[Clipping: Palmer savors win in vitriolic contest] Part: 2 of 2
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14-A Sunday, April 21, 1985, DALLAS TIMES HERALD 4
Farm town shaken by tragedy rocksBy JIM CARRIER
The Denver Post
CUBA, Kan. - The farmers'
suicides weigh heavily on a town
of 300 - nobody can bring
Charles Heina or Ron Havel back.
But watching Elmer Dolezal's face
twinkle as he leads the Cuba ac-
cordion band in a concert at the
J ock-a-thon, helps them forget
for a while.
Stuck with thousands of dollars
m debt when the Treceks went
Iankrupt didn't please Allis-Chal-
mers dealer Don Swanson. But
when Bill Trecek gave Swanson a
friendly punch on the shoulder at
the Rock-a-thon recently, and
visited over coffee the way neigh-
bors do, he knew they still were
friends.
In the basement of the commu-
nity hall, the spirit of Cuba, al-
ways boisterous at the springtime
rocking chair marathon, was
showing again, in exultations of
cheer and the chuckles and shar-
ing of friends. But this year that
spirit was tested severely.
Throughout the hall, the farm cri-NE& MIS$.
~<Cub a
Topeka
KANSAS
OKL.A- i
sis was as real and close as the
cherry kolaches spread on the
table.
As they drank beer and played
cards and ate dumplings slathered
with sauerkraut, they talked
about the estate sale north of
town, when land went for $200 an
acre, down from $600. They
talked about such young families
as the Matouseks, moving to Oma-
ha to find work. And they talked,
inevitably, about the 1930s, the
last time things got this bad.
What they didn't talk about
were the two 42-year-old farmers
who killed themselves, the three
forced farm sales, the implement
dealer's move to the county seat
last year, the closing of another
dealer in nearby Concordia, therise in mental stress and medical
problems. They wondered how
long other stores on the run-down
main street could stay open, how
they could attract and hold young
people, with new energy, new
blood, new tomorrows.
For 10 years, Cuba's Rock-a-
thon has been the town's biggest
event. For a week each spring, 24
hours a day, townspeople take
turns rocking in two chairs. While
they rock, kids perform, men sing
Czech songs and neighbors visit,
Through food sales and auctions;
and the sale of chances, the Boost-
er Club has raised $40,000 to build
a park, fix up the community hall
and buy safety equipment for the
fire department.
For a decade, the event has
been a sign of spring, a time of
renewal and spiritual uplift in
farm country. This year it was
more a sign of defiance
"This town is still alive and ac-
tive because of this type of thing,"
said Jeannine Kopsa, who found-
ed the Rock-a-thon as a bicenten-
nial event. "It keeps people inter-
ested, it brings young and old_________ L RSA
FURNITURE VILLAGEtogether. It makes the young peo-
ple cone back,"
And this year, she said, "It
gives the people something else to
think about for a week - for a
little while."
"It gives me a good feeling that
people can come and share fellow-
ship - especially in hard times,"
said Theresa Trecek, a first-grade
teacher whose husband and
brother declared bankruptcy in
their hog operation last fall and
took night jobs in a manufacturing
plant 45 miles away. "I'd never
want to experience that stress
again," she said, fighting tears.
Diane Breeding's 6-year-old
child came home from school one
day with the question, "What is
bankruptcy?"
'You shouldn't have to tell a
first-grader that," said Breeding,
who is tending bar to help support
the family farm. "Working here,
it s fun to make some little old
farmer's day a little brighter.
They come in pretty depressed."
Her husband, Steve, works
with the Treceks, car-pooling in
his $150 pickup, farming before
work. They are borrowed to the
hilt, she said, something that
gnaws at Steve's pride.
"He thought at 35 he'd be es-
tablished, and we're not," she
said.
At the grain elevator, across the
spot where Burlington Northern
railroad tracks used to be, manag-
er Jim Davidson was busy taking
herbicide and fertilizer nrder,
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Brown, Jeff. [Clipping: Palmer savors win in vitriolic contest], clipping, April 21, 1985; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1584199/m1/2/: accessed June 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.