Save Ottumwa Post May 29, 2024

Postal Customer

Ottumwa Publishing

641-208-5505

ottumwapost.com

•••••MAY 29, 2024•••••

Fueling Memories As my wife and I travel about the country, we notice the annual jacking up of gasoline prices coincides with the coming of Memorial Day weekend, the kick-off to the summer travel season.

Every year, the big oil companies have another excuse for raising gasoline prices: a natural disaster somewhere in the world, foreign issues, government problems, OPEC raising the barrel price of crude oil, OPEC lowering the price of crude oil, causing a rise in gasoline prices, or fewer swallows returning to San Juan Capistrano. My favorite excuse is always: “Prices went up because of anticipated increased demand and supply.” Really? Because of increased demand?

Did the coming of Memorial Day catch you off guard? With well over 100,000 employees in the oil industry in the United States alone, not one person put up a post-it note in their cubical to remind them, “Memorial Day will be the last Monday in May this year. People are going to start traveling for the summer. Make more gasoline.”

The oil industry could learn a lesson from the sausage makers of the world. Sausage makers know Oktoberfest is celebrated the first weekend of October, so they ramp up production to make more sausage for brats. They never get caught off guard, running short of brats - and they don’t jack up the price of these delicious sausages for Oktoberfest.

(Just the Other Day cont’d on pg 4)

PAGE 2

Ottumwa Post App

SAVE OTTUMWA POST

MAY 29, 2024

MAY 29, 2024

SAVE OTTUMWA POST •OTTUMWAPOST.COM

PAGE 3

GARY WELSH ESTATE saturday, june 8 | 10 am

DOCUMENT SHRED & DRUG TAKE-BACK COMMUNITY EVENT

7223 235th street blakesburg, ia 52536 1990 marshfield mobile home • shop related supplies tools & equipment • horse harnesses & supplies many antiques • garden & outdoor tools • household

DOCUMENT SHREDDING:

For individuals and small businesses. Shredding by Shred-It until 11:30am OR until the truck is fully loaded.

DRUG TAKE-BACK:

South Side Drugs will be collecting unneeded prescription and over-the-counter medications.

SHIIP INFORMATION:

The Senior Health Insurance Information Program offers personalized health insurance counseling to Medicare recipients. Program information will be provided.

Quincy Place Mall

Parking Lot - 1110 N. Quincy Avenue

June 8, 8:30am-11:30am

justen murphy 641.217.1235 things are being unpacked and added to the sale list daily. major items will be added to our online media.

visit murphy auction service on facebook or murphyauctionservice.com to view current listings

BARN RESTORATION Specializing in Barn & Pole Barn

Repair and Restoration

For more info: (641) 684-1001 Sponsored In Part By:

ottumwapost.com

See more restorations!

WAGLER BUILDERS

(641) 777-5000 • john@waglerbuilders.com

@waglerbuilders

PAGE 4

Ray’s Longbranch Homemade 1/2 lb. Tenderloins & Hamburgers Drakesville, IA • 722-3355

(Just the Other Day cont’d from pg 1)

Big oil companies have charged more for nothing for years!

Take, for example, the introduction of unleaded fuel in the 1970s. Unleaded fuel has always been more expensive than regular leaded fuel. Why? Lead is not natural to gasoline—it’s an additive.

I know about the environmental impact of burning lead in gasoline, but why were big oil companies charging more not to add tetraethyl lead? Hmm. A thinner nozzle was used on the unleaded fuel pump handle. The new car itself had a much smaller opening on the fuel filler neck that would prevent the larger regular fuel nozzle from fitting. Some people didn’t want to pay for the higher-priced fuel and “punched out” the smaller hole, making it big enough for the larger regular fuel nozzle.

Another issue with unleaded fuel was the smell of the exhaust. Ick! When you pulled up behind a car burning unleaded fuel, the scent of the exhaust would get in through your fresh air vents or open windows.

Like rotten eggs, the putrid smell would cause you to wrinkle your nose and gag a bit. It was nasty, no doubt about it.

Whatever happened to that nasty stench? Did the fuel refineries find a way to eliminate it? Did it disappear, or did we get used to it, accepting it as the new “norm?”

I apologize; I’ve strayed from the subject of this story. It was supposed to be about Memorial Day, initially called Decoration Day. Decoration Day was established by the head of an organization of Union veterans, the Grand Army of the Republic. It was used to decorate grave markers, remembering those who died in the Civil War—both Union and Confederate soldiers.

As time went on, people used Decoration Day to decorate the graves of those who died in both World Wars. It became inclusive of those who died in Korea and Vietnam and, eventually, all soldiers who died in any conflict while serving in the US Military branches.

Memorial Day didn’t become an official federal holiday until 1971. Unfortunately, it has become just a paid day off work to some.

How sad.

Recently, Melissa and I visited the graves of her ancestors and relatives on her grandma Lucille’s side of the family, who are buried in the Coatsville Cemetery, not far from Lancaster, Missouri.

It is a quiet country cemetery surrounded by farm fields, with markers in straight rows across the hilly knoll. The grass wasn’t really tall that day, but it would soon be ready for a cutting. Many older dete-

SAVE OTTUMWA POST

MAY 29, 2024

Lets Go

FISHING FISHING Poles/Reels/Combos Bait: WHOPPER POPPER

Why are fish so easy to weigh?

Because they have their own scales!

Many colors to choose f rom!

641-722-3357 20927 Ice Avenue Bloomfield, IA

Ponds • Waterways • Terraces Building Pads • Footings • Septic Systems Driveways • Water Lines • Utilities Crossings • Clean up Fence rows • Tree Pulling

Call for a free estimate!

David Yutzy • 641-242-2282 riorating stones were in the maintain it. cemetery, some of which We continued to walk had broken and fallen to around looking for headthe ground. stones bearing the name Very old, weather-worn Veatch, Melissa’s relatives. markers had distorted A lady pulled into the wording carved into the limestone that was hard or cemetery, driving a Polaris impossible to read. Some- Ranger. She approached us and was friendly in her times, we could make out inquiry about why we were a year that indicated the there. She told us her ones who had died in the husband, a farmer working Civil War. in the field across the way, Although Coatsville Cemcalled her from his tractor etery was old, very small, to let her know people were and on a narrow gravel in the cemetery. road in the countryside, it was not forgotten. Some of We learned her name was the graves had small Amer- Sara Morrow. She and her husband are the caretakers ican flags near the base, of the Coatsville Cemetery. and some were marked with flowers and other such She explained her son, decorations. Someone had who died at a young age in the late nineties, was taken the time to lift fallen buried here and pointed to stones, propping them his marker. up against the remaining base. It warmed my heart There was sadness in her to see this sign of respect eyes and voice as she for the long-dead. spoke of her son. She is still grieving her loss. I felt Among the older stones were a few newer markers her pain. for those who had passed more recently. Coatsville is Melissa told her we were looking for Veatch graves. still an active cemetery.

She pointed to a headstone and then told Sara that her There are cattle guards at the driveways entering the great-uncle, Lala Veatch (pronounced lā-lee), owned cemetery. Still, a brokenthe 80-acre farm on the farm fence surrounding hilltop just beyond the valthe perimeter would allow ley. Sara said, “Oh! I knew animals - wild or livestock Lala. I still remember his from nearby farms - to laugh.” cross into the grounds.

Still, it was clear someone Melissa mentioned she still had been taking care of has relatives who live in the this site. area—”Lyle and Pat York.

The last time we visited, a Pat worked at the post ofbig cedar tree stood on the fice,” she said. Sara’s eyes grounds. It was now gone, lit up. “I saw Lyle just last but a trickle of smoke was week,” she said. The two still rising from the smolder- women made a connection. ing stump that was once Melissa had grown up the base of the big tree.

The tree either died or was visiting this and other country cemeteries each struck by lightning. year around Memorial Day, brought by her grandparA new, tall flag pole was ents and then her parents. not there the last time we It had become a famwere. ily tradition to remember Who removed the tree? their ancestors and share Who put up that flag pole? the stories while walking I wondered further, who amongst the graves. maintains this lot? I asSara stayed and chatted sumed the county must

with us for twenty minutes or so. She gave us a good education on country cemeteries. Sara had learned, from being on the board of directors, that the man who kept the grass mowed would no longer be able to do so. She and her husband had assumed the lawn care for the grounds.

“The county doesn’t provide any funding for these old cemeteries - at least not in Missouri,” Sara said.

“The only funding we have is from donations, and we spend a lot of our own money to make improvements.”

Those improvements included the new flag pole, planting new trees, and buying flags to ensure all veterans’ graves were marked with an American flag for Memorial Day and Veterans Day. They purchased larger flags to fly across the front of the cemetery. The Morrow’s raised old tombstones and placed them on new concrete bases to preserve them, among other things. “We’re trying to raise enough money now to replace all the old fencing around the perimeter,” she said.

We, in turn, expressed our gratitude for the Morrows’ work keeping the cemetery nice.

This Memorial Day, when you’re out visiting loved ones who have passed, especially in small rural cemeteries, please look for a donation box. If you don’t find one, take the time to call your county and find out if the cemetery maintenance is funded or done by donation. Find out who maintains the grounds, and send them a donation and a note of gratitude for their hard work.

I don’t notice the exhaust fumes from unleaded gasoline anymore. Did they go away, or did I just get used to the scent - taking it for granted?

Let us never forget nor take for granted why we celebrate Memorial Day: to honor the veterans and loved ones who lay to rest in the Coatsville cemetery and similar small cemeteries throughout our great nation. Let’s seek out and support the Morrow’s all over our country, who quietly take care of these cemetery grounds.

Thank you to all who Her passion for keeping this cemetery well-kept was served our country, sacrificing their lives for our freeheartfelt. dom! You are remembered When working on projects, this Memorial Day and people often give me tips. always.

The tip is generally fifty or one hundred dollars. We are not rich people, but we are not starving either, so when I get these tips, we give them to others who may need the money.

I remembered a one hundred dollar bill in the car we hadn’t given away yet.

Listening to Sara talk, I smiled, thinking we had just found a good use for that money. Melissa was thinking the same thing.

Sara expressed great appreciation for the gift—one would have thought we had just given her thousands!