Spending the day at Spring Mill

This week My Friday Column takes you back to years gone by with a trip to Spring Mill State Park in nearby Mitchell Indiana.

SPENDING THE DAY AT SPRING MILL

When your children reach a certain age it is sometimes hard to find family activities that everyone enjoys doing together.  Sometimes it is hard to hold the attention of my youngest son, who is nine and has grown up with a game controller permanently attached to his hand.  There are also times when my teenage son gets bored doing things that are age appropriate for his younger brother and sister and then there are times that the my little girl doesn't want to do something that her brothers enjoy doing.  When you find the activity that everyone enjoys you want to tell the world about it.

My children attend a church camp in Bedford, Indiana.  On the way home after dropping one of them off I like to treat the others by taking them to Spring Mill State Park in Mitchell, Indiana.  It seems to be one place that each of them has a great time and we always find something interesting to do there.  We have been able to stop twice this year and the kids cannot wait to return.  Each time we go we try to do something new and we still haven't done everything there is to do.

When you enter Spring Mill State Park you are charged a minimal fee of $5 per car for Indiana residents a price that is well worth it.  As you approach the gatehouse at the park entrance you immediately notice a fairly modern building to your right.  This is the Virgil I. (Gus) Grissom Memorial, a tribute to America's second man in space who was a native of Mitchell.  Coincidentally, the Liberty Bell 7 mission that propelled this local hero into space and history books occurred 50 years ago this week.

Inside the Memorial you see pictures and memorabilia from his childhood growing up in southern Indiana through his years with NASA until his death in 1967.  While the small museum holds important artifacts including space suits and an actual Gemini space capsule, my children found Gus's grade school report cards some of the most interesting.  High School Year books and other memories donated by friends and family makeup part of the collection and a short movie is shown about his life.

As you move on through the park you come to a sign pointing to the “Twin Cave Tour”.  This is the only cave that is open to the public on any of Indiana's Department of Natural Resources properties.  The other caves on  forestry properties have been closed to control the spread of White-nosed syndrome, a fungus that is killing bats throughout the eastern United States.

Two small specially designed boats, like squared off canoes ,are loaded up with up to ten people.  The  guides lead the boats through the stream that runs into the cave,  carefully pointing to the caves unique formations and occasionally stopping to see the creatures that call the caves their home.  This cool trip into the underground world last about twenty minutes and is great on a hot summer day.  No matter what the temperature is outside the cave's air conditioning is always set on cool.

The main feature of Spring Mill State Park is the Pioneer Village.  An actual working gristmill  grinds corn every day is the cornerstone of this community as it was when the original settlers made this valley their home.  Over twenty buildings sit on the grounds of this world that seems to have journeyed back in time over one hundred and fifty years.  You can see what the houses of those early settlers looked like as they tried to make a go of it in this new frontier.

You can visit the Mercantile and pick up some penny candy or visit the weaver's shop to see how clothes were made back then. Many of the attractions are manned by interpreters that live their lives as they did back then,  in traditional garb they tell stories of life in pioneer times.  My children loved watching the Blacksmith as he stoked his fire and bent and hammered his metal forging tools out of raw steel.

Spring Mill State Park has miles of trails for hiking for just about any skill level.  We walked back into the woods along a stream a few hundred yards to see a waterfall that is the source of power for the gristmill.  Bike paths are also available throughout the park for those who enjoy some two wheel exercising.  There is also an Olympic sized swimming pool to keep cool on a hot day and plenty of areas for picnicking.

Spring Mill State Park is only about fifty miles away, perfect for a single day trip but if you prefer spending the night lodging is available inside the park at the Spring Mill Inn.  If you are the type that would rather rough it, campsites are available also with different levels of accommodations.

Taking my kids on a trip where they all have a good time is a rewarding experience.  Taking them someplace that they learn something makes it that much better.  If you are looking for a place to take the family I believe you can't go wrong by spending the day at Spring Mill State Park.

Our Space Program at a Crossroads

As the Space Shuttle winds I take a look at the our space program in this week's column

OUR SPACE PROGRAM IS AT A CROSSROADS

I remember my father waking me up early one morning when I was younger to watch something that was about to happen on television. I believe that this was the first time that he had actually made me watch something, having told me countless times when I was younger to stop watching television. We were about to see something Live on television that had never happened before. The launch of the Space Shuttle Columbia was an historic launch for NASA, and for me.

Fire shot from the end of the orbiter and the smoke bellowed from the launch pad, as the crew began that first voyage of the space shuttle program. I sat there and watched the launch of that inaugural flight and it was one of the most exciting things that I had ever seen. At eleven years old I had seen Star Wars and Star Trek but I had never seen the launch of a real space vehicle. It was a new era for the space program and I was there to see it begin.

I was born between the flights of Apollo 12 and Apollo 13. The manned missions to the moon ended when I was only two years old. There were a couple of times that the launched missions to Skylab when I was younger but I was too young to remember those. This was a historic launch because this was the first time that a space vehicle would blast off, return to earth, landing like an airplane, and then be used again.

Last week I sat and watched the final launch of the space shuttle program and the end of American manned space flight for the foreseeable future. It seems the cost of the program has begun to outweigh the potential benefit. Have we gone everywhere there is to go? Have we learned everything there is to know?

John F. Kennedy announced our plans to beat the Soviet Union to the moon in his speech to congress in 1961. “No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important in the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish.” He realized that there would be a significant cost but the achievement would be worth it. The space program was a source of pride and something that the United States could do to set it apart from the Soviet Union.

One of the cost of the space program has been in human lives. The first lives lost to the American space program happened during a test of Apollo One. Three astronauts were killed in a fire on the launch pad just eighteen months before the historic moon landing. Included in that accident was fellow Hoosier Virgil I, Grissom. Hailing from nearby Mitchell Indiana, Gus, as he was known had been the second man in space. He was also rumored to be considered to be the commander of the first moon landing and could have been the first man to walk on the moon. Not too bad for a guy that grew up in a small town less than fifty miles from here.

In 1986 the Challenger exploded just after liftoff killing the crew of seven, including school teacher Christa McAuliffe. I was in high school when this happened and remember it like it was yesterday. After this tragic accident the program was put on hold for a while the program could be re-evaluated and so that changes could be made to the orbiter.

In 2003 the original space shuttle, Columbia, was destroyed during re-entry while completing its 28^th mission in space. All seven astronauts were killed when the shuttle exploded. It was determined that the shuttle's heat shield had been damaged during liftoff and the intense heat caused the shuttle to break apart as it prepared to land. Some believe this tragedy was what has led to the end of the space program as we have known it for a generation.

The space program has given us many advances in technology including engineering, electronics and telecommunications. Many of the things that most of do on a daily basis including cell phone or internet communications come from advances that came directly from the United States space program. Much of our ability to obtain weather data comes from technology that would not have been possible without space flight.

A couple of products are sometimes mistaken for coming directly from the space program. Tang the breakfast drink was created before the beginning of the space race and became popular after John Glenn used it on his mission into space. Velcro, the product that has delayed a generation from the ability to tie their shoes has become widely used because of NASA's adoption of it but they are often improperly credited with its invention.

As the last space shuttle mission comes to an end The United States space program is at a crossroads. I think there are still things we have to learn and there are still many places we have yet to go. I believe that we should continue to travel into space to so that we may learn more about this universe that we live in. JFK said it best in his speech to Rice University in 1962, “If this capsule history of our progress teaches us anything, it is that man, in his quest for knowledge and progress, is determined and cannot be deterred. The exploration of space will go ahead, whether we join in it or not, and it is one of the great adventures of all time...”

The Changing Tide of News

I thought this would be a good week to resurrect this blog after a couple of months off because of technical difficulties.

THE CHANGING TIDE OF NEWS

In the short amount of time that I have lived on this planet, the way that we receive our news has changed dramatically. Relatively recently if you wanted to see the news of the day's events you had to be home in time to watch the nightly news. Local news stations would give you a half an hour of what was going on around this area with a little weather and sports thrown in and then Walter Cronkite would tell you the way it was. Besides that you could wait until the next morning and read about it in the newspapers. 

When cable television began its explosion in the 1980's the twenty-hour news channel was born. Ted Turner was the pioneer that brought us CNN and later Headline News Network and changed the way we saw news back then. At that time when we wanted to see what was going on in the world we could hear about it as it was happening. In 1986 CNN was the only network that was showing the launch of Space Shuttle Challenger as it exploded. When the United States started its bombing of Iraq after their invasion of Kuwait in 1990, for the first time in history we were able to see war actually unfold live on television.

It continued this way for a few years with CNN leading the way until other news organizations decided to get into the 24 hour business. MSNBC and Fox are a couple of the main competition that arose from our need to watch the world unfold before our eyes. Together they changed the way we watched our news again. The only problem with these channels is that they count on big news stories, usually controversies, to keep people watching. Throughout the 1990's things like Bill Clinton's impeachment and the OJ Simpson trial had people tuning in but would it be enough to hold our attention for long periods of time. In 2000 our attention was drawn to the controversy of the Presidential election and the resulting recount.

As we rolled over to a new Millennium we turned on our television sets and sat watching the smoke billowing from where the first plane had hit the World Trade Center. We continued to sit paralyzed as we saw the second plane strike the other tower. I personally sat for hours that day watching the news unfold and wondering what could possibly happen next.

Over the next few years technology began to take over and the way that news was gathered and broadcast began to change radically. Personal computers became as common as the television in most homes and today most everyone can access the internet from a portable devise small enough to carry with you anywhere. Add to that the ability to capture photos and video and just about any one can call themselves a “journalist”.

Now, I can get my news from just about anywhere. A couple of days ago I was cutting the grass when the verdict from the Casey Anthony murder trial was announced. Within minutes of the announcement I knew what the results of the verdict was. Moments later I was already starting to hear feedback and reaction via Twitter.

All of these advances have had a major impact on other media sources. As you know this newspaper has gone through some radical changes over the last few months. The combination of the former Evening News and Tribune into one newspaper covering both Floyd and Clark Counties and the recent decision to go to deliver by United States Postal service everyday. The Courier Journal has had several major staff cutback over the last couple of years. Just last month their parent company Gannett made more nationwide cutbacks including the loss of the Indiana Statehouse reporter.

As traditional media outlets are cut back and people look to other places to get information, it opens the door for less than reputable sources to begin to spin the news. Now anyone that wants to can sit at their kitchen table and make up what the news is. They can “report” whatever they would like without the usual standards that journalist were once held to. Many of these new age of “journalist” even hide behind their keyboards and report anonymously.

Over the last few years technology has moved faster than at anytime in human history. Much of the new technology we have only begun to utilize to its potential. The ability to spread news at an exponential rate, comes with a certain amount of responsibility. Just about anyone has the power to influence thousands of people almost instantly and we have an obligation to use that power wisely.