Carroll County Living - Spring 2021

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PUBLICATION • SPRING 2021

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CONTENTS CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

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RUSTY SCHRADER/SVM ILLUSTRATION

A W

A lot has changed hen a Milledgeville business during the 100 first opened its garage doors you could still buy a years that Ewers Ford Model T – new.

Ewers Garage is on its third Garage has owner since cars were rolling off Henry Ford’s been in then-innovative Story business, but assembly line, and each guy Cody Cutter in charge of the some things garage had one thing in com for mon besides have stayed being trusty mechanics: Th Carroll County ey’r e all Ewers. the same Living The wrench was passed to its current – like the owner, Todd, 55, more than 25 years ago family behind after he bought the downto the business, and wn shop from his father, Tom. The work area their commitment to and office space has doubled since the quality service with n, but one thing hasn’t changed during the fam a smile. The shop is ily’s century in business: Top -no tch customer service. shown here in 1961.

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Continued from page 5

The family prides itself on always taking good care of customers and keeping them up to speed on what’s been going on with their vehicle.

After all, in a small town like Milledgeville, there are bound to be many repeat customers.

“A lot of the things I learned from my dad were more about how to run a business and how to take care of the customers,” Todd said. “I

learned to a lot of repair stuff from him years ago, but just to do the job right the first time and go the extra mile for people.”

Todd’s got plenty of help, with two more mechanics under his guidance – the trio brings nearly 75 years of combined repair experience – and two people in the office who line up the jobs and work with the customers. Running the business takes Todd away from the bays and lifts over the course of the day, but he’s still right at home under the hood.

Continued on page 9

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BELOW LEFT: Tom (center) Ewers and his son, Todd (right), check out a customer’s vehicle in 1985. “A lot of the things I learned from my dad were more about how to run a business and how to take care of the customers,” Todd said. “...

To do the job right the first time and go the extra mile for people.” Todd took over the shop more than 25 years ago after he bought it from father, Tom. The business has been in the family for 100 years, starting when Bill Ewers (seen at left in 1935) set up shop in 1921. RIGHT: Tom mans the parts counter during the 1980s.

RIGHT: Tom (left) and Todd (right) are seen in front of the garage during the mid-1980s.

BELOW: Todd checks over a customer’s car at his shop Jan. 21.

PHOTO: MICHAEL KRABBENHOEFT/MKRABBENHOEFT@SHAWMEDIA.COM

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Continued from page 7

“I still enjoy being in the shop and seeing changes in the vehicles,” Todd said.

When Tom would pass along his knowledge to Todd all those years ago, it was experience that was passed down to him from his father, Bill, who set up his shop closer to the railroad tracks in 1921. Bill came to Milledgeville from Rochelle when he was in his mid-20s and saw that these new-fangled horseless carriages were here to stay.

Bill passed the shop to Tom in 1958, when it moved to its current location at 18 E. Fourth St. Todd didn’t get the chance to work on a car with his grandfather, who died in 1973, but Tom started his son off in the repair profession before he even had his driver’s license.

Through the jigsaw puzzle-like precision of removing, identifying and piecing back together parts from older cars, Todd was learning the skills of a profession he would be destined carry on at the family business.

FR I E ND LY. HELPFUL . N EAR.

Continued on page 10

MICHAEL KRABBENHOEFT/MKRABBENHOEFT@SHAWMEDIA.COM

In addition to its other bays, Ewers Garage has a bigger bay to accommodate larger vehicles.

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“I would do what I could to learn some things,” Todd said. “They would start me out doing oil changes and things like that and it would progress. I tried to get my hands into whatever I could. I learned a lot from my dad doing that kind of stuff.”

As the simple need to get from point A to point B morphed into drivers’ desire for faster, more stylish cars – with constantly changing and ever-more complicated mechanics – keeping them in tip-top shape became more and more of a challenge. After high school, Todd studied at the Wichita Automotive and Electronics institute before graduating and returning to Milledgeville in 1984.

These days, Ewers Garage can service all makes and models – with the exception of tires – and the tools of the trade have changed right along with the vehicles. Those old paper manuals covered in greasy fingerprints have given way to computer diagnostics, and Todd constantly is making sure the technology is updated and up to speed.

Subscriptions for those machines is costly, but Todd said that’s simply the cost of doing business, of doing what needs to be done to keep the customer satisfied.

“We always try to have the latest and the greatest,” Todd said. “It’s costly, but you have to roll with the changes. You can’t work on 1985 automobiles forever. You just have to roll with it.

“I want to keep my customers, so I want to do everything I can and have everything I can to take care of them here. We want to do it right here, in house.”

But there’s still room in the garage’s high-tech tool box for a few of those old manuals. They can come in handy when information on an older make and model isn’t in the computer’s database. In recent months, Todd has worked on a complete engine rebuild on a 1976 Cadillac El Dorado convertible, and

rebuilds on both the engine and transmission on a 1959 Chevrolet El Camino.

Parts for those makes are harder to come by these days, but the one thing that’s not hard to come by is the shop’s determination to the do get the job done.

Todd doesn’t want to give up on satisfying his customers.

“We put that at the forefront, really,” Todd said. “Taking care of their needs and being honest with them. It just comes around in the long run when you take care of people.”

One big thing that Todd learned from his father is to not play favorites – meaning, treat each repair job with as much passion as any other repair and not be so specialized in certain things.

“Vehicles change so much,” Todd said. “There are over a dozen computer modules on every vehicle nowadays, and back in the ’80s there might have been one, and it was pretty primitive. It’s just like computers in general; everything’s changed a lot.”

The shop also does its part for the community, helping fund local organizations. This past Christmas, the garage put up a donation Giving Tree to help the Milledgeville High School Student Council raise money for local families for Christmas. In just 18 days, $1,385 was raised, and donations up to $500 were matched by the garage.

This year, throughout January and March, the garage is pitching in with donated clothing and food to help the school district and district nurse. All sizes of unisex sweatpants, socks and winter hats and gloves can be dropped off at Ewers, and the shop is chipping in by donating granola bars, breakfast bars, crackers, fruit snacks and bottled water.

“We love our small town,” Todd said, and it’s important to him that the garage remains rooted in Milledgeville.

After 10 years under his father, the keys were passed to Todd in 1995.

Tom poked his head in the shop for a few more years until his death in 1999.

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MORE INFORMATION

“My dad was very much a people person,” Todd said. “He built this business up to where it was when I got it. He was very customer friendly, and very much a good community person, and a good mechanic.”

Not too long after taking over the garage, Todd made what turned out to be a good hire, bringing Mark Conkrite, 48, aboard in March of 1996. He’s gotten a lot of mileage out Conkrite, who recently celebrated 25 years with the business. He’s gone from working with intake gaskets on cars – “with my eyes closed sometimes,” he joked – to working on larger vehicles such as school buses every now and again.

Mark said he enjoys the “variety of everything” that comes through their garage doors on any given day.

“Instead of working in a factory putting together the same pieces every day, here there’s something of variety,” Mark said. “We do good work at a fair price and treat people right. We take the time and pay attention to what they need and try to do a good job for them, because we want them to come back again.”

As long as there are vehicles to service, the garage’s future looks bright. As far as having a Ewers in the garage for many more years, time will have to figure that one out: Todd and his wife, Denise, have two daughters.

“I think the future’s bright,” Todd said. “I really do think so. We’re going to be here awhile.” n

815-537-5175

Ewers Garage, 18 E. Fourth St., Milledgeville, is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, and from 8 a.m. to noon on the first Saturday of each month.

Cash, credit and debit cards, and checks are accepted.

Go to ewersgarage.com, email info@ewersgarage.com, find it on Facebook or call 815-225-7151 for more information.

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e all have special moments in our life etched into our memory, but wouldn’t it be neat to etch them into something else – something that could last longer than even a memory?

Like wood?

That’s where a pair of business partners can help out, and they can do it with a pride that’s made in smalltown America.

Story Friends and fellow veterans Cody Cutter Chris Martin and Dan Speakfor er are the talented duo behind Carroll County H&T Custom Woodwork in Living Mount Carroll. The homebased business specializes in custom wood cuts and engravings, and can also build custom furniture and home decor.

Since meeting 2 years ago, the men – with help from their wives, Kelli Martin and Dawn Speaker, from time to time – have turned wood into works of art.

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H&T – the name comes from nicknames the wives have for their husbands – combines the Martin and Speaker’s creativity and skill with the tools of their trade: a computer guided laser.

There’s one other ingredient in their success: friendship.

“It’s nice to be able to sit and do these things together, and sharing the brotherhood of doing something you enjoy,” Martin said. “Who wants to go do something by themselves when you can go do something with your friends?”

Martin served in the Navy for nearly 5 years during the war on terror and Operation Iraqi Freedom, before working for more than a decade in the funeral home business. He retired a couple of years ago, but still wanted to keep busy, so he bought a computer numerical control (CNC) machine to do design work after getting to know Speaker and seeing how well he could create works of wood.

ALEX T. PASCHAL/APASCHAL@SHAWMEDIA.COM

Dan Speaker (right) keeps an eye on the laser engraver as it starts a new project while Chris Martin talks about the process. The friends and fellow veterans started H&T Custom Woodwork a few years ago. The homebased business specializes in custom wood cuts and engravings, and can also build custom furniture and home decor.

Continued on page 15

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After Martin he made his first wood piece, ”Stubby,” a square American flag, practice made perfect as he and Speaker set out to hone their skills.

“It took us a weekend to put that together, and then I said, ‘You know, we should start something up and make stuff,’” Martin said. “I can do the computer stuff, and if he can think it, we can make it.”

Speaker, a former Army mechanic, has crafted creations out of wood for nearly 40 years. He grew up with his grandfather, who also worked with wood, and it didn’t take him too long to tap into his talent for wood.

“One year I made a bird feeder for Christmas for my mother, and next thing I knew everyone and my brother wanted one,” Speaker said.

H&T’s computer-guided laser can make short work of an intricate design like this.

ALEX T. PASCHAL/ APASCHAL@SHAWMEDIA.COM

Continued on page 16

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Items small or large – from a pen to a slab of wood – H&T Custom Woodwork can turn a customer’s idea into a custom-made piece; they can even take a cherished, handwritten family recipe and incorporate it into a cutting board (right).

ALEX T. PASCHAL/ APASCHAL@SHAWMEDIA.COM

Continued from page 15

There wasn’t a lot of money to be made at first – they were just breaking even – but they were still spending time doing what they loved. This past Christmas turned their fortunes around big time: One personalized Christmas ornament turned into a whopping 166 over a 2-week period, keeping the pair plenty busy.

H&T has a Facebook page, but otherwise word of mouth has helped turn their hobby into a business. While most of their business comes

from local customers, they’ve also had orders from around the nation.

“I was up until 11 o’clock every night trying to get that day’s order out, and ship our finished products the next day if they needed to ship,” Martin said. “That was a huge thing for us. It’s a simple gift that people can give to someone that’s meaningful. We kept things cheap and good, and passed that on to the people.”

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Martin and Speaker have also given back to Drawings are done either on paper, or they’ll work the community. One memorable project Martin out the designs in their head, and then they’re transenjoyed working on was a memorial flag to honor ferred onto a computer that operates a large 90-watt a late K-9 that belonged to former Mount Carroll CO2 laser machine that makes precision cuts and Police Chief Fred Cass. And when their fellow contour etches at four-figure dots-per-inch (DPI). veterans are needing a boost in morale, Martin The machine also can make etchings based on and Speaker are there to help with their talents any image, from photos for example – or even a to create items such as crosses and flags. Offering cherished family recipe. One job they their creations to customers helps did reproduced a hand-written famkeep a connection to the community MORE INFO ily recipe and etched it into a wood and gives them a sense of small-town H&T Custom Woodcutting board. When Martin and his pride. work accepts cash, credit and debit card, wife, Kelli, returned from a trip to Las They and their wives are also big PayPal and Square Vegas recently, they etched one of their supporters of shopping local. for all orders. Find vacation pictures into wood. With “We want people to buy local, them on Facebook or call Chris Martin unique pieces like that, sometimes skill too,” Kelli said. “When you live in a at 815-821-1797 for combines with trial and error to get small town, you’re not rich but what more information. things just right: A try at a Pokemon can you give to someone that means card took some time when the first something?” draft didn’t turn out quite right. It took a little It’s that commitment to community and quality more work that’s served them well.

Even though they have finished serving their “You got to have patience with what you do,” country, the men remain active in maintaining local Speaker said. “We try to give people the best prodsupport for their fellow military men and women. uct that we can give them, quality over quantity.

Several of their creations have a patriotism motif, You have stuff that comes from an assembly line especially flags and soldier decor. and it ll looks the same, but not with us.” n Continued from page 16

RIGHT: Even though H&T’s owners’ tours of duty have ended, the men remain active in supporting service members, with several of their creations celebrating pride and patriotism.

ALEX T. PASCHAL/APASCHAL@SHAWMEDIA.COM

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STORY Cody Cutter PHOTOS Alex T. Paschal Sauk Valley Media

hadwick may be the youngest community in Carroll County, but it’s not the smallest.

That distinction goes to the places depicted in scenic slices of small-town life at a clubhouse in the heart of the village – and when we say small-town life, we mean small.

Whole communities can be found inside the four walls of the downtown building.

The tiny towns found inside 101 Main St. are the handiwork of the Northwest Illinois Model Railroad Club, and a lot of work has gone into making these models on Main Street look like the real thing.

Outside, horns from BNSF (Burlington Northern and Santa Fe) engines often blare night and day throughout the village of about 550 residents, their familiar orange and yellow engines and countless cars rumbling through the village’s south edge up to 30 times a day.

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Inside, another railroad runs through town: the Rock River Railroad, which whizzes through the nooks and crannies all over two stories of their downtown club building.

The Rock River Railroad is a fictitious one, but its surrounding landscape is dotted with tiny versions of real-life local scenery and stations along its route from Rockford to Chillicothe. Years of hard work has helped build diminutive depictions of these sights and sounds – it’s been a continual work in progress since the club formed in 2003.

Duane Imel of Chadwick is a founding trustee and has enjoyed the club’s growth and popularity over the past two decades.

“We had electricians, we had building builders, we had scenery builders, and with the collective talent of all of the members, we could do this,” Imel said. “Collectively we can build something that no one person could do on their own before.”

Having a wide-open imagination is what keeps the club’s pair of layouts a work of art in progress. John Urbaniak of Sterling is the club’s creative chief – any alterations or ideas go through him and a few other members who determine creative control.

It took teamwork to build a village, and the club’s founding trustee, Duane Imel, is proud of the work that members have done to bring their HO-scale world to life. “We had electricians, we had building builders, we had scenery builders, and with the collective talent of all of the members, we could do this.” Imel said. “Collectively we can build something that no one person could do on their own before.”

Continued on page 22

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They’ve got a whole world in their hands, and those hands have to be pretty steady to bring an amazing level of detail to the tabletop towns created by members of the Northwest Illinois Model Railroad Club.

John Urbaniak (below) of Sterling is the club’s creative chief; any alterations to the layout go through him and a few other members. Whether it’s a serene city scene, or a house on fire, members bring a level of realism to their layouts that’s nothing short of amazing. Above: Some of diorama’s pieces can be pretty big, like this grain processing facility. Left: No detail is too small, like this bit of graffiti on a water tower.

Top right: Firefighters battle a house fire, with “water” streaming from their hoses.

Center right: Emergency responders are on the scene of a car crash, as bystanders look on. Bottom right: A miniature Main Street, USA.

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You won’t find the Rock River Line’s crimson colors flash through the town of Chadwick; that line is exclusive to the Northwest Illinois Model Railroad Club, whizzing through the nooks and crannies of the downtown club building at 101 Main St. in Chadwick.

Continued from page 21

Spending time at the club and wielding a remote control to operate the trains has been a happy hobby for the retired Urbaniak.

“It keeps me busy,” he said. “I enjoy doing it and like to experiment doing different things with it sometimes. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t.”

The HO-model layout on the main floor measures about 20 by 40 feet, and the downstairs setup is much larger at 30 by 60 feet, with multiple loops. Tracks are designed to bend and be flexible to best depict real-life layouts; for many years, tracks only came in straight pieces, with an occassional curve, which didn’t lend itself to much creativity, Imel said.

The Rock River line weaves its way around the display on the bottom level and stops at stations along the line; Chadwick being one of them, and Deer Grove – a small village in Whiteside County – another.

Numerous buildings and depictions of life around these tiny towns can be found throughout the layout: a large steel truss bridge similar to the one on the Canadian Pacific over the Mississippi River in Savanna crosses over a river, another Savanna scene depicting the former Viaduct Road arches is just down the line, and, elsewhere, a replica of a couple of buildings at the former Northwestern Steel and Wire factory in Sterling is lit up against a night sky.

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low, and the orange-striped Chessie System scheme from the former B&O One area of the track setup downstairs can go dark with a flip of a switch, Railroad.

The club meets every Thursday from 6 to 8 p.m.; the first week is a genwhile the engine lights up for nighttime travel. eral club meeting, and the following weeks are work days, and days where Roleplay cards are attached to each station, and operators can experience a the public can come to watch the trains in action. The club also has open typical day’s work along the line. houses twice a year and during special community events “A lot of people just come to watch the trains run in Chadwick. The COVID-19 pandemic, however, has around,” Imel said. “We have stools for the kids, and MORE INFO derailed the club’s events for nearly a year. they’ll sit on them and watch the trains go by, and then The Northwestern Illinois New members in good standing for more than 6 pick up their stool and head to where the train goes and Model Railroad Club months have a key to the building and can improve upon 101 Main St., Chadwick. get back up on it again.” the existing layouts with their own creative ideas, but first Find the club on Facebook, Each member has their own chest of engines, cars and or email nwilmrr@gmail.com they must be approved by other members. other accessories that they can put on the tracks when to request to join or for more Donations always are accepted to help keep the trains they visit. information. running and the scenery maintained and updated.

Imel’s compartment has his favorite steam engines, Search for “Northwest Illinois Club members are hopeful that their next open house, which were the way of the railroad for more than a centuModel Railroad Club” on scheduled for March, will finally be a chance to have the ry before diesel locomotives took over.

YouTube to watch videos of public see what they’ve been working on for the past year.

“All of the moving parts, just watching them is fun,” the trains in action.

These days, manual switches have given way to handhe said. “The idea that they would run two or three of held technology to keep both track layouts buzzing. these was all done by listening to the other trains, before “There are new products that come out all of the time, radio and things like that.” and the technology is amazing now,” Urbaniak said. “It’s Also included in his collection is a car that pays homgot all of the buttons and whistles, and you can even age to one of his former workplaces, Terra International, operate them from your phone.

When I was a kid, you in Milledgeville. were lucky to run one locomotive at a time; now you can Numerous lines, past and present, make appearances run two or three locomotives on the same track.” throughout the club’s tracks; and cars have several paint Meanwhile, the speaker at the grand central station schemes, representing real-life trains that have come and gone over the years. There are a couple of cars with “Rock upstairs broadcasts its final announcement for the night: Island blue” – a brief color scheme detour made by the familiar red and gold “Last call for Amtrak train No. 40, the Broadway Limited: Philadelphia, Rock Island line during the 1970s. Other color combos found along the Harrisburg, Pittsburgh, Akron, Cleveland, Toledo, South Bend, Chicago. tracks include Burlington Northern green, Chicago and North Western yelLast call. Track 44.” n Continued from page 22

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Members of the Milledgeville Men’s Club pose for a photo Jan. 23 inside the clubhouse. The club has about 35 members, but always welcomes more. “We enjoy each other, we enjoy company, and we take a lot of pride in helping our communities,” club treasurer Adam Drinkall said.

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A Milledgeville club has had a hand in a lot of projects through the years, all of them designed to improve their community — including refurbishing a nuclear missile STORY CODY CUTTER | FOR CARROLL COUNTY LIVING

embers of the Milledgeville Men’s Club ask a lot of themselves, like “What can we do to help?”“What can we do to support each other?”“What can we do to make our community a better place?”

And they always come up with one answer: More.

For the hard-working men who make up the club, their dedication and loyalty to the community is top-notch. If something is considered a worthwhile endeavor or project, chances are the

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Milledgeville Men’s Club has had a hand in it.

From pouring concrete to building floors and moving missiles, this group of nearly 40 men have chipped in on several community undertakings whenever they aren’t working their day jobs or spending time with families.

The men work as a team, and that’s what club treasurer Adam Drinkall enjoys most about being in the club.

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“The Men’s Club is here to support the communities, support our members, support kids activities, and anything related to the community,” Drinkall said. “It’s a diverse group of guys, and we’re bringing different guys from the community together to hang out and to support one another and the community.”

From that diversity comes a lot dedication, too, and not even a pandemic could keep the good men down.

Despite having their fundraising events either canceled or pushed back, their work went on.

When the missile at the school building needed refurbished, the Men’s Club took to the task (see the story on pp. 30-31 for more on that project). When a sidewalk job at the town library needed to be done, the Men’s Club pitched in. When the town’s park district needed more space for its Tot-Time class – and more space is necessary these days due to the pandemic – the Men’s Club built a safe and convenient stair-accessible platform to make a “second story” in the play room.

Even though the club donates its time to helping, the projects still cost money. That’s where the club’s talent for tapping into the community’s generosity comes in.

The club has an annual chili cook-off (the 2020 event has been rescheduled to March 20, 2021, as of press time) and a 50-50 raffle. It also has a popular food stand at the Carroll County Fair, the “Pizza Palace,” which sells more than just pizza; rib-eyes and boneless pork chops also are hot sellers. Proceeds from those and other events not only go toward projects, but also toward a limited number of scholarships to graduating seniors from Milledgeville High School.

Photos and newspaper clippings tell the stories of the many projects and community events the Milledgeville Men’s Club has helped with through the years.”The Men’s Club is here to support the communities, support our members, support kids activities, and anything related to the community,” said club treasurer Adam Drinkall.

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Continued on page 27

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Continued from page 26

It should also come as no surprise that the club is a good neighbor.

Even though Milledgeville is part of the club’s name, it also helps out with events and undertakings in Chadwick – after all, a good chunk of the students who attend school in Milledgeville are from the nearby village.

“We enjoy each other, we enjoy company, and we take a lot of pride in helping our communities,” Drinkall said. “That’s why we’re doing it. We’re doing it for the kids. We’re doing it to make Milledgeville and Chadwick a better place to be, where we enjoy raising our families.”

Past president Brad Smith enjoys the camaraderie that comes with being a club member.

“We’re not looking for recognition; we just look at something as ‘This needs doing, OK?,’” Smith said.

Prospective members can message the club through its Facebook page, where the club’s activities are also well documented. You can also chat to a club member when you see them in the community. They’re not hard to find: Just look for them in their blue shirts around town. Kasey Hutchison is this year’s president, and Brian Boehle is the vice president.

Younger members are strongly encouraged to join.

The requirements for membership are pretty simple.

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N w h e r e Ciasrroli ltC?ounty S It’s not a Great Pyramid, but it’s still pretty nifty – and it’s proof positive of a mathematical theorem. Do you know what this is and where in Carroll County it’s located? Go ahead and guess – take your best shot.

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The Milledgeville Men’s Club clubhouse, located on Main Street in Milledgeville, not only gives members a place to socialize and plan their next projects, it has space that can be rented out for community events. Before the men’s club bought the building it was the Grange Hall.

MICHAEL KRABBENHOEFT/ MKRABBENHOEFT@ SHAWMEDIA.COM

that old to be a Jaycee, and we couldn’t get any new members,” Wagenknecht said. “[Now] we “If you want to be a member, you have to be get to stay longer.” willing to show up and be willing to do things Along with being a club “elder,” Dettman has to improve the community,” Smith said. “That’s the unofficial title of being its sentinel, making what we’ve done forever, whether it’s rebuilding sure all is well with everything that goes on. the missile, or pouring sidewalk down at the Hanging out with the guys has its benefits, not library, or donating to the school.” only for members, but for the community they For charter members Keith Wagenknecht call home. The club has enjoyed 30 and Mark Dettman, taking care of years of giving back to the commuthe community has been a mission MORE INFO nity they love, and as long as that of theirs for a long time. The club camaraderie is there, the club, and its Find the club originally started as the village’s on Facebook at community will continue to thrive.

Jaycees club in the 1960s. WagenMilledgeville Men’s “You don’t run into everybody knecht and Dettman joined nearly Club and message all of the time, but that one meet40 years ago, but at that time Jaythe club through ing a month is like, if I don’t have that page for more cees members were mustered out of anything going on I’ll hang out information. service at 36 years old. with them,” Smith said. “It’s a As Jaycees members got older social thing, but it’s also a civic, and new members became tougher to find, community involvement thing.” the Jaycees disbanded and reformed in 1990 as The club’s secret to its longevity is simple, the Milledgeville Men’s Club. These days, club said Dettman. members can do more in any given year than “We formed our club and we’ve been going what the Jaycees did, largely because money ever since,” he said. “We’ve stayed on because raised stays in Carroll County and isn’t sent to we’ve enjoyed everybody else, and there’s a lot of the state Jaycees organization. camaraderie. When we do something it makes “We were 36 at the time, and you couldn’t be it worthwhile.” n Continued from page 27

Before club members can put some elbow grease into the projects they take on, they have to raise some money to grease the wheels first.

That’s where their skill at fundraising comes in.

The club raises money at various functions and events throughout the year, including an annual chili cookoff, raffles and its ever-popular “Pizza Palace” at the Carroll County Fair. Don’t worry, if pizza’s not your first menu choice, the food stands sells rib-eyes and boneless pork chops, along with other customer favorites.

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w h e r e iCsarrioltl ?County S ANSWER Stacking spheres is tough, but can be done when they’re put in a pyramid — as seen with these cannon balls on the Carroll County Courthouse lawn.

The mathematical theorem behind the method of stacking is called the Kepler Conjecture, which describes how spheres can be grouped in a three-dimensional space. It’s named after the 17th-century mathematician and astronomer Johannes Kepler. Even as cannonballs were stacked like this on the Civil War battlefields, its mathematical proof was still being studied.

Photos by Cody Cutter/Sauk Valley Media

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A refurbished missile had been on MHS’ radar for a while — then the Milledgeville Men’s Club stepped in to help

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EIDMAN

IAN W STORY BR dia Sauk Valley Me

hanks to a group of community-minded men, the missile mascot time he was done with it. on the south side of Milledgeville High School is looking good and “It’s exciting to see it, because it’s a whole new facelift on it,” Duncan ready for action. said. “The missile is a landmark here, and it’s fun to see it refurbished and Once an actual working nuclear missile in Huntsville, Alabama, the reconditioned like this. It’s going to last a long time.” decommissioned nuke has been standing guard outside MHS since 1970.

Once the missile was removed, a host of club members went about cleanThe 27-foot missile was propped up by two brick supports, with an olding up the site. They tore out the bricks that had once supported the misstyle message board underneath. sile, and skid loaders put those bricks in dump trucks to be hauled away.

In recent years, however, the missile and supports had began to show The new support for the missile now could be installed, and that’s where their age. The school Mark Dettman came in. He designed a looked into having them 7-foot pedestal made of sturdy carbon Milledgeville Men’s Club members, from left, Brad Smith, professionally refursteel with a cradle on top that would supAdam Drinkall, Kenny Duncan and Mark Dettman stand in front bished, but the price port the missile. It also pivots at the top, of the recently renovated missile at Milledgeville High School. tag on that project was so the missile can be pointed ALEX T. PASCHAL/APASCHAL@SHAWMEDIA.COM about $40,000. toward the south or the east That’s when members by hand, after unlocking the of the Milledgeville cradle.

Men’s Club stepped in.

There had been some debate in town “They had just deteover which way the missile would be riorated and had weathheaded. ered and had started “It was talked about spinning it 360 to kind of become an degrees, and I said that probably wasn’t eyesore,” club member going to happen,” Dettman said with a Brad Smith said. “We smile. “You don’t need to go up and spin knew that something the missile.” had to be done. The With either donated or discounted missile itself, the paint materials and labor, it cost the Milledwas getting faded. We geville Men’s Club less than $10,000 to could tell the missile complete the project, one-fourth of the needed repainting and original bid. the supports needed to “It made a big difference to just do be redone, so it was a it locally with local talent,” Smith said. good community project for the Men’s Club to take on.”

“We’ve got good craftsmen in the area, so it was nice to get them involved.”

The project, dubbed “Make the Missile Great Again,” began in late School Superintendent Tim Schurman needs only to look out his office August 2020 when the 2,000-pound projectile was hauled to a shop that window to view the missile makeover, and he likes what he sees. sounds like it was custom made for missile work: Stewart’s Boom Service.

“We couldn’t be more pleased with how the missile turned out,” SchurOwner Brad Stewart sandblasted and primed the missile, and got it ready man said. “It looks great as you drive up to the school – the profile of it – for Ken Duncan to paint. and really, it enhanced the missile all the way around.

Duncan used about 5 gallons of white paint, as well some orange and “We’re grateful to the Men’s Club. They are a great community organizablack – Milledgeville’s school colors – for the trim. It looked like new by the tion, and we’re indebted to them for making our missile great again.” n

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