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Wood-carved totem pole takes root between library, school

CARTER LAKE, Iowa (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 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.

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 says "heralds a message."

Kruse said he avoided infusing religion into the totem to make it inclusive.

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