CONSPIRACY                                         

By James R. von Feldt

All Rights Reserved

“It’s a conspiracy!”                         

The words stopped conversation all around us.  

For an instance, the Gas & Grill stood still.  But then, as usual, serving and conversation picked up at the different tables.  I noticed a few glances coming our way.  

Larry Cramer and his oldest son Nate had driven up from Jonesboro Arkansas to the John Deere Factory in Ottumwa.  They had watched their new Windrower come off the assembly line the day before.   

Larry is Evelyn’s first cousin but she and Bart were in Des Moines so they stayed with us overnight.   Dixie and I were treating them to a first-class, Gas & Grill breakfast.  The works had been served and the conversation was flowing.

“Conspiracy. What do you mean Nate,” I countered?

Larry was rolling his eyes.  I’d bet he’d heard a lot about the conspiracy on the drive up to see us.  

“Well, it’s like this,” Nate continued, our two kids are in school now and we’re concerned about their education.  Me and Lotty read that they aren’t going to teach the kids anything about American History anymore.  The article we read said there is a conspiracy to dumb our kids down so that they won’t know how to read or write or know anything about Their American Heritage.  Not only that, there was a big headline recently where one of the eastern states pulled textbooks out of the schools because of a conspiracy.  The Novacks next door are concerned too.  They said there’s going to be a meeting at school - a lot of people are concerned.”

Sally was serving another round of coffee and heard everything.  

She jumped right in: “My daughter Louise teaches high school.  She keeps me up to date with things going on.  Says kids today don’t read books or write as much as they used to – even in the last five years, but I wouldn’t call that a conspiracy.   I think it has to do with how things are changing – computers, cell phones and all.“ 

Right then another voice rang out: “Conspiracy, let me tell you about the greatest conspiracy of all.”

Nate was becoming the center of attention.  

Leon Cramer, our retired professor from Buena Vista University was taking slow steps toward our table aided by his walker. “You ever hear of Doctor Mary?” he said in his gravelly voice.

 Leon had everybody’s attention.  No one responded.

“How about Doctor Mary’s Monkeys?”

Not a sound was heard.

“Well let me tell you about the greatest conspiracy ever.  It starts out with the mysterious death of the scientist Doctor Mary who set up a secret research lab in New Orleans.  The lab was financed by funds from the NSA, one of the spook agencies.  Turns out she was studying monkey viruses’ that cause cancer.  Her close friend and associate, also a budding scientist was her key technician.   

Doctor Mary was onto something big.  Big pharma, competitors, and the Maffia got wind of her work.  To complicate things it just so happened that Doctor Mary’s assistant was dating Lee Harvey Oswald, so Doctor Mary meets up with all of the characters around him.  There are infamous assassinations.  Kennedies, Jack Ruby, Sirhan Sirhan, and others you’ve heard of, are woven into the conspiracy.  It becomes a global intrigue.  It’s the greatest conspiracy story I’ve ever read.”

Leon was standing in front of Nate with a big grin on his face.

Nate didn’t know how to take it.

“Is it true?” he said.

“Son, all good stories start with bits and pieces that are true.  It’s after that when our imaginations take flight and excitement cause us to lose track that things get muddled. “ 

Frosty, Leon, and Judy Cramer were sitting at the next table taking it all in.

“Well, I’ve got a better one than that,“ Frosty piped up.  “And, it happened right over there in Buchanan County,” pointing to the Northeast.

“It all started when the centralized school movement began in the early fifties.  You know, when our one-room schoolhouses were dumped and we were all forced to send our kids to the school in Bloomfield.  It was a time of turmoil here.  Some people aren’t over it yet.  We were in on the beginning of the movement back in fifty-five.”

“Well, Hazelton, Stanley, and Oelwein were three small towns situated fairly close together.  They were very independent and had a fierce three-way competition going but they saw the opportunity to improve their school systems.  By then the state was openly giving all kinds of incentives to get rid of the one-room schools.  The problem was the fierce rivalry between the towns.  They couldn’t agree on anything.”

“Oelwein is four miles north of Hazelton.  It was the largest town – still is.  It had the railroad terminal, more and bigger stores, and thought it should control everything including the proposed consolidated school.”  

“Two things had to happen; first, all three towns had to pass the referendum to build and send their kids to the new school; second, a superintendent and new board of education had to be elected.  The fight was on for what would be the biggest single economic unit in the area. “

“Politicians in Hazelton and Stanley weren’t going to put up with being pushed around.   They negotiated fiercely.  The result was that the names of Hazelton and Stanley politicians were put on the ballot along with several from Oelwein.”

“However, the politicians from Oelwein were crafty.  Secretly, they bribed the Amish to join in the voting.    Normally, the Amish don’t vote.  They were promised that if they would vote for certain people for the school board, they wouldn’t have to worry about sending their kids to the new public school.  They could keep on in their one-room schools.”

“When the election came, carloads of Amish voted.  That was a first.  The election put the Oelwein politicians in office.  The Hazelton and Stanley people were outraged.”

“Well, time goes by.  The new school buildings were built, teachers hired, and the new schools opened for business.   However, bitterness aimed primarily at the Amish was not forgotten. “ 

“In fact, that was when the conspiracy was hatched.”

“Harlan Lemon was openly hostile to the Amish after the election.  He was particularly embarrassed when he wasn’t elected to the school board.   By 1965 he was County Attorney in Buchanan County and had clout.   

“As time went by the Hazelton/Stanley politicians plotted their revenge.”

New elections were coming around.  They electioneered hard and got a controlling vote on the board of education.  Arthur Sensor was superintendent.

Now comes payback time.

“We’ve got the law on our side,” Lemon said.  And he was right.  Iowa’s law said you have to send your kids to public school.  Harlan Lemon, now County Attorney, and Sheriff Beier, visited the Amish telling them they had to send their kids to the public school.  The Amish felt betrayed.  They had been promised they could stay in their own school.  They were not going to cooperate.  Their religious beliefs were that they should teach their own children.

In November of 65’, a yellow bus accompanied by the Sheriff’s car quietly ambles up to the little Amish schoolhouse.  Sheriff Beier and Truant Officer Snively go inside and order the children to get on the bus.  When the kids got outside someone yells RUN and thirty-seven first to eighth graders take off in all directions, screaming and yelling.  

Sheriff Beier and Truant Officer Scalise pursue and caught two kids, Emmanuel Borntrager 13, and Sara Schmucker 6.  All The rest disappear into the corn patch.

Oh, one other thing.  County Attorney Lemon had notified the Oelwein newspaper of what they planned to do and reporters showed up, including reporters from the Des Moines Register. 

Well, the reporters had a field day.  

Thomas DeFeo a Des Moines Register photographer took a picture of the kids fleeing into the corn patch.  The image was picked up in Life magazine and other national periodicals.  This picture was going to lift a national outcry for religious freedom that was heard in Iowa as well as across the nation.  We all saw it.

County Attorney Lemon and Sheriff Beier were embarrassed big time.  

The surprise visit didn’t work but that didn’t deter the group which now included the School Superintendent and Principal, County Attorney, Justice of the Peace, Sheriff, Truant Officer, and others.  They were incensed.  The Amish were breaking the law.  Now they were publicly flaunting the law.  

 Their next step was to issue fines.  That was done by Justice Mini Wengert.  The fine was twenty-four dollars per kid per day, for each day they did not go to the public school.  That amounted to $888 a day.  

The Amish didn’t have the money to pay, and on top of that, they said if they had it they wouldn’t pay.  The daily unpaid fines grew and grew.

 A few weeks went by, then Amish corn, pigs, and other farm products were confiscated and then auctioned to pay fines.  

It was frustrating.  The Amish still refused to send their kids to public school.

“But they are breaking the law,” was Lemon’s continuing mantra. 

Then he had a great idea.   An appointment was made to enlist the aid of Lawrence Scalise the State Attorney General in Des Moines.  County Attorney lemon, Sheriff Beier, and Truant Officer Snively flew to Des Moines.   

In the meeting, they made their case. Attorney General Scalise, himself a graduate from a one-room school, denied their cause and cautioned them “Not to manhandle those Amish kids.”  “But they are breaking the law,” Lemon countered.  The cause fell on deaf ears.  

“Then we’ll go see the governor,” was Lemon’s response.

So, right over to the statehouse, they went.  They didn’t have an appointment so they had to wait but they were on a mission.  They were not going to give up.

Governor Harold Hughes welcomed them into his office and after a bit of polite conversation, asked them what he could do for them.  According to the account in the Des Moines Register, Harlan Lemon said, “We need thirty-four Army Reserve Soldiers, one for each kid.  It’s to escort Amish kids to our public school – they won’t go.  They are breaking the law, and the Attorney General won’t help us.” 

In the Des Moines Register’s story, the Governor denied their request and sent them home after a lecture on public trust, and sensibility to religious feelings of the plain people.

Another story in the Register added embarrassment but they were not beaten.  They fought on.  There was another surprise visit with the bus to the Amish schoolhouse. This time the Sheriff got all the kids on the bus and they went to school.  The kids cried, screamed, and resisted every inch of the way.  It was such a hassle the Sheriff quit trying.  

Publicity from the Des Moines Register and TV stories got the ball rolling.  Back in the State House activity to change the law began. It took two years.  It was quick and decisive. The State education law was changed.  Mennonite were given a dispensation from attending Public School based on their religious beliefs and lifestyle.  

So, when the bill passed in 1967 the Governor flew to Hazelton for a meeting. They say twenty reporters from across the nation were at the meeting.  It was big news.  Hughes was a very popular governor and was well respected.  He congratulated the town for their progressive attitude in educating their children but also reminded them of their responsibilities to minorities such as the Amish.

Seems like, after that, some of the Amish moved to Wisconsin and they had the same problem there with compulsory public school education law.  In 1972 the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the Mennonites have the first amendment right to practice their religious education without government interference.

It ended well.  

As Larry slid his chair back and stood up he said, “I don’t know where you guys get all the time to follow conspiracies.  Nate and I have to get back home.  We’ve got corn seed to get in the ground.”

Sally topped off his coffee cup and said, “That’s no conspiracy, it’s a business plan.”

So, that’s all for now from where the corn grows tall and pigs fly

Take care

All my Love

Grampa Jim.