THE LIST: Where the heck is Stringtown?

“Where the heck is Stringtown,” I asked a guy I was talking to the other day.

I was talking with a gentlemen the other day who told me he was from Stringtown. I hadn’t ever heard of that place. A native of Cass County, I know where Lorah and Norway Center are, but Stringtown was a new one to me.

Here in Adair County, many of us know where Avondale is or Canby, Stanzel or Arbor Hill, though all of these places ceased being actual towns generations ago.

I enjoy useless trivia such as this. I also enjoy a good roadside attraction like the Tree in the Middle of the Road, located north of the interstate in southern Audubon County between Wiota, Anita and Exira. The tree is startling if you’re popping over the hill for the first time, not knowing it is there. It’s something you’re not used to seeing: a tree in the middle of a four-way intersection.

The Tree in the Middle of the Road makes a driver pause for just a second to decide which way they want to go around this giant obstacle they’re faced with.

Now, there’s no tree in the middle of the road, so the illustration is a little broken, but you get the idea of where I’m going: I look at the headlines of our day here in Adair County and we have big decisions to make. It would do us well to pause and count the cost of which way we’re planning to go.

A few of my favorite leaders I’ve learned from in books include various presidents and former football coaches. Tony Dungy, Vince Lombardi and Tom Osborne are a few of the coaches whose books I’ve read. Coming from a leadership angle alone, I’d throw Jesus in there too. He was certainly counter-cultural in how He led and faced the challenges of that day.

I read Dungy or Osborne’s leadership advice and can’t help but notice their humble boldness. They seem to stick up for what’s right quietly and behind the scenes. They don’t make a big fuss about it, but they don’t seem to stray to the left or right from their convictions.

The big decisions on the docket for us are hiring a city manager for Greenfield, deciding whether or not we want to invest money into a new pool and hiring two new administrators at Nodaway Valley.

We have a front row seat into what those surveyed said they want in a new superintendent because the results were released by the media, and we printed those results in the Wednesday, Feb. 25, Adair County Free Press. That’s the big decision probably most imminent as a decision should be reached before next week’s newspaper goes to print.

The two categories on the superintendent survey that I was most interested in were the key leadership qualities and personal attributes sections. Under the first one, survey responders said they were looking for a student-centered individual who is strong and transparent in communicating, approachable and visible, a consensus builder and fiscally responsible. Under personal attributes, responders reported they want a community-driven, compassionate/supportive and resilient/adaptable individual.

In the case of hiring the superintendent, those involved will get to know Michelle Arneson Havenstrite of Prairie City; Jonathan Mendoza of Norwalk and Pam Stangeland of Stanhope really well next Monday. While we’re absolutely right to put the proverbial microscope to these individuals, and ones we consider to be our city manager, I look at those survey results and they scream humility to me.

There’s value in an individual in leadership who mixes well admitting they don’t have all the answers and not being moved by having to make a decision when it matters. A team approach always helps this as well. Humility and having a backbone should go together a little more in our world. Easier said than done.

Stringtown is north of Lenox, by the way, if you didn’t know. You learn something new everyday! I now know where Tenville, Beebeetown and Stringtown are. All of these are cool town names that make you say, “Wait, come again?.”