Moville Blog

My own look back

admin — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 12:59:50 +0000

As almost everyone knows I was raised in Moville, born in 1950, graduated from WC in 1968, and started calling somewhere else “home” after graduating from college in 1972. I moved back to Moville in 1982. I thought I’d share some random recollections of the 50’s and maybe 60’s.

Before 1963 Federated Church (now the Masonic Lodge) was the home to boy scout troup 259. After 1963 the meetings where held in the Methodist Church.

Moville had a train depo (early 50’s?) with a telegraph operator. Later the trains came in and ran the engine all night then backed up all the way to Kingsley. The tracks ran all the way out to the West Fork.

Between the tracks and Highway 141 there was a low spot with trees maybe 100 yards west of 141 opposite the city pool.

State Highway 141 ran all the way to Climbing Hill and it was gravel. So when speed limits came to be in 1959 (or was it 60?) The gravel had speed limit of 70 because it was a state highway.

Winters were harder and the city flooded a skating pond. First at the base of Memorial Park (The New Park) where Haskel Pool is now and later, early 60’s they flooded City Park (The Old Park). Not just the tennis court but the whole thing (yes you could skate right up to the metal pole supporting the swings or around the merry go round. To the best of my knowledge no one was killed.

The “Big Hill” (now Bleil Soccer Park) was the best sledding, but a couple of times the city closed off Elm between N 3rd and N 2nd for sledding. And added a little water or at least someone did. (Ka-zoom)

“Lover’s Lane” right above the “scout cave” was the best place to camp for an overnight.

When there were no houses between South Pearl and South Second, South of Miller (Yes, directly south of the New Park) it was the greatest place to fly a kite. Not too bad when the first houses went up on Miller as long as the wind was from the north.

There was a bridge game at the Arlington Club on Wednesday nights all winter. No, I didn’t play but my parents did. We were babysat Mrs. Strobein or Mrs. Plendle and got to watch the Wednesday Night Fights, and I Lead Three Lives on the TV.

The 75th Jubilee had a carnival set up on Main Street for three days.

The Van Norman Popcorn Wagon was best part of Friday nights during the summer.

The Gem Theater ran only on the weekends. I can remember getting in for a dime.

Huntings did home delivery. Mother called in her order and the groceries came later in the day. Hardly seems possible but most families only had one car, and if it was gone with “Dad” everyone else walked. Hence, home delivery. We became a “two car family” in 1966 with the purchase of 66 Ford Galaxy and the “non demise” of the 59 Ford Wagon.

Flood Zones

admin — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 11:53:34 +0000

I wrote a short Q & A on my law related blog regarding the FEMA flood mapping project. Here is the link:
http://blog.movillelawoffice.com/?page_id=106

Glenn

The polls that didn’t and Social Christians

admin — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 13:11:21 +0000

I have had this poll posted for several months regarding the Hyperion Refinery. Five votes, one of them mine. I think what that says is the foil: “Not a bit, it is too far away to have an impact (40%, 2 Votes)” should be declared the absolute winner on the basis of apathy. It won’t effect us for good or bad. Personally I think that is wrong I expect a very positive impact. But wait and see. In fact I think it could be such a good thing that it would be way to easy to get excited then let down if it does not happen. GAM (part two see below)

Assuming the Hyperion Refinery is built how will it affect Moville?

Grey Skies and bad air. I’ll probably need to move to Denison (0%, 0 Votes)
Significant growth and will be a bad thing. (0%, 0 Votes)
Significant growth will be a good thing. (0%, 0 Votes)
Moderate growth over the next three to seven years will be noticable. (40%, 2 Votes)
Very slowly, the trickle down effect of new support jobs in Sioux City will add to the bedroom community here. (20%, 1 Votes)
Not a bit, it is too far away to have an impact (40%, 2 Votes)

Total Voters: 5

My Next poll on Christmas lights drew no attention what-so-ever I answered it once and so did my secretary after I pointed it out to her. My point, totally lacking in a subtlety, was we seem to have a lot more Christmas lights then we do people in pews on Sunday morning. Daughter Amy refers to that as being Social Christians. She means it in a very positive way and adopts that posture herself. I believe any organization that adopts strong social principals, expounds and teaches those principals can be source of guidance. And may even be classified as a church. However for me to say therefore (and by my definition) 4-H is a Church leaves a lot to be desired … worshiping at the alter of Soup and Pie. In any case I’m out of the poll business for a while. (see the archives if you are interested.)

Moville Grocery Store (Chet’s)

admin — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 23:53:49 +0000

Having a “full service” grocery in Moville again after a 19 month absence is certainly a privilege. A privilege given to the community by the many people that contributed not only money but time and talents to make it a reality. A thank you to any individuals leaves open the very real possibility of ignoring someone with even a larger contribution. Our community has “answered the call” repeatedly in recent years as shown by the community center, new grocery, and new children’s equipment in the park. (Certainly there have been other projects and missing one, two, or more is just like the individuals above sorry in advance.) So now that we have what we have been missing how do we support it? I have adopted a personal shopping routine the past couple of weeks and it works for me. I make the weekly grocery list, then I go to Chet’s first. What is left on the list I take in to Sioux City. It is unrealistic to think that Chet’s can stock everyones’ favorites. They come very close to mine but there are a few things that are just not there. The point is to make the Sioux City grocery the “Convenience Store” and Chet’s the everyday store. It sure is convenient HyVee has the items I can’t find here, but that is no reason buy any thing extra while I’m in HyVee.

As Kent says: “That’s what I have been thinking about this week.” Glenn

Hyperion, a what do you think poll.

Glenn Metcalf — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 13:03:38 +0000

I posted a new poll this morning. The basic question is what will be the impact here if the Hyperion refinery is built. I threw out some packaged answers but I’d much rather have comments and postings. I don’t think worrying about it is even on the horizon for the town council here. And maybe that is good, there are a lot of short term issues that need to be resolved. But in fact we are not poised for significant growth. I don’t think anyone knows how many more housing units can be built and supported by the existing sewer lagoon system. We built a large water tower over 10 years ago. It was long over due, how much growth would mandate a second water tower? What population increase would panic the school administration? We treat increases in school population as a good thing, but how much of a good thing can we stand? New housing in Moville has been what I’d call upper middle class and above. Almost no moderate income new housing. Woodbury Ridge certainly filled a need but I suspect it could be filled three times over.

Please join in the conversation, post or leave a comment, if you think I am suffering from a severe case of Chicken Little Syndrome please say so, one of us will be right. And we may live long enough to find out.

Loess Hills Tour

admin — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 12:47:19 +0000

I have certainly been known to rant in this blog. Throw out my opinion and I feel better even if nobody reads it. But this time I’d like to rave. My sister in law came for a visit and my wife thought an organized tour of the Loess Hills would be a good start to her visit. Really I thought: “I can find a Loess Hill, I can point out it looks a lot like a snow drift. I know the Cedars are not native and DNR treats them like weeds (or gophers with a bounty) what else is there.” I was wrong. Susan contacted the Loess Hills Hospitality Association of Moorhead http://www.loesshillstours.com/ and set up the tour. (Yes I know it takes just over an hour to get to Moorhead. But it was worth it) The tour guide not only knew the facts about soil types, depths, vegetation and so forth but had pictures, and soil samples with her. She knew where the churches were tucked off the beaten path and a country school, still equiped. How to get from point A to point B with out back tracking. Where the best overlooks were and so forth. She explained that the guides get retrained each year so the facts are fresh and dates not guesses. The cost for a 2.5 hour drive was $45 paid to the Hospitality Association. The guide was a volunteer. The tour was worth the trip and the $45. I recommend it. GAM

A National (not local) Perspective

Glenn Metcalf — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 12:25:55 +0000

National politics have not been the meat of my writing but I recently came upon the following Calvin and Hobbs strip from 15 years ago. At the time I suppose it was thought to be funny, now … well you read it. (Click on the comic to make it bigger.)

Cleaning Up

Glenn Metcalf — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 14:07:50 +0000

It is Spring and everyone should expect the city council and employees to focus on the annual clean up message. While I often hear people say “We moved to a small town to get away from all the rules.” That is an unreasonable expectation. Everyone, everywhere is responsible for making their neighborhood presentable. Arguments for and against are not limited to small towns. Here is a link to an article in the Des Moines Register on the same issues and the characters could just as well be here, on both sides of the story.

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20090305/NEWS/903050367/1001/

Saving the City Money

Glenn Metcalf — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 13:43:38 +0000

I thought some might like to weigh in on the question of how to reduce the city budget. I have put a poll on the welcome page with five suggestions. Here are my comments on those. Please keep in mind the blogging acronym “IMO / YMMV” which translated is: In My Opinion / Your Mileage May Vary.

What City service would you reduce to lower the city budget?

City Pool hours or weeks of service?

The city pool’s expense exceeds its income by roughly $4000 a week. Truly, reducing the time it is open will not create a 1:1 reduction in cost but there will be some, up to a point of diminishing returns. For example being open only four weeks might make it hard to find guards, but if you paid them $25 an hour instead of $7 the problem might not be insurmountable.

Police hours (days) of service?

Again there are trade offs reducing hours of local service in a random way may allow for reducing costs and still deter crime but response time for routine calls like domestic violence would go up.

Garbage collection (mandate recycling)?

The City pays two fees for garbage collection. One is paid to the company that drives the route and picks up cans. The second is a tonnage fee charged by the landfill. If every household would make an effort to recycle every possible item, taking time sort our magazines and catalogs, wash out cans and plastic bottles we could save on the tonnage. It is possible we could change the pickup to once every two weeks for everything else.

Snow removal from streets?

Once upon a time icy streets were an accepted part of winter. If we only removed large snow falls, the ones an experienced driver can not drive through, they would be again. There would be savings, too.

Frequency of utility billing?

We once billed city services quarterly now its monthly. Yes, the bills are bigger now, but so is nearly everything else. Quarterly billing requires budgeting by the home owner. Also to be successful the city must back it up with a very “tough” attitude toward late payment. But would it save money? Sure it would.

Another Solution, add a comment.

Add a comment here for or against or better yet share other ideas. When I worked for (W) there was a program called “BAD” ideas which simply meant “Buck A Day”. If a change could save one dollar a day, the idea was evaluated and implemented, if the cost of implementation met certain standards. The emphasis was that small savings add up.

Snow Removal

BobB — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 04:50:00 +0000

We are relatively new to Moville. A little over 3 years. We love the town and the people,

but above all, we are impressed by the quality and promptness of snow removal. We

have lived in many places. Mostly large cities and the snow removal service in Moville

is by far the best. My stocking cap is off - and I salute the folks who do this cold,

hard work. Thank You.