Linn County (Springfield, Brookfield, California: military, hotels, wage)

[QuintusCinna]

I've been going through every nook and cranny on the internet, and for Marceline, MO, all I find are the same 3 or 4 buildings in photographs. Now, I understand Marceline is a small town, mind you, but I was wondering if anybody has good photographs of various spots around the town. I prefer "downtown" but am curious about many of the areas since their government and non-profit webpages are too limited to explain much about Marceline.

[DEBBYANDCARL]

I Am Actually From Brookfield (town Right Next To Marceline) And Was In Marceline Last July. Try The Linn County Leader, The Local Newspaper. It Covers Brookfield, Marceline And Several Other Small Towns. They Have Pictures All The Time. Good Luck.

[QuintusCinna]

I read the Brookfield Townnews daily (not exactly sure why, but I do). Maybe it's just the fluke of the seaons, but I swear anytime I see a picture on there anymore its either an auto crash or the kids in class. The kids in class don't bother me (though I swear your county's kids are far prettier than ours up in Springfield, OR- is it your water or is it ours?) but the auto crashes lately, gadzooks. If it's not a truck underneath a highway, it's a couple cars smacked at a crossroad. Thank you for the information, though. I'll be patient and maybe something will show up.

On the side note, the last time you were in Marceline was last summer? That's only 9 miles away. Then again, I guess I haven't bothered checking the neighboring towns here in quite a while either, so I understand...

[DEBBYANDCARL]

I Actually Live In Virginia Now. I Do Go Back Several Times A Year And Am Planning On Retiring There In The Next Few Years. I Still Have Family Living There. They Do Seem To Have Had A String Of Vehicle Accidents Lately! What Is The Interest In Marceline?

[QuintusCinna]

Though I'll be giving out the scoop a little too openly, I received my M.A. in Virtual Archaeology/Architecture and am gathering data to see if I want to laser scan downtown areas of small towns like Marceline (see my colleague's Digital Michelangelo Project for an example of laser scanning) that are getting lost by reurbanization. Its the idea that you can transfer digital data into 3D and put a site or building into virtual reality for people to walk around and examine up to a half milimeter away (if you want to cross your eyes).

Marceline and other areas in northeastern Missouri are dwindling away in population and this is a fair way to preserve them historically in digital format. If I can find out what to expect (with pictures), it will help me out dramatically. Working with city governments seem to never do well because they don't see the benefits for such projects so I am attempting it on my own.

on a side note, any good annual celebrations you remember from Brookfield?

[DEBBYANDCARL]

I Have Many Fond Memories Of Brookfield. I Was A Military Brat Who Lived Mostly Outside The Us, But We Would Go Back Every Opportunity To See The Family. My Brother Currently Lives There In The House My Grandparents Bought In The Early 1920's. My Family Lived In That Area From The Early 1800's. If You Would Like To Give My Your E-mail I Will Pass It On To My Brother. We Have Many Photos Of The Area Even Back To The Civil War. My Brother Works For The Linn County Leader. Unfortunately, On Line You Only Get The First Page Photo, Not Really Enough To Give You What You Are Looking For.

[QuintusCinna]

Thank you greatly. On a side note it looks like one of Pixar's finest is going to be at Marceline's Toonfest this September AND the creator of Hagar the Horrible.

[QuintusCinna]

I see that once in a blue moon, the kids get to go to a dance once in a while, but as for adults, what is there for entertainment in this county? Are there arcades? Drive-ins? Unique shops? Don't tell me it's to visit other counties because that counter-acts what I am asking.

[QuintusCinna]

Okay, finally I can say I've been to Marceline (as of yesterday). Though there is a good nature to the community, there's quite a bit of hostility there. In the neighboring city of Brookfield, there were people insulting a black woman and when a Californian interrupted them they broke a bottle and tried to take care of him for being a n*-lover. As for Marceline, there is little activity there for people living there unless they do religious events and the occassional celebrations. The stores show little retail experience- bad displays, poor quality merchandise (excluding Yocom's- they were good), and poor service. Don't expect to find any serious quality Disney item. The food is good at Zack's restaurant and Conversation's restaurant (didn't try anything else) and the Disney museum is wonderful. The locals told me that the owner of the major business of Walsworth hates anything Disney and won't hire you if you are a Disney fan. I don't know if this is true. Supposedly Walsworth and a few other major businesses of the city keep the wage low (I was offered a measily $6 an hour at one that I applied to, to see if this was true- and I have a master's and lots of experience) to keep the people and town dependent on them. It is no wonder that 26% of the county is in poverty with those kinds of methods and that the county has the highest unemployment in the state. It's a beautiful area- very beautiful but because there are limited housing codes, people can get away with no up keep in Marceline (I was shocked to see how many houses were actually falling down or apart). Houses that should have been condemned or blocked from kids coming in were easily accessible with defication everywhere. I found a "condemned" house nearly on each street of the city. I love the idea of the town, but I question if the town really likes Disney or are simply using his name to get the tourists coming in (which would have been more if there was professionalism to the city). Many local kids were thugs. Hotel owners I talked to said they had problems with them tearing up their hotels and some of the teens driving by were yelling obsenities at us. Though I had no clue why they did this, they probably thought this was in good fun. These kinds of things can deter tourists to come back though I know I will come back (though not any earlier than a couple years in hope they have changed some of these problems). Between racial slurs, teen thugs, and all sorts of things I've mentioned, it has work to do to change their ways.

[DEBBYANDCARL]

I'm so sorry to hear that your experience with Brookfield and Marceline was so negative. How would you feel about having it published in the Linn County Leader, or writing a letter to the editor? Those of us who know the other side of Brookfield and care about its future are concerned that someone visiting would see such a bad side. I think it would be important for the people to know that this is the impression they are giving to visitors. If you have an interest in having this published please let me know. The editor of the Linn County Leader can be e-mailed at: editor@shighway.com

I hope someday you will give them another chance.