Elkhart, Indiana's payday, and the man behind it
August 5, 2014 2:13 PM   Subscribe

 
Season 8 of Parks and Recreation?
posted by Fizz at 2:15 PM on August 5, 2014 [10 favorites]


If it's anything like my town, the local teabaggers and other assorted idiots will call it meddling and fight every improvement you try to make.
posted by entropicamericana at 2:24 PM on August 5, 2014 [3 favorites]


Fascinating story, I appreciate your posting it.

It makes you wonder what would have happened if the guy lived another thirty years.
posted by pseudonick at 2:34 PM on August 5, 2014 [3 favorites]


You know, a town with money's a little like the mule with a spinning wheel. No one knows how he got it, and danged if he knows how to use it!

Monorail...monorail...monorail...

This is a fascinating story that reminds, of first blush, of the weirdness (to outsiders at least) of small town life and bachelorhood also covered in Bernie and I'm really looking forward to finishing the article; I just had to get that off my chest before logging off.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 2:36 PM on August 5, 2014 [11 favorites]


I'm getting an error when trying to view the article, but here's a cache.
posted by daninnj at 2:40 PM on August 5, 2014


God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 2:43 PM on August 5, 2014


I hope you finished the article and changed your mind regarding Elkhart as a mule with a spinning wheel, MCmikeMcNamara. It appears the charity recipient is being considered and astute with their dispersments.
posted by Kerasia at 3:32 PM on August 5, 2014 [3 favorites]


*sigh*
Kids these days
posted by entropicamericana at 3:58 PM on August 5, 2014 [1 favorite]


See, it's a Simpsons reference (as well as a second-degree reference to The Music Man).
posted by Chrysostom at 4:23 PM on August 5, 2014 [2 favorites]


Reminds me of Twain's "The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg," about an apparent windfall that everyone in town hopes to claim for themselves, bringing out vain greed and absurd justifications.
posted by Mo Nickels at 4:43 PM on August 5, 2014 [1 favorite]


It's an interesting thought experiment to look around your own community and thinking, if money was no object, what would cause the most good? Would it really work?

The whole One Newark business has made me reconsider the true ability of a one-time bolus of money to genuinely solve societal problems.
posted by cacofonie at 5:37 PM on August 5, 2014 [2 favorites]


Sorry I missed this earlier--a fascinating story that appears to be evolving in positive directions. Thanks Again--refreshing and without cynicism or sarcasm. Wishing the Foundation well.
posted by rmhsinc at 3:44 AM on August 6, 2014


Elkhart is a fairly nice place. If I were ever to leave my own county, I'd move there because my family is there.
posted by IndigoRain at 5:39 AM on August 6, 2014


I spent a summer in nearby Topeka, IN, once, and when they called Elkhart a "small town" I laughed out loud. When you're living in a town of 1,000 people, 50,000 seems sizeable indeed. Big city or small town, it was a nice place, and I'd love to see it do well.
posted by epj at 7:33 AM on August 8, 2014


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