OCR Text |
Show PAGE THE ZEPHYRNOVEMBER 89 15 give the Impression that you are not merely riding the breeze, but that you are trying to fan it into a hurricane. If the voters want blight, or If you want blight end want the voters to think that they want It, show your flexibility and willingness to put their needs at the top of your list The mayoral race Is becoming more visible. Tom Stocks and Bill Meador are waging a good, dean, dignified fight Super Toms distinctive yellow and black and posters can be seen everywhere. And the tasteful ads of Bill Meador, former school superintendent the super super, are equally prominent However, the armies of their supporters, and In many cases their detractors, many of whom are unknown to the candidates, are leaving a trail of words and deeds that wonderfully blight what would otherwise be a textbook battle. Known and unknown forces are engaged In a war of psychological blight thinking that by character assassination of a candidate they will cause his defeat But the truth Is that voters may erroneously think that the opponent the man the dirtmongers would tike to see elected, is behind the smear, causing the reverse effect a backfire in other words. Injury to the man they hoped to help. This campaign Is cloudy In the sense that the voters cant be sure who is In whose camp, whether the forces behind a particular thing are for or against a. certain candidate, or whether its the candidate himself. Take for example how it appears that Stocks Is demonstrating his ability to blight the town with an army of Toms seemingly everywhere. Is this really Tom himself? Or is it an army of supporters, or maybe an army of detractors, like Salvation Army Santa Clauses, all wearing rubber Tom masks, fervidly plastering the town with "Tom for Mayor?" An army of either Meador detractors or Tom supporters, but surely not BUI himself, is behind the rumors that Bill himself was behind the action of getting the football field named after himself. Some would like this to be viewed by the voters as evidence of how he can blight the town. They say that he Is now plotting to get a bronze statue of himself to blight the middle of the intersection of Main and Center streets. This statue, they say, would not only be a blight and a traffic hazard, but could be designed to be (which might be counterproductive to blight ideals).. Suppose, rumor has it, that the statue were situated In such a way that it pointed to the bank, thereby perhaps getting financial support from the bank. Or perhaps pointing halfway between the bank and the newspaper office, with a coin-o- p newspaper dispenser at the bottom. More support. How about a piece of pizza in the other hand pointing to the shop' where it came from? As you look around town you can decide for yourself which candidates arc doing the most to promote blight for the good of the town, and whether they themselves are responsible for it. Since blight seems to be becoming the most candidate important Issue of the election, it could be the most hlrts oveir easy . by john sensenbrenner ; Blight is Beautiful. This may be the first time in history when the outcome of an election turns on which candidate is associated with the greatest blight caused to the district Since Incinerators didn't come to the town's rescue, it now appears that theyve decided that what we need is more blight, maybe even a nice crumby ghetto, if it would mean lotsa money for redevelopment Somebody has discovered that if we 'fess up to having blight, they open the chute and dump a pile of the green antidote on it Blight, of course, being a relative thing. Eventually, when the blight has been stamped out and the affected area shines with the glow of expensive polish, we could then claim that the neighboring areas, alas, are blighted by comparison,' and then repeat the cycle as each newly developed area then blights its neighbor, soon getting back to the first redeveloped section which would now be and in need of Id been having a rather pleasant nap when 1 woke up the other night in the middle of one of those "debates! sponsored by a womens political group (mens political leagues are probably dormant until they come up with female candidates, I guess). One of the candidates was elaborating on the value of blight In a community. This must be some kind of a Joke, I thought. Maybe Im still asleep, dreaming. Sure, every small rural town In the country is trying to Improve Its economic picture, usually by attracting clean Industry. A few would even settle for dirty Industry. But who would want to cultivate blight and praise it as the salvation of the community? , True, it has been a pretty mild and boring campaign by all candidates, but now that the blight bomb has been dropped Into the fray (blight! Good God, its come to this), the eyes of the town are on all candidates to see who does the most to , promote it around town. . , ,, Listen. The candidates were just asked to respond to the obvious question, "Why are you . running for this office?" Thats a good question. How do you answer it? Usually a candidate would open his mental handbook and dig Into the platitudes: Why run for office: .To benefit and serve a thing called the public, of course, spoken with earnestness and a dash of feigned Intimacy, remembering always to be positive; for something, even when violently opposed to something else. Appear friendly, receptive and accessible, even If you have no Intention of : ever listening to these people, and especially appear to fully understand the issue even If you have no Idea of whats going on. Work on a sympathetic tone and make it perfectly clear that youre always out to do good to someone. But most important is the ability to sense the direction of the wind. If blight Is in the wind. re-blig- hted . - . . multi-functio- nal, . blight-enlighte- ned will win. You know how they post nttle signs everywhere In the parks cautioning visitors about their conduct We can probably expect the candidates to be suggesting similar signs for Moab: Blighted Area: Do Not Remove Blight: Keep Off the Cryptoblight: Blight Is Beautiful Citizens should be encouraged to have their properties meet blighted status. It would be embarrassing to be the only one In your neighborhood not declared a blight not cooperating with the blight program. Its, therefore, important that every citizen find out what can be done to contribute to the blighting of. our town. A unified community effort is needed to do a thorough Job on it so we can proclaim proudly on our welcome sign that this is a 100 blighted town. ...... Ken and Jane Sleight Pack Creek THANKSGIVING DINNER e i l Am - oKm reservations definitely required POETRY and PROSE READINGS Friday, November 25: Ken Brewer, professor & poet, U.S.U., Robert Fulghum, author of Everything I Need to Know, I Learned in Kindergarten Saturday, November 26: David Lee, author of Porcine Canticles; Steve Prescott: will read from Hayduke LivesI by Edward Abbey CABINS AVAILABLE 259-550- 5 YEAR-ROUN- D Free Admission to Readings, seating is limited; please make reservations reception following readings...$5.00 |