Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Closing Committee

A former resident of Jefferson, now retired, has enlightened me as to a chamber committee that existed in the mid-seventies whose sole function was to pressure all Jefferson retail establishments into closing at five p.m. No wonder most of them are now defunct.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

I can not confirm this story...but it would not surprise me at all if it were true. I still recall going to Des Moines to shop and surprised at how much nicer an experience it was. In Jefferson, the shop owners (with one or two exceptions) made sure that I was unwelcomed in their stores. So, was I saddened to hear of their troubles (in the 70s, 80s, 90s, etc...)...not at all.

Anonymous said...

My days as a youth in Jtown I went to the ol Coast to Coast frequently to look at toys. I was greeted and followed like a thief every time I went there. Unfortunatley the youth today miss out on being treated like a criminal.

Anonymous said...

I know this is not the right thread for this...but just a reminder that the first JSPC football game is tomorrow night.

Diamond Dave said...

My understanding from this is that the football game will be played from 3 to 5pm to not interfere unnecessarily with the weekend night life . Did I hear correctly?

Anonymous said...

If the lights at the stadium bothered the nearby hogs, then I am sure they would move the games up to 3:00PM...maybe sooner. In fact, once the football field is determined to be a good location for a hog farm, there will be no more football field. It will be Linduska Factory Hog Farm and Manure Containment Area.

Rick Bland said...

I have heard that the closing committee's power began to unravel about the time that Gibson's (Pamida) came to town. Apparently, there was quite a controversy as to whether or not that store should be allowed entrance into the Jefferson market.

My source, who was president of the Lions Club in the late 70's, also tells me that Jim's Super Valu was strongly discouraged from staying open later than 6:00 PM.

Diamond Dave said...

I'd be a better man today if Jim's had only stayed open till 6pm. I credit my paunch, gray hair and bags under my eyes (I'll stop here, for fear of delving into the TMI zone) to staying up late hours working at Jim's when it opened. Scratch that. It might have been personal choices I've made.
Oh, put my shoulder on the list, too.

Anonymous said...

D Dave...spent most of my youth there in the mid to late 80's. Days of ol Jim Kramer, Leonard Wright, Devilbiss. I started when they were doing the remodel. What a shame that place went under. Open late, holidays, and weekends.

Marty Bryant said...

The shape that Jefferson is in today has been completely determined by itself. In the past, it was a small but dynamic community that sustained itself. Poor decisions were made by community leaders, probably to further their own ends at the expense of others. By and large, these people have left , leaving the Jefferson population to live with the self serving ideals of these long gone movers and shakers. What do you people think?

Diamond Dave said...

Talking about the old Jim's reminded me.
My parents like Bomgaars. Robbie gives them good service and they really appreciate his kindness and patience.
And as a reply to Anonymous about the football field potential change to the LFHF and Manure Containment Area- it's always good to see new business come to my ol' home town.
They might check on receiving stimulus or state gambling money to get a big fan to blow the fragrance south or east, out of town, though.
I hope the subway appropriation doesn't waylay the fan plan.
It'll be good to get another factory in town.

Anonymous said...

No need to blow the smell away. Green County is basically one big pig farm. The people of Jefferson should be used to the smell by now.

larry d. said...

Oh, so now we have a pig sty expert writing in. Are you sure you're not my mom?

My mom was a pig sty expert. She called it all the time. "Your room looks like a pig sty." "This whole house looks like a pig sty!"

Thanks, mom.

Anonymous said...

Greene County has over 100,000 hogs.

Rick Bland said...

That is an incredible statistic. Where did it come from?

I must admit that although at first glance it would give the appearance of something Tars Tarkus pulled out of the clear blue sky, I have since done enough research to discover that Iowa is home to 17 million of the nation's 62 million domestic hogs.

In fact, if hogs were people, we would be as populous as Texas.

It is possible that some of the local women may have been mistakenly included in this count, as only 2.9 million people were counted in Iowa in 2006.

Anonymous said...

i was kinda thinking that linduska field should be renamed to lynch field any comments

Anonymous said...

It doesn't matter how many guys were lynched out by that football field back in the day, that name will just not fly.