Devil Has Many Faces

The air is crisp and light in the farm town of Malcom, Iowawhich is just about sixteen minutes outside of the universityvillage of Grinnell, but a world away from any of its action. Part of Poweshiek County, Malcom farmers specifically, aresalt-of-the-earth kind of people. They don't mince words. There isn't time. City slickers are welcome as long as theydon't complicate things and farming, next to family, is thecentral focus for most residents. Farming around these partsis sacred. A short jaunt around this area with a populationof about 400 will reveal the wide open land and acreage. On aSunday drive you might pass the Christian day school. Furtherdown you'll find the county courthouse which looks like atourist postcard with its white steeple and brick exterior. And if you drive far enough, you may pass Mitchell FamilyFarms, a staple in this county for over two hundred years. The people are kind here, but weary of interlopers at firstand for good reason. Certain industrial processing plantshave come in of late, promising jobs and big production. But they take income away from the local, organic farmers byinstead offering residents more industrialized packagedgoods. Pick up the local paper and you'll see it's saturatedwith vows of &quote;honest to goodness&quote; this and &quote;organic, wepromise&quote; that. All adages from local grocers who double asthe local farm owners. Malcom, most agree, is an Americanthrowback to an earlier time, to a time when honest togoodness American values mattered and family came first. Folks here like it that way. Charles Mitchell is a thirdgeneration farmer in Malcom and one of the town's most wellknown residents. He is the owner of Mitchell Family Farms,his pride and joy. A devoted Christian and a strong familyman, he is well liked and he loves everyone. But interlopers,well they can cause a whole world of problems, isn't thattrue? The kind of problems Charles Mitchell knows all toowell.