Local politics

[Argie's Wife]

Thanks, McDude & Upthesaukee.

...and Sam... you're makin' me blush... thank you.

[Sue Doe-Nym]

Good luck AW and I hope you can do a better job at bringing fiscal sanity to school systems than last night's disaster in Meredith.

[fatlazyless]

As you probably know, tomorrow Tuesday is candidate election day in Meredith and the polls are open from 7am to 7pm, at the community center.

I am still undecided on which three out of the six candidates to support, which is very unusual for me.

In August 2008, I switched my intended support from John McCain to Barack Obama, and am happy with that choice.

Just driving around Meredith and looking at all the political signs, here's what I saw.


Bob Flanders has the most signs, bright red and white, posted on homes and businesses.

Miller Lovett comes in second for sign totals as seen, with blue letters on white.

Nathan Torr comes in third for sign totals as seen, also with blue letters on white.

Holly Tetreault comes in fourth with no signs anywhere, that I could find.
...........

Chris Mega has signs in blue letters on white.

Jack Carty has no signs anywhere as far as I could see.
...........

Predictions

In a very close election with a large number of well qualified candidates, my unscientific sign survey predicts the winners to be:

Bob Flanders - selectman

Miller Lovett - selectman

Chris Mega - school board
.............

Do I know who I am voting for.....no?.... and my mind more or less changes every couple days.....good grief?

[Seeker]

So THAT explains why Obama won. He had more signs. Best reason I've heard so far.

[mcdude]

Congrats to Argie's Wife on her stunning victory!!

Krista Argiropolis for Alton School Board 2010 I won! Sincerest thanks to everyone for their support during my campaign.

[Argie's Wife]

I really mean it - THANK YOU!

It was heart-warming to see many of the winni dot com folks at the polls yesterday. I was there between doing "kid duty", so if you came by and found I wasn't at the polls, I was doing the Mom Taxi or meal thingy. It was a busy, interesting and very educational day....

If I can get it posted in a bit, I'll share the photo I took yesterday of someone in Alton who brought his rooster to the polls. He was parked in the handicapped section at the front of the high school and the rooster was sitting in the passenger's seat of his truck.

It was very surreal to be standing outside of a high school and then hearing a rooster crow - VERY LOUDLY! (The bird was enormous - at least 15lbs, by my guess!)

Only in Alton....

[robmac]

Congrats Krista,I hope you enjoy all the hard work ahead.

[Slickcraft]

Yes congrats AW, we were there early and apparently we beat the rooster to the polls.

[DRH]

Well done, Krista. QL and I missed seeing the rooster, too!

[Argie's Wife]

[mcdude]

AW: I notice that you were too "chicken" to roll the window down for a better shot!!

[Slickcraft]

So passenger chickens aren't extinct after all.

Maybe the owner has found yet another use for free copies of the LDS.

[SteveA]

Originally Posted by Slickcraft

So passenger chickens aren't extinct after all

Now that is very funny... very slick, Slick!

Crongrats AW!

[Argie's Wife]

Originally Posted by mcdude

AW: I notice that you were too "chicken" to roll the window down for a better shot!!

I didn't wanna flip the bird.... outta the truck

[Pepper]

CONGRATULATIONS Krista!!!!!!!!! You go, girl!

[Pineedles]

How old was that Rooster Krista? We have a mandatory seat belt law you know. Didn't see a seat belt on him.

Aside from that. Most wonderful news I could log on to see this evening.

A person who is knowledgeble, caring, and despite me being accused of being redundant is one of the smartest persons I know! Don't exhaust yourself Krista, one battle at a time. You still have to support and defend the home hearth and despite the problems you see for Alton your main concern should always be, You, Argie, the arglets, and then the rest of the world.

All my best and congratulations,

Pineedles

[CrawfordCentury]

Originally Posted by mcdude

AW: I notice that you were too "chicken" to roll the window down for a better shot!!

LOL! Nah...I think it was prolly more of an awareness of the peril that roosters portend for public officials in NH.

Exhibit A is Sen. Robert Taft of Ohio.




Whilst campaigning during the 1952 presidential primary, a voter handed him a chicken. The son of the most corpulent man to occupy the White House was NOT happy...judging by his vexed facial expression.

Taft would go on to lose to Ike.

The takeaway from this bit of Granite State history is: do not go afowl of this states voters, lest you show a big goose egg at the polls. I'm locked and loaded with about a dozen other poultry puns but am exercising the utmost restraint.

[CrawfordCentury]

On a side note:

Chicken farming occupies a special place in the lore of the Granite State. Anyone traveling thru Newbury on Rte. 103 will recall this grafitto.

Twelve feet or so on the edge of State Road 103, which runs through the small town of Newbury, New Hampshire there sits a squarish, flat brown-gray slab of rock roughly the height of a man. About 25 years ago, across from the rock, there sat a tidy, cedar-shingled house in whose backyard a dozen chickens pecked about. Their eggs made breakfasts (and a tiny sideline business) for a family named the Rules -- whose daughter Gretchen was pretty, smart, wistful, and 16. There was a shy boy, also wistful, also a farmer, whose name is forgotten today. He pined for Gretchen Rule. He cast about awkwardly for ways to tell her or show her...then he hit upon the rock. One moonlit night, he secretly wrote on it, in eight-inch high, spray-painted letters,"CHICKEN FARMER, I LOVE YOU. " And the girl must have seen it, and possibly even guessed the author, but nothing came of it. The message endured for years, though brambles grew up to obscure it, and the letters, once so bold and white, began to fade. Gretchen Rule went away to Harvard, then on to life. The boy, whoever he was -- or is -- became a man. The rock grew into a relic, a love note out of time. One night, ten, perhaps 12 years ago, the brambles were mysteriously cut away and the message was repainted and renewed: "CHICKEN FARMER, I STILL LOVE YOU," it proclaimed. And every two years or so, barely noticed, the letters would be freshened and the brambles cut away. Then, in April of 1997, an unknown caller complained of "graffiti" to the Dept. of Transportation. By nightfall the same day, a three-foot square of rust-colored primer was all that was left of a shy boy's long-ago love. A week passed, and a new sun rose on New Hampshire's stubbornest love: "CHICKEN FARMER, I STILL LOVE YOU." But bolder this time: thicker-lettered, almost crude, and defiantly painted rather than sprayed. In Newbury, the inspired townspeople took up a " Petition for the Status Quo" to protect their landmark. The government responded with a letter, promising that the Chicken Rock's message would be forever safe. And it is.

[mcdude]

Originally Posted by CrawfordCentury

Gretchen Rule went away to Harvard

ah!....so she "flew the coop"?

[jmen24]

Originally Posted by CrawfordCentury

On a side note:

Chicken farming occupies a special place in the lore of the Granite State. Anyone traveling thru Newbury on Rte. 103 will recall this grafitto.

Crawford, you have made my day. I have driven by this rock MANY times and have always wondered its reason, now I know. Thank You

[tis]

Darn, I wish they had left it there. Why couldn't those who complained just enjoy instead??? That was such a neat story. Those are the fun things in life. I never heard the Taft/chicken story either. Thanks.

[CrawfordCentury]

Originally Posted by mcdude

ah!....so she "flew the coop"?

I think it was an instinctual thing. Harvard being full of eggheaded professor types.

Ok, I better *ahem* lay off the egg puns. As a relative newcomer to this group I'm pretty low in the pecking order.

Originally Posted by jmen24

Crawford, you have made my day. I have driven by this rock MANY times and have always wondered its reason, now I know. Thank You

The debt can be repaid by anyone who knows the story about the "shark rock" near the New Durham/Middleton line on Kings Hwy on the Wboro to Farmington backroad route. I get a real kick outta that one too.

[SteveA]

Originally Posted by Seeker

So THAT explains why Obama won. He had more signs. Best reason I've heard so far.

If the number of signs is the determining factor... Frost Heaves is a sho-in in Gilford.

[upthesaukee]

No problem for you yesterday. Congrats to you...you will do a great job.

Just remember, one "oops" wipes out a thousand "way to go girls" , at least in a voter's mind.

[SIKSUKR]

OK first congrads AW. Second, why the rooster in the truck? Was he there to screach about the victory or to chase away voters checking the wrong box?

[Argie's Wife]

Originally Posted by SIKSUKR

OK first congrads AW. Second, why the rooster in the truck? Was he there to screach about the victory or to chase away voters checking the wrong box?

From what I understand the man who owns the truck is owned by the rooster. Apparently he's often with his sidekick and the rooster likes to ride....

Considering the size of that bird, I wouldn't dare to say "no" to it either!