"Builders to the World" Dan Clark's guest is Richard H. Stanley, chair emeritus and past president of the Stanley Group which includes the Muscatine-based Stanley Consultants, Inc., a member-owned worldwide provider of engineering, environmental, and construction services. Dick tells about the firm's international work in some 98 countries over the years since it opened an office in Liberia in 1957. http://www.stanleyconsultants.com/about_us_history.php Dick also chairs the board of the Stanley Foundation, a private-operating international-affairs organization that is separate from SCI and its charitable foundation. http://www.stanleyfoundation.org/richard-stanley-bio.cfm Last week SCI announced a $50,000 donation from the Stanley Consultants Charitable Foundation to the International Red Cross for Haiti-earthquake relief.

"It's Time for Ragtime!" The 16th Annual Eagles and Ivories Ragtime Weekend is January 29-30-31. Dan Clark's guests are Chris Clark and Duffy DeFrance representing the Muscatine County Arts Council which co-sponsors the festival along with the Muscatine Art Center. See schedule and program and links to performers' sites at http://www.muscatineartscouncil.org/eagles&Ivories.htm.

Dan Clark called this show "Who's got a better idea for Muscatine (better than tourism)?" [more soon]

Dan Clark asked his next-door neighbor Frank Kelly to take the lead for this first show of Year 5. A former executive of the local community foundation, Frank says Muscatine is "close to greatness" as an award-winning city for many attributes and attractions, e.g., health care and river front and trails and historic preservation. Caller Kent Sissel calls for a "summit" on cultural tourism. Hear past shows with Frank at http://muscatinetours.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=492461 (June 16, 2009 about the Diamond Towns initiative) and http://muscatinetours.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=395120 (May 13, 2008 about Historic Downtown).

Dan Clark called this show "Isn't it time for a REAL trolley in Muscatine (again)?" We had 'em from the 1880s through the 1920s, unless you count the electric interurban which ran through 1938. What would it take, he asks, to run a real streetcar in Muscatine, maybe between historic Downtown/Riverfront and Southend sports complex? He says the USA's premier heritage-trolley restorer and replica-maker is Gomaco Trolley Co. of Ida Grove, Iowa (http://www.gomacotrolley.com), but their only car in Iowa is at Old Threshers in Mt. Pleasant (http://www.oldthreshers.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=page.midwestElectricRailway). He reads a description of Muscatine's eight streetcars ordered in 1913 and proposes commissioning Gomaco to construct a replica. He also reads from and comments on Facebook discussion with skeptics. He calls this show Part 2 of his "rant" from September 2008 (http://muscatinetours.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=383570).

Dan Clark reads "First Christmas Tree" by William D. Randall (Little Known Stories of Muscatine, Vol. 4) and then takes a call from Randall's daughter, Shirley Calvert. Guest author Tom Savage says his research has turned up more information about early settlers than was known when the historical marker was placed in the 1960s at the foot of Iowa Avenue ("This granite stone marks the site of the first log cabin...." http://muscatine-tours.com/vanater1.jpg). He tells of the trading post started by Mr. Farnham before the Black Hawk War and mentions other early settlers who will appear in the local-history storybook he and wife Sharon are writing. They own Muscatine Books and More (http://muscatinebooks.com) and have sponsored TTT "from the git-go." Finally, Dan reads an excerpt from a Christmas-tree tale by Steve Hanken, about a pine his parents in Iowa sent him in Vietnam in 1969.

Dan Clark called this show "It's Our People on that Monument." His guest is Lee Miller, who is leading an effort by local veterans groups and others to restore the 1875 Civil War monument on the grounds of the Muscatine County Courthouse. They propose to replace the soldier atop the column and the four plaques at the base, and they would add names that were left off originally. Lee is author of Crocker's Brigade, a 2009 book telling the story of four Iowa infantry regiments combined under command of Marcellus M. Crocker after the April 1862 Battle of Shiloh, and he says he is working on his second book. Hear our first show with Lee (Jan. 27, 2009) at http://muscatinetours.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=426836 and another (with host Tom Savage)at http://muscatinetours.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=508792 (July 7, 2009).

Dan Clark called this show "Old Barn 'Acorn Fund' Saves the Day." His guests are John Haskins, founder and president of Friends of the Old Barn, and Judi Holdorf, executive director of the Community Foundation of Greater Muscatine. Two weeks ago the Muscatine County supervisors reversed an earlier vote and approved a request from Friends of the Old Barn to use a nearby "cottage" for a public restroom for programs at their restored barn at the former county farm site. Haskins credited a community foundation "acorn fund" for helping make the winning case and called the decision "democracy in action." The story is told at http://www.muscatinejournal.com/articles/2009/11/24/news/doc4b0c074310602718088662.txt; the Old Barn fund and others are described at this CFGM page: http://www.muscatinecommunityfoundation.org/staticpages/index.php?page=20060107130217954&tab=2. Hear Dan's first show with John (Jan. 17, 2006) at http://muscatinetours.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=399731 and his Old Barn (Nov. 2008) update with Dave Casstevens and Dave Metz (Nov. 4, 2008) at http://muscatinetours.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=399823.

Dan Clark called this show "No, the Muscatine Trolley is NOT for sale..." but hurried on to say he is getting ready for some changes in the coming year. December concludes eight years of MT&T and four years of TTT. "In the coming year, I will pass the age of 'Old' John Brown when he died December 2, 1859, on the Virginia gallows," Dan said. All year the show has tracked the story of the Brown band's 1859 slave-liberating trek across Iowa and their dramatic departure from Muscatine County. "The more I dig and learn from others who share this interest, the more connections I'm seeing between here and Harpers Ferry," Dan said. "Plus the abolitionists who were active here and all the Iowans who took part in the Civil War that soon followed. Opportunities for so-called heritage tourism are all around us, neighbors." He invited listeners to come out Friday evening for Muscatine's 25th annual Holiday Stroll with a new the parade up Second Street and free trolley rides throughout the evening.

Dan Clark calls this show "What else can we learn about the Underground Railroad around Muscatine?" His guest is Doug Jones, staff archaeologist for the State Historical Society of Iowa whose job includes Underground Railroad research. Doug is visiting the Muscatine area to learn about Alexander G. Clark and other black residents and also their white neighbors who opposed slavery. He gives an update on the project marking the route of John Brown's last trip across Iowa in 1859. Hear Doug's previous show (March 2009) at http://muscatinetours.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=439389. Learn about Alexander G. Clark at http://alexanderclark.org. Photo: November 20, the day Kent Sissel (left) and I (right) helped erect the John Brown Freedom Trail marker at the Springdale Friends Cemetery. Also shown are Doug Jones and Lowell Soike, the main staff on the SHSI project. Photo by Mike Boyle. NOTE: For some reason, only the last five minutes of the show was recorded.