The Optimist

Hannah Weigle

Feature Editor

Many people accumulate collections over the years, sometimes sparked by a fascination or interest, other times they are purely accidental.  The Optimist takes a closer look at three students at South with interesting (and in one case bizarre) collections.
 Nicole Scott (doorstops): Senior Nicole Scott’s collection is anything but ordinary.  Of all things she collects doorstops.  And no, she does not have 40 heavy doors in her house.  Instead, her collection takes up an entire shelf of the armoire in her bedroom. 
      Scott said the collection began in the sixth grade.  “In middle school the teachers were really territorial about their doorstops, and my friends and I thought it would be funny to take theirs.  It kind of developed from there,” she said.  Although Scott has never been caught snatching up a new addition to her collection, she said she has “had a few close calls.” One of the strangest places she has ever taken a doorstop from was Wendy’s.  Because her collection is getting so large, Scott has become more selective with which doorstops she will collect.  “I really like the plastic ones,” she said.  “They’re really heavy duty and classy.  Those are a rare breed though; I only have about 10 of those fellas.”  So if anyone finds any unappreciated heavy duty doorstops lying around, they would surely find a home in Scott’s collection.
     

Nathan Lohrmann (trains): As a child senior Nathan Lohrmann had a fascination with trains.  “I loved to watch the trains that ran behind my home in Virginia.”  His interest has grown into a collection of model trains which includes “about a dozen engines and three times as many cars.”  His first was given to him by his parents when he was three or four, and the collection grew from there.  Lohrmann said “most were presents, but a couple I bought.”
      Lohrmann said the most interesting piece in his collection “has to be the Daylight Express.  It’s a model of the train used in the 1976 Bicentennial Celebration, a huge orange and yellow steamer that was saved from scrapping for the event.” The collection was originally set up in Lohrmann’s house in Virginia, but when he moved here “some of the wires and switches were broken.”  Now, since the set will not work, it “just kind of takes up room in [his] basement.”
     

Corey Beetz (radio tapes): Junior Corey Beetz is a fan and collector of old time radio tapes of programs, mostly comedies.  His collection began about 10 years ago.  “The first set I owned was a set my dad stumbled upon,” said Beetz, “after hearing a few I knew I wanted more.”  Beetz is now a huge fan of old comedy.  “They are hilarious.” he said, “They are the roots of comedy.”  Beetz’s opinion is that “as time has gone on comedies have definitely not improved.” His collection now includes about 350 tapes and 20 CDs in all, and Beetz’s rough estimate of its worth is $570, based to what he paid for his box sets. 
      Beetz buys his tapes from a magazine called Radio Classics that supplies remakes of the original tapes.  He keeps his collection in a large cabinet to prevent “wear and tear.”  Beetz considers his love for old time radio tapes an interest, but also an investment: “they are daily increasing in price because some of them are originals,” Beetz said.