St. Joseph News-Press from St. Joseph, Missouri • 37

INSIDE: Faces and a FoCUS FOCUS TOMORROW Check out the "Community" page to see wno's celebrating anniversaries and birthdays. Photos courtesy of DR. CHUCK HUGHES The graffiti-marked interior of the Union Covered Bridge displays Missouri's only example of the Burr-Arch truss system. The bridges of Missouri counties Missouri Special to the News-Press hen Clint in the Meryl movie, flashed Eastwood their big it screen Streep across latest was and predictable that hoards of covered bridge enthusiasts would emerge from theaters everywhere. One could imagine them packing their suitcases and heading for Madison County, Iowa.

And why not? The bridges represent romance, beauty and nostalgia. They are reminders of days gone by. They are the kind of places you would take a girlfriend for an intimate walk or the family for a picnic. If you have been struck with the fancy to see these historic structures, you will be happy to know you don't have to go all the way to Iowa. Missouri has its own covered bridges.

At one time there were nearly thirty in our state. Today, four remain intact. The four that are still standing are Locust Creek Covered Bridge, Union Covered Bridge, Sandy Creek Covered Bridge and Burfordville Covered Bridge. Locust Creek Covered Bridge General John J. Pershing Boyhood Home, State Historic Site, P.O.

Box 141, Laciede, Mo. 64651; (314) 963-2525. Your community hospital is built for tomorrow. Heartland Health System St. Joseph, Missouri (816) 271-6000 I PERSONALITIES Kinks leader goes solo Is there life without the Kinks? Ray Davies, the band's lead singer, thinks so.

He's taking his show on the road all by himself. "I've never really done solo gigs before. I just didn't know what my voice sounded like outside the Kinks," Davies said in a recent interview. Davies, whose new autobiography "X-Ray" has Ray Davies just been released, is scheduled to perform Monday and Oct. 11 at the Galaxy Concert Theatre in Santa Ana.

"The book and the acoustic shows have really kind of reinforced the value of the songs within me," he said. Return to glory What mattered most to country singer Ty Herndon was being voted best new artist by fans. Herndon, who had a No. 1 hit this year with "What Mattered Most," accepted the award at Tuesday's Country Music Radio Awards. He was grateful for the support in light of his troubles with the law earlier this year.

Herndon pleading guilty to drug possession after being arrested in June in a Texas park. He was fined $1,000 and ordered to do 200 hours of community service. Another charge, indecent exposure, was dropped. Yoga, not grass Red Hot Chili Peppers bass player Flea has kicked a 15-year pot habit for yoga. "In the beginning we learned stuff and opened our minds" with drugs, Flea says in the Oct.

19 issue of Rolling Stone. "But we hurt ourselves immeasurably as far as our awareness of what was going on around us, causing us feelings of guilt and fear later on in our Flea, who says he smoked pot every day for 15 years, does yoga every day instead. In addition, lead singer Anthony Kiedis and new guitarist Dave Navarro have both kicked heroin habits. He lives to shop Darius Rucker admits it: He's a "mall rat." The difference between now and then, though, is that the 29-year-old lead singer for Hootie and the Blowfish can afford to buy stuff. The group started at the University of South Carolina a decade ago and slowly but steadily gained fans and Darius Rucker fame.

Their 1994 album, "Cracked Rear View," has sold 6 million copies. "I'm such a mall rat," Rucker says in Essence magazine's November issue. "Previously I would just look around. Now I can actually buy stuff." Today's birthdays: Actor David Carradine is 55. The Rev.

Jesse Jackson is 54. Comedian Chevy Chase is 52. Actress Sigourney Weaver is 46. Rock singer Johnny Ramone is 44. Actress Stephanie Zimbalist is 39.

From AP reports Caution: I BARRY'S Right: The Sandy Creek Covered Bridge is located in Jefferson County. Below: The Burfordville Covered Bridge and Bollinger Mill is an historic site in Cape Girardeau County. In 1992 this bridge was in poor shape; it still is. Years ago the creek changed course and left the bridge standing alone in a field. Now it is listing to the side badly (probably damaged from the flood of '93).

The Department of Natural Resources has done what it can with bracing, but it is obvious that until funds are allocated for a total restoration, this old gentlemen is in danger of collapse. This bridge is worth a visit only while on the way to Union Covered Bridge. After a short stop, continue east to Macon and then south to Moberly. Just east of Moberly, off Highway 24 on Route is Union Covered Bridge. Union Covered Bridge The Mark Twain Birthplace and Historic Site, RFD 1, Stoutsville, Mo.

65283; (314) 565-3449. On an old gravel road in Monroe County, Union Bridge sits all alone, a truly beautiful structure. Built in 1871 by Joseph Elliot, the bridge spans 120 feet across the Elk Fork of the Salt River. It is Missouri's Please see 3E Naive, teen-age driver gets behind the wheel Missouri Covered Bridges St. Joseph -Hannibal St.

1. Locust Creek Covered Bridge 3 Louis 2. Union Covered Bridge 55 3. Sandy Creek Covered Bridge 4. Burfordville Covered Bridge Cape Girardeau Staff graphic by JIM FINLAY SECTION SUNDAY OCT.

8, Features Preston 271-8592 Why cover a bridge? The covering protected the life of the wood and added strength to the bridge, which slowed the sagging process. It would be much easier to get a horse to cross, if the animal could not see the drop off on each side of the bridge. And it provided shelter for riders caught in a storm. The covered bridges of Missouri were originally built to serve the needs of the community. Today, the surviving bridges are cherished for their aesthetic qualities and historical value.

believe that, as a safety precaution, his car We veteran Miami drivers know this, just as station wagon that could attain a top speed of 53 should be attached via a stout chain to a re- we know that, in Miami, it's considered accept- miles per hour if dropped from a bomber. I straining device such as the Pentagon. able to park on any semi-level surface, including didn't care: I HAD WHEELS. I drove around at It's not that I think my son is a bad driver. roofs, and to go through a red light as long as random for approximately the next two years.

It He's actually a pretty GOOD driver, careful to you can still remember when it was yellow. But made no difference to me where I was going. I signal his turns. That's what worries me: He'll how is my son supposed to know these things? was happy simply to be in motion, with the AM be driving in Miami, where nobody else, includ- What really scares me is, he'll want to drive a radio turned up loud and tuned to WABC in ing the police, does this. If Miami motorists LOT.

I know this, because I remember exactly New York City, which would be playing, say, were to see a turn signal, there's no telling how how I felt when I got my driver's license, in 1963. "He's So Fine" by the Chi Chiffons: they'd react. They could become alarmed and I was a student at Pleasantville (N.Y.) High "He's so fine (Doo-lang doo-lang doo-lang) start shooting. School, where, if you were a male, cars were EXTREMELY There two Wish he were mine (Doo-lang doo-lang doo-lang) important. were major re- That handsome boy there.

over nd what if my son actually believes the ligions: Ford and Chevy. And we found great A when official it says Florida that state the left driver's lane is manual for pass- like wisdom love in songs Beach to a Boys woman, car songs, except which they're are (a) just nd behind the wheel, with my arm draped ing only? Not here in Miami, it isn't! The driving more passionate, and (b) more technically de- casually out the window, I imagined that public here apparently believes that there is tailed, as in these lyrics from "Little Deuce A I WAS that handsome boy, not some some kind of deadly voodoo curse on the right dweeb driving his mom's Valiant. I was cool. lane, so EVERYBODY drives in the left lane "She's ported and relieved and she's stroked These days when I'm driving I rarely listen to of here, at speeds ranging all the way from In- and bored; music. I do listen to traffic reports, because I'm dianapolis 500 down to Car Wash.

This means floored. She'll do a hundred and forty in the top end always late for some obligatory grown up thing. that if you get behind somebody traveling at, I'm never driving just to be driving. say, Funeral Procession, and you want to pass, At lunchtime we stood next to the circle in But my son will be, soon. He'll be out there you have to disregard the driver's manual, risk front of the high school and their watched guys drive every chance he gets, feeling so fine, cruising to the voodoo curse and use the right lane, UN- around slowly, revving engines.

Some- nowhere, signaling his turns, playing his music, LESS the driver in front of you is talking on a times, if we were especially impressed with a cranking it up when a good song comes on. cellular telephone, because these people fre- car, I for my New York state driver's li- Yup, he'll be on the road a lot a teen-ager, we would spit. quently receive urgent mandatory instructions applied the instant but still, in many ways, a human being. Please from whoever they're talking to, such as, I was in old the enough, mail, I borrowed day watch out for him. cense and the "SWERVE ACROSS ALL AVAILABLE LANES it arrived finally! IMMEDIATELY!" my mother's car, which was a Plymouth Valiant Copyright 1995, The Miami Herald 1995 Editor, Filbert By DR.

CHUCK HUGHES son is learning to terrifies drive. me. This He's 4 years old. WORLD taining little toy FisherPrice people who are unBy Miami DAVE Herald BARRY likely (although I would not totally rule it out, in America) to sue you. Whereas when your child turns 15, the state of Florida lets him obtain a permit that allows him to drive an actual car on actual roads, despite the fact that you can vividly remember when he slept on "Return of the Jedi" sheets.

Of course there are restrictions: He must be accompanied by a licensed driver age 18 or over. But that does not reassure me. I want tougher restrictions than that. I want the law to say that if my son is going to drive, he must be accompanied by a licensed paramedic and at least two Supreme Court justices. Also I Well, OK, technically he's 15.

But from the perspective of the aging parent, there is no major difference between 4 and 15, except that when your child is 4, his motoring privileges are restricted to little toy Fisher-Price vehicles con-.