Shane Hoffman-Feature Downgraded to Wrap :-(

Journalistic Reflection

Susan Boyle went from a unknown unemployed woman of 47 to an overnight singing sensation on Britians Got Talent. Now, naturally this was a story news media outlets all over the world could get excited about. No later than a few hours after she had sung her youtube video hit a million views and news networks were scrambling to get the inside story on this woman.

Over the past week there has been many stories about Boyle's background and recent success. However, I recently came across a story on msnbc that seemed to hit at why so many people are worried about this every day woman changing into just another celebrity:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30387337/

Sure, she looks "better" with her new "mini-makeover" but what does "better" actually mean? Authenticity is lost when you artificially enhance your body to meet societies needs and not your own. This point was proven effectively in the article and I was happy to read for once that news media reported a makeover as something to be concerned about instead of a reason to throw a corporate party.

ABC Labs Experience

Sometimes to put it bluntly, people who give directions suck at it. That's what happened when I recently volunteered to visit a lab building that Gov. Nixon was holding a press conference at. I went to the wrong location and actually missed the entire conference. When I got there it seemed at first as if I had missed the story, but I didn't give up and decided to interview the CEO of the company as well as other corporate officials. After collecting a few sound bites my fellow coworker and friend Carolina decided to try and get us a tour of the lab. It worked.

In the end, we had more than enough for a story. We could have walked out the door after we found out we had missed the governor, but staying proved to us what our teacher Greeley Kyle does his best to hammer home: There are ALWAYS new angles you can apply to a story. In fact, it may have actually been better that me missed the governor after all.

Gov. Nixon Announces New Internship Plan

Earlier today at ABC Labs in Columbia, Gov. Jay Nixon announced plans for the Next-Generation Jobs Team.

The program will match around 3,000 Missourians between the ages of 16 and 24 with summer internships and work experiences.



Byron Hill, ABC Laboratories President and CEO, says he hopes the program will encourage more young people to pursue a career in math and science.

“If we can encourage the young person to go into that discipline and then come out 6, 8 years down the road as a full fledged scientist and come to work here for us, Hill said. “It would be a plus situation for us.”




Nixon says the program will mostly be funded by an estimated $25 million in stimulus money.

Program officials plan on starting the interview process in the next couple of weeks and hope to being hiring by the end of May.

Shane Hoffman: 8th Feature School Board Magic

Journalistic review

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30065504/

Obama tells Turkey: US Not at War With Islam

When I first saw the link to this article I gasped at an immediate "uh oh" moment. The Bush Administration had spent nearly 7 years since 9/11 fighting what they called "a war on radical Islam." The war is still being fought in Iraq and Afghanistan. Naturally, Foxnews was all over Obama for his remark:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/04/06/obama-arrives-turkey-strengthen-ties/

Yet, the typically more liberal MSNBC downplayed the comment.

Foxnews announced the incident was "alarming" however MSNBC highlighted the postive aspect of it. The Turkey Parliament did after all, give President Obama a standing ovation after the comment.

No matter which news station is more right on the issue, only time will tell if President Obama says the same thing to the American people. If you tell Europe that the war is not being waged against Islam but you say the exact opposite to the American people, something is wrong.

When I was set out to cover the Columbia Election coverage I figured I would sit in on a candidate who had much knowledge and experience in dealing with the media. However, when I arrived at the Heidelburg Restaurant my assumption was quickly proven false.

Now, don't get me wrong. Dan Holt was very gentleman like and at times even went out of his way to take time in answering my questions. But, there are just some things you don't offer the media. Like...alcohol for example. Water is fine and maybe even occasionally a soda if they offer it to you, but alcohol on the job not only reflects poorly on your reputation but also the station you're working for. I appreciated Holt's hospitality but I had to decline.

Overall though, it was a great experience and as I said before, Holt was nothing but cooperative and kind throughout the evening. Hopefully I'll get another opportunity to cover his campaign in future elections.

Holt Finishes Third in Election

Dan Holt greeted about forty friends and family last night at the Heidelberg Restaurant in Columbia.


By 8:30, 51 year-old Holt was in 4th place with 75% of the precincts yet to be reported.

As Holt continued to monitor the results, his wife Lisa admitted the end of the campaign had snuck up on her.

“People were asking me yesterday if I was nervous and I hadn’t even really thought about it. And finally today it kinda hit me. It’s like woah, today’s the day that they’re actually voting and we are going to know about it by the time we go to bed tonight.”



By 9:30, the crowd had dwindled to 16 people. Holt watched as the final precincts announced his third place finish.

Although he was disappointed, Holt said Columbia elected two great school board members who will better serve the community.



“Solid people, they really are. We’ll be satisfied with the job that they will do.”

Holt said he learned plenty from the campaign and plans on running again in the future.

7th Feature-The Perfect Bracket

Journalistic Reflection

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/04/01/obama-tries-rally-world-cope-downturn/

Foxnews is one of the three news sites I always like to scroll through, part of the "the Holy Triumvirate" if you will.

Although traditionally republican and mainstream conservative, I've seen quality, fair journalism come out of there from time to time.

This article however, was not one of them.

The AP writer made very strange and seemingly inaccurate assumptions including saying that President Obama "had no worries about the stability of the U.S. economic system." Given the state of the economy the sentence seemed utterly ridiculous, but it was enough to spur over a hundred comments from readers who felt after reading the article that the President was out of touch. It's amazing how one sentence can spur on an entire mass of people.

In journalism as well as any kind of writing really it's always important to choose your words carefully. This is just one example of how a misleading sentence can ruin the objectivity of an entire article.

Reflection

I've heard stories since I've arrived at the MU School of Journalism that sometimes, on rare occasions, the perfect story will fall into a reporters lap. I have always been skeptical as this sounds more like an unrealistic dream than anything else, but this past week I became a believer.

Last week was Spring Break but unlike most of my fellow classmates I stayed in Columbia. My girlfriends roommates boyfriend (sounds like some kind of weird Star Wars parallel but it's true) was over at her house and stopped me at one o'clock in the morning.

"Hey Shane," he said. "Have you heard about Hank?"

Unknowingly I shook my head..."He has been hounded by ESPN and CBS for the past week because he still has a perfect bracket."

To some this news may not have been much, but to me it was a hard-stopping/unbelievable revelation. I had too filled out a bracket and like all of the other millions of people in the world had seen it crumble. ESPN announced the night before on Sportscenter that to their knowledge not a single perfect bracket remained on any website and it made sense. The probability of that happening was so small it seemed almost comical. However, when I logged onto Facebook Hank Sherman did indeed have a perfect bracket and a colt-like following to go along with it.

The next day Hank I was the first of any news-outlet to interview Hank and the next evening I watched the Sweet 16 with him as part of a feature. Although the situation may never happen again in my career, the opportunity was one that was literally handed to me and even though it was a mostly uneventful break I'm glad I stayed in Columbia because the story would not have been possible had I been somewhere else.

MU Student Holds Only Remaining Perfect Bracket

When the Missouri Tigers recently played Memphis in the NCAA Mens sweet sixteen basketball tournament, MU student Hank Sherman had more on the line than just his school spirit.

Going into the game Sherman held the only known perfect bracket in the world.
Every year millions of people fill out brackets to predict the winners of every game in the men’s NCAA tournament.

Sherman had defied the odds by correctly picking the first 50 games of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.

To remain perfect, Sherman’s bracket depended on victories from MU and Duke. By halftime MU had a comfortable 13 point lead but Duke trailed by 3 to Villanova.



Sherman says he was surprised by how well MU was playing, but the Duke game was a bit of a concern.

“I’m feeling pretty safe after the first half. I can’t believe we’ve been trouncing Memphis like we have been,” Sherman said. “Are you worried about the Duke game? A little bit. Yeah. Definitely worried about them.”

Statisticians calculated that Sherman had already overcome odds of around one in six quadrillion to have a perfect bracket after two rounds. The odds of anyone having a completely perfect bracket are so unlikely, that if every man, woman, and child on the planet randomly filled out 10 million brackets each, the odds would be LESS than 1% that even one person would have a perfect bracket.

Sherman’s close friend and fellow MU student Ben Rodgers watched the MU game with Sherman.

“It’s kind of impossible, I don’t know,” Rodgers. “It’s unbelievable. It blows my mind.”

Rodgers was not the only one who was in awe of Sherman’s bracket. After each correct pick, thousands of people commented on Sherman’s online Facebook bracket referring to Sherman as “the Oracle” and “God incarnate.” Andy Greeley from the University of Minnesota referred to Sherman as “the Sherminator” while Kevin Fitzpatrick from Providence University said “This dudes from the future.”

As Mizzou came out strong in the second half Sherman remained optimistic.Yet, as Mizzou was pulling ahead Duke fell further behind. As the games began to wrap up Sherman’s dream was about to come to an end.



“It’s 73-54 Villanova right now with a minute eighteen left so it looks like your brackets busted,” Sherman said. “However, your team and your school is moving onto the Elite Eight for the first time since 2002. How are you feeling? Totally bittersweet. I’m pretty upset with Duke right now just basically falling apart. They weren’t even in this game it seemed like.”

Although his 15 minutes of fame are up, Sherman says Mizzou advancing to the Elite Eight still gave him plenty of reason to celebrate and the experience is one he will never forget.

Shane Hoffman-Soaring for Mediocrity (6th Feature)

Journalistic Reflection

Every morning for the past week or so I've turned on the news and heard nothing but the same: AIG is evil. The bonuses are ridiculous. The company should be ashamed...ect.

While browsing on CNN.com, I ran into this story that I figured from the link title, "American has a new enemy" would be something interesting and new. Unfortunately, it turned out to be more of the same.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/20/pm.aig.obama/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

The story is certainly newsworthy, but when you have 24 hour news networks that have to fill their stations with the best stories every second of the day, you can run into some very serious problems. The article itself is pretty short but really, it doesn't say anything new. It has a few quotes from angry legislators and President Obama, but that's it. The same story has run in larger detail three of four times since Monday.

As journalists, we know there are thousands of stories that go uncovered each day. It is our job and public duty to do our best to find those stories. I hope CNN reporters keep that in mind so the next time they are on deadline they won't have to reproduce their same story for a fourth time in a week.

6th Feature-Paper Airplanes...

When I heard about this story I got so excited I had to cover it. A paper airplane contest sounded like just the story I needed to break away from the mold of the serious stories I have been doing since the semester began. On paper (literally) it was perfect: I could go and get pictures and sound of excited contestants with great designed airplanes. I was all excited....until I got there.

The contest was going on, but all of the sound I wanted was drowned out by an obnoxious music system and over modulated PA system. Furthermore, my story angle took a hit because Mizzou wasn't actually hosting the world-wide contest. MU was just a place for one of the local mid-west heats. After some thought I decided to make the most of the story anyways and get a few interviews of the winners as well as at least a little bit of usable sound.

For the first time ever this semester I finished with a story that I knew no matter how hard I tried, would still be a creme-puff, forgettable piece. It was a "fun piece" which is a nice way of saying it lacks a lot of what we want as a newsroom. My editor Janet still wanted me to run the story and even complemented me about "being able to make a lot out of a little."

I've learned my lesson. Stories aren't always what they seem to be and sometimes what you think will be there is not there at all. The key is to not lie about what actually occurred, because good writers can find other ways to boost interest of the story that don't involve false or sensationalized information.

MU Hosts Paper-Airplane Competition

Look in the sky it’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a…paper airplane? Indeed it was, at the MU Recreation Complex last Thursday afternoon.



MU joined over 200 other US colleges competing against one another in Red Bull’s Paper Airplane Competition. Competitors from 85 countries now take part.MU Junior Mike Taylor was the first to compete and says his plane had a retro feel to it.

“I mean you know, pretty simple design. Old school design,” Taylor said. I wish I knew something different so that it would have gone farther.”



The competition included three stages: distance, air time, and aerobatics.
Students competing in the distance competition stood behind a “launch line” similar to the foul line in bowling. If competitors crossed any part of the line the attempt did not count.

MU student Daniel Hammon came in third while his roommate Jeffrey Lee won the distance competition with a throw of 89 feet.Lee’s throw was still 19 feet short of the mark needed to surpass the current record set by East Carolina University.Lee says the free Red Bull that he and his roommate won still gave him plenty of reason to celebrate.



“The six cases of Red Bull sure is great,” Lee said. “Actually with Daniel we have 15 cases total for our dorm.”

In the aerobatics competition each participant competed in front of three judges who scored the planes in paper quality, size, construction technique, and support material.

Paul Hamm won the aerobatics competition with a score of 93.3.Hamm says he admits his post-flight celebration was a little unnecessary.

“I mean I really didn’t need to do the back-flip part,” Hamm said. “But you know, I was excited.”

The top three pilots from each country will receive an all expense paid trip to Salzburg, Austria to compete in the world championships.

Shane Hoffman-New Kid on the Block (5th feature)

Journalistic Reflection

A hot topic in the news this week was President Obamas lack of transparency thus far in his presidency. The top three news outlets (CNN, MSNBC, and Foxnews )each had some sort of article about it, but I chose Foxnews article to focus on this week. You can find the story here:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/03/10/obama-administration-struggling-live-transparency-pledges/

Although I agree that the President has made some mistakes and gone back on some campaign promises such as posting bills online 5 days before they are signed in to law, I have noticed that Foxnews has rarely reported something positive about the President. In fact, I've already seen a number of links to stories about the top candidates for the 2012 campaign. I could understand this perspective if this was say, next year, but it's only been less than two months since President Obama was inaugurated. Two months! Already, like with Bush in 00 and 04, people have given up on the president. They've thrown the key away and are now enjoying every moment of failure that comes his way.

This is not a Republican or Democratic problem. This is a media problem of utmost urgency. I don't believe FDR, Lincoln, or Washington could have lasted one day under the microscope that current politicians are under in todays society. With 24 hours news channels constantly competing against each other for time and ratings any story, no matter how outlandish, could make it on air. The Presidents mistakes are the juiciest, most coveted stories out there. As President Obama continues to make decisions that impact his campaign promises, Foxnews and all other media outlets will surely be the first to analyze his performance and mostly, his mistakes.

Phone interviews are so much easier than in person ones. I mean really, you don't have to walk out the newsroom door. You can prop your feet on the desk even and sip a cup of hot chocolate or tea (I'd just recommend you do this away from the equipment. It's VERY expensive). Phone interviews are easy. Predictable. Lazy. They get the job done and meet the bare minimum. The sound quality usually isn't great but it's also not terrible. It's just average. Even the best soundbites sound disconnected.

I say this all because when my editor told me about a story she wanted me to cover I immediately realized a small problem. It was in Kearney, MO, over two hours away. ME? I couldn't do that kind of story. My time is too precious. I don't have it in me.

(Of course both of these were major cop outs).

When I finally got my head around the opportunity it was too great of a chance to let go to waste. I was given the opportunity of interviewing the new Columbia superintendent who is soon to become an important celebrity like figure in the town.

So, I sucked it up and went. The drive was long. 2 hrs and 13 minutes to be exact. But the man was very nice, my convergence partner and I got great sound, and the experience was well worth the wait (and was sweetened so much more when we stopped for some famous KC barbecue on the way back).

Sure, I could have done the interview on the phone and still come out with a decent story, but I did not come to MU to settle for mediocrity. I've never wanted to settle for anything and as journalists and watchdogs of the public we can't afford to compromise our duty for convenience.

Not now, not ever.

Columbia Picks New Superintendent

The Columbia Public School district is about to get a new makeover. Come fall, the new superintendent will be former Kearney Superintendent Chris Belcher.

School board officials say in four years time Belcher improved test scores for Kearney Public Schools. Kearney recently won a Blue Ribbon Award for placing within the top 10 percent of the state.



Kearney School Board President Brian Thomas says Belcher has accomplished a great deal as superintendent.

“When he came on in 2005 he was very adamant about making us one of the top performing schools in the state of Missouri,” Thomas says. “And he was able to do that in four years time.”

Now, Belcher says he looks forward to bringing Kearney’s small town enthusiasm to his new position.

“It’s a big deal when the basketball team wins or when the PTA has a big carnival that the community comes out and supports it,” Belcher said. “And what I’ve been overwhelmingly impressed with is I still feel that type of issue at Columbia Public Schools.”

Belcher says Columbia’s superintendent position presents unique challenges, especially with financial issues. He’s coming into a school district that’s facing layoffs and budget cuts, but he says underneath it all Columbia schools are good.

Some of Belchers fellow employees aren’t ready to see him go. Carolyn Switzer, Belcher’s secretary and Kearney School Board secretary, says Belchers impact on the community will be greatly missed.

“Dr. Belcher has mended a lot of relationships between the community and the school district,” Switzer said. “It’s fun when you’re out in public and you see six and seven year olds that know who he is because he has been in their classrooms.”

As Belcher looks forward to his future in Columbia, he says he hopes to accomplish what his favorite blues musicians achieved by creating an environment where people learn from each other through new and exciting educational opportunities.

Shane Hoffman-Cooking up a New Story (4th Feature)

This week I had the opportunity of going to interview Mike Odette, a local chef and co-owner of Sycamore Restaurant. I went because he was up for a big award in his field, but I did not want that to be the only angle I took on the story. I went into the restaurant with a goal in mind. I wanted to find something, anything to help humanize him and give his profile a more recognizable feel to it than just some big award.

As I walked into the room to start setting up the equipment, Mike's daughter Elizabeth strolled in behind me. She was loud, brave, and confident. In other words, she was perfect. I did the one-on-one interview with Mike and then went back to the kitchen with him to get some sound of him cooking. Right as we stood over the stove Elizabeth came over and wanted to help. It was a perfect moment for sound and a great photo opportunity.

I had no idea that this opportunity was going to present itself until it happened. I think the key is I went into the story searching for that special angle. I had a plan and it worked out. While stories may not always work out this way, I'm learning that the more preparation you do as a journalist. The "luckier" you'll get. I've still got a lot of work to do this semester but I know one thing is for sure, I'm loving what I'm doing and I'm so thankful and blessed to be at MU.

Journalistic reflection

This week I read a story online about the Missouri Womens basketball team. Here's the story link:

http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2009/03/02/sweet-victory/

To sum it up, the article is about how the MU womens basketball team encountered an unexpected event after their big win at Colorado last weekend. The story starts out with a great hook about the bus taking an unexpected turn. I expected it to be a story about the bus being hijacked or about some big surprise. In a sense the author, Rachel Crader, was setting me up for a steak kind of story.

However, once I read further the steak quickly turned to a cheap frozen dinner. The bus driver was searching for a Dairy Queen to treat the players in the area but never found one. Sure, it delayed the team 20 minutes, but was it really worth a headline? Was it really newsworthy? I'd say no to both those. It came across as someone who desperately needed a story for deadline and kind of just threw something together. I understand that that happens in our profession from time to time but it shows and it certainly did here.

I can only hope that the next time I read an article about the team it's more story related. Womens sports in general gain far less coverage and interest than mens as it is. Stories like this only hurt the perception of womens sports even more.

Local Chef Nominated for National Award

A couple of hours before dinner time Sycamore restaurant co-owner and chef Mike Odette, holds his daughters small hand in the kitchen as she tightly grips a blender. At only two and a half years old Elizabeth may be small, but her father has already begun to teach her some culinary skills. After stacking two small crates on top of each other for support, Elizabeth stands above the stove thickening a carrot soup that will be served that evening for dinner.



Odette’s commitment to family serves an important role in his profession and lifestyle. Mikes wife Amy is a local firefighter who often works 24-hour shifts. On those days Odette drops Elizabeth off at school while their one-year-old son Harry joins him at the restaurant. Odette says the couple prefers it this way.

“We’ve managed to dodge the daycare babysitter bullet for most of the kids lives.” Odette says.

Odette’s hard work and more than two decades of cooking experience have caught more than his family’s eye. Odette was recently names as a semifinalist for a James Beard Award; the equivalent of an Oscar nomination in the culinary profession.

Although Odette acknowledges being selected is a tremendous honor, he says he hopes the real benefactor of the award will be the city of Columbia.

“A lot of small towns in general have some very, very good restaurants, “ Odette says. “Columbia in particular has some serious culinary talent and some very good restaurants that are very worthy of attention.”



Odette came to Columbia in the fall of 1986 to study engineering and French at MU. He only started working at restaurants to support himself when school didn’t work out. Once Odette started cooking however, the skills came naturally to him.
“I liked it an awful lot and that kind of surprised me,” Odette says. ‘Cooking and I seemed to hit it off together right off the bat.”

Odette now employs 30 people at his downtown restaurant. Karlos D’Agostino has been working with Odette since the two of them were employed at Cherry Street wine cellar five years ago. D’Agostino followed Odette to Sycamore.

Agostino says he enjoys working for Odette because he’s very different from popular TV cooking personalities.

“Very laid back. The polar opposite of the angry chef you see on like the Hells Kitchen,” D’Agostino said. “Picture the exact opposite of that and that’s what it’s like working for Mike.”

Odette joins 19 other chefs in the Midwest category for Best Chef. Between 400 and 500 judges who range from food critics, educators and past winners will cast online ballots in the contest. The field will be narrowed to five finalists and the winner will be announced March 23rd.

Although Odette recognizes the great honor that would come with winning the award, he says for now his focus remains on his restaurant which he hopes to pass onto his family some day.

Shane Hoffman-Journalist Reporting Old School Style (3rd Feature)

In radio reporting you have to make a lot of calls. In this day and age it seems like everyone and their cousin directs you to a media representative to talk to you about whatever your story is on. They're supposed to be there to help you but sometimes they seem more like crafty politicians than allies, spinning your questions to fit in their answers and giving you robotic like soundbites filled with information you could have easily gotten off the web. It's a cat and mouse game really. Sometimes you feel like the cat. Most of the time you feel like the mouse.

These interactions can be frustrating, especially when you're on a strict deadline. Sometimes, you have to take risks and instead of calling you just have to go to the source old school style...unannounced.

This weeks story involved a elderly man from Columbias Paquin Towers, a low income housing complex filled with mostly disabled workers and the elderly. I had originally thought about calling their supervisor to ask for permission but I decided against that and instead just went there to get the story. No calls. Just courage combined with a journalists enduring passion to get the best angle on the story.

The man I talked with, David Dolones, was sitting at a table when I walked in sipping a cup of coffee. I asked him if he would be willing to answer a few questions and he said he didn't mind. What followed was one of the most powerful and real interviews I've ever conducted. The ONLY way I got it was by going there unannounced.

Sometimes in this business you have to take a risk in order to get the right source for your story. It may not always go your way, but no matter what it's experience that will hopefully add to your self confidence as a reporter. I'm still a student but I'm learning new things about the profession every week. And who knows? At this rate, I may start going old school more often.

Senior Citizens Struggle to Afford Basic Needs

As health care costs and living expenses continue to rise, senior citizens and those organizations attempting to help them are among the hardest hit.

66-year-old David Dollens lives at Paquin Towers in Columbia each day and knows firsthand the challenges seniors face every day.


Although Dollens claims to be the richest man in the building, he says with living prices on the rise, most tenants have to skip meals because they can’t afford to buy groceries.

“If I’m the richest one in this building you’ve got some poor devils in this building I aint kidding you.” Dollens says. “People in this building I don’t know a one of them that eats three meals a day. They don’t do it. They can’t afford it.”

The federal stimulus plan is designed to help seniors by making the cost of living more affordable. The plan includes an allowance for low income seniors and disabled veterans to receive a rebate check. Dollens says the plan amounts to virtually nothing in the long run for seniors.

“The little old stimulus check that they’re gonna get is supposed to be $250.” Dollens says. “That’s gonna be nothing.That’s totally, totally nothing.”

MU’s Adult Day Connection, a state licensed senior care clinic, is facing similar financial problems. Amy Byergo, director of Adult Day Connection, says the demand is increasing over the past few months for the centers services.


“Our utilities, our food, gas prices, all of those things are really affecting seniors on fixed incomes.” Byergo says. “They don’t have the ability to go out and look for new sources of income and so those rising costs are really affecting the seniors that we work with.”



Medicaid covers the center’s $71 daily fee however Medicare does not. While assistance scholarships are available through the United Way and the City of Columbia, Byergo says many seniors who need the centers assistance still cannot afford the fee.

“That’s one of the primary concerns when they come to us. What our daily fee is and can they afford it.” Byergo says. “And often times or the majority of times families cannot afford our daily fee.”

As the economy continues to worse more senior citizens worry about the future. Dollens says many tenants living at Paquin Towers can only afford Medicaid, which he says in many cases won’t completely cover burial costs.

“They cry because some of them don’t believe in cremation. Because they’re going to be cremated because that’s all they can afford.” Dollens says. “They need to change that, at least so people have enough to be buried.”

As seniors continue to face an uphill battle, organizations like the CMCA and the Adult Day Connection will continue to do their best to provide support. In the meantime, many seniors in mid-Missouri and in America will continue to face difficult choices, in a difficult economy.