COW CHIP

COW CHIP by Justyna Ball

To the accidental passerby, Ware may seem as a typical New England mill town. Although it does remember better times for sure. The town took its name from “weirs” that Indians set up to catch salmon in the same river that, later on, powered cotton mills that supported hundreds of families in neighboring towns.

It was in the late1800s that the area attracted Irish, French and Polish immigrants who more or less happily coexisted on the river’s banks.

These days cotton mills are just relics of the past; nobody here makes straw bonnets anymore nor shoes for that matter either. Instead, Wal-Mart offers jobs to young local people.

The town became somehow forgotten. Unappreciated, but I do believe, it still possesses some of the old character. Where others see “Dollar Store”, “Everything For a Buck”, a bowling alley, or laundromat, I see Church Street with old colonial and Victorian houses lined up all the way to Old Gilbertville Rd, the one with a covered wooden bridge. I see majestic trees on both sides giving shady relief to joggers and dog owners walking along.

Where others see Main Square with the old run down Casino theatre, and local losers sitting and watching the world go by, I see how some already turned the old factory complex into store outlets, a gym, veterinary clinic and café.
Dulak’s Garage is still there although Gabriel Narutowicz’s Polish Club next door changed its name to Gabe’s. Neither Gabe’s nor the White Eagle Club on Pulaski Street attract the local youth. The town is not dead yet, but it is harder and harder for the younger generation to see a bright future in this ex-commercial town.

A few years back the local high school received a well-deserved face-lift. The pinkish and turquoise coloring creates a contrast to the shabby gray building standing next door.

The school shares a driveway with a National Guard’s Recruiting Station. It is not a coincidence that in early spring, an enormous banner appeared right in front. The National Guard wanted students to know that it is OFFERING 100% FINANCING OF COLLEGE EDUCATION.

All you have to do is join. Representatives of the US Army make regular visits to local public high schools. They visited my daughter’s school 4 years ago and now they visit more often. My son’s school, an hour away, is spared, simply because a private (although all boys) school in a nice neighborhood for some reason does not appeal to the recruiting team.

But since Francis was in the public school system up until the 8th grade he does receive “invitations” from the Army quite often. One promised him up to $70 000 for college AFTER he serves, as well as up to a $20 000 enlisting bonus and a US Army T-shirt, FREE. The young American is also promised an adventure.The flyer displays a picture of happy soldiers in front of an Apache helicopter and a Bradley fighting vehicle. Oh, and a smiling soldier in camouflage holding a …laptop. Not a gun but a laptop. Not a single gun in any of the pictures, just fun toys to play with. In the finest print “ Benefits based on qualifications. Information subject to change.”

Only a dog’s haul away in Brookfield, St. Mary’s church just held an annual Cow Chip festival. It caused some inconvenience for drivers for a couple of days when workers had to separate the area by ropes, number the squares and fence it. For those who do not know how to play; you invest $10 or more, get a number, then come to the common to watch the cow do a “number” on your square, win $2500 instantly. As simple as that.

The best part is when the “investors” cheer the cow from all angles and try to direct her into their square. The cow of course comes completely unbiased, moves slowly, smacks flies with its tail and after dining on fine grass all day, later may drop a chip or two on the ground and the winner is announced.

Cow chips or pies are nothing new. Pioneers used buffalo chips for cooking instead of burning wood. Women and children used to walk along trails and picked it, and yes, used as an alternative fuel.

Beaver, Oklahoma, has its National Chip Throw Contest. Records are broken, and champions are loudly applauded. But when I first heard about it I had no clue what that contest was all about, and frankly never thought that someone may actually turn cow manure into a national sport. If only farmers in Poland knew, they might even want to compete and start Trans-Atlantic competitions.
Cotton Mills, Cow Chips are our local folklore just as the Asparagus Festival in West Brookfield is. At least the Apple Pie Contest at Salem Cross Inn is what it is, an apple pie contest.

There are fewer job opportunities in Ware and the army knows it and as we all know by now the number of new recruits nationwide are the lowest since 1999. And the National Guard is even worse, some 25% behind.

Lack of interest? Or maybe the parents and students are more cautious now about what they are getting into. Even though there is a ban on showing the coffins of the soldiers coming back from Iraq, the fact that an average of 2 soldiers a day die gives them something to think about. I guess we finally started seeing the truth where this war is taking us. The money and opportunities that the army offers are great but since Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld himself agreed that it may take 10 years or more before we can leave Iraq, some may think, are the kids going to use the benefits that the flyers promise? The answer does not appear so attractive anymore. Unless we are working for Haliburton. More money going their way, exactly a billion dollars more than last year, lining their pockets with money from soldier transportation to movie rentals. The several million dollars questionable overcharging did not stop the army from signing the newest 5 billion dollar contract.

Nobody doubts, by now, who profits from this war the most. It was just a matter of time for more information about Bush’s administration tactics “how to sell the war to our allies” to come out. Now, we have two wars going on. The real one, where our soldiers come mutilated or don’t come back at all, civilians killed or burnt, apparently insurgents can train faster than we can train Iraqi police. The war with no end. And there is another war, Bush’s war that is a success; the war that was won but the peace process is somehow taking a detour. Public patience has its limits but Bush’s administration has no scruples.

President Bush put us into this deep “cow chip” and he appears to have no clue how to get us out of it. And to tell you the truth, I don’t think he and his thugs care.