8.19.11 SEMO Times

August 19, 2011Vol. 3 Issue 37

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Your Local Experts:Hilderbrand Diamond Co.

Sept. 5k Event will Benefit Scholarship

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Poplar Bluff Mixed Martial

Artist Goes Pro

SOUTHEAST MISSOURI’S NEWS-MAGAZINE OF POLITICS AND CULTURE

www.semotImes.compage 2

It was a good week for the Poplar Bluff City Council, who each received iPads to replace their lengthy agenda packets during council meetings. Lo-

cal Twitter icon @cjb2m5 pointed out how en-tertaining it is watching the council try to use them now.

It was a bad week for Three Rivers College, which apparently still has an estranged Foundation. During the board meeting Wednesday, the execu-

tive director vented her frustrations about a lack of communication with college officials as well as her disapproval of recent decision mak-ing.

It was a good week for the me-dia, which played a role in help-ing the Missouri State Highway Patrol arrest felony suspect Cle-

tis Powell Jr. of Neeyville, who was alleg-edly involved in a tragic hit and run that led to the death of a Poplar Bluff teenager. Our prayers go out to the Metzing family.

It was a bad week for journalism. What began as an editorial advocating the free market in the daily Wednesday, actually concluded that private land-

owners attempting to make a deal with a corpo-ration should be hanged. Either that or the R-1 school board “oughta be strung up” for doing what they were elected to do. We’ve been try-ing to keep it professional about the Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center location debacle, since frankly it’s no one’s business but HMAs, but we might have just been forced to break out our edi-torial Superman cape in next week’s edition.


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8.19.11 Volume 3 Issue 372725 N. Westwood

Suite 17 Poplar Bluff, MO

573-785-2200

Scott R. Faughn, publisher

scottfaughn@ semotimes.com

Tim Krakowiak, managing editor

[email protected] Ellis, reporter

[email protected] Lowry

creative director [email protected]

Inside this edition

The Week in Review - 3The Social Network - 3

Cover Story - 4News Briefs - 5

Expert - 6Op/Ed - 6

Subfeature - 10Social Calendar - 11

Hooked on Science - 14+bluffee Event Calendar - 15Take the Times with You - 16

The Week in Review

&

# 2 Have you ever held a job at one of our manufacturing plants in Poplar Bluff Industrial Park?

BrandySappington

CarlaDrysdale

Kyle BryantRoberts

Current Events Section www.semotimes.com

Cover art: Scott FaughnCover design: Scott Faughn

Brandon Sisco will surrender his dozen amateur wins inside the cage for a chance to test his mixed martial arts skills against an elite level of competi-tion in the ever-growing combat sport.

The 22-year-old Poplar Bluffian, a kickboxing specialist, is slated to make his full-contact debut in the profession-al MMA circuit Oct. 1 in Sauget, Ill., under the St. Louis-based promotion, Devastation Fight Club.

“As much as I’ve worked, it all [gets chalked up] to experience, because my record is gone now, and I go back to 0-0,” explained Sisco, who holds four championship belts. “Being an amateur

fighter, you’re basically getting beat up for free—I mean, even when you’re winning, you’re sore the next day.”

Sisco signed a single bout contract in the 170-pound division, leaving his future options open, he said, in hopes of one day making it to the Ultimate Fighting Championship, the top MMA organization in the world.

As of Tuesday, Sisco’s opponent was unannounced, but he said he is essen-tially mentally preparing to face the current reigning welterweight UFC champ, Georges “Rush” St. Pierre, ar-guably the best pound-for-pound fight-er in the world.

‘A DAY IN tHe LIFe’

Having practiced MMA since he was

16 years old, Sisco wakes up at 5 a.m. to lift weights, works from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. at M a v e r -ick Glass, e x e r c i s e s his cardio and finally trains with area MMA enthusiasts by 7 p.m.

“ T h e n it’s go home, be daddy, do yard work,” Sisco said, l a u g h i n g . “That’s a day in the life.”

The young man had his second daughter Millie Grace earlier this month with his wife, Jessica Haley, who together are also raising two-year-old, Emme Sue.

Owner of Mav-erick Glass, Casey Beis, said he sup-ports Sisco’s desire to make MMA a full-time job. The former factory worker will now get paid to fight, more with each victory, but is responsible for soliciting his own sponsorships.

“In my opinion, locally, Brandon has the best shot, due to his age and skill level, to make it a career, and I’m not just saying that,” Beis stated. “He’s got loads of talent, is a heck of a guy—hus-

band, father—and just an honest, hard worker, who really takes this to heart, and with it comes a lot of pride.”

Perhaps most notably, Sisco co-headlined the Cage Fighter Champion-ship event at the Black River Coliseum in 2009, defeating United States Army

veteran Calvin “ H a m b o n e ” Cunningham out of North Carolina, who entered the octagon with an amateur re-cord of 14-3.

After Sisco won the four round war via technical

knockout, special guest UFC hall of famer Matt Hughes, who dominated the welterweight division through the early 2000s, strapped the winning belt around Sisco’s waist. “I was standing



Tim KrakowiakManaging Editor

News Section www.semotimes.com

Poplar Bluff Mixed Martial Artist Goes Pro

“In my opinion, locally, Brandon has the best shot,

due to his age and skill level, to make [MMA] a

career.”-Casey Beis,

Maverick Glass

Submitted PhotoBrandon Sisco of Poplar Bluff, who recently signed a contract to become a professional fighter, displays his championship belt during an amateur MMA bout he won at the Black River Coliseum.



@ semotimes.com

Patrol Apprehends Suspect In Fatal Hit and Run

The Missouri State Highway Patrol arrested 35-year-old Cletis W. Powell Jr. of Neelyville at 11 p.m. Tuesday on felony charges for allegedly leav-ing the scene of a fatal motor vehicle crash.

Three Rivers Enrollment Tops 4,000As the first week of the fall semester

begins, early enrollment numbers are set to shatter records at Three Rivers College.

On the first day of classes Monday, total enrollment stood at over 4,000, as much as an 11 percent increase over fall 2010. More precise numbers will be finalized at the end of the week, when the registration period closes.

“Bach To The Future” Coming Back to Tinnin Fine Arts Center

Classical music group “Bach to the Future” will return to Poplar Bluff next month, and tickets for the perfor-mance are on sale now.

Bach to the Future will kick off the Patrons of the Arts 2011-2012 season with a concert at the Tinnin Fine Arts Center on the Three Rivers College campus, beginning at 7 p.m. Sept. 3. Tickets are $10, and can be purchased online at trcc.edu/tinnin.

Rural Development and City of Fisk Partner for Needed Equipment

FISK, Mo. – Earlier this month, Anita J. Dunning, Missouri state di-rector for USDA Rural Development, presented Mayor Susan Williams with certificates of appreciation for the city’s partnership with Rural Develop-ment. Fisk was awarded three grants through USDA Rural Development to assist in obtaining a utility truck, trac-tor and a generator.

To read the full story, visit the .com.

News Section www.semotimes.comnext to Hughes during the fight and he asked, ‘Who’s this kid? He’s got some skills. Is he a pro yet?” Beis re-called.

Sisco leads his own fight-ing camp, Sisco Fighting Sys-tems, with his older brother P.J., training a handful of ama-teur belt holders, mostly with un-defeated records. Sisco also teach-es MMA with training partner Jamze Hampleman of Poplar Bluff at the Ozark Fitness Cage Lions Submission Academy, which will add a youth Jiu-Jitsu class next month.

“I think Brandon’s athletic ability and talent will take him as far as he’s willing to push himself,” said Hample-man, “and I’m excited to see where it leads.”

Like many local MMA practitioners, Sisco was a student under Randy John-son of Fairdealing. Johnson first took karate as an elective at Three Rivers College, and went on to earn his black belt directly from American action movie star Chuck Norris over three de-cades ago.

While Johnson mastered his standup, he felt the discipline left something to be desired on a technical level when the contest would go to the ground, he said.

In the early 1990s, he read an article in Black Belt Magazine through which the Gracie family of Brazil issued a challenge to put any style of martial arts against their version of submis-sion centered Jiu-Jitsu in a hand-to-hand tournament, hence the founding of UFC.

“At the time, there wasn’t hardly any information out there, so I basically started ordering Gracie tapes and at-tending seminars around the country,”

said Johnson, 55, now an assistant for Ozark Physical Therapy at Poplar Bluff Medical Partners. “I guess I was the first one from this area who learned Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and had an MMA team.”

During a transitional period in jobs,

Johnson was substitute teaching at Neelyville High School, where Sisco and P.J. attended. As an early teenager, Sisco got caught up with the wrong crowd and was looking for some direc-tion, and also to learn self-defense, as he said he was “a scrawny kid.”

Discussing martial arts was a way to hold the students’ attention, Johnson said. The Sisco brothers expressed a particular interest, so they began prac-ticing on wrestling mats in Johnson’s basement.

“I have had a lot of good students, but Brandon was probably one of the most natural fighters,” Johnson said.

Sisco’s uncle, Luke Davidson of Do-niphan, said he used to help babysit the Sisco brothers, and has memories of the boys putting on boxing gloves and tape recording themselves sparring in the yard.

“He lives and breathes MMA—it’s something that’s inside of him,” Da-vidson said. “Even when he lost his

> Continued on pg 11

Submitted PhotoLocal mixed martial artist Brandon Sisco gets his hand raised by an official after a victory at the former Scooters II in Poplar Bluff.

Anyone can walk into a jewelry store and walk out with a set of diamond ear-rings, a cute little ruby-studded heart necklace, or even an engagement ring. We know that when we purchase from a store, that there will be several other people with the exact same item.

However, what if you could design a piece of jewelry that you, and only you, had?

That’s what Hilderbrand Diamond Company is all about. They specialize in unique, original and sometimes un-usual jewelry, designed by the custom-er. Owners Tammy and Kevin Hilder-brand supply the expertise and skill, but customers supply the ideas.

“Custom isn’t just putting a couple pieces together—it’s starting from scratch,” Kevin said. “A lot of places say ‘custom jewelry,’ but it’s not. You pick the ring, you pick the stone and they mount it. That’s not custom.”

Kevin has been working with jewel-ry for about 12 years, and has designed dozens of different pieces. Some are simply new twists on old ideas while others are totally different from jew-elry seen in any other store, such as

their redneck collection and tire tread jewelry.

“We prefer to do custom because it’s one-of-a-kind jewelry,” Tammy said. “It’s very emotionally p o w e r f u l , and we like it from the cre-ative side. We like design and we like designing.”

The process is simple. C u s t o m e r s should come in with some sort of idea of what they want. The Hilderbrands will then dis-cuss the idea with the cus-tomer and a first rendering of the piece is made. Then the customer can look at the image and make changes until they are satisfied.

Once the piece looks exactly the way the customer wants, a wax mold is made to scale to see how the finished piece will look. After that, the ring is

cast, and the gems are set into the met-al. The entire process generally takes four-six weeks, depending on how many revisions the jewelry requires.

“That’s the other thing about cus-tom,” Tammy said. “You have the free-dom to change your mind [and] you get to see it before we make it so that way you’re getting exactly what you want.”

For customers who don’t have a solid idea of what they want, Tammy suggests going through magazines and

tearing out any jewelry pictures that appeal to you and starting a file. That way you will have something to draw from, and they will have an idea of

your tastes.“As long as we know where

you’re going, we can come up with a design that you will like,” Tam-my said.

A lot of customers, Tammy continued, start by looking at the ring collections that the store has in stock and building from there, using the elements they like and omitting or changing others as many times as necessary to get it to look like the customer imagines.

“If you can think it up, we can do it,” Kevin said. “There are no limitations.”

The best part about the process is that you don’t have to spend mil-lions of dollars to have a unique ring.

The biggest expenses of a ring, the Hilderbrands agreed, are the gold and the diamonds, both of which the jeweler has control over. The ring can be made lighter or with less gold and the quality of the diamonds can be less-ened to fit a particular budget.



Custom JewelryLiz EllisReporter

Business Section www.semotimes.com

Photo by Liz EllisKevin and Tammy Hilderbrand, owners of Hilderbrand Diamond Com-pany, specalize in making custom and unique jewelry.

> Continued on pg 11



Columns & Opinions Section www.semotimes.com

My family hails from the backwoods of Southeast Missouri – it is a beauti-ful place to grow up. It is also a place where plenty of things go “bump” in the night. We have superstitions and ghost stories abound, both the stuff of legends and personal accounts of su-pernatural encounters. As a child who believed wholeheartedly in the “spirit world,” I found such tales to be both fascinating and frightening.

In my adult years, I’ve developed a healthy sense of skepticism; however, I’ve found these stories still entertain-ing. Who doesn’t like a good campfire story about seeing a shadow in the win-dow or hearing a disembodied voice in the middle of the night?

I’ve discovered something interest-ing in my years of casually reading about the paranormal, watching “ghost investigation” television shows and having a few startling experiences of my own. Verifiable proof that the para-normal even exists, much less interacts with us in a recognizable way, has nev-er crossed my path. I certainly do not fault people for investigating the un-explained, but often, the accounts are considerably more farfetched than any simple explanation would be.

For example, which of these seems more reasonable? The wind combined with various sounds in a very old building creates a noise which our ears interpret as a voice (especially when we are expecting/trying to hear one),

or the dead inhabitant of said building has risen from the ether to single you out and pass on a garbled and barely recognizable message? Does it seem rational that a trick of light and shad-ow made your brain think you saw a ghostly person (much like some people have seen Jesus on a grilled cheese), or that a murdered child drifted back from the grave to shake the drapes in your home?

I’ve seen such claims be logically explained by some of my favorite in-vestigators, such as the illustrious Joe Nickell, who has investigated para-normal claims for over three decades – and never have I seen a paranormal occurrence proven to be paranormal. Rather, each paranormal event which

has been confirmed to have a verifiable cause has been found to have a natural origin, an environmental cause, or is simply a hoax.

As we enter the fall season and enjoy the ghouls and goblins that populate the landscape this time of year, remember to take these stories with a grain of salt, because the simplest, most reasonable explanation is usually the right one.

For more information on paranormal investigations, Read Joe Nickell’s arti-cles on the Center for Skeptical Inqui-ry’s website at www.csicop.org/author/joenickell, or see him live at this year’s Skepticon event in Springfield, Mo. You can contact Brighton Jay at [email protected].

An Explanation for the UnexplainedBrighton JaySEMO Times

columnist




Liz EllisReporter

The first Run for Rich 5k run/walk event will be held Sept. 3 at Bacon Park. Participants could race, jog or walk the course and people of all ages are welcome. Prizes will be given for the race by age category as well as an overall prize for men and women.

The 5k will begin at 8 a.m. with

check-in at 7. Anyone who has not registered by Friday may do so the day of the race. The fee is $20, and all of the money will go toward the Rich-ard Thomas Memorial Scholarship at Three Rivers College.

The run/walk will begin at Bacon Park, following the newly paved trail to Hendrickson Park. Participants will go through the park and make a right on Gray Street, a right on Main Street, a right on Hickory Street, then turn on

Pershing to end up back at the park. The event is expected to last until around 10:30 a.m.

A few of the sponsors of the race will have booths set up, and there will be water available for the participants. In addition, those who reg-ister by in advance will receive a T-shirt upon checking in.

“It will be [an] every year [event],” said Trisha Whitehead, one of the organizers. “We eventu-ally hope that it will be one of Poplar Bluff’s big events.”

The scholarship, Whitehead said, is in re-membrance of her broth-

er, Richard Thomas, who died last year close to Memorial Day.

“He really inspired people, and this event is about him and keeping his memory and his name alive. That’s re-ally important to me and to my family.”

Because this is the trial year of the event, it is not going to be very extrav-agant, but Whitehead and her mother, Janet Thomas, said they are pleased so far with the interest generated from word of mouth.

“I have a feeling it’s going to be a lot bigger than what we are expecting,”

Thomas said. “… We have a big variety [of participants]. We have some that are older, some that are younger and some that are in be-tween.”

The Richard Thomas Memorial Scholarship will be for nontradi-tional students at Three Rivers, and will be an annual scholarship fund-ed by the race and donations.

“The school is helping us set up some of the guidelines, but we wanted it to be a nontraditional stu-dent because it’s harder for them to get scholarships,” Whitehead said. “And Richard would have been a nontraditional student.”

The majority of proceeds will go toward T-shirts, and any leftovers will be going directly to the schol-arship, Whitehead said. Most of the prizes were donated by sponsors

and community members.“I want to start this fund off well. I

want it to be good right off the bat,” Whitehead said.

Liz Ellis can be reached by emailing [email protected] or by calling 573-785-2200.

5k Event Sept. 3 to Benefit Scholarship

Richard thomas




“That’s another part of custom that we like,” Tam-my said. “You can give somebody the kind of ring they want for the price they can afford.”

The Hilderbrands are proud of their jewelry and will stand behind their pieces and fix any problems the customer has with their purchase.

In addition to custom jewelry, Hilderbrand Dia-mond Company has some pieces in stock which can be purchased on the spot. However, the majority of their sales are custom pieces.

“That’s our niche. We do custom and no one else does. It’s what we love,” Tammy said.

Liz Ellis can be reached by emailing [email protected]

> Jewelry, from pg 6 > MMA Pro, from pg 5first couple fights, he knew where he messed up and always gained from it.”

Sisco added: “I don’t even like losing checkers.” One of his main inspirations, he noted, is his father Danny, who is blind, but still manages to train MMA with his sons.

“It is scary being trapped in a cage with someone who’s trying to take your head off, but once you get your hand raised and realize it’s something you’re good at, there’s nothing that compares,” Sisco said. “I’m not quitting until I get up there, and I believe I’m going to be up there with the best.”

Tim Krakowiak can be reached by emailing [email protected], or follow him on Twitter @TimKra-kowiak.






To submit an event go to www.semotimes.com and click on the +Bluffee tab

Nick Norman & Lewis Brice Concert8 p.m. Aug. 19Whiskey DownPoplar Bluff

Parenting Seminar9 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Aug. 20Agree Fellowship ChurchPoplar Bluff

Youth on Fire Service6-9 p.m. Aug. 20United Full Gospel ChurchBernie

11th Annual Trunk Show8 a.m. Aug. 22Dr. Troy Bell’s Family Eyecare, Poplar Bluff

Starting a Small Business Workshop6-9 p.m. Aug. 24Ripley County Area Chamber of CommerceDoniphan

NRA Banquet5 p.m. Aug. 27Black River ColiseumPoplar Bluff

Fitness Challenge with Caleb Conover5:30 p.m. Sept. 1Ozark FitnessPoplar Bluff

Comedian/Impersonator Dennis Swanberg Live7 p.m. Sept. 2Rodgers TheatrePoplar Bluff

Madisyn in Concert6 p.m. Sept. 3Melody TheatreLeachville, Ark.

Bach to the Future7 p.m. Sept. 3Tinnin Fine Arts CenterPoplar Bluff

Activity Section www.semotimes.com

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8.19.11 SEMO Times