The votes are in

It's been a very long day. Lonnie has been at the polling place most all day. The totals were finally posted about 9:30 tonight, and we have good news and bad news. Or maybe it's good news and better news.


Lonnie won't be taking a seat on the city council this year. He is understandably disappointed, but he's still proud of the votes he got. For a guy who wasn't born and raised here, he made a really good showing. The three incumbents will all keep their seats, but Lonnie only trailed by 32 votes.

That's the bad news. Or the good news. A former councilman told me that Lonnie may not really want it because it's all politics. From my personal experience with small town aristocracy, I know exactly what he's talking about. But, at the same time, Lonnie has made them sit up and pay attention.

Anyway, the better news is that the hateful school bond failed. Thank God!


After all the sneaky tactics and vote padding that we've found out about, I was really afraid the thing would pass. For 2000 voters, the school supplied only one voting machine and no paper ballots. The line this afternoon was so long that the fire marshal was called to make them do something about the crowd. Many people got tired of waiting and left. Some came back, but I'm afraid most didn't. A number of the elderly could not stand for that long. The average wait time was an hour and a half, and the election judge came up and told the lady signing people in that they needed to slow things down.

I know the schools need repair. Any building needs repair if it hasn't been maintained. But the taxpayers in this little school district can't afford all the millions the school wants. If they would run the school like a business, and do these things as they come up... Well, anyway, I'm just glad it's over. I've had folks trying to shove it down my throat for months now. Intimidation is a powerful, terrible thing.

Oh, and I need to make a correction to a statement in my previous post about the bond issue. I had been told that the last bond passed was supposed to pay for the repairs to the field house and track, but I found out this morning that I had it backwards. The last bond passed was supposed to pay for repairs to the school but was diverted to the field house and track. Sorry about the confusion.