Latest news with #Messinger
Yahoo
28-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
National Vietnam War Museum Inspires Untold Stories
MINERAL WELLS, TX (FOX 44) — Did you know that the National Vietnam War Museum is based here in Texas? As the 50th anniversary of the Fall of Saigon approaches, the museum offers a powerful look at that pivotal moment in history. In this story, we'll meet the museum's founder, learn what inspired him to establish it, and explore how the Fall of Saigon continues to help shape its mission today. 'Welcome to the National Vietnam War Museum. Follow me to see the secrets,' says Jim Messinger, one of the founders and the current treasurer of the National Museum of the Vietnam War. Messinger knows all about the 'secrets' which are on display as soon as you walk through the door: a utility truck, with its armament and specs – all detailed in a compelling display. A giant 7 x 12 quilt with 68 photos – all people who served in Vietnam. And a training helicopter – something near and dear to Messinger. 'What kind of memories does this one bring back? Oh, the greatest memory of all is I almost failed flight school because of this helicopter,' Messinger says. Yes, Messinger was a helicopter pilot – did tours in Vietnam in 1967-68 and again September of 1970 through September 1971. '[Being a] Helicopter pilot was a big thing. I wanted to be in the air force, and they required a college degree. I was majoring in women and beer at the time and my grade point average was slipping – if you go below 2.0 you get drafted, and it was at a 1.8 (GPA) when I went to sign up for the Army,' Messinger says. 'I asked the Air Force guy if they were still requiring a college degree, and he said yes. So, the Army recruiter was right next door to him, and he says, 'We have this helicopter program. All you need is high school diploma,' and I had three years of college under my belt, and I found out they weren't going to give me a degree for my major, so he said, 'Okay, sign up.'' Messinger says it was fellow helicopter pilots who trained at what then was Fort Wolters near Mineral Wells, who met to form a local support organization, which morphed into something else. 'A guy named Jim – not me – raises his hand and says, 'Let's build a museum!,'' and that's how it kicked off,' Messinger says. 'We didn't know anything about what we were doing or how to do it. We just started down the road. We knew how to raise money. Today we have a 10,000-foot two story building, and we're building another building right now, so in couple of years we'll have two of these, and then we'll be talking about what the third one will be.' For Messinger, building the museum was his second life – flying helicopters (was) his first. 'There's nothing more fun than flying helicopters, and they really are fun,' Messinger says. 'When I went to Vietnam, I was 21 years old, and my first job was to fly around and let people shoot at me. Anybody out there wants that job – let me know!' Across from the training helicopter, another display that touches Messinger's heart in a different way. 'Evacuation from Saigon,' Messinger says. A display that features a video surrounding the Fall of Saigon in the spring of 1975. 'My big thing is this display behind me, (which is) the evacuation of Saigon, and what I am going to teach people that come here about their government, and why we need a different government,' Messinger says. 'It's the only war that's been blamed on the soldiers. The soldiers don't do it. The government tells us to go to war, and unfortunately the government wanted to run the war. They don't know the first thing about running wars, so it was messy over there.' Much of the messiness on display as you stroll through the museum's decorated hallways, as well as its impacts on all people involved. 'I'm out here at least two days a week,' Messinger says. 'And sometimes more. And it's still very emotional for me. Still.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
28-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Pilot Reflects on Vietnam Helicopter Training at Closed Texas Fort
MINERAL WELLS, TX (FOX 44) — Let's step back in time to Fort Wolters, the launchpad where over 40,000 helicopter pilots learned to fly during the Vietnam War. One of the pilots who trained there, and later was also an instructor there, is Jim Messinger – one of the founders and current treasurer of The National Vietnam Veterans Museum just outside of Mineral Wells. 'The large building on the left,' Messinger says, as he reminisces about where he lived while stationed on Fort Wolters in the 1960s. There's not much left of what was then living quarters. There are other signs of what was before Fort Wolters was deactivated in 1975. Stairs leading to what were buildings, foundations of buildings long gone, building after building – some in advanced states of decay. It's all tucked into pockets what is now the Wolters Industrial Park, which has reminders of the significance at the gates. 'I was on a committee that built up the front gate, rebuilt the front gate, and we maintain that front gate as it was during Vietnam. You'll get to see it. It has a Huey – it has the two helicopters that we trained in on the gate there,' Messinger says. Messinger says Fort Wolters was once part of what was Camp Wolters. 'Camp Wolters was the largest infantry replacement depot in World War II. It was gigantic, and so after the war that disappeared pretty quickly,' Messinger says. 'The Air Force dropped in part of that later on for a little while. One of the good things they did was build a new airport for Mineral Wells, and then they left.' Then the U.S. Army came in and established Fort Wolters on a portion of Camp Wolters as the primary helicopter training post for the Vietnam War, which it did until 1973 before the post's deactivation in 1975. Messinger says he and many of his fellow helicopter pilots have wonderful memories of their time here. 'The camaraderie. We all of us went to basic training and came straight here,' Messinger says. 'There were some prior service guys who got in on it, but most of us went to basic training and came here to learn how to fly helicopters and were to become warrant officers.' Then there's a different kind of nostalgia – remembering what was and is no more. 'It's kind of sad. Camp Wolters is pretty much 99 percent gone. Ft. Wolters still has some of our barracks buildings that we lived in. They were made out of concrete, and they're still out there and look good. The facilities for flying anything have been destroyed, pretty much. It's just a bunch of junk. It's just a deserted fort now.' You can learn all about Fort Wolters and its history by clicking here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Deadline double standard: Newton superintendent frustrated by stalled SSA funding
Apr. 8—Newton Superintendent Tom Messinger confronted state lawmakers for being unable to meet the school funding deadlines, which is not a luxury public school districts are afforded when they have to now provide residents with notices of the public hearings for the proposed property tax rate. It's frustrating, he said. "Schools have to send their information to the courthouse by March 7 this year, before March 15 when documents are going out to people. We're asked to share our tax rate for next year at a point where that deadline is not flexible," he said. "School funding has been set on time once in the past 10 years." Rep. Jon Dunwell and Sen. Ken Rozenboom told Newton school board members during their March 24 meeting that over 1,500 bills had been filed this year. And although Messinger sympathized with lawmakers for having such a busy session, he argued many of the other education bills introduced are not as pressing. State Supplemental Aid (SSA) for public schools has been stalled for some time, and it is in large part due to disagreements between the Senate and House. The Senate approved a 2 percent SSA rate, but the House has passed a 2.25 percent funding package. The school district has formed a budget with 2 percent in mind. Typically, legislators have until 30 days after the governor's budget is released to set an SSA rate for public schools. The deadline has long since passed. The superintendent of Newton schools said there is no room for the district to break the law and not submit its budget documents to the courthouse. "But yet we're in essence hurting the perception of transparency because we know that what we give the courthouse could be off," Messinger said of the school district's proposed levy rates, which were published and sent to residents. "How do we work around that? What can be done to address that with schools?" Rozenboom felt Messinger was asking fair questions but he was skeptical the Iowa Legislature only met its deadline once in the past decade. But neither knew for sure. Rozenboom couldn't confirm, and Messinger said there could be a chance his information is wrong but from what he could find it was one for 10. "We're very aware of what the statutory requirement is for us, and we're very aware that we've failed to do that this year," Rozenboom said, who admitted lawmakers dropped the ball. "I guess I think our track record is a little better than that. But that not withstanding it's a perennial question to a perennial problem." Education is always the most important aspect of the budget, Rozenboom added, and he wishes it was easy to figure out how to spend the state's budget of $9 billion. But the state senator understands lawmakers have put a burden on public schools by not getting their work done on time. Dunwell noted the House and Senate have passed school funding bills, it's just that the two bills do not agree with each other. In the end, three different parties — the House, the Senate and the governor — need to come to an agreement on what that SSA rate will be. Negotiations are still ongoing. "That's where we're at as an impasse," Dunwell said. "So we, as a House strategy, have talked a little bit to leadership like you and knowing 2 percent was kind of the bottom and that we were going to hold out a little bit more and see if we could twist the arm of the Senate a little bit and find some additional dollars."
Yahoo
04-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
School board narrowly approves Newton's 2025-2026 school year calendar
Feb. 4—Disagreements over the approval of Newton's 2025-2026 school year calendar — which narrowly passed in a 4-3 vote — largely focused on combining spring break and Easter break, professional development days for teachers and the feedback the district received from teachers and community members. Superintendent Tom Messinger said the district received 71 responses from its school year calendar survey. Many of the overlapping comments were shared in an infographic during the Jan. 27 school board meeting. The most repeated comment came from six individuals who disliked having two weeks off in winter. "Some of the specific comments on that did have to do with the fact that there might be a way to get out earlier in the spring if we didn't have the two full weeks off there," Messinger said. "There were five people (all staff members) who put that they did like having two full weeks off at Christmas." Other responses wanted more early-out days or additional time off before Thanksgiving, built in snow days in the calendar, no school on Martin Luther King Jr. Day or even a four-day school week for students. Some said there were too many Mondays off school or that there were too many early outs in the first week. Of those 71 who responded to the survey, 49 people approved the calendar as proposed while 22 people disapproved. Messinger said even through some of the comments showed a dislike towards certain details in the proposed calendar, it did not necessarily mean they did not approve of it. According to the 2025-2026 calendar, the school year would begin for students on Aug. 25 and end on May 29, 2026, three days after Memorial Day. In the event of inclement weather cancelling school, the calendar states that both students and staff make up all snow days at the end of the school year. Jess Rother, a Cardinal mom to three kids in Woodrow Wilson Elementary, suggested the district get kids out of school before Memorial Day, which is observed on the last Monday in May. She said a number of families are already planning summer vacations around that time or are in "summer mode." "Some suggestions to make that possible would be to shorten spring break to possibly maybe just do it Friday through Monday, or build it into an Easter break," Rother said. "...I know that what teachers need comes into play in this as well, but if it's possible to eliminate early outs I don't know how big of a priority that is." Still, Rother argued removing early outs or excessive professional development days could be a way to work in those extra hours. She said there could also be ways to build in snow make-up days, like making students and teachers come to school on Presidents' Day. "I think the kids should come in school on Presidents' Day learning about the presidents that we observe and celebrate for our great country," Rother said. School board members Robyn Friedman, Kristi Meyer and Ray Whipple voted against the approval of the 2025-2026 school year calendar. Whipple disagreed with having a professional development day in September when there are three consecutive professional development days in August. "We can't skip September without a PD day?" Whipple said. "And I'm with her on combining Easter and spring breaks. Even moving the PD days in August ... move them ahead of the teacher workdays. I mean what sense does it make to have teacher workdays and then your PD?" Messinger said many of the professional development days in August were tied to the mandatory tasks before the school year starts. The superintendent also addressed a comment brought up in the survey feedback that said school should be able to start earlier. Districts are restricted from doing that thanks to state law. However, Messinger said legislators may change that rule in the near future. Friedman said a number of school districts have opted to have the day off for MLK Day, but Newton has not. To her, it seems like it is more accepted now to take off MLK Day for both students and staff. For Presidents' Day, too, she suggested a consistent approach is for the best. Either they both are considered holidays and no one comes to school, or the district requires students and staff to come to school on those days. Whipple agreed with Friedman's sentiments. Part of the challenge in reviewing the calendar, Meyer said, is making sure it makes sense through the lenses of teachers and families. School board member Cody Muhs argued a committee was formed to tackle this subject and many of these questions and concerns were brought up, and he didn't want to discredit their work. Which is why he moved forward with a motion to approve the 2025-2026 school year calendar. Still, there was some scrutiny over the calendar committee itself. Messinger said the calendar committee had no parents on it and was largely comprised of staff members. School board Donna Cook was not OK with that. Messinger said at one point the School Improvement Advisory Committee handled the calendar. "When I started calling people up and inviting people in on it, the one answer I heard over and over from people was: 'We're not going to be a part of it if we're going to talk about the calendar,'" Messinger said of his experience trying to recruit members for SIAC. "...We opted to go out and get public feedback." Messinger said the district "advertised the heck" out of the survey to solicit feedback from the public. The district accepted comments over one week staring Jan. 14 and ending Jan. 19. Staff reviewed the feedback the week of Jan. 20 and then presented the 71 responses at the Jan. 27 school board meeting. Friedman asked what would happen if the new calendar was not approved by the school board. Messinger said it would return to the committee with the board's input for another try. From there another calendar would be created and submitted to the school board for approval.
