Wood-carved totem pole takes root between library, school

Wood-carved totem pole takes root between library, school

CARTER LAKE (AP) — A 14-feet-tall totem pole has a new home between a library and elementary school in southwestern Iowa.

About 50 people attended dedication ceremony for the colorful totem Tuesday. It stands in the Wilson's Grove potted tree nursery on Edward F. Own Memorial Library grounds, in between the library and Carter Lake Elementary School.

The Daily Nonpareil reports that Omaha resident Lowen Kruse began making the totem more than four years ago after a windstorm knocked the branches off of a 60-year-old hackberry tree on his property.

During the first year, Kruse dried out the trunk while researching totem poles of native tribes in western Canada and southern Alaska.

The totem shows a bear, a lion, a crest with a vineyard, a beaver and a raven. They are all symbols of a 'heraldic totem,' which Kruse said 'heralds a message.'

'This helps children know who they should honor and respect,' Kruse said. 'It gives us a sense of who we are.'

Kruse, a retired minister, said he avoided infusing religion into the totem to make it inclusive and to not create issues about the separation of church and state.

Because tribal chiefs bestow presents on their charges at traditional 'potlach,' or totem pole dedication, Kruse brought toys for the elementary school children to the dedication ceremony.

It's location at Wilson's Grove is a project organized in part by the North Omaha Kiwanis Club.

Kruse said he was in contact with the club as he looked for a final location for the pole.