took me North 60 miles or so and another 10 miles east into Jackson County (Holton) and Brown County (Hiawatha). about 150 miles through smally populated farm country. The destinations revealed themselves for the most part with water towers that could be since 5 or 6 before reaching the towns.
For a state with significant Oil reserves in the South,Cattle ranches population the whole state, this could be considered the money belt of the state and I passed by 3 Indian Casinos before reaching my destination. I also drove through 1 Indian Reservation and skirted the borders of another. Hard core smokers for years have gone to the reservations for years to buy cheap off brand cigarettes. I was curious about the cost of gas on the reservations as they didn't have to deal with the state taxes. It was high $3.94 a gallon, I got gas on the way home of my 150 mile sojourn for $3.85 off the reservation. The view from the road was farm land,farm land and more farm land. A driving hazard can be getting stuck behind slow moving farm equipment on the highway where it's just impossible to pass. I was lucky today.
Holton, the county seat of Jackson County sits right on US -75. Burger King,multiple gas opportunities and Wal Mart line the road , a sign announces this stretch of highway through town is a Memorial Highway for a Purple Heart winner 1970.One disappointment is a restaurant advertised "The Biggest Cinnamon Rolls in Kansas" and "Home of the 150 Cinnamon Roll". It was closed , looked like it had been for years.
The court house sits on the town square and had a small farmers market in the corner of the square. Antique shops,barber shops ,auto stores surround the Court house that was built in the 20's. Across the street and I almost missed the sign was the Jackson County museum .The museums sits off the square in a red brick building,the museum opened for about 4 hours a day on weekends is 2 storefronts long and is filled with WPA Dolls,military uniforms,old school desks and a telephone operators station.
The joy of Holton came from the 75 cents I paid for the newspaper, It's published Semi weekly and sure there is the top of the fold story on whether to have a .05% sales tax increase for a community center and the letter to the editor from a former sheriff's deputy responding to an article about the Sheriffs department being investigated as a hostile work environment.
The true charm of this county wide newspaper was an 8 paragraph article on the big baseball game between Sabetha and Holton versus Legion Post 44,The Post team lost 15-9 and it sounds like it was an epic struggle. Sports page also contained pictures of girls summer volleyball league and scores . The editor wrote an article about how great Tiger Woods was in winning the US Open earlier in the week.
The paper serves Circleville,Delia,Denison,Effingham,Goff,Havensville,Holton,Hoyt,Larkinburg,Mayetta,Muscotah,Netawaka,Solider,Wetmore and Whiting. Populations by 2004 estimates are:
Holton, 3,345 (county seat) Hoyt, 587 Mayetta, 342Denison, 227 Whiting, 211 Delia, 184Circleville, 183 Netawaka, 169 Soldier, 123
To a person who grew up in a town of 125,000, these towns seem more like places that have names to the area than towns. But they have identities through schools,churches and if you think I just made a negative comment about small town America. They are places people call home and I think that is an important thing.
According to the paper in Whiting
"Abbey Bray spent one day last week at Grandma Brey's.They made sugar cookies and had lots of fun."
"Adam Bray hit the winning ball to the send the Whiting Boys over Wetmore last week."
"Gay Schumaker and Kallie Schumaker went to Topeka ib June 13 to attend the retirement of Debbie Schumaker from the Kansas Highway Patrol.She served the State of Kansas for 33 years.Happy Retirement Debbie."
If you don't think that type of news is important, I'd be willing to bet those notices and the notices about the White family going to Banner Lake for Father's day were probably clipped out of the paper by at least one person and given to the Brey,Schumaker and White's.
All that was missing was a whimsical,melancholy monologue from Garrison Keillor or playing a John Mellencamp CD while reading. And yes, un important stuff was covered, a editorial from Iola about how the Republicans voted for Big Oil Companies last week (and this is Red State American here) and Kansas ranks 10th in child care. I liked the paper a lot.
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