. I enjoyed it and never found anything better.”
Saturday Oct. 3, 2009 Bethany Wagmon was on a hunt for the perfect guy.
Wagmon and her grandma Judy Knust found an Ad in the local newspaper for a yard sale with 2,000 Barbie dolls. Knust said they had visited the yard sale earlier in the day, but came back for more. She said they were looking for boy Barbies because they are harder to come by. The yard sale was held by David Carter, who said all the dolls were donated. He said some of the profits of the yard sale would be going to a local church.
George McNeil owns and operates George’s Resale in Murphysboro, a truly unique furniture and antique shop.
The store’s basement and attic are filled to capacity, and that doesn’t include the show room floor in which the aisle have to be walked down one at a time due to crowdedness. George’s Resale provides great customer service and a wonderful small town atmosphere that makes anyone feel welcome and comfortable to browse the hidden treasures of George’s Resale.
When Mark Gindlesparger spits from 2,000 feet above ground, he hopes he doesn’t offend anyone. It is a simple tool he uses when piloting a hot air balloon.
Gindlesparger said he and his wife Sue gained a true appreciation for hot air ballooning in 1995 after volunteering at Cascades of Colors, a balloon festival in Carbondale, with their children Emily and Matt. “We crewed for the festival, pretty well got involved,” he said.
Their first step to flying their own balloon was to become a pilot. The requirements to obtain a pilot’s license includes at least 10 hours of flying with an instructor, 10 hours of classroom work and a written exam.
“Then you qualify for an exam with the FAA, which is a written exam, an oral exam and then a flying exam,” he said. “By late August or so (in 1996), I had my full license.”
The Gindlespargers said they traveled to Statesville, N.C. for their custom balloon. “We got to design the balloon; they sent us fabric swatches and coloring sheets,” his wife said. Gindlesparger said the estimated cost for all of the necessary equipment is around $23,000: $21,000 for the balloon, fuel tanks and handmade basket; $1,000 for two aircraft radios; $1,000 for an inflation fan.
The typical process for getting up in the air consists of luck, preparation and a lot of manual labor, Gindlesparger said. “You need to check the weather thoroughly before sunrise … then you call the flight service, tell them where you’re flying. After you have determined whether you can fly, it’s just a matter of packing up the balloon into the truck and going to your launch site,” he said. “You also send up a helium pibal (pilot balloon) to calculate wind direction and speed.”
To have a successful launch, the ideal site should consist of flat land, short grass and a tree line that can break the wind, Gindlesparger said. Once the location is determined, the task of unfolding and filling up the balloon requires the meticulous attention of everyone helping. Gindlesparger said having a pilot and a three-man crew is the bare minimum, but acquiring a five-man crew is even better. Having a chaser — a person who drives in a car behind the balloon and is at the landing site — the passenger and any extra help makes the process go smoother. “Once you’re in the air, you’re organizing your thoughts on what direction your going, what’s the wind doing and checking if your passengers are freaking out,” he said.
The series of ropes and cords found inside are used to open and close vents, allowing a certain amount of air into the balloon to cool it down, while the burner provides lift by heating it up. Pilots use the cooling down and heating up techniques to regulate the altitude during the flight and speed of descent upon landing.
When up in the air, luck becomes a big factor on which direction the wind takes the balloon because there is no steering involved. Picking a landing spot is something that happens near the end of the flight, and the spot is almost never the same. This is when Gindlesparger spits over the side. It helps him calculate the direction of the wind below and how fast it’s moving.
In the end, the one thing that keeps Mark and Sue flying is the peace and quiet nature offers 2,000 feet above ground.
My weekend in Murphysboro was spent at the Murpysboro Police Department.
The days leading up to the workshop had left me a little uneasy; journalists always seem to have this weird thing about cops. We don’t know whether they are going to help us or hinder us, either with shooting our photographs or writing our stories. I didn’t know if they would embrace the fact that I was there or if they would dictate the story that I was trying to tell.
I arrived at the police station Friday morning just in time to find Police Chief Jeff Bock sitting down with a hot cup of coffee. Within the next few hours I had been given a tour of the station, taught about some pretty intense dispatching software, was taken on a personal tour of Murphysboro by Bock while he explained to me the processes of a routine patrol and then enjoyed some delicious BBQ wings in the company of the officers during lunch. Obviously, it wasn’t going to be difficult for them to handle me being there.
That afternoon I went on a ride along with officer Jeremy Kranawetter who explained to me the ins and outs of the best way to photograph while on a patrol, which I would need later that night.
After checking back into the weekend headquarters, I returned to the station just in time to get in the squad car with Sergeant Phil Royster on his way to the scene of a car accident. We arrived on the scene to find a rolled over mini van in the center of the road with a crowd of people standing on the corner. Although Royster was not the first officer on the scene, he seemed to jump into action. His light-hearted demeanor changed to serious as he figured out where his help was best needed. Finding that no one was seriously injured and other officers were processing the scene, that left him with directing traffic.
Later that night, I got to practically fly down Walnut Street, the main street in Murphysboro, in Royster’s patrol car in pursuit of a vehicle. I remember looking at the speedometer as it approached 100 mph. Shortly after the officers caught up with that vehicle, Royster was called to a local bar where a fight had broken out. From the window of the car I could see bar stools soaring through the air.
Over the course of the weekend I learned that an officer’s job could be much like this. You could get a 911 call and rush to the scene only to have it be a minor incident or you could show up on the scene to something completely unexpected.
I learned that being an officer can be a big game of hurry up and wait. Saturday I spent most of my day with officer Jeffrey Bishop. Much of the time was spent on patrol but it was just one of those days where there wasn’t that much activity. It was a great way to get to know someone that I might not have known otherwise though. I heard about his years of playing college ball at Milligan and since he was also attending classes at SIU to get his Masters, we had some good conversations about school and future plans. It was a great way to understand how there is more to a police officer than just a badge and a ticket book.
From being at the station for the weekend I also found that the officers see themselves as a family and that Murphysboro is their home. A lot of them went to grade school together and many live within the same neighborhood on the west end of town. Since the officers are from Murphysboro they also know many of its residents. Many times while on patrol an officer will run into at least five or six people that he has a personal relationship with.
Bishop explained that it’s the people of Murphysboro and his fellow officers that make him like his position.
My weekend finished with a couple of good photographs but also with a better understanding of the behind-the-scenes aspects of police work. And although I had been to Murphysboro many times before the weekend I left with a comprehension of the strong personal relationships of those in small town southern Illinois.
