Editor MNH: 2/5/05
The Mindeltal where I was born is a wide valley ground out by a glacier which left high ground to either side. Nestled along the bottom of these two ranges are the villages. Each village has its church and in its tower a clock similar to the clock in the tower of our old city hall. But unlike the non-functioning clock in Marshfield, all the clocks in the Mindeltal tell and strike the time. The communities are agricultural and by Marshfield standards not well off. How come that the farmers in the Mindeltal can keep their church clocks in good repair and Marshfield can’t? It is an attitude problem of which our non-functioning clock and the drive for two new schools by the Marshfield public school administration and the school board are an example. It is either leave it broken like the clock, or demolish two schools and build new. I have heard nothing about repairs. The broken clock is an example of neglect; the planned two new schools an example of a profligate attitude which uses up resources and fills up our landfills. This attitude is not shared by the administrators of the Catholic schools. They do not buy into the hype that to build new is cheaper than to repair old. I assume that St John is one of the oldest school buildings in Marshfield. It is a well functioning school. Columbus High School cut down on its heating bill by eliminating the huge glass expanse of the old windows and that without adding a jarring element. It seems that public money and the American illusion of unlimited resources tempt to waste. There is however one consoling thought in profligate wasting. When our resources are gone, we in the US will have the richest garbage dumps to mine.