IOWA CITY - Some Johnson County people are refusing to give up their fight against the county supervisors. People living along Newport and Prairie Du Chien roads and Dubuque Street are upset with the supervisors. The county approved plans to improve traffic in their neighborhood by raising the speed limit.
The group protesting the changes to Newport road has printed t-shirts and posters. They have made flags and even a cannon. But this latest attempt to sway voters outweighs everything else.
Jim Glasgow has spent six months sawing his latest project. He said, “I don't know if I could think of anything more dramatic to do."
He is still several days from finishing this masterpiece. Glasgow said, “The inking is actually easier than the carving."
When it's done, it will be the world’s largest wooden nickel 16 feet three inches in diameter. It weighs 4,000 pounds.
Glasgow is not so much interested in inking his name into the record books. He has a more serious mission. Glasgow said, “Hopefully this will get people out to vote in the supervisor's election."
Glasgow, and many others living on Dubuque Street, Prairie Du Chien Road and Newport Road want leaders that will not renovate a road in their neighborhood. He says his group is called the ‘Newport Gang.’ Glasgow said, “What the supervisors of Johnson County are giving us is not worth a wooden nickel."
Wooden nickels came about in the 1930's. When banks failed they gave people wood coins as a kind of I-owe-you. Now the Newport Gang is ready to cash in the world's largest check. And Glasgow hopes to drill home his metaphor as voters head to the polls.
The wooden nickel will be on display on Dubuque Street by Memorial Day. The current world's largest wooden nickel is at the wooden nickel historical museum in San Antonio. It is 13 feet four inches in diameter or three feet smaller than Glasgow's nickel.
Email Steve Nicoles at Steve.Nicoles@kcrg.com
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