Dear editor,
This letter is to recognize two of Iola’s city employees for their job performance.
At about 3:45 a.m. on Sunday I awoke and noticed my house felt colder than usual and that my electricity was off. The outside temperature was -2 degrees, not a good time to lose my furnace heat. The house air temperature was dropping rapidly. I noted my house-powered clock hands stopped at 2:50 a.m. I had been without electricity for about one hour.
I called the police department and was informed that help was on the way as they had already received a power outrage report for 924 N. Washington. I noted that street lights were on at locations close to my house and reached the conclusion that the power transformer on the utility pole on my alley must have burned out.
The Iola utility truck arrived at 4:12 a.m., the bad transformer was down in about 20 minutes, the new one was installed and power restored at 5:10 a.m.
Due to the quick work of the two Iola employees, my power, along with my neighbors’, was off only 2 hours 20 minutes.
I don’t know who those two men were, but their performance of duty during extremely cold conditions was, in my mind, “above and beyond the call of duty,” to use a familiar military phrase. I did holler a “Thank You” out the door. The return was “You are welcome.”
Those gentlemen certainly earned their overtime pay as they have done the City of Iola proud.
Paul L. Zirjacks,
Iola, Kan.
Dear editor,
I was not quite 10 when we were swept into World War II. In early 1942 we didn’t know who would come out on top. It wasn’t the “piece of cake” some writers today write about, knowing the ending. Things were frightening and dark. What we lived day to day can never be adequately conveyed.
But somewhere a crippled boy wrote a song called “There’s a Star-Spangled Banner Waving Somewhere,” that helped us gather up our broken parts and defend democracy. The words of President Roosevelt encouraged us all just as did his fireside chats on the radio during the Great Depression of the 1930s.
Our flag was a precious, sacred thing then, perhaps the only flag that spelled freedom and democracy. I am glad and proud to be an American. Eisenhower said we would be living under great restrictions if the AXIS powers had won.
Sincerely,
Jim Brownrigg,
Iola, Kan.
