A Barnard Reflection for 2011

I can’t say this is the end of my first year in Barnard, but it is the first time I can say that I am ending the year as a resident of Barnard.  I grew up in a small town so I like to say that it was easy to adjust to life in a small town, but in truth, it has been difficult because between Berryton and Barnard, there was Osage City, Emporia, Los Angeles, Strong City and Wichita.  Each of these cities or towns has their own personality and something that makes them an important part of my life.

Barnard is a microcosm of all of these places.  I know some jaws just dropped at that statement so I will explain.  Each of the cities and places I listed above has many facets, both good and bad.  When I make a comparison between them all, there are some commonalities.

Barnard has great people and well, some down right awful people…just like any other town.  The vast majority of my personal experiences here have been extremely positive and there are people here that I’ve come to treasure.  Of course, there are a few that have caused me to memorize the Serenity Prayer.

Politics happen.  We have our leaders, our dreamers, our bullies, and our sheep.  We have nobleness and crookedness.  We have those that work for the betterment of the community and those that service a personal agenda.  Sounds familiar, right?  That is the way it is everywhere.

Scandal. Yes, we have it.  Much of it is very interesting.  None of it will be discussed here.  But you see…it is everywhere.

Diversity…yes, diversity.  Barnard really does have diversity.  There is religious tolerance and there is cooperation between denominations.  There is an acceptance of different people.  Could there be more?  Yes, but I am surprised at how much there really is.  We do have rather limited diversity in the racial and ethnic areas. However, the vast majority of the population here is very welcoming.

Music plays a vital role in our community from church music to entertainment.  The Von Watson Family Singers (thank you Vicki for coining that name), Kenny Wallace, the Coovers, and other countless musically talented people make our community that much brighter.  It may not have a Tower Records, but music is really prominent.

Family is powerful here.  Not always in the traditional ways but powerful just the same.  That is actually probably the biggest reason I live here.  I miss having shopping centers, movie theaters, and restaurants within minutes of my home, but there is something about walking into a family member’s house and having my nephews jump into my arms.  Last night, there was a family dinner and I looked around the table and thought how nice it was to sit down to a full table for dinner.

At this point, if I could click my heels together and say “there’s no place like home,” I don’t know if Barnard would be where I would land.  I’m still adjusting.  However, I do believe that I will never live in any other town and that there is much happiness in store for me here in Barnard. And someday…sooner or later…when I click my heels three times and say that familiar phrase…Barnard will be the place I return to.

May Barnard and all those who care about it, have a Happy New Year full of love, laughter, and promise.

Barnard Banter Readership

I want to thank those of you that live locally for supporting the blog. I also want to extend a thank you to our global friends who find this blog interesting enough to come back and read more.  Currently, the Barnard Banter is read regularly in 13 different countries around the world.

United States
Russia
Germany
Sweden
India
The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico
Australia
Czech Republic
United Kingdom
Latvia
Malaysia
Republic of China (Taiwan)
Venezuela

If I have left anyone out, I apologize.  Thank you again.

Familiar, Similar, but...Different

Does this look familiar to you?

Do you think it is this?

If you think it is the Barnard water tower, you would be wrong, but excusably so.  The structure on the horizon that looks so familiar to Barnard is, in fact, the Mahaska, Kansas water tower.

Mahaska is a community of just over 100 people located northeast of Belleville, KS.  The Mahaska water tower, like Barnard's, was a WPA project.  It was built in 1940.  It is currently still in use.  While we were looking around the tower, Jim Hunt, its caretaker arrived.  He does the maintenance on the tower and his wife, a former Mahaska mayor, does its paperwork.  Like me, Jim thought that Mahaska's tower was the only one left of its kind out of the three built.  I told Jim that the Kansas State Historical Society is how I found out about the tower.  He was unaware that the Kansas State Historical Society even knew the Mahaska tower existed. 

Jim told me more about the tower.  His family has been maintaining it for some time.  About 1992, a fiberglass liner was added which prevents water coming into contact with the concrete and preventing chlorine from leaching into the concrete.  There is evidence that previous to the fiberglass liner, there was water damage very similar to what ours has sustained.  However, Mahaska has repaired the damage and continues to monitor it for new damage.  The exterior of the tower has been painted to seal it and one of the windows has been covered to prevent air leakage as two furnaces run to keep it at a non-freezing temperature.  There is not a separate pump house.  All of those functions are housed in the tower itself.  The tower was built over the original well that provided the water for the city.  The current source of water is just to the north of the tower.

Mahaska citizens take great pride in their water tower.  After all, it isn't every community that has such a structure.  They are very proud to have such a unique structure.  Shouldn't we?

One last comparison of the two towers...

Barnard

Mahaska

The United States Postal Service

On October 3, 2011, the United States Postal Service held a meeting to discuss the discontinuance of the Barnard Post Office.  Barnard residents and postal customers came and made their dissension known.  My distinct impression is that the postal representatives addressed us as if closing our post office was a forgone conclusion.  I don't think they were expecting the resistance they met.  Many other communities across the United States expressed that same resistance that would have made Benjamin Franklin proud.  The United States Postal Service's first postmaster must be spinning in his grave.

The USPS announced on December 13th that the postal service would delay any consolidation or closure of post offices or distribution centers until May 15, 2012 in order to give congress time to pass legislation.  Will that save the Barnard Post Office or any other office around the country?  That remains to be seen.  According to a source in USPS management, once a post office made the discontinuance list, there was never any intention of taking the office off of the list.  The meetings held were essentially lip service.  USPS headquarters never had any intention of allowing an office to escape the gallows. 

Enter the PR nightmare and legislators.  The public outcry and congressional pressure were great enough that the USPS backpedaled slightly and spared some post offices then later suspended plans altogether until Congress could figure out the issue.  Kansas Senator Jerry Moran led the movement to prevent the closures.  Would the closures happened without congressional interference?  Was this a ruse to cut cost or to stir Congress into action?  Will the closures still happen?  Time will tell.  However, it is clear that the issue has not been resolved and we should not assume that the Barnard Post Office is here to stay.


Note:  The USPS has forbidden its local employees to comment on the closures except to provide information approved for distribution.  None of the information in this posting was obtained from any person affiliated with the Barnard Post Office.

Music Jam and Card Party on January 7th

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"Waste and Taxes" submitted by Charlene Watson

I want to share this article from the April 1952 entitled, “Waste And Taxes.” --- It has been said, “What does around comes around comes around.” This article could have been in today’s newspaper except that the waste now is so many times greater now than it was at that time. What would we have thought if we could have seen then what is happening today?

Waste and Taxes

“This snapshot on taxes and how tax money is wasted has been provided by John S. Knight: ‘When you realize that the federal government today employs 2,500,000 people at the cost of more than $666,000.000 a month; that one of every five citizens receives some form of income from the government; that $1 out of every $4 we earn goes for taxes to support the federal government and that about $1 out of every $10 spend it being wasted, it’s time to do something.

"We have 29 federal agencies lending money, 28 handling welfare projects, 16 in wildlife preservation, and 50 compiling statistics. One agency has enough light bulbs to last 93 years, and another has enough loose-leaf binders to last 247 years. One bureau has 24 supervisors for every 25 employees. It’s your money! What are you going to do about it?

"Well, the answer to that last query is not very much. The American taxpayer has been in a curious state of mind for years now – a condition which we have called punch drunk for want of any better term. But he has allowed himself to be bamboozled into paying the highest taxes of history by government administrations which continually harp on emergency – and while he squirms and squawks as the tax feather come off, he does little about the matter.

"In this presidential election year, he is likely to be bamboozled into voting for the same spendthrift crowd in Washington again by the wiles and clever pleas of politicians. But if he persists in helping to keep the same gang in office by his vote, his playhouse and that of the nations is in great danger of toppling over.

"Why he won’t see it --- on the basis of plain arithmetic, if nothing else – is something difficult to understand.’” (Article attributed to the El Dorado Times).

P.S. – I love that term, “bamboozled.”  It fits our government in 2011 just like it did in 1952 only more so.  –(Charlene’s Freelance Publications).

"Too Much" submitted by Charlene Watson

Too Much of Everything

(No author given)

“Too much oats and too much wheat, too much corn and too much heat.

Too much cotton and too much oil, too may hours we don’t toil.

Too many highways, too many cars, too many people behind the bars.

Too much poverty, too much wealth, too many people in ill health.

Too much politics, too much booze, too many wearing high-heeled shoes.

Too many loafing, too many bets, too many failing to pay their debts.

Too many living beyond their means, too many buying canned corn and beans.

Too many hiring their washing done, too many playing bridge for fun.

Too many sowing their wild oats, TOO MANY CANDIDATES OUT FOR OUR VOTES.

Too many people looking to Uncle Sam.

Too many people don’t give a damn.

Too much buying of goods on time.

Too many people don’t save a dime.

Too much ball and too much play, too many politicians on big pay.

Too many taxes, too much spent, too many folks spend every cent.

Too much reform and too much law. It’s the darndest mess you ever saw!”

    

If this doesn’t sound like last night’s news, I don’t know what does! You could almost expect the next line to read:

“Too much cheating in Wall Street markets, too many politicians lining their pockets.

Too much trading under the table, making our finances more unstable.

Too much Fanny-May and Freddie-Mac, too much corruption behind our back. 

Too many politicians with their hands outstretched waiting for handouts at our expense.

Too many taxpayers getting the shaft and left to swim without a raft.

Fire the politicians on the take! Make them pay for their mistake. Power to the people and the Constitution, bring back faith in our great nation. Bring back patriotism, honor to the flag and lift it high in jubilation. Honor our troops for service given and sacrifice made. Call a club a club and a spade a spade.

Bring back pride in the Red, White, and Blue, praising God and Country too.” Well, those are my thoughts, how about you?” – AMEN!

(If some of this doesn’t rhyme, don’t tell me because I don’t want to know. -- Charlene’s Freelance Publications, Barnard, KS.)

Johnson Brothers of Barnard

I came across these collector plates from the Johnson Brothers store in Barnard.

Here is a brief biography of the Johnson Brothers that I found online taken from a book circa 1900.

JOHNSON BROS. (STEPHEN J. & JOHN W.)

JOHNSON BROS., Barnard, Kansas

Dealers inGeneral Merchandise

Our Motto: Honest Goods, Honest Dealings

Messrs. Stephen J. and John W. Johnson of this firm were born in Hawkins County, Tennessee, in the foothills of the Cumberland mountains. They moved with their parents to Appanoose county, Iowa, in the year 1868, and in the spring of 1874 removed from there to Mitchell county, Kansas, and located with their parents on a homestead about twelve miles west of Barnard. They started in the mercantile business in Barnard about seven years ago, and have enjoyed a splendid business and made many warm friends in and around town. They are well known throughout Lincoln and Mitchell counties through their long residence in both. (History of Lincoln County, page 87, submitted by Joel Criag)

BARNARD CITY COUNCIL MEETING DATE CHANGED!!!!!!!

The Barnard city council had to postpone its meeting date to Monday, January 9, 2012 at 5 pm in the Barnard Community Building.

Barnard Water Tower Needs YOUR Support

Dear Barnard residents and other interested persons,

In October, the Barnard city council voted to submit a proposal to tear down the historic WPA built Art Deco water tower and replace it with a grant/bond issue built standpipe.  Many of you have expressed to those of us working to save the tower that you do not want the tower to be torn down.  Twenty-six of you have signed a document to support the saving of the water tower.

Those that are trying to save the tower are not saying that we do not need a new tower/standpipe, but we do not agree that the current tower must be torn down.  The Kansas Preservation Alliance, Kansas State Historical Society, and agencies at the federal level have expressed an intense need to save this structure.  Not only is it of local significance, but it is of historical significance statewide and nationwide.

Wednesday, January 4th, is your opportunity to show your support for the restoration of the Barnard water tower.  The document of support does not commit you to any financial responsibility but does show that you want to see the water tower preserved.  If you have not signed it yet, please consider doing so.  You can contact us at barnardbanter@aol.com if you have questions or wish to sign the document.  We will mail it or bring it to you if necessary.

Please consider attending the January 9th council meeting at 5 p.m. at the Barnard Community Building.

Thank you.

Barnard City Council Meeting for January 2012

The Barnard city council will meet on Wednesday, January 4, 2012 instead of Monday the 2nd.  As of right now, the meeting will be held in City Hall at 7 p.m.  However, the heating system in city hall is non-functional.  If there isn't anyone in the main area or in Barb's office, check next door at the community building.

One of the issues on the agenda is the progress with the historic water tower.

Barnard as Platted in 1901

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A Different Kind of Post Card from the Past

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Research indicates that District 35 was Rocky Point school in Scott Township.

Merry Christmas from the Barnard United Methodist Church

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First Baptist Church of Barnard Christmas Carolers December 21, 2011

The First Baptist Church of Barnard braved the 20 degree (F) temperature to spread Christmas Cheer to the town of Barnard.  They were caroling about the time I was photographing the Christmas lights so I was treated to the joyous sounds of the singers.  After singing, they gathered at the church for refreshments, conversation, and more singing.

I would like to express my gratitude to the First Baptist Church of Barnard.  All my experience with the church has been extremely positive and I've always felt welcome.

Have a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year.

Barnard Christmas Lights Tour