Answer Man: If you’ve got a local question, I’m your man

If you’ve got a question, I’ve got an answer.

That sentence is how I started my first Answer Man column on Jan. 23, 2015, when I was with the Springfield News-Leader.

I’m still the Answer Man, only these days I’m at the Springfield Daily Citizen.

A co-worker back in 2015 wanted to know if the “S.T.D.” on the sign “S.T.D. Central Flea Market” (once at 505 E. Trafficway St.) stood for what she feared it might stand for.

It did not. It stood for Springfield Tool & Die.

Eight years later, I still want your questions.

What kind of questions do I answer?

I answer questions that require some local digging. For example, do you suspect a famous person once lived in an old house down the street but want confirmation?

Or if Jeff Houghton once joined the traveling circus? Or what’s finally going in on that lot that’s been vacant for decades? Or where the word “Glenstone” comes from in “Glenstone Avenue”?

I answered that last one on March 20.

If you send me a question, I want you to also tell me your name and the city where you live. I will include that in the column.

I do that because readers should know you’re a real person and that I’m not answering my own questions.

I’m looking for a local connection

I want the question to be local, which generally means it somehow involves Greene County. Here at the Springfield Daily Citizen, our target audience is Greene County. That might change later, depending on our success.

That connection to Greene County could be as simple as the fact that you live in Greene County.

But I will venture beyond if the question strikes me as particularly interesting or relevant.

I try to avoid questions that can be answered with a simple Google search. You don’t need the Answer Man for that. I want to at least do some research into property records, news archives, business records, county archives or court cases.

I don’t want questions about your love life. Or where the third fork goes.

I don’t want questions about your refrigerator warranty and I can’t foretell next week’s winning lottery numbers.

Answer Man question can lead to big story

Finally, please don’t assume I know the answer to your question or that I’ve already written about it.

I can’t tell you how many times someone has started a conversation with me with “you probably already know this …” and then recounted an incredible story I’d never before heard.

Years ago, I was contacted by a reader via letter — yes, snail mail — who asked if I knew about the kidnapping of a baby from a house on Meadowmere Street here in Springfield in the early 1900s, and the baby’s subsequent death?

I did not.

Josiah Lloyd Keet, 14 months, was kidnapped the night of May 30, 1917, from his parents’ home at 1455 E. Meadowmere St.

He was taken from one of Springfield’s most popular and prosperous families. The parents were a short distance away at a dance at the Springfield Country Club, which at the time was at 1325 S. Glenstone Ave.

His abductors were convicted of kidnapping, but murder charges were dropped before trial. The baby’s body was found in an abandoned well.

This tragic story was national news in 1917.

My story on Baby Keet, which started with an Answer Man question, ran Feb. 4, 2016, in the News-Leader.

I hope to hear from you.

This is Answer Man Column No. 29.

Steve Pokin

Steve Pokin writes the Pokin Around and The Answer Man columns for the Springfield Daily Citizen. He also writes about criminal justice issues. He can be reached at spokin@sgfcitizen.org. His office line is 417-837-3661. More by Steve Pokin

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