A longer view of the best place I’ve seen
To the editor:
I was a surprised and heartbroken when I read Jeremiah Lange’s commentary. I want to tell you how I see Marion County.
I first visited Marion in 1996 when I took my then-girlfriend to see her grandparents, Fred and Viola Podszus, in Lincolnville. While we were there, we were welcomed throughout town — from the ladies at Tiemeier’s to the guys working at the co-op who got a kick out of a 25-year-old who had never seen a grain elevator.
While staying at Country Inn in Marion, we visited every store along Main Street and were treated as welcomed guests. People showed an honest interest in why we were in town.
One day we stopped rather unexpectedly and asked to visit the former residence of Mr. and Mrs. Burnace Powell, my girlfriend’s maternal grandparents, who died in 1973, before she was born. The people living there welcomed us and let me photograph the entire house.
You folks are some of the last true and honest Americans. It is up to all of you to group together and resolve conflicts.
If you don’t agree, that does not give you permission to bad-mouth anyone, because if you do, you should start with yourself and how close-minded you’ve become.
You have to learn to acknowledge and respect every viewpoint. Work together, be the town that I and Becky’s ancestors were proud of. Be proud of the history you have in the best place I’ve seen.
Dave LaForest
Soldotna, Alaska