Prior to our moving back to Ohio we lived in Rochester, Illinois. Rochester is a small village about 8 miles from the state capitol of Springfield. We lived in a new subdivision there and had wonderful neighbors who have become enduring friends. Rochester is a charming little village that has begun to enter a growth spurt as a bedroom community. Running through the village is an abandoned rail line that has been converted into a walking or bicycling path. The line begins in Springfield and is intended to run to Taylorville…some 20 miles away.
While we were living in Rochester, my wife became a member of the Rochester Women’s Club. Although a small group, they wanted to take their community service ideal very seriously. Through a series of fundraisers, the Rochester ladies had finally accumulated $10,000.00 which they were going to use for constructing a toilet facility and drinking fountain on the Springfield to Taylorville exercise trail. Their plan was to use the club’s funds for purchasing materials, and then to solicit volunteer labor from their husbands and other people in the community.
The ladies encountered government interference from the beginning. First, they had to establish the club as a non-profit 501C(3) in order to encourage tax-free contributions. The process took several weeks because the bureaucratic hurdles, vagueness and delays somewhat mystified the community-minded women. When they presented their idea to the village council, they were informed that they would need formal plans from an architect in order for the crapper project to move forward. Early estimates suggested that architectural fees would be in the neighborhood of $30,000.00…huh? For an outhouse? At this point had I been in charge, the project would either have been abandoned or a “porta-potty”, faucet and hose would have been provided to the runners, walkers and bikers.
But the determined ladies of Rochester would not be denied as they forged on to present the village of Rochester with an outhouse worthy of Central Illinois royalty. The construction and sanitation issues continued to accumulate, but they charged forward. The ladies were informed that any labor used to construct the magical receptacle had to be paid the prevailing wage. Huh? For an outhouse? No hubbies and neighbor guys, no volunteers from the town, they were not permitted to give of their time and their talents. There were federal, state, county and village laws, rules, regulations and ordinances to maneuver if the “trailside toilet” were to become a reality for the anorexic runners and obsessed bikers who used the path in their efforts to outrace mortality.
The committed effort to raise $10,000 for an outhouse and fountain on the trail had morphed into a $60,000 King of Crappers because of red tape and incessant government busy-body interventionism. The camaraderie that might have developed from having the volunteers work together for the community was never realized. The additional $50,000 that might have gone to other worthwhile community projects was lost. I’m not certain, but I suspect that a small group of wonderful ladies have lost some of their fervor for improving the village.
Over the years the high school football stadium has offered opportunities to nearly a thousand young players and many more cheerleaders and band members. Literally thousands of family members and fans have attended functions and games at the all-volunteer stadium. Once upon a time there were three small communities which merged together to form a new one and high school football proved to be a unique catalyst for forging a new identity. Meanwhile some seven hours to the west strangers running or riding through the Village of Rochester may stop to dump their bodily wastes and refresh their parched lips without ever knowing the hurdles that were encountered by the wonderful ladies of the Rochester Women’s Club.
Oh, you may be curious about where the additional $50 grand came from. The Village applied for a stimulus grant for the remaining balance, so non-runners or those who do not bike on the trail can help pay for the outhouse with their tax dollars. And….some shepherd in Wyoming, or a croupier in Vegas, perhaps a waiter in Orlando, a crossing guard in Boston and any number of taxpayers across the nation have contributed in some small way to the dripping and dumping by athletic Illini. This column was not written to ridicule Rochester or the ladies of the Women’s Club, but it does illustrate how far we have drifted. Over-burdensome regulations are offset by government grants…we pay doubly.
The Stadium and the Outhouse illustrate why our nation is headed for the crapper.
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