Where I Stand Sunday

Lebanon, Kansas is famous - for one thing, in particular...39 50' N (Lat.) 98 35" W (Long.). Now, the correct coordinates are up for debate, because upon checking on the internet there is conflicting geo. data, a point or two, here or there. One thing, that is not up for debate, is - the locals claim their spot is the "geographical center" of the lower 48 states.
A Transcendental Meditation group tried moving into the area by beginning to build a campus within the last few years, that put the geographical center a few more miles to the west of where I stand. The economy may have shut that down, however,

they also met with a lot of adversity from the residents of this county.

Interestingly, I heard someone in Downs, Kansas a few weeks back (about 22 miles south of here) claim THEY were the center of the US.

I guess you would need to decide who to "side" with on this one.

I live several miles away from here, but in thinking of where to stand today..I stopped by on my way home from the gallery in Nebraska last evening.

The people of this area are very proud of their "attraction". The sign states it simply.

This is the little chapel that the community built on site. When people detour off highway 281 and travel about a mile west they see an old closed up motel and the little chapel sitting in front. A year or so ago, someone missed a stop sign as the road T's into this location and plowed right through the little chapel. They had to build a new one. This is the new one, but "vandals" have broken the windows and taken some of the memorabilia that was displayed on the wall inside recently.

There is a little box - where whoever visits can write a message and leave it. These messages are published in the local
weekly newspaper. Just under the little arch that says,"Pray America"...there WAS a plexiglass covered collection of newsclippings which told about the history of this little chapel. It disturbs me to imagine someone wanting to damage or destroy something so precious to a group of people. What joy would a person or group get out of doing this?