David Krier has been editor of The Boscobel Dial for 24 years; on Jan. 1, 2017, it’ll be 25.

He’s familiar with the town and its people so much that the election results didn’t surprise him in the slightest. When he entered the bar one day a few weeks after the election, he planned to do an article on electronic deer tagging and how it’s affecting local bar owners such as Bob Atkinson.

Hunters are now required to tag their deer electronically, and in a packed bar where the bartender doesn’t know the Wi-Fi password, it’s easier to stop in for a drink or two and then head home.

Krier wants to write the story, and Bob and his patrons are more than willing to talk to him about it. They trust him and his work.

Bob, for his part doesn’t seem too worried, but it’s still early and the possible effects on business haven’t settled in. Krier on the other hand is worried, not about bar business but about his own job as a journalist and what the future holds.

Krier grew up in Port Washington, Wisconsin, a town that has a population of 10,000, a number that’s especially colossal compared to Steuben’s population of 131. He attended UW-Madison but dropped out his sophomore year to go exploring. For a while, he hitchhiked across Canada and Mexico before deciding to re-enroll in school.

His traveling had left him with an abundance of stories, and journalism seemed like the right fit.

“It probably didn’t hurt that my grandfather was a weekly newspaper editor,” Krier said, “and my mother was an English major.”

Being in the business for as long as he has, Krier has seen a lot of changes.

According to Krier, there’s a lot of fake news circulating around, and the internet doesn’t always improve the situation. Still, he’s taking it in stride. For Krier, accurate reporting is now more important than ever.

He’s doing the best he can, but print news isn’t as popular as it used to be, Krier knows this. As editor, he’s well aware of the falling subscription numbers. This younger generation prefers the digital side of news, and it’s starting to take a toll.

“I like to say that every obituary is another lost subscriber,” Krier said.

While Krier spends time thinking of ways to boost subscriptions, he now has another worry to add to his list: President-elect Trump. It’s no secret that Trump does not support the media, especially journalists.

“Mr. Trump doesn’t tolerate criticism of any kind,” Krier said, “and I fear for the future of journalism in America.”

On Election Day, Krier knew Trump was going to win. Crawford County is small, and everyone knows everyone, including who they voted for and who flipped.

“I saw people at the polls who I had never seen there before,” he said.

Krier believes that while a great number of Trump supporters came out of the woodwork in time to cast their ballots, he also thinks there was a low turn-out for Democrats.

According to Krier, a lot of Democrats stayed home because they didn’t like Hillary’s message.

Atkinson, a longtime Democrat, didn’t vote at all because he didn’t like Hillary.

“Ever since the Bill Clinton Presidency,” he said.

Bob wasn’t the only one who didn’t like Hillary, Hillary for Prison signs were posted all around the roads. Sheryl Groom, David Krier’s wife, didn’t like Hillary either; in her mind, Hillary is a criminal who deserves to be in prison, and the only reason she isn’t is because of the media.

According to Groom, news stations practice monarch mind control; she believes everything from the sounds to the colors to what the news anchors are saying is designed with the intention to draw the viewer in and hypnotize them.

Groom said that even though Hillary knew that her emails could be hacked, she still did it, and more people weren’t mad because the news stations essentially tricked them.

Although his wife is inclined to believe in conspiracy theories, Krier believes a different set of factors led to more people voting for Trump.

Krier noted that the most of the town is white.

According to him, a lot of people fell for Trump’s blaming immigrants; additionally, in a town where most people spend their weekends hunting, it’s safe to say the Second Amendment played a huge role in how people decided to vote.

Given everything, Krier wasn’t surprised. At the end of it all, the county switched from blue to red and helped Trump secure the election.

Still, no matter what the future may bring, Krier feels positive about one thing: That he loves the Boscobel area, and he’ll do whatever it takes to keep writing, as long as he gets to keep his five minute commute.

The post They Hate the National Media, but There’s One Journalist They Like appeared first on Election 2016: How the Mississippi River Valley Turned Red.

The people here are welcoming and willing to talk to whoever approaches them, even strangers who are clearly out of town.

There’s a main street and a village hall, and like most people in small towns, it’s community members are incredibly proud of their heritage, in this case, Norwegian. The country’s flag is proudly displayed all around main street, even in the mural. Complete with a Viking statue dedicated to their ancestors who came before them, it is evident the people of Spring Grove feel that their heritage is something to be honored.

The amount of pride they take is laughable to Spring Grove resident Lucky Volkenant, 73, since according to him, there aren’t many people left in Spring Grove with Norwegian ancestry.

Lucky himself is German, and after making the trip across the pond, he originally settled in Wisconsin. While there he owned and operated a bar and grill, but couldn’t stand to be inside all day. He likes the outdoors and needed sunshine in his life.

Eventually Lucky decided to cross state borders and make his home in the land of the Vikings, though he dares to have a team picture of the Packers just outside the office. So, although his heart is true to the green-and-gold, Lucky considers himself a resident of Spring Grove. He and his wife Jean have owned the only laundromat in town for nearly 25 years; it is their home.

The laundromat, like the rest of the town is not what it appears; in fact from the outside, it doesn’t appear much like a laundromat.

 A small garden grows out front, and off to the side sits a wooden box. Above the box hangs a sign, FREE TOYS, more dolls inside. There aren’t any toys in the box although at an angle it may appear full, but a quick peek inside reveals only cobwebs and rotting leaves.

The rest of the store’s outward appearance is likewise misleading. Only a gold metal sign hanging overhead legible to only pedestrians tells them what awaits inside. In black all cap hand painted lettering the sign says: LJ’s Laundromat AKA Doll World and Bestemor’s Home of Useables Wantables Collectables.

There are two possible entrances for those who dare to step foot into this collector’s oasis: a large set of concrete steps encased between the garden strip or a door to the side with easier access.

White washers sit in the middle of the room, dryers are stacked on one side, mirrors and faded images on the other, and hanging over the entire room from the 12-foot ceiling and walls are dolls.

 Baby dolls, plastic dolls, cloth dolls and a few occasional stuffed animals.

“What else are you supposed to do with a 12-foot ceiling,” Lucky said.

Lucky ventures to guess there’s nearly 27,000 dolls around the store now and while he doesn’t know the particulars or story behind each he imagines that the donors do.

Their choice of decor gave the laundromat some local and statewide attention. In 2015, roughly 2,000 dolls had found a permanent home on Lucky’s ceiling, after a moment in the spotlight people started sending in their dolls. Lucky and Jean have received nearly 5,000 dolls since then.

According to Lucky, displaying the dolls falls under the categories as one of those things that once it begins, it has to keep going.

As sure as he is about his dolls, Lucky is equally unsure about the new president elect, Donald Trump.

 “Humans make mistakes,” he said. “Obama is a good guy, but he made mistakes.”

The state of Minnesota went red this election season with a majority of the state voting for Hillary, but Houston County, where Spring Grove stands, went with Trump, clinching him 52% of the vote.

The fact that Houston County voted Republican is especially odd for the county considering that for the last two presidential elections Obama won on a landslide. He received 67% of the vote in 2008 and 50% of the vote in 2012.

Although Lucky feels people around town seemed to have calmed down over the results, he noticed that a lot of people were upset when the announcement initially broke.

Still among the anger, Lucky managed to find some humor in the entire situation, especially in the relationship between Trump and vice president elect, Mike Pence. He can’t seem to understand where Trump gets off telling Pence to be quiet considering the big mouth Trump has.

“For not being a politician,” Lucky said, “he acts like one.”

In his mind, Trump is as good as any other crooked politician.

The average Trump voter is often considered to be someone from a low-income background, who has little to no education. While it is possible that some Trump supporters fit this stereotype it is not necessarily true, still whether people voted for him or not there have been some strong reactions all around.

Not all aspects of the stereotypical image of an average Trump voter appear in the residents of this town.

Houston County has a population of around 18,000 people, with Spring Grove making up only 426 of that, and furthermore, the majority of the population includes people over the age of 45 and like the rest of Houston, it’s not very diverse. In fact, the population is 97% white.

The poverty rate is 12 percent but as far as Trump voter stereotypes go, most of the people in town are educated and they have average income of around 51,000.

Even though the majority of the county cast a Republican ballot, these people are not all the uneducated voters the media claims them to be; rather, they’re people who are ready for change.

At the end of the day Lucky believes that the choice was made and the only solution now is to deal with it.

As for now Lucky, is dealing with it one day at a time. While other Spring Grove residents spend the day outside setting up the gazebo area with holiday decorations, Lucky stands by the side door. There’s two customers in the shop and for the moment, this is as close as he’ll get to some fresh air.

The post Lucky and the Laundromat of Dolls appeared first on Election 2016: How the Mississippi River Valley Turned Red.