Hilmer Boo got his diploma as town loses BMV
Hilmer Boo got his diploma as town loses BMV
By: Bill Mead
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Posted by editor Mon Apr 2, 2007 11:11:15 PDT
Viewed 684 times
0 responses 0 comments It's the little stories from the heartland that define our nation, but you don't know about them unless you get on the Internet and prowl the Web sites of community newspapers.
If your awareness of the world around you comes only from the big city papers and the TV news channel you didn't know, for instance, that Hilmer Boo finally got his diploma from the Chesterton, Indiana, high school 66 years after he abandoned the class of 1941 to fight in World War II. I learned this from an article in the Chesterton Tribune which made it sound like Hilmer accepted the long-delayed honor with a great deal more nonchalance than his fellow townsmen. He said it was “nice” getting the diploma, then went on to downplay its value, pointing out that lack of the diploma had never held him back careerwise.
I can't help thinking that Hilmer's surname must have been more of an impediment to him than his failure to finish high school. I can imagine this sort of dialogue between Hilmer and a superior officer during his army days:
OFFICER: “What's your name, soldier?”
HILMER: “Boo!”
I can envision Hilmer then being led to the stockade to face charges of insubordination but apparently he suffered no such ill effects from being a boy named Boo.
The story of Hilmer's late-in-life commencement was a bright spot in an otherwise gloomy issue of the Tribune. The lead article suggested that every man, woman and child in Chesterton was up in arms over a plan by the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles to close its licensing office in Chesterton. This was deemed so offensive that the Tribune editorial staff seemed to lose all semblance of detachment in its coverage of the atrocity, quoting only the most scathing critics of the Indiana BMV. On the other hand, it's possible the reporters simply couldn't find a soul within miles who had anything good to say about the BMV.
The opposing party affiliations of Chesterton's elected officials certainly didn't keep them from speaking with one voice when they addressed the pending closure of the local BMV office. Republican state representative Ralph Ayres said he was “more than outraged.” I'm not sure what it would be like to be more than outraged but it was clear he was thoroughly ticked. His Democratic counterpart, Duane Cheney, called the closing “a political slap.” This level of seething anger even led some Chesterton leaders to lash out at other towns which were hanging on to their BMV offices. A place called Hope, Indiana was singled out as one where the axe should have fallen instead of in Chesterton. So much for good inter-community relations.
Because Chesterton is smaller than Tehachapi and we have never had a permanent DMV office to lose, I'm not about to get livid over Chesterton's problem. I wish them well in this battle but I couldn't help noting an interesting statistic in the Tribune article. While Indiana is the 14th ranked state in population, it is 4th in the number of motor vehicle licensing branches, exceeded only by California, Texas and Florida. You have to find out stuff like this from reading small town newspapers.
You won't learn it from reading the Los Angeles Times or watching CNN.
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