POKIN AROUND: From a grateful columnist: Thanks for reading

There are so many more stories I wanted to tell you. But I've run out of time and this is my final Pokin Around column.

Mar 19, 2012 | 1:00 pm | (Loading… ) comments.

POKIN AROUND: From Super Bowl halftime, to yearbooks, to Ballwin: one-finger salute lives on

Hooray! In a victory for free speech it is once again legal to flip the bird in Ballwin.

Mar 05, 2012 | 12:00 am | (Loading… ) comments.

POKIN AROUND: Ellisville, I want you to know about Mia

Ellisville, meet Mia. She is a serval, a medium-sized African cat. She tips the scales at 30 pounds. She is 22 inches tall at the shoulders and 30 inches long, not including tail.

Feb 20, 2012 | 1:00 pm | (Loading… ) comments.

POKIN AROUND: Hanging with a UFO group; or, what did you just say?

Last Wednesday night I attended the monthly meeting of the UFO Study Group of Greater St. Louis. The group gathers in a big room in the St. Louis County Library on Lindbergh Boulevard.

Feb 06, 2012 | 6:00 pm | (Loading… ) comments.

POKIN AROUND: No fun at Chesterfield dog park for pit bulls

At the Chesterfield dog park you see retrievers romp and Pomeranians prance. You'll see all manner of dogs running and sniffing. But you won't see any pit bulls.

Jan 27, 2012 | 4:45 pm | (Loading… ) comments.

• Related: Wentzville may soon repeal pit bull laws

POKIN AROUND: Most Americans seem to get skinned in the game

Skin in the game.

Jan 17, 2012 | 12:00 am | (Loading… ) comments.

POKIN AROUND: Sappington PE teacher one of best in nation

It's not often someone thanks me for providing them with experience being interviewed. Mary Driemeyer, a physical education teacher at Sappington Elementary School in South County, did just that when I visited Jan. 5.

Jan 06, 2012 | 12:00 am | (Loading… ) comments.

POKIN AROUND: If deer-kill protestors cause delay, the city must pay

On Wednesday, Dec. 28, about 60 people gathered on Clayton Road in Town and Country to protest the City Council's decision to hire a sharpshooting firm to cull the troublesome population of deer from 660 to 300 over two years.

Dec 30, 2011 | 12:00 am | (Loading… ) comments.

POKIN AROUND: If you don't get my Christmas card, assume I've died

Two years ago, I wrote a column about Christmas card relationships. You know, how you fall into the tradition of exchanging Christmas cards with people you haven't actually seen in decades and, quite honestly, might not even make the effort to see if you were a thousand miles from home and had th…

Dec 23, 2011 | 12:00 am | (Loading… ) comments.

STEVE POKIN: Ex-De Smet, Francis Howell teacher/coach linked to 14 sexual-abuse allegations

In this post-Penn State era, things are moving fast in the wake of a local allegation of sex abuse against a former teacher and coach at De Smet Jesuit High School in Creve Coeur.

Dec 19, 2011 | 6:12 pm | (Loading… ) comments.

POKIN AROUND: Wrestling with adversity: Top-notch program transplanted to Maryville

On a Monday morning in March, Jeffery Miller, vice president for enrollment at Maryville University, started his day as always. He pulled up the same websites and scanned for college news, specifically anything that might help him increase enrollment at Maryville, a private school of 3,900 studen…

Dec 13, 2011 | 9:15 am | (Loading… ) comments.

POKIN AROUND: The total awesomeness of being Matt Holliday

I started Sunday, Nov. 6, by going to church at Salem in Ladue United Methodist Church on Lindbergh. My friends, Rachel and Jeff, attend there. They sing in the choir.

Nov 18, 2011 | 3:34 pm | (Loading… ) comments.

POKIN AROUND: Have I got a story for you; will the Book of Toilets be written?

A Chesterfield woman called me this month after I wrote a column introducing myself to St. Louis County readers. In that story, I said I'm always looking for story ideas.

Nov 11, 2011 | 3:45 pm | (Loading… ) comments.

POKIN AROUND: Statue silent; so is Pujols

Is he staying? Is he leaving?

Nov 03, 2011 | 8:00 am | (Loading… ) comments.

POKIN AROUND: Not your traditional columnist

My editors asked me to explain who I am. I told them I've worked here for eight years and they should already know who I am.

Oct 28, 2011 | 10:03 am | (Loading… ) comments.

• Related: Some of Pokin's stories about Megan Meier's suicide

POKIN AROUND: Records give insight into soldiers Hendrix, Robinson, Presley

The paperwork at the new National Personnel Records Center refers to a certain unmotivated soldier by the name of James Marshall Hendrix.

Oct 24, 2011 | 9:30 am | (Loading… ) comments.

POKIN AROUND: Warrior Dash: If the course doesn't kill you, the obstacles will

With brutal hills, ruts, fallen trees and low-hanging branches, it was one of the most challenging cross-country courses I'd seen.

Oct 17, 2011 | 5:00 pm | (Loading… ) comments.

• Video: Taking the challenge at the Warrior Dash in Old Monroe, Mo.
• Related: Waiver form for Warrior Dash
• Related: Warrior Dash photo gallery

POKIN AROUND: Chesterfield dog park drives away doggie blues

The wildly successful Chesterfield Dog Park, which opened Sept. 1, could just as easily have been called Curves for Canines.

Oct 07, 2011 | 3:30 pm | (Loading… ) comments.

POKIN AROUND: Women sue over topless pics on plastic surgeon's website

I've never had my tummy tucked. I've never been enhanced, augmented or de-creased.

Oct 03, 2011 | 2:22 pm | (Loading… ) comments.