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John's Barbershop in downtown McGregor closed its doors after forty years in business last week. Owner and barber John Luster, 66, of Prairie du Chien, opened the shop before the spring flood of 1965. "I'm the best barber in town," John liked to joke. He was the only barber. With the closure of his shop it means that there is one less traditional barbershop in the area, of which there are now less than a dozen between Cassville, Wis., and New Albin, Iowa. McGregor had two other barbershops when John first opened his doors. A lot of loyal customers are going to miss him. "In a day's time there might be guys from seven different towns in here," said John. John's shop was simple and basic: a barber chair, a wall mirror, an old cash register, a shop vacuum, a line of comfortable chairs for waiting customers. There was no telephone, no appointments, no t.v. and no fancy styles. Prices were modest too, $9 for men, $7 for boys. John did not cut women's hair. He never remodeled the interior. He did not hire extra help. But inside John's shop customers found the conversation and camaraderie that traditional barbershops are famous for. A good barber must like people and good conversation. And John does. "I've really always enjoyed it. I've only met about three people I didn't care for," he said. Some guys who didn't need a haircut would stop in just to visit, and occasionally a savvy tourist would drop in to find out where to go and what to do. John says that in his shop, the talk was clean, not offensive. Since he has known many of his customers nearly all of their lives, there was always something to talk about. Although many of John's customers are elderly, he also enjoys the young men he's watched grow up. "I've had young kids come through here that I'm really proud of," he said. "Some of them could talk to me better than their parents," he added. John says the hardest thing about closing his shop is not seeing people. "I'll miss a lot of the customers. It's sad. Most people don't realize how personal it can get," he said. John says that the barbering trade has been good to him. Even though he sometimes had to work long hours on his feet ‹ he once did 45 haircuts in one day ‹ he wouldn't want to go back and do anything differently. During his forty year career he did not miss even 10 days on the job. When the Mississippi flooded, John ran a boat across the river to his shop rather than disappoint his customers. "I'd never do anything else. I loved it," he said. John's shop was always busy. "I never had to advertise," he added. John began his career when he got out of the Navy in 1961. The Harpers Ferry native returned to Iowa and attended the Davenport Barber College. Afterwards he worked in Dubuque for Maurice Lampe. He liked the way Lampe ran his shop, and modeled his business after it. He married his wife Joyce in 1964 at St. Gabriel's Church. He rented his first and only shop in McGregor from Pearl Cords, who lived in the back of the building. Eventually, he bought the 1880-era building from her. John and Joyce have four grown children ‹ Joan (Paul) Bowar, Diane (Rick) Morovits, son John (Heather), and Tammy (David) Bartholomew. As active grandparents of eight, they plan to spend more time attending their grand kids sports events and other activities. He says he and Joyce are thinking about visiting Ireland. He still plans to do a little barbering on the side for about 15 elderly or shut-in customers. Volunteers build new cabin at Badger Camp An impressive new building that displays generosity and hard work is going up at Badger Camp. The new cabin will sleep 28 campers and feature a commons area, rest rooms and housing for counselors. The project began in 2000 when Badger Camp gave a presentation to the Prairie du Chien Rotary Club. After that meeting, the rotary club decided to hold a raffle to raise money for Badger Camp. The club successfully raised $125,000 dollars in profit and gave the entire proceeds to the non-profit organization. Badger Camp Executive Director Brent Bowers said that he knew they would soon put the money to good work in some way Getting Started He soon began planning a new prototype cabin for the campers. John said that he knows how much the campers love going to Badger Camp, and some of the buildings needed improvements and updating. "This will just be a better experience for campers and counselors alike," said John. The peaked cabin is designed to present a tent-like appearance at the camp. The two taller peaked rooms on the outside will be for campers to sleep in. The flat-roofed sections will be restrooms and the middle portion will be constructed into an open recreational area. To actually construct the cabin, Sutton knew that he would have to find ways to stretch the dollar as far as possible. Luckily, the Sutton family has several ties to construction, lumber and building materials. John said that through family members, friends of the family, friends of Badger Camp and the Badger Camp Board of Directors, they have received some supplies at cost and many through donations which have made the project possible. The groundbreaking took place on Memorial weekend and while John says that they have no set date to finish the building, it will be "easily ready for next spring's use." John also noted that it is much more important to get the building perfected and to keep the cost down than to try to set a deadline to finish it. Director Brent Bowers said that they have plans for two more cabins to go up in the future as more money comes in. Currently, there are two buildings to house campers. Bowers has plans to someday move campers out of the old and into the new cabins. He then plans to renovate the older cabins, built in 1975 and 1978, for different uses. Bowers also said that if anyone has services they would like to volunteer, they are welcome to contact Badger Camp for more information. There will be an open house for the public this Sunday, July 17. At 1 p.m. there will be Badger Camp tours. At 2 p.m. a recognition ceremony will be held to honor the Sutton family, followed by snacks and light refreshments at 3:30 p.m. Marquette girl meets her rescuers Men honored at cookout for their heroic efforts in saving Samantha Dickens' life What appeared to be a typical cookout at City Park in Marquette Sunday was in fact a celebration of life, a look to the future and a great appreciation for those who made that life and future possible. Seventeen-year-old Samantha Dickens of Marquette is around to look forward to her future because she was pulled from the wreckage of a burning car mere seconds before it exploded into flame Nov. 8, 2004 following a horrific head-on collision with a semi-tractor-trailer. Dickens and her family held the cookout in honor of the five men who were instrumental in saving her life that day and she presented them with medals for their heroic efforts while several guests snapped photos to capture the moment. Dickens beamed in appreciation as Tim Hansel, Joe Sylvester and Scott Casper (all of Elkader) accepted their medals. Geo-ffery Sch-neider of Clermont and Tim Engelhardt of Elkader could not be on hand for the cookout Sunday but will receive their much-deserved medals at a later date. Each medal has an inscription which reads, "A good person will never fail. He will always be remembered." Dickens will certainly never forget the brave men who saved her life and the fine work of the emergency personnel, law enforcement officers and firefighters who were at the scene.Ha sel, Sylves-ter, Casper and Schne-ider will be honored at the Iowa State Fair later this summer and Engel-hardt, the director of the Clay-ton Cou-nty Conservation Board, received a certificate of commendation from Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack in June. "It's emotional. It's hard to explain. It comes to reality. They put their lives on the line just for me," said a nervous and excited Dickens Sunday upon meeting her heroes for the first time. "It's nice to meet their families and hear their stories." "It's nice to have seen my 17th birthday," Dickens continued. "It's all about the future. Everything is so much more cherished. There's someone watching over me." Dickens will be a senior at MFL-Mar-Mac and plans to attend Kirkwood Community College next year, where she will major in the Culinary Arts. She said she then will study abroad in Europe and plans to eventually start her own business. "Since the accident, you know what you want and plan it out," said Dickens. "I know that life is short so you take every day as though it were your last." Nov. 8, 2004 could easily have been Dickens' last. It was a beautiful sunny day as she drove her 1999 Chevrolet Lumina towards home from school on Highway 18 just west of Marquette. She may have dozed for a moment. She doesn't remember for sure. Dickens' lost control in the gravel and the Lumina slid across the centerline sideways and collided with a semi driven by Schneider at approximately 3:38 p.m. Fortunately, the passenger side took the brunt of the impact. Dickens' car came to rest on the south shoulder and the semi went into the north ditch and jackknifed. Dickens' heroes then went to work. Schneider grabbed his fire extinguisher and ran to the car, which had flames licking out under the driver's side along the guardrail. Dust still hung in the air. Sylvester, Hansel, Casper and Engelhardt were also at the scene. Engelhardt called the Clayton County Sheriff's Department and the men used three fire extinguishers to no avail. The flames were beaten down momentarily but each time grew back with more intensity. The driver's door handle was smashed and the men couldn't get the door open, said Sylvester. One of the fire extinguishers was then used as a battering ram to smash the window. "It was smoky in there, the fire was coming through the back seat," said Sylvester, who along with the other men unfastened Dickens' seatbelt and wrestled her from the wreckage. Three or four seconds later the whole car burst into flame and became fully engulfed, said Hansel. "It was something. I couldn't believe how fast it flamed up." said Sylvester. Sylvester and Hansel said that once they realized that they couldn't put the fire out, the main concern was to get Dickens' out of the car. "I didn't want to listen to her burn up," said Sylvester, who noted that Dickens was moaning and apparently in shock. Upon getting her out, the men carried Dickens a safe distance from the burning wreckage. "She was so bloody, I couldn't tell how old she was," Sylvester said. "There was blood all over her face and her hair was singed," said Terry Wall of the Mar-Mac Ambulance crew. It was Wall's red hair that Dickens' says she first recalls seeing. "Is this real?" Wall recalled Dickens asking. "Yes, honey this is real," Wall replied. "She was a an awesome patient," said Wall. "She kept talking the whole time." "I knew if I kept talking I'd be alive," said Dickens, who gave emergency personnel some very useful information such as her name, address and phone number. Wall said that Dickens' nonstop chatter also indicated that there was no brain damage. Wall and Dickens met for the first time since the accident on Sunday at the cookout in Marquette. "You have guardian angels," Wall told Dickens before they engaged in a misty-eyed embrace. Dickens sustained two broken arms, with one crushed rather badly in the accident. She also had a displaced thumb and cuts and bruises all over. Immediately after the accident, she was transported to Prairie du Chien Memorial Hospital and then flown to Gundersen Lutheran Hospital in La Crosse, where she spent three days and underwent surgery on her arms. At the cookout on Sunday, the only noticeable physical reminder of her accident was the scar on her left arm. "She was definitely blessed," said her mother Darci. In fact, the Dickens' family is doubly blessed because Samantha's younger brother Anthony was supposed to have ridden with her on the drive home that day. Anthony said that he had his employers' truck that day and drove to work after school instead of riding with his sister. Samantha was also lucky that a number of witnesses at the accident scene had emergency training. Geoffery Schneider is a firefighter and Conservation Warden Tim Engelhardt is a registered police officer. Another witness, Rhonda Nuehring is a nurse's aide. Nuehring tended to Dickens on the side of the road before the ambulance crew arrived. Samantha returned to school just two weeks after the accident and she credited the great support of her father Terry, her mother Darci, her sister Ciara and her brother Anthony, along with other relatives and friends. "I received about a hundred cards and my whole school was really supportive," Samantha said. "It's not a laughing matter but we like to joke about it now," she said about her friends.
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