More about Mel Horgan

We always thought the stories about the red light were apocryphal, but Richard Holstad swears it is a true event that did happen. If someone had a problem requiring the attention of Constable Horgan a call was placed to the local operator, who then switched on the red light to tell Mr. Horgan they needed him to call in.

Apparently this was prior to the days of "Car 54" and short wave police radios so Mr. Horgan would spot the red light during his cruising periods, stop to call in, then head off to quell the riots or whatever was going on.

In these photos taken recently you will notice some modifications to the brick wall. We apologize for the blurry photo and will get an improved version sometime in the near future.

The windows of the photo are the second and third windows from the left on the more distant shot.

Thanks to current technology the system is now out of use, and thinking of it only reminds me of the "Stop" and "Go" signs Mrs. Opheim hung on

the door of our 5th/6th Grade Combination classroom at First Lutheran Church, meant to control bathroom traffic.

That didn't work so well either, but it's another story.