Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/8460
Tuesday, March 30, 2010 – Daily News – 5A If the plumbing works, make me a reservation (MCT) Once, up Gainesville way, my wife and I rented a motel room. We were only 100 miles from our small cottage in Orlando, Fla., but it'd been a tiring day and the prospect of getting off the highway was too sweet to snub. I was never keen about noctur- nal driving anyway, even then when still on active duty. About the only place I drive to today after twilight is a friendly, close-by restaurant, and to church if there's a night rite. Actually, I've never been finicky about overnight lodgings, and I've had my share, especially during the sports-writing phase of my journalistic calling. All I expected of sleepovers between arena and home were clean sheets, plus a toi- let that didn't clog. Scout's honor, earning every badge KANSAS CITY, Mo. (MCT) — Michael Liebig can light a fire without a match, bake chocolate-chip cookies using a box and tin foil, and sleep soundly between two inconve- niently placed rocks. In January, he had to go scuba diving. In Mis- souri. Ed On one assignment, to Sarasota, Fla., my wife accompanied me — a sort of business-social date. Friends there thoughtfully handled our reservation, an Olympian beach setting. Well, there was this one little hitch. Upon awakening before dawn for a pop-in visit to the luxurious bath- room, I stepped onto our deluxe carpet covered with about half a foot of water. Hayes Heydays Another occasion, on Florida's east coast, my spouse and I were invited as guest speakers at a literary soiree. The mahatma of the event wrote that one of his club members was offering us a bedroom for the night. "Fine old house. Occasionally has a bit of a plumbing problem, but I'm sure you've had worse." Sufferin' catfish! The nerve, eh? Oh, indeed we'd had worse, and indeed we promptly made our own overnight arrangements, thank ye. Motel rooms are exotic entities. Think of all the traf- fic they handle, the disparate people who never stop coming and going. Every night a new melodrama. My niggling relative, a frequent driver, spreads a pristine path on his motel floor, bed to bathroom, with sheets of newspaper. Ah, and then I see Mom again, there she is, covering our kitchen linoleum after a mopping, using yesterday's newspaper — minus the crossword puzzle. Now. About this Gainesville overnighter. I believed I was losing my equilibrium in the show- er. The floor was curved severely downward. I had to hang on. It was like being drawn forward by some prodigious magnet. Or showering on a slanted rooftop. There was no grate on the drain. When I dropped the soap it was sucked into the pipe in one swift, slushy gulp and disappeared. Scary. The mattress, dipped in the center, was a humdinger too. My mate sleeps on her left side, I on my right. All during the night, slowly, strangely, we found ourselves rolling steadily to the middle, and into one another. Finally we stopped climbing back. Good thing we were married. MORE THAN JUST BOWLING & Bowling Greens Minature Golf Children’s Birthdays & Adult Birthdays & Company Parties • School Parties & Church Groups & Fundraisers Come on in for Spring Break FUN!! LET LARIAT BOWL BE YOUR PARTY HEADQUARTERS! Check out www.LariatBowl.com Bring in this ad to receive 1 FREE Child’s Round of Mini-Golf with one paid Adult Round Valid for up to 2 Children & Adults. One coupon per group per day. Not valid w/any other offer or discount. Expires 4/4/10 365 So. 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Liebig learned about the scuba badge only three months before his 18th birthday deadline, so he and his dad dived into the water of a flooded mine. Badge No. 122 was the hardest. Bugling isn't Liebig's thing, but he now can toot 15 songs. Liebig received his final merit badges in a ceremony last week at Lee's Summit Christian Church. For reference, it takes only 21 badges to become an Eagle Scout, a mile- stone Liebig achieved when he was 13. In this school year at least one other Kansas City-area scout, Conor Killen of Platte City, Mo., earned every merit badge, said Randy Kidder, a spokesman for the Heart of America Council. Only 4 percent of Boy Scouts reach Eagle status. Fewer than 1 percent earn all the badges available, said Renee Fairrer, a spokeswoman for the national Boy Scouts office. Despite stiffer require- ments, the number of scouts who achieve Eagle status and beyond has increased dramatically in the last 10 years, officials son. "We've been there to support him and drag him around all of creation to get it done." They canoed 78 miles in Minnesota and kayaked five miles in the Florida Keys. Family vacations often turned into merit-badge mis- sions. Liebig never would have discovered a love of theater had it not been for the theater badge. He is the sound technician for productions at Lee's Sum- mit North High School, where he is a senior. Liebig helped to build a turntable for the musi- cal "Les Miserables" that helped his school win best overall production at a local awards cere- mony. MCT photo Eagle Scout Michael Liebig, 18, displays 119 of his merit badges, March 22, at his home in Lee's Summit, Mo. On same evening, he was receiving three more, giving him 122, the most badges a Scout can earn. said. Some officials spec- ulate that the boys may be responding to pressure from colleges that require community service, Fair- rer said. Liebig recalled feeling motivated to outdo the son of his scoutmaster. 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(behind Food Maxx) Since 1950 530-527-2649 TELL YOUR INSURANCE COMPANY “I want my vehicle repaired at Gibbs” WE BILL ALL INSURANCE COMPANIES YOU STILL HAVE A CHOICE www.expresspros.com commitment to civic involvement mostly by example. Debra Liebig is a nurse who volunteers often. Mark Liebig is a police officer from a long line of military service- men. Liebig's parents volun- teered as den leader and cubmaster when their son was in the Cub Scouts, but their son set his own goals. "For the most part, he has done his own thing," Mark Liebig said of his Liebig also serves as a role model in the DARE anti-drug program and has been active in Junior ROTC, drill team and his church youth group. Teachers and other adults describe him as someone they can depend on. "He is one of the most decent young men I know," said his physics teacher, Chuck Stephen- son. Liebig will graduate in May with 11 college credit hours and will attend Metropolitan Community College- Longview before trans- ferring to the University of Missouri. Liebig aspires to become a biochemist, but he doesn't want to put his parents in debt while he gets there. The scout law, he said, taught him to be thrifty and to depend on himself. "If I got lost with Michael in the wilder- ness, I know I'd be OK," Debra Liebig said. "He can start a fire like no other." Even without a match. http://www.lesschwab.com TIRE & WHEEL PACKAGESSTARTING AS LOW AS $75 00 PER MONTH