Austin played host to a real boy hero last week.

Monday, October 30, 2000

Austin played host to a real boy hero last week.

Flat Stanley – who was a nice average boy leading a very average life until a bulletin board fell on him and squashed him flat – arrived in the mail from Mascoutah, Ill. on Tuesday and left Saturday wearing SPAM clothes.

The visit was a smashing success according to Mrs. Lunning’s third grade class at St. A’s, where Stanley spent at least part of the day Friday taped to the bulletin board.

"It’s cool," Kaycee Lukes, 9, said of having the famous boy – who is the subject of several books by Jeff Brown – visit.

Although he didn’t have enough time to visit all of Austin’s marvelous attractions, Mrs. Lunning’s third graders wrote and illustrated a book of all the places they would take Flat Stanley if they could.

Kari Johnson, 8, would take him to A&W "because their root beer is the best." Stanley would get an insider’s look at the restaurant and root beer stand if he went with Kari – her dad owns A&W.

Other highlights of a trip around Austin, according to the third graders, would include jaunts to: – Farmer John’s Pumpkin Patch "because they have nice pumpkins and a cool maze"; Blockbuster video to rent "Scooby Doo on Zombie Island"; Austin Municipal Pool to teach him how to swim; Echo Lanes, because he would "show me how to do a strike."

On Friday, Aaron Dooley, 8, and his mom Carla took the flat little boy – who stands about 10 inches tall – to the Hormel Corporate offices for his new "SPAMtastic" outfit.

It was fitting that the Dooley’s take Stanley on one of his last trips around town, because it was Aaron’s cousin in Mascoutah that told his class that it would be OK if they mailed Flat Stanley to Austin.

When Stanley returns to Mrs. Nichols’ classroom at Mascoutah Elementary School, the third graders there will mark Austin on the map of places that Stanley has visited.