Flat Stanley is a paper doll with drawings and instructions on it.

It has probably traveled more than the average person.

It has been through the White House.

It has had its picture taken with President Bush, the first lady, Colin Powell, Secret Service agents, Ohio senators and representatives, and practically every monument in Washington.

It has been on rides across the country with President Bush on Air Force One.

Why so much notoriety for a paper doll?

Joe Collins, 10, a fourth-grader at Mason Intermediate School, holds up Flat Stanley - who has traveled on Air Force One and gone to the White House. The visits were part of a class project that amazed the teacher. Provided

That is what Joey Collins, a fourth-grader at Mason Intermediate School is beginning to wonder.

Joey and Flat Stanley are part of a class project designed by Christine Burton, a language, art and social-studies teacher at the school.

The class was asked to send the doll to various places across the country.

Joey sent it to his cousin, Andy Lalka, a student at George Washington University and a political aspirant.

Lalka saw to it that Flat Stanley had an introduction on Capitol Hill in the interest of giving his little cousin a lesson in government.

"I learned a lot about Washington, D.C., and a lot about who the people are running the government,'' Joey said.

"And I received passes to visit Washington, D.C. I don't know when I am going.''

Burton is amazed.

"I never believed it would turn out this way,'' she said.

Mt. St. Joe prof retires

She is a teacher who loved teaching teachers, and for that, Vesta Mickel is known around the world.

For the first time in 46 years, Mickel, who has become a professor emeritus at the College of Mount St. Joseph, has no plans to teach this summer.

She retired May 8 after teaching at Mount St. Joseph for 27 years.

"It is kind of strange adjusting to this,'' Mickel said at her Finneytown home this week.

"I am sure I will do something. I just can't sit around.''

She still has an office at Mount St. Joseph and a mountain of accomplishments.

Reading was her specialty and she developed the Mount's graduate degree in reading, a program that has been used as a model by other colleges.

Mickel was selected as one of the 25 most competent reading professors in the United States to join a Citizen Ambassador Program to Hungary and the former Soviet Union.

She has served as state chairman for the Children's Literature Committee, executive board member of the Ohio Council of the International Reading Association and editorial board member of the Journal of the Ohio Reading Teacher.

She has received the Sister Adele Clifford Distinguished Teaching Award and the Alumni Association Faculty Appreciation Award, the Mount's highest teaching honors.

Benefit helps UC grad

Making a Difference for Michael is a benefit hosted by Bonefish Grill, 2737 Madison Ave., Hyde Park.

Michael Cremons is suffering from chronic lymphocytic leukemia. The disease attacks the bone marrow, lymph nodes, liver, spleen and other organs. Cremons, 24, is a 2003 graduate of the University of Cincinnati and lives in Anderson Township. He had been preparing to go to law school when he was diagnosed with the disease in April.

Cremons is receiving chemotherapy treatments and plans to have a bone marrow transplant this fall.

The benefit is set to start at 10 a.m. July 11 at the restaurant.

"We have made a decision that we would like to reach out to the Cremons family and host a benefit to raise funds to help cover the costs of extreme medical treatment that Michael is currently receiving," said Cassandra Johnson, event coordinator. "We are asking the people or our community to reach out and help the family as well."

Johnson said the Cremons family has overcome a battle of cancer with Michael's younger brother, Johnny, who was diagnosed and treated in 1993.

A silent auction, entertainment and breakfast will begin at 10 a.m. A buffet-style luncheon, provided by Bonefish Grill, will begin at 1 p.m.

Tickets for admission will be sold for $10. The luncheon will be $20.

Also, donations may be made at any Fifth Third Bank in care of Making a Difference for Michael.

For more information, visit the Web site: www.cllauction.com.