TUESDAY >>> AUGUST 7, 2012 >>> 75¢ VOLUME 133 >>> ISSUE 62

SERVING PERRY COUNTY SINCE 1889

THE PICNIC Woman is charged for theft of gasoline. 3

Thousands have a blast at the annual Seminar Picnic. 7-9, 16

© 2012, Perryville Newspapers, Inc.

Something happening?Let everybody know with an announcement in the Republic-Monitor!

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Email: typesetter@perryvillenews.com or call 547-4567

National article highlights PerryvilleWriter impressed with city’s industrial success story.By Amanda Laytonalayton@perryville news.com

Perry County, Missouri, made the big time last week, so to speak, when the com-munity was featured in an online article from the critically acclaimed Forbes maga-zine regarding the unique blend of industry and prosperity the community experiences.

As a part of a series of articles entitled “Reinventing America,” author Ken Sweet wrote a story about the thriving industry and economy in Perry County. As of 8:34 a.m., Monday, the story had gotten 12,291 views.

Sweet, originally from Arizona, now makes his home in New York City. He is a graduate from the University of Missouri School of Journalism. His other works have been featured in publications like CNNMoney and Fox Business and mainly deal in the realm of finance.

Through a Missouri college connection, Per-ryville resident Libby Roerig (see related story in this issue), Sweet learned about Perry County’s rich industrious background.

“I’m part of a recently hired team of report-ers and contributors at Forbes who were brought on to talk about how we can bring manufacturing jobs back to the United States,” Sweet said. “The proj-ect is called Reinventing America.

“I chose Perryville, in part, from a tip that I got from a colleague of mine (Roerig) who lives in Missouri. She mentioned that there was a small town in Southeast Mis-souri that had this huge thriving manufac-turing base and it’s worth looking into.”

Sweet said through his search of mate-rial, he discovered Perryville has an inter-esting narrative.

“It is a city that could have lost its manu-facturing base, but decided to try some in-novative ways of attracting business,” Sweet said. “I thought Perryville’s story was espe-cially interesting, so that’s why I chose it.”

The Forbes article highlights several local industries, including Gilster-Mary Lee, TG Missouri, Seguim and Moreau and Sabreliner, all of which serve as key ingre-dients in keeping the local unemployment rate just under 5 percent, well bellow both the state and national average.

“One thing I found interesting about Perryville in particular was its workforce,” Sweet said. “Two of the people I’ve inter-viewed have been with their companies for more than 40 years. Sabreliner’s average employee has been there 20 to 25 years. These numbers are unheard of in our coun-try these days — no one has company loy-alty anymore.”

In addition, the story highlights Missouri Governor Jay Nixon’s multiple visits to the

WantMore?How did Forbes learn about Perryville? It was a University of Missouri connection.Page 6

See FORBES/Page 5

Election polls open todayBy Amanda Laytonalayton@perryvillenews.com

Perry County residents go to the polls today to cast their ballot in the Democratic and Republican Primary elections, which feature a number of federal, state and local candidates.

Polling places opened at 6 a.m., and

will remain open until 7 p.m. On Friday, Missouri Secretary of State

Robin Carnahan announced that a predict-ed 25.56 percent of Missouri’s registered voters would turn out for the Aug. 7 pri-maries.

If the 25.56 percent estimate is met, more than 1,000,000 votes will be cast in Missouri.

Perry County Clerk and chief election judge Randy Taylor said he expected voter turnout to be better than what the county saw for the last election, held at the begin-

ning of April where voters selected school board members and city aldermen.

“We have 11,580 registered voters and I am guessing roughly 3,700 would vote in this election,” Taylor said. “That is a little higher than what is predicted state wide.”

Voters are reminded to take a form of identification with them to their precinct. This can be a driver’s license or a current voter registration card.

Republicans and Democrats who win today will face off Nov. 6 in the general election.

Perry County residents can vote from 6 a.m.-7 p.m.

By Amanda Laytonalayton@perryvillenews.com

A strong thunderstorm blew through the area shortly before noon on Thursday, leaving be-hind severe damage in Biehle, most notably at the regional headquarters of the retailer Bu-chheits.

According to Jim Meyer, design and construction man-

ager of Buchheits, the compa-ny lost an entire out building in the quick burst of wind.

“It all went in no time,” Meyer said. “We lost the en-tire metal shed on the grounds, and several other buildings re-ceived roof damage.”

In addition to the structural damage, a tractor-trailer was flipped over, and another vehi-cle had the windows smashed in when hit with debris.

The cost of damage is esti-mated to be in the thousands.

Meyer said no one was in-

jured in the storm. “We are fortunate that it

skipped over the office build-ing,” Meyer said. “We would have had many people injured, in addition to all our comput-er equipment destroyed. The wind just took the building right next to it. It didn’t even disturb the merchandise inside the building.”

Crews went to work quickly on Friday to repair the damage, and the company, although without power briefly on Thursday, experienced no lost

operation time. “We have a great group of

people here, who went to work immediately clearing debris, and making repairs,” Meyer said.

Oddly enough, no other lo-cation in the county reported any type of storm damage.

According to independent meteorologist Nick Palisch, the extreme winds were created by a collapsing thunderstorm.

“The storm fell apart caus-

Storm damages Buchheits’ headquartersIn a few seconds, a microburst damages buildings at Biehle.

See STORM/Page 5

LOTS OF PEOPLE, LOTS OF SMILES

Photo by amanda Keefe

Brian Miesner and his daughter Lauren Miesner, 7, ride the carousel together at dusk Sunday, the last day of the Seminary Picnic in Perryville. (For more Seminary Picnic photos and articles, see pages 7, 8, 9 and 16.)

www.perryparkcenter.com

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NEWSPage 16 • Tuesday, August 7, 2012 The Republic-Monitor • www.perryvillenews.com

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Learn more about our exciting new Weight Loss Solutions program at a free educational event. Bariatric and general surgeon Ryan A. LeGrand, MD, will provide an overview of this weight-loss surgery program, which can provide new possibilities for people who struggle with ongoing weight problems.

Dr. LeGrand will discuss:

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Perryville, MO573-547-6591

The Spillway Bar & GrillKitchen open 10 am-9 pm

Located on Hwy. T across from Lake Perry entrance • 547-9916

Bar is open on Sundays at 11 am

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SteakNight

14 oz. Ribeye5:30 p.m.-8 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 25

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SERVING PERRY COUNTY SINCE 1889

Turn off the television.

Turn ontheirminds.In school or athome, thenewspaperis a textbook for life.

Encourage yourchildren to make reading thenewspaper a part of their everydayroutine forlifelong learning.

NAEGER WINS 2012 SEMINARY CAR

Photo by AmAndA Keefe

For the second time in the last five years, Roger Nae-ger won the car raffle during the Seminary Picnic. He first won a car in 2007, and this year won the 2012 Chevy Cruze, donated by Keller Motors.

Amanda Keefealkeefe8388@gmail.com

A conserve water order was issued at 4 p.m., Thurs-day, for Frohna and Alten-burg in Perry County. The 22-year-old water pump in Frohna “gave up” Thursday, said Frohna Water Commis-sioner Dennis Leimbach.

“The electrical part of the pump is what gave out,” he said Friday. “It’s out of the ground now, and Grantham Drilling from Perryville is working on installing a new pump.”

Leimbach said the new pipe was up and running by 4 p.m., Friday, but the conserve water order was issued until Saturday as a precaution.

“The conserve water order is mainly for water-ing lawns and flowers, not so much drinking or shower water,” Leimbach said. “We want to try and conserve whatever we can.”

The pump affects both the Frohna and Altenburg areas, as the two towns are “connected,” said Leim-bach.

“We are tied together,” he said.

There are two valves connected to the pipe — one for Frohna, one for Al-tenburg. Though there are two, one always remains closed unless a problem arises.

“If one has a problem, we open the other,” he said. “It’s open due to the pipe giving out.”

Leimbach stresses there is nothing wrong with the valves, just the pipe.

He said this is the first time the pipe has given out in the 22 years it has ex-isted.

“But, after 22 years, it’s about due,” Leimbach said.

Questions? Call the R-M at

547-4567.

Water order issued last weekA conserve water order was issued for Frohna, Altenburg after a pipe broke; order now over.

Call or e-mail, Nicole

Zoellnerto discuss your

options.573-547-4567 ext. 18

573-513-0823nicole@

perryvillenews.com

Are you thinking about

running an ad in The Republic-

Monitor?

SEMINARY PICNICThe Republic-Monitor • www.perryvillenews.com Tuesday, August 7, 2012 • Page 7

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STATEWIDE

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By Amanda Laytonalayton@perryvillenews.com

Through periods of rain and stifling humidity, the community gathered in re-cord crowds for the 112th Seminary Picnic at the Sem-inary Grove along Highway T in Perryville.

“Friday night was a real-ly good night. We had more people here than we have on a Friday in awhile,” said Bill Wingerter, one of the event’s organizers.

On the backside of the long row of games that serve as the hub of the picnic is a small room with a rough cut-out window and an os-cillating fan. It is here that Wingerter sits year after year, to man the micro-phone, informing picnickers of up coming events, serv-ing as the lost and found and basically answer any ques-tions picnic goers may have. Under his window is a color-ful sign reminiscent of Lucy in the Peanuts cartoon that simply states, “Ask Bill.”

In the past, Wingerter served as the executive com-mittee chairperson for sev-eral years before his son Bill Wingerter Jr. took over the position. But Bill Sr. is still considered the go-to man for those who want to be in the picnic know. Mainly because his son is too busy to stand in one spot the week of the pic-nic, as he works many hours to make sure the festivities go off without a hitch.

“We have 22 separate committees that meet 10 months out the year to plan the picnic,” Wingerter said. “It is because of the effort of many that it is possible year after year.”

They make it possible for the picnic to look like an ef-fortless three-day affair for those who visit the picnic grounds to hear live music, eat pork burgers and visit with friends and family at the beer gardens.

There are food com-mittees who keep plentiful hamburgers, homemade ice

cream and barbeque. Others make sure the grounds and parking lot are mowed, while another group maintains the buildings that house the many games and eateries.

“The story here is the coming together of many to make this a success,” Wing-erter said. “Not just people from the parish. We have all denominations that spend service hours for this picnic. It can’t even be called a pic-nic. This is a homecoming for Perryville. It is a lot of good people doing a lot of good work.”

Wingerter said the picnic is about service.

“The good Lord has been good to me, and this is my way of giving back,” he said. “My children all serve, like so many out here. I turned 80 in May, and I will keep going until I can’t anymore.”

On Friday night, newcom-er band 4 Years Apart made its picnic debut, entertaining the crowds for the first time in the band’s history. Satur-day saw Gypsy Orphan on the main stage, offering up some of their classic rock styles. Sunday the timeless classics Doug and Mitch had many pulling up a lawn chair to hear their country tunes.

A much needed rain shower fell over the area Saturday morning, but in-stead of leaving a path of mud in its wake, the dried-out fair grounds soaked up the liquid, leaving little in the way of puddles.

The Heartland Idol sing-ing competition had local crooner John David Meyer being picked as the judge’s favorite, which qualifies him to move on to the next level of the competition at the SEMO District Fair later this year.

Perryville Chief Keith Tarrillion said there were very few incidents where law enforcement was needed.

“Overall the picnic went very well with only two inci-dents on the picnic grounds occurring,” he said. “No accidents to report were re-lated to the event as well. We did, however have sev-eral incidents both Friday and Saturday night after the picnic had shut down.”

Photo by AmAndA LAyton

Alan Frentzel calls out the Bingo game on Saturday afternoon while patrons played for cash and coveted hand-made quilts. Bingo is one of the Picnic’s greatest crowd-pleasers.

Crowds bigger at this year’s Seminary PicnicWeather, though hot, was generally dry for the 2013 picnic.

SEMINARY PICNICPage 8 • Tuesday, August 7, 2012 The Republic-Monitor • www.perryvillenews.com

Double good news for twins

No one feels the heat and humidity at the Semi-nary Picnic more than the expectant mothers, and this year’s picnic brought a special duo back to town with very special packages of their own.

Twins Jill (Berkbuegler) Lembke and Julie (Berk-buegler) Bushnell returned to Perryville for the picnic weekend from their homes in Illinois and Oregon to celebrate with friends and family in their hometown.

Both sisters are preg-nant, 18 weeks and 17 weeks respectively. Their babies are due eight days apart, and although the sis-ters live thousands of miles apart, they are excited to share this experience with one another.

Julie, who is due first, will find out the gender of her baby this week, while sister Jill has opted to let it be a surprise if it is a boy or girl.

“I had been trying for a while,” Julie said, while sister Jill was not exactly trying.

“When I called to tell her I was pregnant, I was trying to hint around to see if she was too, so I could break the news,” Jill said.

Both women are excited to start this new chapter in their lives together.

“Even though we don’t live close to one another anymore, we know the kids will grow up together,” Jill said.

The girls also share the uniqueness of having a set of older bothers Kent and Kirk Berkbuegler who are also twins. The double set of twins are the children of Anna Marie Berkbuegler and the late Marion Berk-buegler of Perryville.

— AmAndA LAyton

Cook-free zone for Ellerbecks

Gerald and Deloris Ellerbeck, though they live in St. Louis, show up in Perryville every year for the annual Seminary Picnic.

Gerald, 73, was born and raised in St. Louis, but Deloris, 67, is a Perryville native.

When asked why they come every year, Deloris said, “I don’t like to cook!”

The food, among other things, draws the Eller-becks to the picnic each year, but they also come to play Bingo.

“He’s the lucky one,” Deloris said, pointing to Gerald. A few of Deloris’ family members currently work at the picnic, as did she at one time.

“Her mother did the dishes, her dad used to park cars, and her brother now works one of the beer stands,” Gerald said.

Though they hadn’t gotten their hands greasy yet, they planned to dive into some fried chicken and dumplings. And of course, they come every year to see old friends.

“We see old friends that we haven’t seen in a long time,” Deloris said. “I’ve been coming all my life.”

— AmAndA Keefe

Julie Bushnell and Jill Lembke

Gerald and Deloris Ellerbeck

Where friends meetfriends from all over

Amanda Keefealkeefe8388@gmail.com

The Seminary Picnic in Perryville, a tradition more than a century old, is known for many things — good music, rides, Bingo — but above all, it’s known for its food.

The large dining hall on the seminary grounds is an operation all its own, with dozens of helpers who start early in the morning both Saturday and Sunday to prepare for the hundreds of guests who pour in to take advantage of the buffet-style dining.

Though the dining hall offers anything from fruit salad to dumplings, the an-nual tradition serves two dishes in particular that people can’t get enough of — fried chicken and kettle-cooked beef. And lots of it.

Randy Dickman, kitchen chairman for the picnic for more than 10 years, said the dining hall seats 350 people, but also allows for take-out, and for good rea-son. The dining hall fills up quickly, with lines of people waiting at either end of the hall to get in for some grub.

Sunday, the doors opened at 11 a.m., and peo-ple swarmed in to get their chicken, beef, coleslaw, dumplings, dressing, green beans and tomato salad. And of course, a slice of cake.

The dining hall is just one building among many involved in the operation, as most of the food is prepared outside of the hall. There’s the “cake house” where a handful of ladies lovingly cut each slice of several different kinds of cake — angel food, cherry chip, banana nut and even cup-cakes — all of which are baked by the seminary pa-rishioners. There’s the beef house where four tall kettles are set up, and a handful of folks stir and turn over the beef while it slow-cooks — 1,250 pounds of it, says beef chairman Rocky Schumer. Stations are also set up for preparing dress-ing, flouring and frying chicken, slicing tomatoes, stirring dumplings and de-boning chicken.

Operations on all foods

Where’s the beef?In the dining hall, of course ...

Photo by AmAndA LAyton

Friends, Abby Naeger and Cierra Klein volunteered their time to man the booth at the Snake Pit game. They, like many other children over the weekend that belong to the parish spent time working different stands to raise money for their school and church. But as they are clearly displaying, work at the Seminary Picnic can be fun.

Perryville r e s i d e n t Cici Tay-lor and her three young daughters S a m a t h a , Sophia and S y d n e y line up in a row in the hopes of winning the rac-ing puppy game on S a t u r d a y afternoon at the Sem-inary Pic-nic. Stand-ing behind the girls is their father Chad. —Photos by

AmAndA LAyton

(Top) It takes a village to make enough pork burgers for the crowds that gather at the picnic. Members of the Sutterer family take their turn flipping patties. Above, Carlie Mueller is pretty in pink as she takes a chance on a prize. And left, Grandparents Dolores and Earl Hacker took their three grandkids, the Sachche brothers — John, 3, Job, 6 and Eli, 8 — to the annual Seminary Picnic on Sunday and relaxed under a shade tree.

— Photos by AmAndA LAyton And AmAndA Keefe see Beef /PAge 9

Mayor hands out prizes

Perryville Mayor and St. Vincent parishioner Debbie Gahan served as “our lady of the prizes,” under the Bingo pavilion on Saturday afternoon, a job normally reserved for local dentist John Esswein.

Gahan and her hus-band John volunteered their time under the sticky heat of the Bingo pavilion where players dotted their

numbers as Alan Frentzel called the game on Satur-day afternoon. Cash prizes were awarded to winners, but most who gather along the bingo benches are after the most coveted prize — a handmade quilt.

“It makes me happy to be the one who delivers the good news to winners,” Gahan said smiling, while fanning herself with prize vouchers. John Gahan kept a marker in hand to check off all cards that had been used by players in the game to make sure no one tried to reuse a previously played card.

The Bingo stand com-mittee is lead by Esswein, and requires the help of more than 100 different people to run successfully.

— AmAndA lAyton

Besand says Picnic is a must

Gib Besand, 81, has known the ins and outs of the Seminary Picnic, par-

ticularly the food, since he was just a boy. With the exception of 1952 to 1954, when he was in the service, Besand has

gone to the picnic every year, and now acts as a jack of all trades when it comes to preparing the all-you-can-eat meal that the picnic is so well-known for.

“I’ve been doing this for a long time,” he said, sitting on a bench just outside of the hustle and bustle of the kitchen. “When I was a kid, my mom always cooked dumplings, and now that’s mainly what I do.”

He also used to help run a game stand with his dad as a kid, but said the game has since phased out.

Though Besand comes to help out in the kitchen, his main reasons for con-tinuing to show up each year are simple.

“Shoot the bull and drink beer,” he said with a laugh. “My wife’s gonna’ kill me for saying that.”

— AmAndA Keefe

Burgers needed to feed a mob?

Thousands, according to pork burger stand volunteer Norma Sutterer who, along with her family, has been serving up the fried treats

for more than 20 years.

“It is just something we have always done together,” Sutterer said. “More than one

generation.”The pork burger stand

features several families who take their turns to man the three-and four-hour shifts, making sure there are plenty of sandwiches to feed the throngs of people who flock to the picnic each year.

“We start our shift at four and it is a constant motion,” Sutterer said. “We don’t stop frying the entire time.”

Other families involved include the Kutzs, Naegers, Sutterers, Amschlers and several others. The recipe is simple — serve up a seared pork patty, seasoned with salt and pepper on a bun. Serving the Satur-day afternoon crowd were Sutterers’ daughter-in-law Angie and granddaughter Lexi, while her husband and sons manned the grills, proving it is a family affair.

— AmAndA lAyton

Cancer survivor back at it ...

Doris Brickhaus, 73, is quite the native to the Seminary Picnic, and is no stranger to two of its main attractions — Bingo and homemade ice cream.

Currently, Brickhaus aids the Bingo committee, and has done so for some time. Her father used to work as the Bingo chair-man, and she took over after he passed. When she was diagnosed with breast cancer, she had to put Seminary Picnic Bingo to the side. Once back on her feet, she came right back to it. Brickhaus played a round of Bingo Saturday night.“I won $100!” She said proudly.

Her parents also worked at the homemade ice cream stand when she was a kid, and though she’s certain the recipe has changed slightly, she knows the old one from the good ol’ days.

— AmAndA Keefe

SEMINARY PICNICThe Republic-Monitor • www.perryvillenews.com Tuesday, August 7, 2012 • Page 9

begin early, and are ready to serve by the time folks are waiting anxiously at both ends of the dining hall by the time the Seminary grounds open.

Many of the folks who aid in the picnic’s food preparation have been doing it for years, or are following in their family’s footsteps.

Some spouses work together, like Jim and Dorothy Martin, who helped de-bone chick-en on Sunday, and the Querry family was in charge of making the dressing.

Though some work in families, others with wife or husband, every-one works as a team to prepare the food that the annual Seminary Pic-nic just wouldn’t be the same without.

It’s all about the quilts ...

Sitting front and center in the Bingo pavilion, up close by the number board and the callers are a special group of ladies who have been making the trip to the Seminary Picnic for many years, all in the hopes of filling their blanket chests with quilts.

Sisters Tricia Niewoehner, Bernice Sinak, Janis Schnieder and Virginia Meyer have been making the trip from St. Louis to the picnic Bingo for as long as they can remember. They are known in the Bingo hall as the Macke Girls. The family of 14 is made up of six broth-ers and eight sisters who have made the Seminary Picnic a must for their entire lives.

Oldest sister Virginia has been in the hall when the numbers are called for 62 years.

“It started as a tradition to win quilts to make sure

each of the grandkids had one when they got mar-ried,” Tricia said. “And we just keep coming.”

The ladies have Per-ryville ties, with their mother and grandmother being from the Perry County area.

“We have a deal that who ever wins a money game, has to pay for pizza back at the hotel that night,” Tricia said.

The ladies don’t know how many quilts they have won over the years, but it came to pass that each of the 14 grandchildren in the family all received a picnic quilt for their individual weddings throughout the years. And of the 14 chil-dren, all have given their children quilts.

Even with the passing of three sisters over the years, the group still continues to make the trip every year, laughing and supporting one another when some-one’s cards have the perfect combination of numbers for a BINGO!

Photo by AmAndA lAyton

Sisters Tricia Niewoehner and Bernice Sinak of St. Louis have been filling their family’s hope chests for years with quilts won at the Seminary Picnic bingo.

Gib Besand

Norma Sutterer

John and Debbie Gahan

Photo by AmAndA lAyton

Parishioner Pam Riney and daughter Hannah man the booth selling St. Vin-cent flair to school supporters. This is the first year the stand has been set up at the Picnic, and was used in part to advertise the Indian’s new online store where patrons who want to show their support for all things Blue and Gold can order things from water bottles and T-shirts to stadium chairs and blankets. The group took many orders for custom creations over the weekend. To access the site, and see a full line of merchandise available, go to www.svdepaul.org.

Beeffrom Page 8

Photo by AmAndA Keefe

Arley Berkbuegler, 75, stirs the famous Seminary Picnic kettle-cooked beef slowly on Sunday in prepa-ration for the buffet-style dinner. Berkbuegler has been doing this for nearly 40 years.

Above, Pa-trons try to beat the heat with a scoop of homemade ice cream on Saturday af ternoon. At left, Per-ryville resi-dent Brad H e n n e m -mann, and his two sons Jace and Carter, take a turn s h o o t i n g ducks — cut out ducks that is, for a chance to win a prize on Saturday at the picnic.

Friends meetPerryville neighbors

Joann Brown and Wanda Howard waited patiently at the Bingo pavilion at the Seminary Picnic on Sunday, markers in hand. Though Bingo was not set to start for some time, they were ready and waiting. Brown, 69, was born in Brewer and attended St. Vincent High School, but left to California and lived there for 40 years.

“Most of my family lives here,” Brown said. “I’m happy to be home.”

The ladies are avid Bingo players, during the picnic and outside of it, and Howard, 74, has been coming to the annual picnic since she was in high school.

“This is usually where I meet a lot of my friends from high school,” How-ard said. “And of course, I come to play Bingo and eat the homemade ice cream.”

Three years ago, How-ard won three handmade quilts at Bingo. “Even if I don’t win, I still enjoy it,” she said.

— AmAndA Keefe