Dorothy Brush "Random Thoughts" Published March 12, 2003

Washboards: Weapons of mass destruction?

When was the last time you thought about a washboard? Should you need one you will be pleased to learn they are still made. The Columbus Washboard Co. in Ohio recently received a request from the captain of a U.S. Army tank company in Kuwait. He and his company of 75 soldiers are stationed in the sands and dust of the desert and he said they have no way to wash their uniforms.

Relief is on the way. Washboards and other things that might be needed to wash clothes were sent to Kuwait from the Ohio washboard company. You might call them weapons of mass destruction for dust, dirt and germs.

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Newcomers to Crossville attended an open house at the Palace Theatre in late January. It was planned as an introduction to the different agencies serving the community and to the volunteer opportunities available. Mayor J.H. Graham III hopes this first successful venture will become a regular event.

Our country has a long history of welcoming newcomers. In frontier days, it was the custom to greet new arrivals with a Conestoga wagon filled with food and water. In 1928, a Memphis advertising man borrowed this early practice to introduce new residents to the merchants he represented. He called it the Welcome Wagon. The idea caught on and spread across the country.

Following World War II our society was on the move and most anywhere you moved Welcome Wagon was there to greet you. A Welcome Wagon hostess arrived at your door with a basket of surprises - coupons from merchants, small gifts from some and information about your new town. If you had questions, she had the answers.

Another societal change did Welcome Wagon in. As women entered the work force in greater numbers, the hostesses bearing a basket of gifts found few responses to their knock on the door. At the end of 1998, the parent company of Welcome Wagon announced there would be no more personal visits. Instead, they would make their contact by mail.

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Nashville will be known as the Catfish Out of Water City from June through October this year. Fifty 7-foot fiberglass catfish decorated by local artists will be displayed at parks, plazas and on street corners. The idea is to raise the awareness of the value of the Cumberland River to the Midstate's quality of life. To learn more go to www.cumberlandrivercompact.org.

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Dorothy Copus Brush is a Fairfield Glade resident and Crossville Chronicle staffwriter whose column is published each Wednesday.