Second Chance Churches

“When the only alternative to going to church is going to jail, 

that’s not really a choice . . .” 

Allison Neal, Legal director for ACLU of Alabama 

Photo by Beth Baugh

Pro Choice

Officials in Bay Minette, Alabama (population 8,342) want to give nonviolent offenders a choice: go to jail or go to church. Those who choose church must agree to attend religious services every week for a year and in return get a chance to wipe their slate clean. Sweet deal, right? Not so, says the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). A choice between jail and church is no choice at all, they claim. Though some might argue the offenders made their choice when they broke the law, the town is now faced with a choice of its own. Officials received a cease and desist letter from the ACLU and have put their church-for-jail option on hold until the experts hash it all out. In the meantime, offenders—freed from the burden of choice—are locked away awaiting the decision.

Read the article → Alabama offer of church attendance or jail draws protest

Good Book

Officials in Oologah, Oklahoma (population 1,029) are brazenly planning to encourage their residents to attend church, and they don’t fear a nasty letter from the ACLU. That’s because town leaders bought the Oologah Methodist Church complex and are going to turn part of it into the town’s new library. Big plans for a small town, but residents have already pitched in to turn the church’s fellowship hall into the new town hall and police department, and they figure they can do the same thing with the sanctuary, turning it into a new library. When the work is done and it comes time to open the doors on the church-turned-library, folks won’t be pressed into worship, but they will be encouraged to check out a good book.

Read the article → Oologah to convert former church into media center/library

Potty Time

“It’s one of these all singing, all dancing toilets . . .”

Tom Beaumont, Deputy mayor of Church Stretton, England

Photo by Leonard J. DeFrancisci  

Lady Loo

The market town of Church Stretton, England (population 2,789) is no backwater village. It is a picturesque destination for tourists, cutting-edge site for technology industries, and pioneering force in talking toilets. That’s right: talking toilets—featured in the town’s public restrooms. But there’s a problem. It’s a lady’s voice that greets folks as they enter the commode abode, and some gentlemen find that offputting—keeps them from doing their business, as it is. The town council is investigating. If the clamor against the lady-like loo is loud enough, the voice will be silenced and the men will be able to relieve in peace.

Read the article (and watch a video) → Female loo voice in Church Stretton ‘too off-putting’

Beach Bums

Those Brits, they can be so uptight. Being uptight is not a problem for Yanks living near Ogunquit, Maine (population 1,256). In fact, that’s the problem. Some folks have taken to using nearby Moody Beach as a public restroom. The Select Board recently held a meeting to discuss the problem, and the following day two town leaders went to the beach to investigate. While there, the men came face to—well, let’s say “face”—with offenders doing their business. Flustered, the town manager said signs will be posted and future violators may be arrested for public indecency. The town feels it’s high time to crack down on this #1 problem.

Read the article → Town cracks down on public urination on beaches

Home Grown

“Either we grow our own or we starve to death.”

John W. Richmond

Retired president & CEO, Northwest Medical Center 

Photo by Nurse Practitioners of Central Pennsylvania 

Did you know 25 percent of all Americans live in small towns and rural areas? But only 10 percent of doctors practice in those same places. The numbers don’t add up. That’s not news to folks living in these communities. They’ve been stuck between a “no doc” and a hard place for years. One small town in Missouri has a simple solution to the problem: grow your own.

John W. Richmond, retired president and CEO of Northwest Medical Center, a nonprofit hospital in Albany, Missouri (population 1,730), had a heck of a time attracting top doctors, or any kind of doctor, to this small community. He pretty much had to take what he could get, and even then the doctors never stayed long. By 2000, staff at Northwest Medical Center were pulling 24-hour shifts just to keep the hospital running. At his wit’s end, Mr. Richmond suddenly had a “light bulb” moment and looked at the young citizens of the town in a new light.

Why not, thought Mr. Richmond, grow our own doctors and medical personnel. We’ll encourage a caretaking commitment among our young people and provide them mentoring opportunities and paying jobs at the hospital. More than that, for students who show potential, the hospital decided to offer forgivable college loans, as long as the students would agree to come back to Albany to work, at least for a few years.

It’s working. The program has helped 23 nurses, 2 medical technicians, and 1 certified nurse anesthetist, who in turn are helping the town. Soon, 2 family practice doctors will be finishing their residency training and returning to Albany to work. One doctor, Dr. Katie Dias, has received $60,000 in financial aid, which will be forgiven if she returns to the community to work for five years. But Dr. Dias doesn’t plan to stay five years . . . she plans to stay much, much longer. Her family ties to Albany date back to the 1800s, and she has no intention of leaving after her five years are up. Numbers, and a commitment like that, add up to success for this small Missouri town.

Read the article → Home remedy

Pig Out

“What’s not to love?”

Holly Hacker, Owner of Porkus Maximus

PORKUS MAXIMUS

Photo by Kevin Mingora, The Morning Call 

When is a pig not livestock? The answer: when it’s a pet pig. At least, that’s what Holly Hacker is arguing. Ms. Hacker lives in Whitehall, Pennsylvania (population 24,896) and owns a pink-and-black spotted Vietnamese potbellied pig. The town says the pig must go; Ms. Hacker says not so fast.

The potbellied pig, Porkus Maximus, lives in Ms. Hacker’s home, lounges in her fenced front yard, plays with the neighborhood kids and canines, and likes to go for a walk on a leash. That last part—going for a walk—is what got Ms. Hacker and Porkus in hot water. On one of their daily strolls, they caught the eye of the town’s zoning officer, and not in a good way. Shortly after, Ms. Hacker got a notice in the mail saying Porkus must go.

Whitehall Zoning regulations say that “livestock” are not allowed. No problem, says Ms. Hacker: Porkus is not livestock; he’s a pet. The North American Potbellied Pig Association agrees, as do several hundred supporters who’ve signed pro-Porkus petitions and a preschool class that donned plastic pig snouts and held a pig rally.

Ms. Hacker has appealed the notice. So now the the fate of Porkus the pig is in the hands of the Whitehall Zoning Hearing Board. It’s up to them to say pig in, or pig out.

Read the article → Woman in fight to keep popular pig

Can’t “Let It Be”

“You never would have expected to find the Beatles 

in Walnut Ridge, Arkansas.” 

Richard Thomas, Former resident of Walnut Ridge, Arkansas 

Photo by United Press International
Available from the United States Library of Congress 

You’ve heard about 15 minutes of fame, right? That’s about exactly what Walnut Grove, Arkansas (population 4,925) got back in 1964 when the Beatles stopped by long enough to say “hello, goodbye” on their way from Missouri to New York. But it’s 15 minutes this town can’t stop talking about 47 years later.

It might never have happened if three teenagers hadn’t spotted a large plane buzzing an old World War II airstrip on the edge of town. When the teens went to investigate, they were stunned to come face to face with John, Paul, George, and Ringo. The lucky lads from Walnut Grove got to hang out with the Lads from Liverpool for a few minutes, before the band members continued on their way. But when the teens got back to town, no one would believe them. It wasn’t until a pilot confirmed their story and let it slip that the Beatles would be coming back through town a few days later that the townspeople whipped themselves into a frenzy and came together to greet the rock band. After a few minutes of chatting it up with the locals, the Beatles climbed into their plane and got back to where they once belonged.

For some, that might have been the end of the story. But not in Walnut Grove. Townsfolk have never stopped talking about The Visit. Women still get weepy when they remember where they were and what they were wearing the day the Beatles came to town. That’s why, after all these years, the town threw a Beatles anniversary celebration, complete with Beatles impersonation band and a metal sculpture modeled after the Beatle’s Abbey Road album cover. The town is even trying to get one of its streets renamed “Abbey Road.”

The celebration isn’t just about “yesterday”; the town is using its brush with fame to draw in visitors and their dollars. Town leaders hope the Beatle’s brief stopover is Walnut Grove’s ticket to ride the tourism gravy train.

Now that you have Beatles on the brain, here's a video clip of one fan's top 10 faves from the Fab Four:

Read the article → Beatles said a fast hello, goodbye but a tiny town won’t let it be

Final Frontier

“We will change the way we go into space . . .”

David Wilson, New Mexico Spaceport Authority

Photo by Julo

Space. The final frontier. Long considered the domain of NASA astronauts and Russian cosmonauts, what’s next now that that the U.S. space shuttle program has been shuttered?

Spaceport America, that’s what. Located in the New Mexico desert near the small town of Truth or Consequences (population 7,021), it is private industry’s first foray into space flight. Conceived of by rocket scientists and companies that don’t want to be totally dependent on governments for their commercial payloads, the first phase of Spaceport America is nearly finished.

Already, three of the spaceport’s clients have received contracts from the U.S. government to fly technology payloads to the boundaries of space. But what might be more exciting for a lot of folks is what the spaceport’s anchor tenant, Virgin Galactic, plans to rocket into space: people. It is the world’s first passenger-carrying space fleet, and for a mere $200,000 it will take high fliers to the edge of space. Inaugural flights are expected sometime in 2013; 500 tickets have already been sold.

This gateway to the heavens is having a down-to-earth impact on New Mexico’s economy. Building and running the spaceport have meant jobs, visitors, and revenue. Space might be the final frontier, but it is first in this state when it comes to innovation and invigoration.

Read the article → N.M. touts Spaceport

Tardy Tickets Ticking Off Town

“We’re not here to embarrass anybody . . .”

Dennis Burton, Hale Center chief of police

Photo © by Jeff Dean

Hale Center, Texas (population 2,158) is a small town with a big problem. No one’s taking them seriously. At least, that’s how the police department feels when it comes to traffic tickets. They’ve written more than 250 tickets that have gone unpaid, some since 2006. That adds up to almost $200,000—big bucks for a small town.

Well, the cops have had it. They’ve sent letters warning that traffic tickets are past due, they’ve sent letters saying an arrest warrant has been issued, and they’ve turned to attorneys in Amarillo to do the collecting. Still, not a lot of luck getting tickets paid. So now the cops are taking it to the streets—or at least to the window facing the street. They’re posting the list of past-due traffic offenders on the front window of the police department, for offenders and all the world—including families, neighbors, employers, and looky-loos­—to see. When the police department gets its website up and running, it will post the names there, too. And if that doesn’t work, the cops will start arresting people. The police chief says they’re not out to embarrass people; they just want their money.

This is one town where the police are telling citizens to speed up ... paying their tickets, that is.

Read the articles:

• Hale Center will post traffic warrant list
• Hale Center to publicly post city warrants

More Than an Auction

“If you wanted to make money at it, 

you’re doing the wrong thing.” 

Jerry Speake, Auctioneer 

When is an auction more than an auction? When it’s a chicken auction, of course. But this story is not really about chickens. Or about auctions. It’s about the town that needs chicken auctions.

Jerry Speake runs an auction business in Eclectic, Alabama (population 1,162). Every Friday he holds a chicken auction, where people sell chickens, ducks, goats, and other farm animals. That is, he used to hold a chicken auction every Friday . . . until April 27. That’s the day tornadoes ripped through this small Southern town and turned everyone’s world upside down. Mr. Speake lost his auction barn; four people in a nearby mobile home park lost their lives.

Since the tornadoes, townspeople have been asking Mr. Speake when he’ll start the chicken auctions again. It’s not that they need to sell chickens, or ducks, or goats—it’s the gathering of neighbors and friends that they miss. Especially now.

Mr. Speake has been hard at work to get back in business, putting in a lot of 12-hour days. And he’s not alone. The Lutheran church caught wind of the town’s loss, and members from as far away as Houston have pitched in to help the town, and Mr. Speake, put the pieces back together again. With their help, the chicken auctions resumed at the end of August.

Chicken auctions won’t heal the community. But with the pluck shown by Mr. Speake, the townspeople, and their newfound friends, it looks like the town is on the mend.

Read the article → Halted by twister, ‘chicken auction’ resumes

Pardon the Interruption

“This is much ado about nothing.”

Spokesman, Clear Channel radio company

Imagine this. You’re a church-going kind of person living in the Bible Belt. You tune in the radio Sunday morning to get some gospel, and just when the preacher gets going good, you hear the crackle of static and an advertisement for breast augmentation breaks in. That’s what’s happening in Dripping Springs, Texas (population 1,875), and radio listeners are not amused.

It all started when KDRP, the town’s nonprofit radio station, hooked up with Educational Media Foundation (EMF), the nation’s largest Christian programming provider, to broadcast Sunday services. EMF, in turn, leased space on its antenna to KVET, a sports-talk radio station that sometimes runs ads of an adult nature. Because KVET’s signal is stronger than KDRP’s, it’s been ruling the airwaves.

The station manager at KDRP is up in arms. He knows people are upset and worries they will think the small town radio station has changed its format. EMF, for its part, is concerned and is trying to work out a solution. Clear Channel, the nationwide broadcaster that owns KVET, doesn’t know what the fuss is all about. It says it received the approval of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to broadcast, and that’s that.

Not so fast, say the folks in Dripping Springs. They’ve filed a complaint with the FCC. So now the dispute will wind its way through the federal agency’s labyrinth of regulations and rulings. Stay tuned. It looks like it’s going to be a long battle.

Read the article → Small town radio station fights back

When the Chips Are Down

“Cows are funny that way.”

Carol Rinehart, Resident of Kiester, Minnesota

Photo by Hokkaido-man

I’m not much of a gambler. Casinos leave me cold. Las Vegas? Not even tempted. But when it comes to small town gambling, I’m hooked. A few months ago, I came across the story of illegal mouse races in Iowa (see Rat Race), and now I see there’s cow chip bingo in Minnesota.

Cow chip bingo is not so much about bingo as it is about cow chips, or cow pies to be more accurate. Squares are painted on a field, a cow is released into the field, and the game is over when the cow goes poo. Ahead of time, tickets to each square are sold, and the person who holds the ticket to the square where the cow goes #2 is the #1 winner.

Cow chip bingo is a popular game at town festivals, and unlike the mouse races in Iowa, it’s an officially recognized form of gambling in Minnesota, rules and all. It’s not a difficult game, though some festival organizers might disagree. Last year the cow in Wells, Minnesota (population 2,343) refused to poo, and after three hours numbers were drawn from a hat to determine a winner. Folks in Kiester, Minnesota (population 501) didn’t have much better luck earlier this summer when their cow bolted over the fence and trotted down the road.

Still, when the cow cooperates, it’s a silly good time. And it’s not a bad money maker for the towns. It’s the biggest fundraiser of the year for Wells and Kiester, each of which raised about $1,000. There are variations of the game across the country: moose poop bingo, turkey poop bingo, and, of course a small town favorite, chicken poop bingo.

Read the article → Cowpie bingo?

Mayor May Not

“It’s everyone’s dream to be a prince.”

Luca Sellari, Mayor of Filettino, Italy

For some people, a little bit of power goes a long way. Just check out what a couple of small town mayors in Canada and Italy have been up to.

Mayor Rocks Ex-Wife

Dany Larivière, the mayor of Saint-Théodore-d’Acton, Canada (population 1,494), didn’t let a divorce stand in the way of giving his ex-wife a really big gift for her birthday. Mr. Larivière, who also owns an excavation company, dumped a 20-ton boulder on his ex-wife’s driveway, topped with a giant bow and spray painted with a happy birthday message. He says that while they were married, his wife complained she never had a rock big enough for her tastes. Mr. Larivière’s ex is not amused. She wants the boulder removed immediately; he refuses. The police are looking into the matter, but Mr. Larivière doesn’t expect any political fallout from his actions. After all, he says, it’s a small town.

Mayor or Monarch?

Italy, like the United States and a whole lot of other countries, is in the middle of a debt crisis. One of the ways the government is proposing to save money is to combine the governments of towns that have fewer than 1,000 residents. Luca Sellari, the mayor of Filettino, Italy (population 598), says heck, no. Filettino plans to declare independence from Italy and operate under a monarch. The town has already begun using its own currency and has designed a coat of arms that can be found on T-shirts and liquor bottles. Mr. Sellari will be meeting with a lawyer to see what needs to be done to declare independence legally. He thinks Filettino can someday be like San Marino, a small principality surrounded by Italy but independent. It is the oldest surviving constitutional republic in the world, and it has no national debt. Maybe Mr. Sellari is onto something after all.

Read the articles:

• Mayor faces probe over dumping boulder on ex-wife’s driveway
• Italian town prints its own currency to fight austerity measures

Oh Crap

“It was an unfortunate, weird accident.”

Brent Randall, Town official, Sangerville, Maine

You know it’s gonna be a bad day when . . .

. . . A septic truck parks in your living room. It happened in Gaines, New York (population 3,628) late last month. The driver of the truck lost control, ran a stop sign, crashed through the house’s garage, and ended up in the living room. The truck was carrying 300 gallons of raw sewage and 200 gallons of water. The good news is no one was home at the time, and no sewage escaped. The bad news is the driver ended up in the hospital, and no one is coming home anytime soon: the house was declared uninhabitable.

. . . A firetruck slams into your wall. The fire chief of Sangerville, Maine (population 1,180) was backing the town’s 1975 pumper truck downhill into the fire station when the master cylinder gave out, rendering the brakes useless. Quick thinking on the fire chief’s part kept the firetruck, which was loaded with 750 gallons of water, from slamming into the fire station or the town’s other firetruck. Instead, the truck hit a three-foot retaining wall, suffering about $3000 in damages. No one was hurt, and the fire station was spared. As it turns out, not a bad day after all.

Read the articles:

• Truck carrying 300 gallons of sewage crashes into home
• Sangerville fire chief avoids costly damage by crashing truck

Independence Day

“Who the heck knows what’s going to happen?”

Mel Berti, Resident of Scotia, California 

Company town: Scotia, California

Back in the day, company towns dotted the Western United States. They sprung up around mines and logging sites, built by the mining and lumber companies to house their workers. Over time, resources were depleted, jobs were eliminated, and the towns closed down. Today, there’s only one company town left in California, and that’s about to change, too.

The residents of Scotia, California (population 800) recently voted to become independent. Their town, which was originally owned by Pacific Lumber Company, was handed off to a group of investors after Pacific Lumber declared bankruptcy in 2007. Even though the company’s gone, the town is not, and the investors have been taking care of it ever since. They want out.

So the investors put it to a vote: the residents of Scotia could become an independent town, or the town would go on the auction block. Seems like a no-brainer, but many of the residents didn’t want their independence. They like the way the company has taken care of them—maintaining public areas and homes (all are rented), keeping the “riff-raff” out, and eliminating the need for politicians. Still, the investors stood firm and held the election last month. In the end, an overwhelming majority of the Scotia residents who voted said yes to independence.

It will take a while for the town to complete its transition to independence, but voters have already selected their first group of representatives to take over governance of the town, and the investors are preparing the houses to be sold to residents, some who have rented their homes for generations. The road to independence might get a little rough for the folks in Scotia—that’s only natural—but they’ve already overcome the biggest roadblock of all: the death of their company. With that behind them, the upcoming challenges should be mere bumps in the road.

Read the articles:

 California’s last company town votes for independence

Old lumber town balks at independence

Sun City

“I decide the priorities around here, 

and those are to be a real community.”

Gerald Freeman, Owner of Nipton, California 

When I lived in Arizona, I had a patch of Gaillardia in my flower garden. With a little bit of water and a whole lot of sun, the Gaillardia grew like a weed. There’s a town in the eastern California desert that’s like that: with very little water but a whole lot of sun, it’s grown sixty-fold since the 1980s, and half of that growth has been in the last six months.

The town is Nipton, California, and truth be told, the population was 1 in 1984 when geologist Gerald Freeman bought the outpost. Mr. Freeman went to work capitalizing on the town’s most abundant resource—sunshine—and installed 80 solar panels, which generate enough electricity to satisfy most of the small town’s power needs. Mr. Freeman then built “eco-cabins” to woo visitors heading into the nearby Mojave National Preserve, and he renovated an adobe hotel built circa 1904-1910 and reopened it as a bed and breakfast.

In addition to Mr. Freeman’s hard work, some fortuitous developments in the area have attracted eco-minded workers to Nipton. In the nearby hills a rare earth mine is expanding, digging up minerals to be used in wind turbines and smart phones, and a solar farm is going in not 15 minutes away. All of this accounts for Nipton’s population spike and current head count of 60.

Okay, so maybe you can’t say Nipton has been growing like a weed, not yet. But with Mr. Freeman’s vision and hard work, and the recent surge in green jobs in the area, the little town is blooming, if not booming.

Read the article → Nipton, California, trades tumbleweeds for solar panels

Nipton website → http://nipton.com/