{"id":1715,"date":"2011-12-20T12:54:51","date_gmt":"2011-12-20T18:54:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.keloland.com\/lund\/?p=1715"},"modified":"2023-07-20T21:00:08","modified_gmt":"2023-07-20T21:00:08","slug":"the-answer-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/the-answer-man\/","title":{"rendered":"The Answer Man"},"content":{"rendered":"

55 seems pretty darn young to be retiring from a career; especially a career that you\u2019ve been very very good at. But that\u2019s just what Steve Munk is doing after 31 years as Minnehaha County Extension agent.<\/p>\n

\"steve<\/p>\n

Long before the internet was around, we reporters at Keloland would use Steve as our \u201cGoogle\u201d whenever we needed an authority to interview for stories ranging from when to trim trees, how to murder noisy cicadas, how to properly disinfect a flooded basement or explain the nutritional value of processed foods, \u00a0we\u2019d automatically call Munk.\u00a0 He had all the answers and if he didn\u2019t, he\u2019d find out and call us back.<\/p>\n

\"steveWe used to kid him about being our Hank Kimball..but unlike the frustratingly inept character from the long-since-gone TV series, \u201cGreen Acres,\u201d Steve always knew what he was talking about and had no problem articulating his explanations in front of the camera. He was, and is, just a valuable source of information on nearly any subject you can think of..not to mention, a real nice guy to boot.<\/p>\n

Now, he\u2019s leaving.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s up Steve?\u201d I said when I called him this morning. \u201cYou haven\u2019t been caught up in a wave of county downsizing over there have you?\u201d \u00a0\u201cOh no,\u201d he said..explaining that he had the option to retire at 55 and decided to take it. \u201cWell,\u201d I said, \u201cI can identify with leaving a job you love but at least I waited until I was 60; plus, I\u2019m basically a lazy oaf who can plop down on the couch in front of the TV for hours without an ounce of guilt; that\u2019s not in your genetic make up..so what are you going to do really; I mean besides a few home projects and a bit of travel?<\/p>\n

I was fishing for a scoop..hoping he might tell me that after a dozen years on the fair board, he was going to take over as\u00a0manager of the Sioux Empire Fair\u2026something like that. \u00a0But he\u2019s not..at least not for now.<\/p>\n

Well, how about politics? Steve had served on the Dell Rapids School board for 12 years and pushed hard for the many\u00a0improvements and new construction that\u2019s transpired over there in that time.<\/p>\n

Maybe he\u2019s considering a run at public office on a larger scale. You could do a lot worse. No one doubts he\u2019s a wealth of knowledge and has plenty of recognition from all his appearances on local TV..including Public Broadcasting\u2019s \u201cGarden Line.\u201d \u00a0Unfortunately for me, Steve has also mastered the art of political evasion and, while he said he certainly wouldn\u2019t rule out running for office down the road, he wouldn\u2019t fess up to having any particular goals in mind at present. \u201cWill you let me be the first to know if you should run for anything?\u201d I asked. \u201cSure will,\u2019 he said. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Changing the subject, I asked Munk about some of the more unusual inquiries he\u2019s gotten from people over the years. \u201cWell,\u201d he said, \u201cThere was the time when somebody brought in a dead snake in a paper sack for us to identify..which we did. Many others have asked if the bugs pulled from their child\u2019s hair are head lice. Once a lady brought in a sample of her dog\u2019s vomit in hopes we could use it to diagnose the animal\u2019s ailment. But, it\u2019s all been a part of the joy of the job; being able to come up with solutions or offer suggestions to folks\u2019 who have problems or issues no matter how bizarre.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sounds to me like just the kind of fresh face we\u00a0could use in Washington or Pierre.\u00a0 What’s that joke about politicians? Oh, yeah..they’re like babies. They need to be changed regularly and for the same reason.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

55 seems pretty darn young to be retiring from a career; especially a career that you\u2019ve been very very good at. But that\u2019s just what Steve Munk is doing after 31 years as Minnehaha County Extension agent. Long before the internet was around, we reporters at Keloland would use Steve as our \u201cGoogle\u201d whenever we…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[60],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1715"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1715"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1715\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11747,"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1715\/revisions\/11747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}