Marion Gunderson Art (and the Farmer's Daughter)

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Previous (and explanatory) posts in this series may be located and read by using the archival list of posts about Mr. Spaulding.

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L.:  So, getting back to the explosives, and you working on your fireworks, did you say that maybe you did that around when you were about sixteen?

Mr. S.:  About the time I got out of high school.  That’s when I burnt my hands up.

L.:  I know you had told me one time about how the laws had changed so considerably in regard to explosives.  During the time span that you used explosives, when did those laws start changing and how did they change?

Mr. S.:  I don’t really know.  It used to be every hardware store would have dynamite and caps on hand, just for fireworks, that you could buy.  When I started using explosives I had to, I don’t know how I got a license, but I had to go wherever they sold it.  It used to be Fort Dodge, and then it was clear down in Indianola where I had to go.  But, I didn’t take any exam or anything.  I don’t know how I qualified to get the license but I got a state license to buy explosives and to use them.  I don’t recall taking a test or an exam or anything.  I guess just a recommendation.  The sheriff knew me and knew I worked with explosives and did blasting and such.  (I’d been working with explosives for years before they passed the law about licenses.)  Maybe he got me a license.  I don’t know.

L.:  Did you stop using explosives just because you got to a time in your life that you wanted to stop, or it became so expensive, or they were hard to get because of the law?

Mr. S.:  They changed the law.  They passed a law, or changed the rules, that in order for me to buy explosives I had to have a five million dollar liability policy.  Who knows how much that would cost?  I didn’t even inquire.  In other words, I just had to work with what I had left and when it was gone, I couldn’t do any of that work anymore.  So I just didn’t renew my license anymore.

L.:  When did your license stop being a valid license?  Do you remember around what year or within a few years.

Mr. S.:  I could look it up because I got this fancy little certificate each year and I’ve still got them around in a frame somewhere.

L.:  As far as the 2^nd amendment goes, do you tie the second amendment, as far as the right to bear arms, to explosives at all?

Mr. S.:  No, no.  But, I believe in it.  Most of these people in Congress want to ban them all the time.  Ban guns, you know.  They see a gun and, “Oh, it’s a horrible thing.”  They don’t want anybody to have any guns or any ammunition.  That’s a violation of the 2^nd amendment, to take away the right to bear arms.

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If I have more information to provide (which I imagine I will), in about three weeks, give or take, I’ll post again about Mr. Spaulding.  I have several questions for him about his teaching career plus about many random topics.  If you don’t want to keep checking back just to see when I’ve posted again about him, you may “subscribe” on this blog’s homepage so that you receive an email whenever there is a new post.

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Tags: Dave Spaulding, David Spaulding

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