You ever heard of Spring Valley, Illinois? That's where my family's from.
paulat, you should debunk this story with some research before claiming it's untrue. Right?
Small town. Two churches. One Protestant, One Catholic. Rural. Probably centralized school district. Near major AF base. I would be the Alito and Kopechne families knew each other. If they attended church fairly regularly, for fish frys on fridays, picnics, and for services, sunday school etc.
You obviously were never taken to church whether you liked it or not.
This is pre DVD, pre video game, pre video tape, Black and WHite TV days.
Besides the volunteer Fire Department and the village tavern/VFW there probably was not much else to do in town.