THE HERALD OUTLOOK Saturday August Page 13 With power comes the odd poke in the nose Have you ever wanted to walk a mile Russell s shoes Or do you care Surely now there must bt one particular moment of frustration or despair that comes to mind Think No profanity please Hasn t there been a moment when some inflammatory action or arbitrary passing of a bylaw kindl ed or even fanned the flames of sent within you Has not exasperation at times caused you to scream out within the sanctity of your castle Wouldnt I love to be the blankety blank mayor for a day or two Change would come quickly and ruthlessly with you at the helm Not for one solitary moment would you put up with the lag errors or omissions the in competent the con artists the bullies the fast buck operators No sir under your command all and sundry would soon discover you run a tight ship Russell must have felt the same way when he started I know I did The Chinese have a wonderful old proverb that reads It is easy to from comfortable tion I do it every week from my recliner as I scan the council news But the proverb also Con fuscious I like the best is Young men who leave home to set world on fire often return for more mat ches Why I gone through box after box Russell is more progressive He carries a lighter Back to the moment of your discontent Was it dump sites developers proposed four or five lane highways passing your door or a neglected pothole in front of your house We are talking big issues here I know one past mayor who lived and breathed potholes He was hard to beat at the polls Fighting developers battling the OMB was part and parcel of his stewardship He relished those battles The road crew of his day would feel the full fury of his office if they neglected potholes With an eye on the ballot box potholes quickly filled translated into votes His slogan on campaign literature was Vote for the Man You Know Is it any different today in the grandiose halls of power the new civic centre Now Russell might get up and add his voice to the groundswell of public support for environmental issues He is probably wrestling with pollution in his mind this very minute It may take him a while to solve these kinds of problems Like mayors before him he can swing into top draw executive tion over an unfixed pothole brought to his attention by an irate wont take it anymore taxpayer Pothole became engraved in stone after my incident To the best of my knowledge every successive mayor learned 26 Si Georgetown Ont 8779896 I Hilton Floor Fathtant Ltd YELLOW CAB HALTON HILLS HOUR HALTON Airport 8732527 8732931 fat Stones by W Steamer Emmerson the importance of rapid repairs to potholes Talk about the hot issues all you like but potholes can command the attention of mayors wardens reeves works superintendents and every day down to earth pothole fillers with just one painful punch in the nose To those of you seething with dissatisfaction and silently ing to climb the stairs of political power just read on Oh Russell Pete Tommy or Bill may have been threatened but at no time can I recall an actual punch being thrown Especially in the heart of trade and commerce Main Street It happened to me Let me tell you the sad and pain ful circumstances Believe this or not it happened right in front of the Union Gas Company office on Main Street To this day I hate it when my wife tells me to drop in and pay the gas bill I look both ways going in and coming out Bear with me for a moment before I tell you about the actual punch by the mayor is a true and personal way of taking the public pulse on how he and the council are handling the affairs of state at city hall You don need Gallop pollsters to tell you what s going on in the taxpayers head Just walk down the main drag on payday or when the pension che ques are being cashed and you 11 get your opinion Fast like Some unflattering One day while mainstreeting I met a concerned citizen Joe had his own method of poll one powerful painful punch lo the nose I might add by this time I was a concerned citizen too Of course everybody on Main Street knew within seconds Joe had taken his poll or toll so to speak In life we all had to take the bitter with the sw eet I just gave you a taste of the bit ter now let me give you a little of the sweet Free dinners your photo in the paper every week being called your worship Mi Mayor cutting huge blue ribbons could become addictive and head turning if your feet arent planted firmly on the ground And of course there was always the glad handers giving you a mighty shake that pulled you close as they whispered their undying support in your ear It s not the glad handers to be wary of when Look out for the little eighty yearold jockey sized irreverent taxpayer who has fought wars the depression and struggled to keep a roof over his familys head They are the dangerous kind Keep a sharp eye In my case it was a nose I must be rank Joe got my lull and undivided attention instantly with one lightning fast Mohammed Ah right hand By this time I know are bur ing with desire to know who this gutty almost centurion scrapper was Joe is gone now but I can assure not forgotten Let me say a few kind words about Joe He was never in any trouble before or since our incident He always appeared to be on the sunny side of the street with his disposition Never had I known him to be other than a gentleman Before his retirement he was a cook at the local hospital That may have been his one and only flaw I am sure all of you can the old vaudevillian joke about the stubborn mule In order to get his attention he had to be hit over the head with a two by four Joe must have remembered the joke It was reall long gone ing Township and Reeve who should have got the two by four Joe s pothole was just a few yards old Georgetown s OFFICE MAGIC 136C Guetph St Georgetown fl5 OOO SHOPPING SPREE i VALUE STORE on lower Mam Street often referred to as the eighth line was really Reeve Currie who should have been at the end of Joe punch I II say this about Joe he was direct There was no warning rattle no growl No jawing back and forth just bang right on the nose Dazed shaken warm blood trickling down stinging nostrils 1 tried to regain my composure I knew undying support was near hand Or was if The glad handers and their whispers of support had vanished as soon as the one and only punch was thrown So much for loyal supporters I was alone front of the gas of fice with my pit bull adversary It would be ungrateful of me not to tell you my distgruntled was the first to react with attention and compassion He insisted on dabbing my nose with his soiled hanky To this day when I take a clean hanky from my drawer I think of poor Joe Even though my tear ducts were raging like a swollen spring stream I couldnt help but notice his tears of remorse Without waiting for the blood to congeal I was on the phone to Reeve Currie and Warden Bill Hunter Joe pothole was upgrad ed from never to a Mayday May day priority In my office Joe shadow boxed with excitement like the bantam weight winner of an important match As Mohammed All once said Float like a butterfly sting like a bee Joe did the floating as he realized the machinery was thrown into gear to repair his road As I hung up I could hear the mighty start up van of the township grader with Red at the wheel The wheels were moving Joe hugged me wanted to buy me a beer called his wife to tell her that I was no longer an ex- To all you malcontent and rebels who would love to sit in the mayors chair for a day or so a word of caution With power comes and the odd poke in the nose PS Russells shoes are size ten Automobile Club calls for restraint The Hamilton Automobile Club is calling upon wholesale gasoline suppliers and retailers to use restraint in their pricing policy and not increase costs to motorists necessarily because of current events m the Middle East The Hamilton Automobile Club also urges the motonng public to use similar restraints and not sue to panic buying in an effort to avoid perceived future pnee hikes If everyone acts rationally we should get through this situation without serious consequences to motorists or the economy says Hamilton Automobile Club dent Richard Congdon WetCmafgit rigkt 71 N Georgetown Ontario 6017 KING PIZZA SUBMARINE and the HERALD present BLUE JAYS TRIVIA You Could WIN Pair of Baseball Tickets To See The How To Play Correctly answer this weeks question then cut out the ballot and deposit it at King Pizza Submarine or the Herald A winner will be drawn each week from all entries received Deadline tor entries Is the next Wednesday for the previous weeks question Question Answer Name Address Phone Number Last Weeks Winner WrWWffK- KING SUBMARINE POSSIBLY THE WORLDS BEST PIZZA DRIVERS WANTED FOR FAST FREE DELIVERY MOUNTAINVIEW RD SOUTH GEORGETOWN