Climbing the Clarinda Water Tower is Now a Federal Offense

If you can't climb the water tower without a federal case getting made out of it, isn't that letting the terrorists win?


The water tower stood behind the house where I lived when I was a kid. What kid wouldn't have tried to climb it?

Then as now there was a Keep Out sign. Now they actually bother to close and lock the gate on the chain length fence. Like that would stop a determined kid.


Now they also have a sign warning that tampering with the water tower is a federal offense. That means evading not just the city cops but the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security. Another 21st century challenge to childhood fun.

I made it to the catwalk once, maybe twice. My brother made it once all the way to the top. Many attempts to climb the water tower had to be aborted due to approaching vehicles.


The white knuckle part of getting all the way to the catwalk was the last section of ladder that swung out to go straight up. That felt like you were climbing upside down. The ladder from the catwalk to the top was also straight up.

Of course, when I was a kid we were the last house on Main Street at the top of the hill, in the summer months no one was at the high school to the west, a line of trees protected you from direct sight of any house including ours, and another kid could be posted as lookout on Main Street to watch for cars approaching from Main Street or Cardinal Drive.

Nowadays there are houses all around, and no way to post enough lookouts to spot all prying eyes. Still, if all I had to risk was a charge of juvenile delinquency and not a federal prison stretch....