Visionary projects of the past that we enjoy today

We are a boot strap kind of community and have proven it repeatedly over the years. McCook didn’t exist when Red Willow County was formed, wasn’t the county seat to start, and then ended up being the largest town and the county seat. Over the years we have built a solid base of giving …the first library (not the Carnegie), the Temple Building, the Auditorium, St. Catherin’s Hospital, both the original and the present YMCA, the museum, the ground upon which the current library sits, parks most notably Kelley Park but also Elks Park, etc., most of McCook Community College’s buildings, the current hospital in its original form, Felling Field, the J.C. Ballpark, the Fairground buildings…..need I say more? It was not a matter of McCook being better than the surrounding communities, it was more a matter of the railroad’s influence plus a group of citizens that were fully committed to seeing ideas and dreams come to fruition.

For over 5 years the rumblings about our city pool have created some pretty distinct feelings about what should occur, and the survey seemed to solidify what most people have been saying from the beginning. Now they may not have been saying it to the people that had a different view than theirs, but that’s what is great about a survey, you get to express your opinion without being talked over or down to.

We are all so numb to so called ‘stolen’ elections and stuffed ballot boxes that a comment concerning whether the survey was valid considering how many people responded blows right by us, but it should not! If even the slightest doubt about the validity of the survey is considered, it opens the door for those who do not agree with the results to wedge between what the community has chosen and what the others preferred. Actually, what most people I’ve talked to have said is that the city needs to quit lollygagging (my acceptable for print word) around and get to it.

No doubt everyone also is empathetic to the situation our jewel, AKA, McCook Community College, is in being land poor at the main campus and no one can discount the value of the Graff Center to the college and the community. Being as old as I am, I remember when college classes were also held in the old high school building on West 1st, a brisk walk of 9 blocks or so from the main campus. Perhaps if the pool location is settled, we will now see progress on the development of the precious gift of the old Elks Club and surrounding land given to the college several years ago. A location a scant 5 blocks from the main campus I might add, not that many people walk anymore.

Since I’m on the soap box today, let me put away one more thing that bugs me, and that is asbestos abatement. When I mention that St. Catherin’s Hospital building is a grand old building that deserves saving, a building solidly constructed just like the Keystone was, someone always says that the cost of removing the asbestos in that building makes it economically impossible to rehab it. So, just to be totally clear about this, if the building is torn down all of the asbestos has to be removed because it becomes friable. Here’s a simple explanation. Friable asbestos (a product only has to have 1 % asbestos in it to be judged asbestos) is a material that can be crumbled or pulverized to the point that the asbestos can become airborne, a definite no, no. Easiest explanation, insulation, wall boards, ceiling tiles, some plastering products, etc., all made before the regulations were put into place are always going to be considered friable. Non-friable asbestos can be something like old vinyl flooring, tear it up and it becomes friable and subject to regulation including special disposal rules, leave it alone and it is not. Consequently, demolition requires all asbestos to be removed and disposed of properly so that excuse for not saving the building is a moot point.

Not much of a column about genealogy it would seem, but then again maybe it is. All the people that came before us had a vision and we are living in that vision and creating new visions for our community. We won’t always agree on how that vision should be shaped, but unless we want to give up making dreams come true, we always have to work together when a consensus is reached.