I remember my dad at one point wondered if maybe the dual enrollment agreement with the Keokuk community school district (the one that would later be found to be in violation of state law by the board of education) would mean some of these rough-hewn bad boys could beef up our slouching football team roster. Other rumors and gossip circulated around town. He described it as being like the Oregon State Hospital from the 1975 film adaptation of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest." Another friend worked out there for all of eleven days before quitting in the summer of 2004. She made good money, much more than she had made lifeguarding at the public pool previous summers. I remember a friend’s sister working out there one summer while she was in college. But while the new Midwest Academy would not replace hundreds of lost factory jobs, it did provide 26 jobs at first, eventually increasing to 60 staff members, which, to its credit, paid well above Iowa’s minimum wage. The local newspaper quoted mayor Dave Gudgel calling the project “The Miracle on the Mississippi." This may have been something of an exaggeration. Trane and Vaifanua planned to open a boarding school for troubled youth from around the country. So when Ben Trane and Brian Vaifanua facilitated the purchase of the Charleston Place Home, which had formerly served as a senior living facility on the edge of town, the news was widely seen as a sign Keokuk might yet endure. My parents and their friends were all very concerned. I remember the anxiety in the community about job losses. Keokuk, which had been a shining example of the opportunity one could find in the industrial heartland of America at the turn of the last century, was in danger of falling into disrepair by the turn of the next century. Smaller stores like Osco Drug and Henke Hardware also closed around this time. Stone Container, originally founded as the Hoerner-Waldorf Box company in 1920, closed its doors in 2000. The town had been hemorrhaging jobs for much of my childhood. Keokuk had suffered a series of economic setbacks throughout the late 1990s that continued into the 2000s and up to the present day. When I was about to enter my senior year of high school, the community was abuzz about a new school opening on the edge of town. Ray Herr reflects on how key players in Keokuk welcomed the Midwest Academy and didn't spot red flags pointing to likely abuse of troubled teens.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |