Night Sounds

Thursday May 1, 2008

             Sometimes when it is quiet and there is only the fluttering, humming sound of a fan or the rhythmic mummer of the refrigerator, I imagine I hear distant voices in these sounds. The vocal pattern may resemble a newscast, a quartet, or a passionate discussion; yet all are unintelligible. Occasionally I focus in vain on a particular melodic phrase in an effort to identify what it is trying to tell me.

I often worry that these may be like the voices crazy people are said to hear; if so, I wonder if the depth of craziness reached is proportional to degree of intelligibility experienced – and if you are completely crazy, are these voices clearly understandable? I must ask Dennis Gillam if that’s the way it worked for him. CP

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Everyone Can Vote in the Primary

 Tuesday April 29, 2008

Election officials and some active party members are predicting a very low voter turnout for the May 20^th  Preferential Primary Elections. A major reason cited is that moving the Presidential Primary to earlier in the year has reduced local interest.

Another reason is that local issues are just not high energy, colorful, and exciting like national issues and have traditionally drawn fewer to the polls.

Some believe that Democrats cannot vote in the Republican Primary and vice-versa without affecting how they vote in November. Not true – simply say which primary you want to vote in at the polls.

It is a shame that thousands of citizens will allow a small handful of people to select the leaders of our communities; especially since local government actions can have such a swift and significant impact on the quality of community life.

There are some issues that lack public scrutiny and are only whispered about. This “over-the-back-fence” dialog results in a grave lack of knowledge leading to poor decisions at the polls even by those few who will actually vote. 

One seemingly mundane issue being quietly promoted is a silly undercurrent of rivalry between the cities and unincorporated areas within the county. It’s silly because the governments share constituents.

One candidate for County Judge has initiated a lawsuit involving the County’s Hospital. Few ordinary citizens understand it; I follow county business fairly closely and I don’t understand the purpose of the litigation. I find it hard to believe that anyone would engage in such action with malice or, as is whispered about, to extract a measure of revenge. In any case, I pray that the damage to the county’s healthcare system is minimal and that conditions do not return to those that existed before the current management system was adopted.

Everyone has the opportunity to be among the elite who will select the leaders of our communities – all you have to do is vote. Early Voting begins May 5, 2008 and the last day to participate is Election Day May 20, 2008.

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Wrong Number Please...

Saturday March 29, 2008

My cell phone number is just one digit different from that of a popular restaurant in town. When it first opened, I started receiving calls and became very annoyed. One lady, who I named Miss Piggy, began calling repeatedly. After a while, she would hang-up when I answered. I figured that she had programmed my number in her speed dial by accident and was too hungry to change it at the times she called.

One day I returned her call right after she hung up. Her voice mail answered. I left a message suggesting that she had likely programmed my number by mistake into her speed dial and requested that she take a moment to change it. It would save us both trouble and mobile minutes.

She called back immediately and with a vocabulary that would have made my sailor days proud, chewed my backside to hamburger.

I decided right then and there to prove Miss Piggy wrong. I'm not all those bad things she called me. I made an oath to stop being annoyed when someone miscalled; instead I would be mister nice guy and be helpful not hateful. Besides, I reasoned, it is a fine restaurant and I should be proud to be associated with it, even though it's by someone's error.

I discovered that being nice is a lot more fun than being rude. I can often detect a note of pleasant surprise when I give the misdialer the correct number and wish them a good day. The number of miscalls has decreased over the months but I plan to continue being friendly to each caller, except perhaps, to Miss Piggy.