Now, welcome to our new print media servers, both here and in Lawrence. The paper has a new look and several new features. The staff is largely hometown people with smiles and a warm welcome for everyone. I wish them well and look forward to working with them.

However, if I could find Aladdin’s Lamp, I would rub it and make two wishes. One would be that the word “Tonganoxie” return as part of the paper’s name. The second would be that the logo which brought attention to the library column would be restored. We have a great new library and I believe the logo, which is the original engineers’ rendition of our facility, would add not only to the column but to the paper as a whole. I believe readers have come to identify library news with the logo.
Can my two wishes come true?

N. Jean Lenahan,
Secretary, Tonganoxie Library Board

Proud of park

To the editor:
Let me compliment you on the very first edition of the “New” Mirror. The issue appears bright, colorful, correctly spelled and correctly reported. This represents a very significant change long overdue in the narration of Tonganoxie events. Thank you very much.

A secondary purpose is to express my feelings on how fortunate we are to live in the great, small community of Tonganoxie. A great community is a conglomerate of many things: location; physical plant; services provided; and most importantly, the people. I would like to comment on a few of these “great community” features.

Not too long ago, the area along Tonganoxie Creek was a blighted trash dump. A group of very fine people took the situation in hand and, through donation, organization and a lot of hard work, turned this blight into one of the finest public park areas I have seen. I have lived or traveled in all of the United States and many foreign countries so I have some appreciation of what elements are necessary to have a public park serve. Our park is still a “work in progress” but the many features now available make it one of the best. So many people have worked hard to make this park a success and I am sorry that I am not knowledgeable enough to name every one. However, I do know the names of some people that have contributed a great amount of their time, talent and resources: Bo Himpel has seemingly made this park his “life’s work” and continues to do the daily ministrations that make the park wonderful. Larry Meadows has contributed much time and the wonderful resources of his company. Earl Parsons has included this park in his many philanthropic and talent contributions. Harold Denholm, Bob Klinkenberg, Dale Freeman and the entire membership of the local VFW have got to be considered as “prime movers” in this project. The City Council and the Chamber of Commerce need to be highly praised for their continuing support from the very beginning.

This has been my humble attempt to recognize a few people and praise their efforts in bringing us a wonderful facility. I think the project deserves a much broader story than I have set down here. With (what appears to be) the talented staff of The Mirror, I would hope that you see this as a worthy subject for some future feature article.

Gene Ward,
Tonganoxie