Had to chuckle about the parents’ and school board’s concern about the bad effect a new filling station on Mount Vernon Road between 14th and 15th streets SE would have on their kids while attending McKinley Middle School.

Those of us who attended that school in the 1940s and 1950s were exposed to a much larger danger without seemingly being harmed.

Directly across 10th Street from the school was Pusateri’s grocery store, Maid-Rite sandwich shop, and the Tic Toc Tavern. Farther up from 10th Street was Spryncl’s sandwich shop, featuring huge tenderloin sandwiches. Homsey’s grocery store was only a block and a half down Eighth Avenue. There were other outlets farther up Mount Vernon, including three filling stations on the corners of 14th and 15th streets. On 16th Street, there was Meis’s and Hladky’s grocery stores and East End Pharmacy. On 12th Street, there were two doughnut shops, one was a Krispy Kreme. Another bad attraction for kids were the ice cream shops on Third Street and Dysert’s on Third Avenue selling ice cream cones for a nickel.

Maybe one of the things that made us so healthy was the fact that none of us had much money to buy those goodies.

Let’s get on with progress and worry about some serious concerns.

Russ Colton

Cedar Rapids