Nancy Wright was kind enough to submit another remembrance.  I found this to be just as fun to read as her last one.  She brings 1962 Belle Plaine alive for me.

I hope we can make our 150th birthday as big as the 100th was (possibly even better).  We need volunteers desperately to make that happen.  Do you have any ideas?  Would you be willing to give some of your time to your town?  We need ideas for events, we need performers, we need fund raising ideas. The list continues and Belle Plaine needs to make a “splash” in July 2012!  This wont happen if no one steps up.

BELLE PLAINE IS HAVING A BIRTHDAY—2012 WILL BE HERE SOON!

I have been exploring my family history and thinking back to experiences when we came to town from the farm.  As I look at my driver’s license, I see it expires on my forthcoming birthday 12-12-12.  I always did think it was special to have the month and day the same, but now for the first time I can add the year too!!

Belle Plaine is getting ready for its birthday in 2012 too.  Because she only celebrates every 50 years, she has had just two prior birthday celebration!! I plainly remember the Centennial celebration and being in the parade in 1962.  I worked for Funk’s and they hired a Clydesdale Hitch to pull a wagon.  All the girls from the office, as well as other employees and employee wives, rode in the wagon with large silk banners fluttering along the sides.  I also participated in the pageant.  It was a glorious celebration.  Now we are preparing to celebrate again.  I found the newspaper from our celebration week in 1962, the program, the special edition newspaper, and the music and script for the pageant.  I remember most of the celebration, but there were so many people and so many activities one could not cover it all.  I think most of the people rode in the parade, helped at a food stand, or directed traffic—so in all probability, very few local people actually saw the parade in its entirely.

From the newspapers and information on hand, along with my remembrances, I will note some highlights.  I have thought for many years the “green book” stopped on July 1, 1962 and don’t think there has (until now) been any concentrated effort to make a record every year.  I don’t think the actual celebration has been recorded anywhere, so I will try to piece some of the highlights together.  The official program has a scene from Jumbo Well on the front—July 1, 2, 3, and 4, 1962.

SUNDAY, JULY 1:  Homecoming Day

Teas were held at most churches. At the High School auditorium a beard contest and judging of the best costumes and centennial dresses were held, there was a carnival and 40 exhibitors were on the farm grounds.

MONDAY, JULY 2:

At the farm grounds old time threshing, and a farm equipment display, a Johnny Ringo appearance (TV Performer)???, 2 shows of All Star performances, the Miss Iowa contest, a barbershop chorus of 40 voices from Cedar Rapids, a Square Dance Frolic, and carnival all took place.

TUESDAY, JULY 3:

Threshing, farm interests, conservation display of animals, fish and snakes from Iowa held the interest of the crowd. An American Legion Hall dance with Howdy Roberts and orchestra, a carnival, and Fred Vtiek from Chelsea and his Bohemian band also entertained us.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 4:

Farm ground displays, THE PARADE at 10am, Music Man tunes played by the BP Band at Williams Park, Republican and Democrat speakers, a barbershop quartet from Newton, free fireworks, and a carnival completed the 3 day celebration.

There was a long list of where to buy food, and where to find the headquarters. There was a bus route to see Jumbo Well, the farm museum at Funks, antiques at the library and ride to the farm grounds (I think they were west of the bowling alley or in that area).  There was reassurance about the medical station with several registered nurses, with Drs. Douglas and Knosp, and the firemen standing by for assistance.  John D. Franklin had drawn a surveyor’s map of the area, showing the original town and Guinnville, and the Blair and Hutton 1& 2 additions, along the bus tour route.

The Belle Plaine Union is full of articles and pictures.  About 1,200 attended the Pageant.  It featured a cast of 200 people.  Paul Nielsen directed a choir of about 100 to accompany the show.  It was written by Evelyn Nagle, sister of Thelma Johnson, and included 21 different levels.  It was a spectacular show with painted backdrops, horse and buggy rigs, etc.  Charlie Lamb constructed a replica of 1901 Olds to take Fritz around in the pageant while the barbershop quartet sang “Won’t you come with me Lucille in my merry Oldsmobile”.  Rain postponed it from Sunday to Tuesday.  During the finale, the chorus sang “Land of Hope and Glory” and concluded with “Iowa Beautiful Land” and “Star Spangled Banner”.  Every article says “thousands thronged to see…”

Printed on the front page of the Union: “Estimate crowd viewing parade from 15 to 40,000. Never in the past 100 years have so many people been jam packed into the city’s corporate limits.”

Thousands of people line the 10 block parade route.  The Belle Plaine band followed Uncle Sam playing “Yankee Doodle Dandy”.  Bands from all the surrounding towns joined in.  Many organizations were represented by floats.

The Monday night square dance filled the Me Too parking lot and attracted 117 couples from 33 different towns and a large crowd of on-lookers.  All the store windows were filled with antiques “on loan” from residents, and it was difficult to walk the crowded sidewalks to see all the sights.

WMT Voice of Iowa radio program was broadcast from the stage, and The Leo Greco Band performed.  The hot sun forced many to find shade on the farm grounds.  A facsimile of Jumbo Well was made at the intersection of 8^th and 8^th.  It was a stop on the free bus ride tours (two school buses) and described as the “8^th wonder of the world”.  All went well until someone added bubble bath!!

It is ironic that water and fire caused “problems” at the celebration—just like they had in the town’s history.  It seems there were terrible rain storms the whole weekend, and many events postponed to another time (was Jumbo trying to say “remember me”?)  And on Tuesday, there were three fires.  One was at the nursing home where lint in a dryer caught fire (was that something to make the older people tapart of the excitement too?).  One was at the carnival when gasoline caught fire and burned two chairs on the Ferris Wheel, and the planned one during the pageant re-enactment of the 1894 fire.  Firemen were on hand for that one with the old city pumper to extinguish the blaze.  In Moe Burrows’ article, he said in 1912 the rain stopped the first two days of the celebration, too.

In looking at the 1962 paper, the prices have surely changed.  From the four grocery stores the ads show:  canned pineapple 5/$1, catsup 5/$1, canned corn 6/$1, 3 large glasses of jam for $1, carrots 2 bags for $0.29, lettuce $0.15, picnic ham $0.29/lb, liver $0.39/lb, pork chops $0.39 per pound, tomato juice $0.25, beef roast $0.59/lb, cookies 4 pks/$1, bananas 2 lbs/$0.25, roasting chickens $0.39/lb, strawberries 5 pkgs/$1, pork and beans $0.10, quart of salad dressing$0.35, pop 6/$0.45, Kraft Cheese 6 oz. $0.29, mixed nuts 14 oz. $0.69, Cheerios 3 pkgs/$0.79, ground beef $0.39/lb., coffee $0.65, cake mix $0.10, bacon $0.45, bread 2/$0.29, Velveeta 2lb. box $0.85, fish sticks 3-8 oz. pkgs $1.

O.A. Rucker advertised Tires for $13 with free installation, no money down.  House paint was $4.95/gal at Thede’s.  Earl Comer has the latest records:  Fats Domino, Dion, The Volumes, Duane Eddy, Jimmy Dean, Neil Sedaka, and Burl Ives—either HiFi or stereo, as well as thermostatically controlled fans.  The King Theatre was showing “Light in the Plaza” with Olivia DeHaviland and George Hamilton.

The Lincoln had smorgasbord on Sunday “all you can eat” for $1.50 adults and $1 children, including dessert and beverage.  Kelly’s Implement had a New Farm-All F-500 diesel: pulls five plows, cultivates six rows, mighty powerhouse.  S & W had a power lawn mower for $39.88 with trade-in and would give you a free 2 gal. gas can.  Strawhorn Hardware had “no primer paint for $7.95/gal.  Reihsen’s Rexall had swim caps for $0.59, home perms for $1-$2, Satin Set hair spray for $1.35, fruit tree spray for $1.29, and cameras and film on special.

I wonder how many who attended the centennial celebration will be able to attend the 150^th.  I wonder if anything is the same as it was 150 years ago.  Remember the trees down both sides of 7^th Avenue?  I wonder if the rock in Williams Park (where we all had our pictures taken when kids) was always there (from a glacier) or was it hauled in?  Maybe the only thing left from 150 years ago is the creek that flowed back of old Longfellow school and across 8^th Street.  Maybe sleeping Jumbo is the only one who knows the answers.  Oxen, horses, plows, horse pulled graders, many footsteps, and big machines have changed the landscape.

The following is a quote from JUMBLE by Bob from July 4, 1962 Union:  “Today, we have our unemployment problems, problems in inflation, worries on how to get more money for schools, and highways, troubles with crime and delinquency.  Yet, there has never been a time in the past 100 years when folks and communities did not have their troubles, too.  The pioneer had to make his own roads, cross streams as best he could and break up the prairies.  Primitive towns had their problems getting tax money for dragging the roads.  Today, we have ours building highways and removing snow.”

Following is a poem written by Lareta Lewis (Bricker) and appeared in the 1926 Belle Plaine High School Yearbook:

THE JUMBO

Listen! My dear people and you shall hear,

Of a wonderful well that once did appear,

In the year of our Lord eighteen hundred eighty nine

(Only the older people remember the time).

In our beautiful city a well burst out

Everywhere, everywhere, “Jumbo” was the shout.

The water came gushing forth in a steady stream,

Oh! Niagara Falls couldn’t be compared with that scene.

The world came forth from far and from near,

There were but few people who didn’t hear

The story of “Jumbo” as it circled around

From country to city, from town to town.

Men were called forth to help check the flow

Of that mighty well that was known as Jumbo.

After many hours struggling which seemed all in vain,

The people at last the victory obtained.

The well which had flowed and seemed never to stop,

Had at last been conquered at the stroke of the clock.

People were glad and rejoiced that once more

Calm and peace were restored as before.

May there always, dear friends, in your memory remain

The story of “Jumbo” as it appeared in Belle Plaine,

This tradition which never, no never grows old,

Must, to each coming generation again be retold.

In 1926, there were 53 seniors graduating.  Their dedication in the year book read:  We, the class of 1926, wish to dedicate this book to the Belle Plaine High School in memory of the lofty ideals and school spirit fostered to it’s class rooms and assembly hall because of encouragement for higher learning and knowledge, and in appreciation of our esteemed faculty, who have given of their time willingly to make our school better and more pleasant.”

Let us silently thank our ancestors and those who made sure this town survived and prospered and those who recorded its happenings.  Remember the courage it would take to put all your belongings and children in a covered wagon leaving behind all that you know and loved.  The courage to go looking for “something better”.  The long trip across the prairie and the trials they encountered.  The settling in and decisions once they were here.  Oh! The courage to make a change—to take a chance.

The courage for someone to go into business and often risk it all.  The courage to build a new school, to build the swimming pool, to vote to make town improvements.  Always remember someone had the forethought to provide a school for us.  The courage to build a new church, to stand up for what you believed and run for office, to be on the volunteer fire department, the city council, to run for mayor, the powerful courage of the men and women when they left for service of our country and go to unknown lands.  This is a town of courageous people—possessing the strong constitution of the Iowa people—and no matter what comes in the next 50 years, we will survive.

Belle Plaine has always survived—the fire—Jumbo—the wars—the depression—train accidents—(and the day the train hit the Funk’s building with us all inside)—the night the high school had a fire—when the railroad business slowed down and the depot closed—when Funks (and other employers) left town—anything that came her way—and here we are strong and ready to celebrate the 150 and beyond.  The future is different than before—with different challenges yet to come, still full of hope and promise and doubt and fear.  Let us rejoice we are still here and still part of Belle Plaine (if not physically, in our hearts).

In all of us there is a hunger to know our heritage

To know who we are—and where we came from.

How can we know where we are going

If we don’t know where our ancestors have been?

Let us celebrate the past to enable us

To look forward to the future.

Nancy Wright, Belle Plaine, Iowa

April, 2011

On the evening of  Tuesday, November 1, 2011, there was a full house at the Community Center.  Everybody there was interested in what the candidates of the upcoming election had to say.   Belle Plaine Community Development Corporation hosted the event in the hope of giving people a chance to hear from the candidates.  Both of the mayoral candidates where in attendance as well as five candidates for City Council.  Jennifer Zahradnik was moderator for the evening.

Each of the candidates had a short time to tell us a little about themselves.

Peter Beatteay feels his strength is working with people.  He has been in Belle Plaine for 15 years.  Before retiring to Belle Plaine, he ran a foundation for a hospital in California.  He has lived and worked in 3 different countries:  Canada, The United States, and Kenya.  He has experience in organizing people, teaching, and fund-raising.

Garrison Reekers let us know that he is 39 years old and has a wife, Libby, and two children, John 10, and Grace 8.   He was quite frank about having tried things and failed but was also quick to point out that he has learned from his failures.  One thing that he seemed most proud of is his ability to make decisions.

Harold Ealy was born and raised in Belle Plaine and currently has a seat on the Council.  He noted some of the Council’s past accomplishments and quoted his motto, “Vote For the Team That Gets Things Done”.

Craig Van Scoy is currently on the Council, is 49 years old and stated that he is proud of the community and enjoys doing things for the community.

Dave Fish is a 1968 graduate of Belle Plaine High and an UNI graduate.  He will be volunteering his time as the assistant coach for the Lady Plainsmen basketball team.  He is retired from teaching and coaching in Keota and looking forward to serving Belle Plaine.

April Saunders is 30 years old and a mom.  She works for the Benton County Sheriffs Department as a dispatcher.  She is running for City Council to give everybody a voice. If elected, she will treat everybody with respect and listen to what they are saying.

Mary Peck is a graduate of UNI and semi retired from Aegon.  She is looking forward to a Positive City Council going forward.

Following the introductions, ten questions were asked with time given to each candidate for a respond.  (The following questions are just a general description of the questions that were asked Tuesday night, not a direct quote)

Q:  Do you feel our town needs police coverage 24/7?

MARY:  She felt she would need to study the situation

APRIL:  Yes, she feels for a town our size it is necessary.  She also wondered about the “revolving door” with the police department

DAVE:  Yes, it is necessary in a town our size

CRAIG:  He answered yes to this question and added that he would like to talk to Kris Hudson

HAROLD:  He also felt it is necessary.  He also mentioned that he has talked to Kris Hudson and he is also in favor of this.  “24/7 is a must”

GARRISON:  Yes was his answer.  He questions the turnover rate and would like to get people that stay here.  He is looking for “true protection”

PETER:  “Absolutely we do”

Q:  Do you feel Downtown Revitalization should continue?

CRAIG:   In favor of finishing the project that is going.  “If your Main Street Dies, your town dies”

DAVE:  Feels it is an important project and supports continuation.  The Benco building is a concern of his and so is filling the downtown building these items are “Very important to the                        community”

APRIL:  In favor of continuing on with the project but would also like to get more input from business owners and the public

MARY: Feels we have to continue to involve all business owners with any more changes

PETER:  Yes, he feels it should continue but that the community needs to be better informed “People come first”

GARRISON:  Yes, he is in favor on continuing.  He feels it is a great improvement.  “Moving forward and working together” .  He would also like to start a blog.

Q:  Do you feel that the 2010 aquatic center was a good way to spend  money?

PETER:  He questioned the research and wanted an indoor swimming pool.  He also is wondering about the budget to keep the pool up and running.

GARRISON:  He does feel that the aquatic center is a positive addition to the community and has used it a lot with his children.  He also mentioned that we were lucky to receive                                 grant money

HAROLD:  He points out the survey that was given to the citizens of  Belle Plaine and notes that the 3 biggest things the community wished to see were 1) Improvement of  our schools                                 2) A new Aquatic Center 3) Improvement of the Downtown area.  He feels we have to do things like this to keep the town alive.

CRAIG:  Yes, this is an extremely important thing for the city.  He is very for it.  The aquatic center is just piece in a large puzzle that will improve Belle Plaine.

DAVE:  “It is an outstanding facility”.  It supplies jobs for our teenagers and feels that you are never going to build a facility that everyone likes

APRIL:  Yes she is happy with the facility and has used it.  As a mom, she is very happy it is here.  We have a facility that only 1 or 2 other town in Benton County have.  “It is a benefit                               to the community”

MARY:  “Yes, I support it”.  She has heard some criticism and would like to follow through on that.

Q:  How do feel about the animal ordinances?

PETER:  He is favor of order in the community.  He is not happy about the limit on the number of pets.  He feels that  the ordinance does not show respect for the people in the town.

GARRISON:  He is in favor of the ordinance.  He feels that since we do live in a community a group does need to make decisions

HAROLD:  He is in favor of the ordinance.  He feels that the public is unaware of the amount of cats that run wild.  The problem is the people who don’t take care of their pets, “they cost                              the city untold amount of money”

CRAIG:  He feels the ordinance is very important and that it is about the irresponsible pet owners

DAVE:  He is in favor of the ordinance but feels it does need to be revisited.  He is concerned about the killing of the animals after we collect them.  He would like to figure out a way to                          get them to a “no-kill” center.

APRIL:  Yes she is in favor of the ordinance but would like to find other ways to handle it.

MARY:  Yes she is in favor of the ordinance and has spent the last 6 months rescuing cats.  Irresponsible pet owners are the issue.   She would like to do more to be more humane and                          also revisit the limit on the number of pets allowed.

Q:  How do you feel about the nuisance abatement policy?

MARY:  She feels it is unreasonable and lacking in fellow kindness. She would handle it differently.

APRIL:  To a certain extent, yes.  She does think it should start out as communication between the property owner and the city.

DAVE:  He would like to revisit the ordinance.  He doesn’t want junkie houses but also doesn’t want people who “drop a dime on their neighbor”.

CRAIG:  He is for the policy.  He feels it is very important.  “Not everything is perfect and not everybody has a “good” neighbor”.

HAROLD:  He is for the policy. He has past experiences where mediation just doesn’t work.

GARRISON:  He is for the policy.  He feels the ordinance should be kept but would like to find ways for volunteers and citizens to help each other out before it became an issue.

PETER:  He does feel that it is right but points out that he doesn’t get a “comfy feeling” in this town.

Q:  Do you feel that a city administrator is necessary for Belle Plaine?

DAVE:  He feels that a city manager is needed in a town this size.  He also pointed out that he isn’t sure that the Main Street Project would have happened without the administrator’s                               position.

CRAIG:  He is very in favor of the position.  He feels the same way as Dave does on the matter.

HAROLD:  The mayor and council people are part time so who would you talk to with the city if there is a problem if there is not an administrator to go to?   “The city can’t run without a                             city manager”.

GARRISON:  He is very in favor of the position.  He feels you have to have a professional  full-time who can look out for the community.

PETER:  He mentioned that of the 38 towns our size that he looked at, 16 do not have city administrators.  “People-People”  He feels that their are too many excuses and not enough                                  accountability.  He would like to know who is accountable at City Hall. He feels people are what make the town, not politics.

APRIL:  She’s not sure, she would need to see the job description.

MARY:  She would like to see how things work between city council and the city manager.  She wonders who makes the decisions.

Q:  What do you plan on doing for young citizens?

MARY:  She feels the key issue to success is new families.  Be more welcoming.  Attract people to town.  Make it a place people want to come:  make people feel welcome.

APRIL:  She feels we have a lot of good things already, like the parks, schools, and aquatic center.  It is up to citizens as well.  She would like to see a welcoming committee, business  days                   “Come together and do it”.

DAVE:  He feels that the aquatic center, quality schools, full time parks and rec department can help sell ourselves as a bedroom community.  “This is the town to live in in Eastern Iowa”

CRAIG:  He feels that filling the Benco building is extremely important, but we are on the right track.

HAROLD:  He pointed out that the owners of the Benco building wouldn’t even talk to us prior to a couple of months ago.  It will be a problem to get somebody to take over that big                                      building.

GARRISON:  “We love the town and want more people like me here”. (Meaning young families who like where they live) That will fill houses.  He feels he is a good spokesman for the                            community.  “I’m living the dream”.

PETER:  The park and rec department here needs new programs.

Q:  Snow Emergency Policy:  Do you approve of it or would you like to make some changes to it?

MARY:  She feels it is inconvenient and unfriendly.  She would look for alternate solutions with more flexibility. She would like to hear from the people and listen to peoples suggestions.

APRIL:  She would like to see the parking go to an even/odd schedule during snow emergencies.

DAVE:  He feels it needs to be addressed.  The Street Department and the council need to have a meeting.  Residents in the downtown area are his greatest concern.

CRAIG:  He knows that the policy is not totally perfect, and there are always going to be parking problems.

HAROLD:  He also knows it is not a perfect solution but knows that the snow plows only have a certain amount of time to get the streets plowed.

GARRISON: ” We’ve got clean streets in the winter, I like that”.  “The beauty is we can tweak it and work at a solution”.  “Think outside the box”.

PETER:  He feels it is necessary.  It can be looked at. Get peoples input, and get it resolved.  He would like to see a bulk mailing to inform citizens of the towns activities.

Q:  How do you feel about City Cleanup Day?

PETER:  He feels it is important that it is a good use of city crews.  There need to be hard and fast rules.  It is a real asset to the community.  He doesn’t feel there should be a charge for it                        except for the larger items.

GARRISON:  He is in favor of it but not in favor of the cost to the city.  He feels we need to come up with a better way to do it.  It is a waste of city resources as it is.  He thinks possibly                                       finding a central point for everyone to bring there items may be the answer.

HAROLD:  He pointed out that the state cut road use money.  When the money isn’t there, a budget has to be followed.

CRAIG:  He said the funds just weren’t there.  The manpower and the cost of running it were too costly.  He would like to find another way to look at it.

DAVE:  “I like it”.  “It’s going to come back”.  He wants to make it cost effective.  “If I’m elected, it’s coming back”.

APRIL:  She is for it.  She mentioned that its pretty entertaining to see.  She knows there needs to be a more cost effective way to do it.

MARY:  She is for it.  She suggested maybe business volunteers could take it on.

Q:  How are you planning to attract new businesses?

MARY:  She feels we need to look within our community, talk to people, find creative ways.

APRIL:  She thought the best way to do this would be to find out what other towns are doing right.

DAVE:  He feels we need to utilize the city manager, Priority One, and BPCDC.  Send messages out by blogging, letters to existing businesses, and talking seriously to any interested                   business no matter how big they are.   It will be an ongoing process.

CRAIG:  He feels what has been done is an important step.  These are hard economic times and we will have to try harder.

HAROLD:  “If I had a solution to this, I’d be a rich man”.  “We’ve been trying, if somebody here has a suggestion, we’d be willing to listen”.

GARRISON:  He thinks we should come together as a team.  People need to see a team environment.  “Team concept is a big thing”.

PETER:  “I’m very passionate about people”  Making people the key issue, networking, finding out what the people would like to see, putting  people to work in our town.

The candidates each had 2 minutes to summarize their thoughts.

DAVE:  The community has made great strides.  He feels he is public oriented.  He is retired and volunteering as assistant girls basketball coach so he would have time to work with the city                 manager.    He knows it’s not an easy job.  “I will remember I work for the public and not the other way around”.

GARRISON:  He says he will represent the people.  “I do have a family-vested interest here”.  “Belle Plaine has made me a better person.  I’m here for you and I’m going to represent you”.

HAROLD:  “I’m not a big talker and would like to let what I do speak for me”.  “Every vote I have made was for the citizens”.

APRIL:  “I am approachable.  I will speak for you.  I will work for you”.

PETER:  He had several points:

• regain trust of the people
• provide support
• let people know what’s going on
• help build a strong sense of community
• explore video taping town meetings
• promote use of natural resources (rec department)
• strong involvement of human resources
• get larger council to represent town

MARY:  She admitted that the process of running for office has been fun.  She enjoys people telling their issues.  Her main focus is to keep the cost of living affordable, utilize excising                    assets to the city, and to follow the money and how the city is spending and receiving it.  She has a willingness to listen and would like to see more interaction between citizens                           and the city officials.

CRAIG:  “It’s great to see more people concerned about our town”.  He feels that not many people attend City Council Meetings and would like to see this type of turn out at those.  “I try to                     make good decisions with no ax to grind”.

At the end of the forum, the candidates were available to speak with individually. 

The Community Center did not empty very quickly on Tuesday evening, so I can only assume that the individual candidates were receiving and answering specific questions from the audience.

I am so glad that the Belle Plaine Community Development Corporation hosted this event.  I personally have a better insight into who to vote for on Tuesday, November 8th.  I grew up in a household that was very proud of the right to vote.  My father feels that if you don’t vote, you have no right to complain about how things are proceeding in our local, state, or national governments.  He instilled in me the responsibility each person has in the voting process.  I vote because I feel it is necessary to the quality of life we have in the United States, in Iowa, and in Belle Plaine.  I take this right seriously and have been concerned about my upcoming voting decisions.  After Tuesday evening’s forum, I feel I am now ready to cast my vote.  I feel so much more informed as to each candidates opinions.

By Kim Blink

After watching an episode of Hoarders on T.V., I decided it was time for me to go through a plastic tote of notebooks, finished assignments, and textbooks I had been keeping for the past eight years.  I had attended Kirkwood in 2003-2004 and had not thrown away a single assignment, Power Point, flyer, note, or book.  “This is ridiculous!” I said to myself.  “Will I ever use any of this again?” I started vigorously pulling everything out of the plastic tote.  As I sat on the living room floor with “organized” piles around me, I had a compulsion to look at each pile before I was willing to toss it.  (If you’ve ever watched Hoarders, you know it is never a good sign when the homeowner is not willing to let go of anything until he or she has gone through it.) Of course, at the time, this similarity never crossed my mind.  The first pile was pretty easy.  It was information and assignments from a class that I had hated, no problem, recycle bin here it comes! Then I dug into the next pile, these items where from my favorite class which happened to be English Composition.  There were several examples of my writing, and I started to read them.  As you may have already suspected, all of my good intentions where gone.  I got engrossed in the rereading my work. I came across a story that is still valid today.  I had titled it, This is Our Town.   Don Drahos was a wonderful source for this article and I quote him throughout.  Keep in mind as you are reading this that some of the people and their roles in our town have changed, but the same feelings are still there for me and a lot of people in Belle Plaine.

As I watch my seven year old daughter speed down the sidewalk on her bike, smiling and enjoying life on our quiet neighborhood street, the decision to move our family to small town Belle Plaine has once again proven to be the right one.

Being citizens of a small town comes with some responsibilities.  Residents of small towns must support their communities if we want more for our children than closed businesses, boarded up shops and a declining school enrollment.  We, as a small town Iowa community, should be concerned enough about our environment to want to contribute to the effort of bringing new business to town.  Keeping Belle Plaines’ schools from having to consolidate and the hope of having our home town kids return to Belle Plaine after they’ve completed their schooling are both concerns that would benefit from community support.  The feeling of community pride would be an added benefit.

People of Belle Plaine should not consider their town as just a place to lay their head at night.  “Bedroom communities look like ghost towns during the day since most residents drive 10 to 60 miles to a larger town for work.  Unfortunately, commuters have little time or energy to participate in the community or even to neighbor with the people who live next to them.  It is much more convenient for them to buy gas, groceries, a new faucet for the bathroom sink, and clothes for the kids in their work town rather than in the hometown” (Besser).  Even if it hurts a little, people of a community need to give back to that community.

If people were willing to give just ½ hour a week of their time toward something that would benefit their community, so much could be accomplished.  Don Drahos, a local business owner, hometown son, and resident, is in charge of the Main Street Revitalization Plan for Belle Plaine.  The Main Street Revitalization Group has a mission statement that reads “Looking to make Belle Plaine the place for raising a family, locating a business, shopping, recreation, and retirement”.  Drahos points out that the Benton Development Corp. is slowly working toward their goal of getting the downtown area revitalized by the year 2020.  As Drahos talks about the groups accomplishments and plans, I’m reminded of the old Aesop’s Fable, “The Tortoise and the Hare” with the moral being, slow and steady wins the race.

Drahos gives anywhere from one to ten hours a week to this volunteer program (Drahos).  The community needs to help him and the group of volunteers who give to the program.  Maybe not specifically with Main Street Revitalization, but with any project that will help the community.  We need to combine our efforts as a whole and work in connection with each other.  If one part of the community benefits, it spills over into the other parts (Drahos).

If you as a resident just don’t have the time to give of yourself, support your town by buying gas and groceries here.   Go out to eat at our local restaurants, utilize the proprietors we still have.  Belle Plaine has the King Theatre and a bowling alley that can provide an enjoyable night out.  We cannot watch our town fade away.  If the businesses that are here are prosperous, other businesses will be more willing to consider locating here.  It will take time, but we will be moving forward.

Even if we go about supporting our community in different ways, the focus will still be on supporting our community.  “We’ll have a fellowship” (Drahos).

Belle Plaine schools are dealing with a drop in student enrollment.  Fewer students translate to fewer state funded dollars.  “The district will receive less than half the money it has seen in the past through the state-funded Phase III Program” (Orvis).  This leaves our school struggling to find ways to cut expenses or raise revenues.  More often than not, schools in our same predicament are forced to cut programs and/or staff.  More dramatic, but not infrequent, measures include school closings, school consolidations, and district reconfigurations (“Declining Enrollment”).  Keeping our local school running efficiently should be a priority for the whole town.  Small school students equal or out perform large school students.  Many small schools are in rural areas, but researchers have concluded that it is the smallness of the school, not its setting, that makes it successful.  Large schools function like bureaucracies, small schools more like communities.  Small school students are less likely to fell alienated and more likely to report a strong sense of belonging.  Kids are not the only ones who are alienated by large schools.  Parents are as well.  Studies have found that small schools’ parents are more likely to be involved in their child’s education and to volunteer at the school.  Closely connected to a strong sense of belonging, students at small schools have higher attendance rates.  Small schools graduate more of their students.  In Nebraska, only 3 percent of those attending high schools with fewer than 100 students dropped out, compared to a statewide average of 15 percent.  Studies have found that participation in extracurricular activities improves attendance and academic performance.  Students at small schools exhibit higher rates of participation in extracurricular activities and individuals participate in a wider variety of activities (Mitchell).

If the community of Belle Plaine can come together as a team, important things can be accomplished.  If the downtown area prospers, so do our schools.  If our town is attractive to business people looking to expand and to people starting new businesses, this will bring in new families to Belle Plaine and new families mean higher enrollment in our schools.

Just because we live in a small town does not mean we have to do without conveniences of the modern world we live in.  Small towns and the modern world can co-exist.  With today’s technology and ingenuity there is no reason computer-based businesses cannot locate and prosper here.

If we have growth in our town, we will attract good people who want to raise families here.  There will be a better chance that some of our children will come back here to live and raise their families after they’re through with school.  I want my children to have the opportunity to raise their children in Belle Plaine, if that’s what they want to do.

The community support of Belle Plaine can be effective.  We need to keep in mind that it will sometimes be an uphill battle, but the results will definitely be worth it.  Local volunteers have already got the ball rolling.  The downtown is looking better all the time.  There are approximately 10 new businesses in town since the year 2000 (Drahos).  One volunteer sweeps the sidewalks and streets of Main Street almost daily.  Others are on a mission to kill all the weeds that tend to grow up from cracks in the cement and pavement.  Planters have been filled with beautiful, vibrant, flowers and a local volunteer takes responsibility for their nourishment and growth.  A local artist has painted historic scenes on cement receptacles depicting such things as the great fire of 1894, the Jumbo Well, and Preston’s Gas station.  There is a local man who considers it his job to make sure all of the Main Street flags are waving in the wind.  On windy days he can be seen walking up and down the street using a long pole to unwrap the flags as the wind whips them around their poles.  As soon as the weather started warming up this spring, people would approach Drahos and ask when the flags would be going up.  I consider this a sign of community pride.  Main Street is looking better all the time thanks to the volunteers.

In 1894, a devastating fire destroyed most of the business district in Belle Plaine.  The community united and within 5 months celebrated the reconstructed Belle Plaine with the theme “From Ashes to Elegance” showing true community spirit (Benton Development Group).  We as a community today should follow our predecessor’s example and come together to preserve a way of life.

In closing, I would like everybody to remember that this was written quite a few years ago and Belle Plaine has accomplished so much in between now and then.  We have the new pool, Partners for Beautification was created and have put up town welcome signs and planted trees.  Wall Dogs have decorated our downtown buildings with unique works of art; the museum has a wonderful sculptured wall.  There has been the creation of a city administrator and the Belle Plaine Development Corporation with a full-time director.  A new streetscape has been built, and façade restoration in ongoing. We are a Main Street Iowa town. The Museum was built and is already adding an addition.  Businesses have changed hands with some new ones having been opened.  There have been additions and improvements made to the High School building and Longfellow.  Our children no longer have to attend a school building filled with asbestos. If I have left any of Belle Plaine’s accomplishments out, please forgive me.  The ones mentioned where just off the top of my head.

If we choose to look at the changes with the right attitude, this can be an exciting time to be part of the Belle Plaine community.

Between fifteen and twenty years from now, I’m going to be telling grandchildren (hopefully) about the summer of 2011 when Main Street was back to a dirt street and construction was creating hardships for our downtown businesses.  I’ll tell the kids that the people of Belle Plaine have a strong pride and businesses owners did what was best for their community looking toward its future.

Master of None
by
Jeff M. Brown

“One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.”          - Bob Marley

“Obviously, Bob never went for a long drive with my wife and me.”        - Jeff Brown

80’s Explosion Road Trip

Disclaimer: The lyrics in the following column were, in fact, harmed by mine and my wife’s less than stellar singing voices.  In a few extreme cases, the songs were rendered unrecognizable.  (For the record, I don’t think I’m as guilty as Vick.  My voice is way better than hers.)

We’re goin’ ridin’ on the freeway of love

Wind’s against our backs

I was at the wheel and Vickie was riding shotgun.  She popped in her 80’s Explosion CD.  Pretty soon we were jammin’

Celebrate good times, come on!

It’s a celebration

Celebrate good times, come on!

Let’s celebrate

I shot Vick a wily smile and asked, “Are Kool & The Gang still around?  Their music was so melancholy; I hope they didn’t commit mass suicide.”

“I’m pretty sure they’re still alive,” she said, rolling her eyes.  “I think they play at county fairs this time of year.”

“Really?”

“I have no idea.”

Ain’t nothin’ gonna break my stride

Nobody’s gonna slow me down, oh-no

I got to keep on movin’

Ain’t nothin’ gonna break my stride

I’m running and I won’t touch ground

Oh-no, I got to keep on movin’

“This one reminds me of when you’re shopping, Vick.  I can’t keep up because you’re so intense about finding bargains.”

She fired back.  “What happened to that sweet man I married not so long ago?  You know, the one who was…

Too shy shy

Hush hush, eye to eye

Too shy shy

Hush hush, eye to eye

Too shy shy

Hush hush, eye to eye

Too shy shy

Hush hush”

“Now he’s,” she continued, “some kind of…

Super Freak, super freak

That guy’s a super freak

Ohhhhh”

“Touché.  Whatever happened to the guy that sang that?”

“You mean Rick James?”

“Yeah, I think that’s him.”

“He’s dead.”

I clicked on the turn signal.  “Too bad, but maybe they’ll bring him back in Ghostbusters III.”

If there’s something strange

In your neighborhood

Who ya gonna call?

Vickie crinkled her forehead.  “Are they really going to make another Ghostbusters movie?”

“Yep.”

“I liked the Saturday morning Ghostbusters cartoon.”

“I watched that one too!  Slimer had a more prominent role in the cartoon than he did in the movies.”

“Slimer was cool.”

Sister Christian

Oh the time has come

And you know that you’re the only one

To say O.K.

“Okay, Jeff, what the heck does that mean?”

“I don’t know, but there’s an Old Navy TV commercial using the song right now.  I think it goes…

You’re wearing

A shirt that fits so right

College or pro, hey who’s that guy?

He’s got pizza, that’s alright”

“How did you remember that?”

“Well, it makes more sense than “you’re motoring.”  Maybe that’s why it stuck with me.”

Josie’s on a vacation far away

Come around and talk it over

So many things that I wanna say

You know I like my girls a little bit older

I just wanna use your love tonight

I don’t wanna lose your love tonight

“When did The Outfield come out with this one?”  I asked.  “Whenever I hear it, I flash back to junior high.”

“It must have been around ’85.”

“That can’t be right because I was in high school then.”

“I don’t know what to tell ya.”

Oh, baby now let’s get down tonight

Ooh baby, I’m hot just like an oven

I need some lovin’

And baby, I can’t hold it much longer

It’s getting stronger and stronger

And when I get that feeling

I want sexual healing

Sexual healing, oh baby

Makes me feel so fine

Vickie rubbed my shoulder seductively.  “How you doin?”

“I’m doin’ soo fine.”

But! – it’s poetry in motion

And when she turned her eyes to me

As deep as any ocean

As sweet as any harmony

Mmm – but she blinded me with science

Then, in the weirdest voice I could muster, I blurted out, “She blinded me with– with science!”

We both laughed.

As we did, it occurred to me how lucky I am to have her to be so goofy with.  Vickie popped out her CD and turned on the radio.  An old familiar Gerry Rafferty song was playing, so I turned up the volume.

I just wanna say this is my way

Of tellin’ you everything

I could never say before

Yeah this is my way of tellin’ you

That every day I’m lovin’ you so much more

‘Cause you believed in me through my darkest night

Put somethin’ better inside of me

You brought me into the light

Threw away all those crazy dreams

I put them all behind

And it was you woman

Right down the line

And as we cruised on down the highway, I put my arm around her.

The following is an article written by one of Belle Plaine’s life-long residents, Nancy Wright.  It is a privilege to include her remembrances in Belle Plaine Now. When I read what she writes, I can visualize our town as it used to be.  What wonderful memories she has shared! I sincerely hope she keeps sending us stories.

I am confident that you will enjoy this article as much as I did.

Kim Blink 

GOING TO TOWN ON SATURDAY NIGHT

A memorable part of a farm kids’ life in the 40’s and 50’s was going to town on Saturday night.  It was usually the only night we went to town (sometimes Wednesday), and then only in the warm months.  The following is what I recall.

Saturday afternoon was spent “getting ready”.  Mom put my hair up on tin curlers and her own in pin curls.  Dad got the eggs safely packed in the wooden case with gray paper dividers between the rows as well as all the cream collected in tall cans and put them into the car.  Mom made sure our clothes were starched and ironed.  We also took a tub for ice with a blanket to cover the ice to keep it from melting on the trip home.  We took a shopping list, usually called a tag, which was written on the back of an old calendar sheet and our big market basket used to bring home the groceries.  When the car was loaded, we “took off for town”.

As I got older, my parents took me to town in the afternoon, and I could go to the show.  It cost 10 cents for admission, 10 cents for popcorn, and 5 cents for a Holloway sucker.  We saw National Velvet, The Three Stooges, Hoppalong Cassidy, or Abbott and Costello. We laughed and laughed at Ma and Pa Kettle.

We wanted to be early “to get a good place to park”, usually this was in front of Klink’s Drug Store.  After depositing the cream and eggs at Bradshaw’s or Frazel’s, we would check out the parking places.  Our evening sometimes included supper at the Commercial Café on the west block of Main Street.  When I was little, they took my folding doll buggy and some dolls for me to push around. People told me later they remember me with the buggy.  Then the “parade” started.  We walked from The Commercial east—on the north side—past the old lady who sat on the sidewalk on hot nights (she lived above the Oasis at the first landing before Dr. Williams’ office), past an old man dressed in white on the corner by the artesian drinking fountain. He called himself Jesus (his real name was Ashby something).

Sometimes the band wagon (a sort of stage on wheels with steps and a roof) was pulled on to the corner.  People sat on the steps of Kurth’s Studio or across the street in front of Joe Dolak’s office or above the Kozy Korner to listen.  City Hall was up several steps on top of the Fire Station at the time.  I think it was high school kids on the wagon. I think polka music was played when we went to Luzerne or Chelsea.  Groups would be together talking in a foreign language.  A man named Mr. Kantor had a cloth bag full of “Watchtower” papers from the Jehovah’s Witness’ and he would try to sell you one.  Dad usually went to Thurm Ealy’s barber shop or across the street to Curt Ealy’s when needed.

Sometimes we stopped into Ditzler’s and ALWAYS at Clear’s.  They had peanuts roasting (we got Spanish; they were the most for the money) and we would get a couple kinds of candy in white sacks.  The candy counter was U shaped with glass dividers between the different kinds.  Each department had a cash register so you bought something and paid for it and then moved on.  Sections made by pieces of glass of varying lengths held together with metal clips made appropriate division for hair pins, safety pins, hair nets, embroidery thread, etc. Suitcases (as if anyone had a need for them), rugs, a few house dresses and aprons were in the back.  They sold “Blue Waltz” perfume in a heart-shaped bottle, finger nail polish with a plastic nail painted the color, eye brow pencils, hair dye, “Evening in Paris” in the blue bottle, Clark and O’Henry Bars, Baby Ruth, Cherry Mash, Walnettos, Chuckles.

You could buy a billfold with a picture of a pretty girl in it, a rabbit’s foot (usually dyed some color) for good luck, comic books, sun glasses, dishes, Vicks, Noxzema, Smith Brother’s cough drops (both cherry and licorice), elastic, Life-Buoy Soap, Camay, Cashmere Bouquet soap and talc, Toni home perms, Williams Shaving Soap, pure bristle shaving brush and mug, Luster Cream Shampoo, Old Spice and Brute, soap on a rope, Necco Wafers, Ipana tooth paste, Dentyne, Teaberry, Chiclets, Clove, Beeman’s Pepsin, and Black Jack gum, Mallo Cups, horehound candy, little wax pop bottles with sweet colored syrup inside, orange circus peanut candy, aluminum ice cube trays, leather key cases with little hooks that folded flat and had a snap, black hair nets that grandmas wore, black coin purses with two pockets that ALL grandpas and grandmas carried, red and white figured men’s handkerchiefs (for farm work use), shoe strings, Phel’s Naptha bar soap, Tangee lipstick and rouge, face powder and powder puffs, moth balls, moth ball candy, a big white round with a hazel nut inside, Pond’s cold cream, birthday cake candles and little hard frosting flowers that held the candles, enamel cookware, water bucket dipper, and Valentines.  At Easter they had live colored chicks, green Easter grass, egg shaped candies in bright colors and yellow Peeps candy chickens for sale. During Halloween there was taffy in black and orange papers with peanut butter in the middle, Halloween masks, red paraffin lips and white fang teeth for your Halloween costumes;

anything you might need.  At Christmas, they opened the basement and we waited to go to “Toyland”.  We went down wooden steps (the adults had to duck their head), made a turn, ran into the basement wall, and then turned left.  What a wonderland!  It was musty smelling and felt cold and damp.  We could pick out the toys we wanted Santa to bring.  I don’t know if they even sold toys the rest of the year.  I can’t remember. Can you close your eyes and remember?  What a wonderful place for a kid.

If there was a birthday party, we usually took a hankie, coloring book, Crayolas, jig saw puzzle, a Little Golden Book, or a book like “Five Little Peppers”, “Little Women”, “Five Cousins”, “Little Men” or “The Bobsey Twins” as a gift.  If it was a little kid, you could buy a big thick book of 365 Bedtime Stories (one for every night before bed).

Do you remember Ditzler’s, the smell and how they turned the lights off and on, and Wilbur locking the door and “Hi Kid” and Wilbur taking the money bag to the bank?

Then across the street to Woodward’s where Mr. Moeller was manager (we called the business people Mr. or Mrs.).  There we bought “everyday clothes” and yard goods for sewing.  If we needed women’s “good clothes” we went to Mrs. Connor’s.  She had stools where you sat down and she fitted the gloves.  The hose were behind the counter in flat cardboard boxes, and the clerk stretched the top over her hand to show the color.  Hankies were carefully folded and put in a flat white box that somehow folded into a square and hooked together to close.  Dad went to Miller’s—a men’s store.  They had a pressed tin ceiling and “Choppy” Nichols was there.  I loved the little boy Buddy Lee doll with overalls and a farmer’s cap that was in the window, so my dad bought it for me.

We probably took one more walk around—stopped to look at the jewelry at Fedderson’s and then stopped at Strawhorn’s Hardware.  After the walk around, sometime we sat in the car and “people watched”.  If people knew you, you would roll down the window and talk, or sometimes the women would get in your car and sit and talk a while.

By now, we—like almost everyone else—went to Klink’s for ice cream.  They had little round tables and wire chairs in the back of the store.  Just inside the door was a lovely marble counter backed by a huge mirror.  It had three spigots, one for Coke, one for fizzy water, and one for plain water.  A “goup” was one dip of ice cream in a Coke glass with chocolate sauce and a skinny spoon.  You could get a two dip Sundae in a tall tulip shaped glass or a banana split in a long glass dish.  Some men got a “Bromo”. This was an early Alka Seltzer type machine that came with a blue bottle inverted and a turn thing to let some into a glass. Water was added and served with an extra Coke glass so he could mix it one to the other.  A Green River was some lime syrup with fizz.  A lemon phosphate was the same except with lemon and fizz.  You could get Cokes in two sizes and add cherry, lemon, and fresh lemon (when they squeezed a piece of raw lemon in the Coke and then plopped it in a glass).  Some young kids got Coke with a squirt of chocolate syrup (chocolate Coke).  There was enough caffeine to keep a kid going the rest of the night!  Crushed ice came out of the fountain somewhere.  The round black lids came off the ice cream places.  Straws were in a tall glass thing with a chrome lid (it didn’t bother us they were not individually wrapped or someone might touch one).  When lifted, they fanned out and you could select one or two.  The Coke was sweet and strong and SO good.  You could buy a pint of “hand packed” ice cream to take home—but we usually got our “take home” at Mrs. Mall’s Iowa Café’.

Dr. Newland was usually having a Coke at the end of the counter.  He wore fancy clothes (to us) like brown and white Spectator Shoes and a tan summer hat with a printed hat band, and a light linen suit.  Nobody else we knew dressed like that.  Either they wore their navy blue suit for “good”, overalls, “wash pants” and a plaid shirt, or dress pants. Sometimes, on Sunday, the men would wear a new pair of overalls with a white shirt and tie and an older suit jacket.  To come to town, the women sometimes wore a hat, but usually a new wash dress,  print dress, or an older formerly “good dress”.  When we look back on school pictures of that time, the people in the gym were “dressed up” for the band concert or class play.  All the men wore suits, and held a hat.  The women all had hats and usually a gabardine suit, nothing like the way people dress now. Clothes were either “good”, “everyday”, “print dress”, “house dress”, “ play clothes”,  “chore clothes”, or “Sunday clothes”.

There were always people to visit with. Young men drove around and around to wave at girls.  Teens walked around hoping to “run into” someone they could flirt with.  Main Street was two-way back then.  At graduation time, the drug store (Nichols and Herjek) had all the senior pictures in the front window.

If you needed to write a check, there were pads from the various banks available and you just wrote it out.  No account number or ID needed.  Pencil was fine too.  You would just make it out to CASH and get the money.

Sometimes we stopped at Iverson’s—it was right between Clear’s and Ditzler’s.  Usually we stopped at Larry and Ann Jackson’s store by the Cornbelt.  I think it was called “Cash and Carry”.  Larry took care of the meat.  Sometimes we went to Jimmy Donolak’s Meat Market to get hot dogs.  They were homemade and the best.  We usually had our own meat so we didn’t buy much.  We made sausage and smoked hams.  Usually we just bought hot dogs and cheese or ring bologna.  Larry would slice off a hunk of cheese with a big knife, weigh it on a huge scale with a glass top, reach up and roll off some brown paper and pull down (from somewhere up high) string off of a huge spool, just enough string to tie up the package.  We always saved this string in an old small oatmeal box that we called the “string can”.  The women would tell the clerk what they wanted and the clerk would gather it from behind the counter, writing the price on an empty spot on a big sheet of brown paper that was on the counter to later add and get the total.  The same sheet was used until it was full.  Candy was in a glass case in the center.  I remember the big red coffee grinder, too.  But we had our own grinder and Grandma said it stayed fresh longer “in the bean”.

Coffee was a big thing in our lives.  A granite coffee boiler was kept on the back of the cob cook stove, always ready for friends or when the men came into the house.  Thick cream and sugar were always added.  The richest cream was kept in a special yellow pitcher and usually used only for coffee.  Then “lighter cream” was kept in the brown pitcher for cereal, fruit, etc.  If we had a crowd, egg coffee was made.  Aunt Helen had a big white granite coffee boiler with red trim.  She would measure teaspoons of coffee (always one for the pot, too) into a bowl, add a raw egg and some water.  Then when the water was boiling, in would go the whole lot and it would foam and then settle to the bottom.  That was good coffee!!! Sometimes they used a coffee bag which was a piece of old white dishtowel that had a casing for a drawstring sewn in the top to make a bag.  Coffee was put in then it was submerged into the boiling water—like a giant tea bag.

We had tea for supper—sometimes green and sometimes black.  We had tea leaves that were put in a silver egg-shaped tea basket or caddy that had holes all over and the top screwed off and on to put the tea inside.  A chain hung over the top of the pot.  Tea came in tin cans—yellow or green—A & P Brand (Atlantic-Pacific).  It was always made in a pot and poured into your cup.

After getting our groceries, it was time to get the cream and egg money. They would test the eggs and cream and would pay on the “grade” of the products.  This gave us spending money.  We would then take our cans and egg cases home to start over again.  We usually looked at the feed sacks while we were there to pick what print we would want next time.

Our last stop was the icehouse located by the railroad tracks and the coal bins across from the Legion Hall.  We had a 5-gallon galvanized tub in the trunk of the car.  With tongs, someone would get the ice for us.  The ice was covered with the old blanket we brought.  Sometimes we would stop at our locker and get corn, strawberries or meat we had “put up” earlier.  You had it sharp frozen and then they put it in your locker at the icehouse.  It was numbered and had a key.  When we got home we put the ice in the ice box.  There was a hole drilled in the kitchen floor for the melting water to drip out.  Ours was a newer white enamel kind—my aunt Florence had a big oak wooden one.  We didn’t get electricity until 1948.

When TV came into our lives, Sankot and Wiese had their store on the corner by the water fountain.  They would run the TV (black and white) facing the street and people would stand on the street and watch through the window.  Sometimes all there was to see was the test pattern.  How the world has changed.  It didn’t take much to amuse us then!  Some of the old expressions now seem like another language.

Back home from our Saturday night trip to await another Saturday night,  then it was church on Sunday, washing on Monday, ironing on Tuesday, and so on.
Thus, the cycle started again.  This is the way I remember it—our Belle Plaine and going to town on Saturday night.

It was an era of peaceful, safe and wonderful times.  It was truly like “Leave it to Beaver” and “Father Knows Best” days.  We didn’t worry much about anything—flu shots, hand sanitizer, air conditioning, drinking out of creek or tile or the water bucket. We didn’t use sunscreen, ear plugs, or seat belts.  We rode our bikes up and down the gravel hills, slid down steep hills on our sleds, went without shoes, and most of us farm kids had a pony. We drove tractors and played in the haymow, chased big old roosters, and went into the barn around big horses and cows.  We used roller skates on cement with no helmet or elbow pads.  We sat on the porch in the summer and played with paper dolls or jacks.  We wore boots in the mud and snow, big heavy winter coats, big heavy headscarves, big heavy mufflers around our face and nose.  All of the girls at Longfellow wore long brown cotton stockings and in really cold weather, slacks were worn under our dresses for recess.  We never wore slacks during class though.  We went to 1^st grade with Mrs. Beverly Hadenfeldt as our teacher in a small room that was partitioned off from the kindergarten room.  They used a paper board like bulletin board material that had no outside entrance.  In 4^th grade, with Mrs. Ester Grieder, we went upstairs two flights of old wooden steps.  We ate in the basement (I think the mothers brought home-canned food sometimes) and took our band lessons back in the furnace room.  We didn’t worry.  It was a wonderful time in our lives.

You may remember life differently.  This is what I recall.  I hope you lived in this wonderful time too.  Perhaps you grew up here and called Belle Plaine your hometown too.

Nancy Wright

Belle Plaine, Iowa

Formerly from Honey Creek Township in Iowa County

April, 2011

By Jeff Orvis

In reviewing some of my recent posts, I’ve noticed a trend. I’m spending a lot of time and space complaining. I try to be a positive person, but some of the things I’ve witnessed in the past few months make it difficult. I’m going to point out a few things here that bother me a bit. But I also hope to point out some of the beautiful things left in this old world.

I have been a fan of CNN for years. I rely on that network to present up-to-the-minute news day or night. Although live programming usually ends at 11 p.m., we know that if something big happens in the middle of the night, CNN will be back on with live reports.

Lately, I’ve become a bit disappointed in this news outlet. CNN and its sister network, Headline News, has devoted a staggering amount of attention to a murder trial in Florida. For those of you who have been living in a cave for the past couple of years, authorities accuse Casey Anthony of killing her young daughter. Casey Anthony is not the daughter of a head of state, or an heiress. By all accounts, she might be a troubled young woman who may or may not have smothered her daughter and stashed the body in the trunk of a car.

Unfortunately, this case doesn’t seem to be unique in a world where there is still way too much violence and lack of respect for human life. But somewhere along the line, some genius in a newsroom somewhere decided to play up this case and suddenly the courthouse is surrounded by network TV satellite trucks and spectators are fighting each other for a spot in line to sit in the courtroom.

Before you plan your day tomorrow around scheduled TV coverage of the trial, ask yourself this question: “How does this murder trial directly affect me or my hope of making my world a better place?” Murder trials usually drag on for months, if not years. During the time much of this country’s attention has been zeroed in on this non-remarkable event, dozens or maybe even hundreds of others have met a violent death. Where was the extended TV coverage for them?

Make no mistake. The death of any child is tragic. But aren’t we really doing a disservice to the memory of other victims by focusing so much attention on one routine murder case in Florida?

Another recent media-generated guilty pleasure involves the case of a New York congressman, Anthony Weiner. He finally admitted that he had sent improper text messages to several women and ultimately resigned from Congress. He didn’t represent my district. As far as I could determine, he would never have become a serious candidate for president. But just because a photo surfaced of a clothed portion of his anatomy, we all became anxious to see what would happen next in this incident.

While being a bit critical of CNN, aren’t we all growing tired of that yellow banner that seems to flash across the screen every hour that says “Breaking News.”? I always thought that breaking news was the term used to get our attention to an event that had happened within the hour. But the network is using it way too often. It’s like the old fable about the boy who cried “wolf.” After awhile, it loses its meaning. Anderson Cooper, you should know better. During Hurricane Katrina, you did a wonderful job of keeping local, state and federal officials honest in their bungling of aid to the citizens of New Orleans. You must want to choke when the hucksters in your control room flash the “Breaking News” banner across the screen for a story that actually broke 10 hours before.

As for our morbid fascination with the Casey Anthony and Anthony Weiner stories in this world, I have one question to ask: Don’t we all have better things to do? And don’t get me started on the explosion of “reality” TV shows. That’s for another time.

Personally, I have other things to be concerned with. I am still looking for a job that will take me to my retirement years. We are involved in several wars that are taking lives of our troops on a weekly basis. On a lighter note, I still have hope the Chicago Cubs can put it all together in the second half of the season and make a run at a pennant. And the NFL owners and players still are at odds, jeopardizing the most important season of the year – pro football season.

I promised to mention some of the more uplifting things happening in this world, so here goes. When I grow tired of worrying about murdered children, wacko politicians or pro sports, I wander out to the screened in porch and sit and watch the activity around our bird feeders. We have a colony of gold finches that stop by on a regular basis. At the other feeder at least a couple of hummingbirds visit regularly. It has been a long time since I saw a gold finch and it took 58 years for me to see my first hummingbird. And yesterday, our neighborhood was visited by a large red-tailed hawk, that perched on the roof of a neighboring building and sent out his plaintive cry for a half-hour or so.

Naked pictures of a New York congressman can’t top that.

By Jeff Orvis

This might be my last column. Please don’t misunderstand. It’s been a real pleasure being able to use this forum to vent my frustrations from time to time and at other times, to congratulate people for their good actions. I’ve had a Ramblings column for more than 35 years, in three newspapers, later on the internet and most recently on my own blog.

But according to the 89-year-old owner of the Christian Family Radio Network, the end is coming on Saturday, May 21. He says it should happen at about 6 p.m. But he doesn’t say if that’s eastern time, Mountain time or Zulu, whatever that is.

According to published reports, Harold Camping has calculated via some Bible verses and mathematics that we are less than two days away from extinction. He is so certain of this that he has posted the message on 2,000 billboards across the country and taken out a lot of big newspaper ads to warn us all.

The Orlando Sentinel reports that Camping had first predicted that the end would come in September, 1994. When most of us were still here the next day, he explained that he had uncovered new Biblical information, or news flash or revelation, that said that calculation was off.

I feel quite safe in continuing with this column. After all, if he’s right, he won’t be around to tell me “I told you so” and I won’t be around to listen. I would hope we would both have better things to do at that point in getting acquainted with our heavenly home.

I don’t mean to mock someone who studies the Bible. In a secular sense, everybody needs a hobby. In a spiritual sense, if you are a believer, you know Biblical study is vital to a better understanding of your faith. But in the limited understanding I have of the Bible and based on more than 50 years of listening to sermons from a variety of preachers, I remember hearing that God will take us in his own sweet time and we won’t necessarily know when that will be.

The Bible is a great book to study. But the danger is if you open the book and have a notion of what you want it to say, you might see something that really isn’t there. That explains that nut case in Florida who claimed he was doing God’s work when he planned on burning copies of the Koran. All this did was give the leader of a congregation of under 100 his 15 minutes of fame and prompted riots and the deaths of several people in the Middle East.

There have been numerous incidents where people have murdered doctors who performed abortions under the misguided theory that they were doing God’s work. Then there’s that nut case preacher in Kansas who feels compelled to stage noisy, irreverent protests near the funerals of war heroes, claiming to do the work of the Lord.

In the interest of full disclosure, I should point out here that I am a Christian. I believe that is the one guaranteed way to eternal life. But I would be the last to try to force my beliefs on others. In fact, I admire the dedication others show in their faith journey. There are hundreds of millions of Muslims in this world. I don’t agree with what they teach, but I admire the devotion of the vast majority of them who practice their religion in peace. My heart aches for the Jews and the persecution they went through in World War II. I don’t agree with their teaching, but admire their devotion. I may not agree with all of the teachings of the Mormons, but I think all of us could learn a lot on how they conduct their missionary teachings.

I draw the line at inciting riots, killing or dying “in God’s name” or mocking others who choose to practice their faith in peace.

I really don’t know if Mr. Camping is right. Maybe the second coming will be Saturday at 5:30 and when Mr. Camping asks God what happened to the 6 p.m. Schedule, He will say, “who’s in charge here anyway?”

But just in case he’s wrong, I plan on picking out my clothes Saturday afternoon for Sunday church. And I’ll begin thinking of what to write in this space next week. Just in case…