Published: May 15, 2008 04:12 pm            

Festive — and hectic — election

The ’lection is over. At least the primary is over. Gov. Joe Manchin, Jay Rockefeller and Nick Rahall all slid home to easy wins.

We said that editorials, columns and the broadcast media painted some of the candidates in the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals race as bitter enemies. One question was directly posed: “Is it a smear campaign?” Elliot “Spike” Maynard characterized it as “the mother of all political smears.” The Chief Justice said the scandal was fanned by personal injury attorneys who object to his philosophy on the bench. “He’s been beat on enough” decried Mennis Ketchum. After the examination by the editorial board was over, we began to see spots on the TV declaring Ketchum “Menace Ketchum” alluding to a comparison with Dennis the Menace by Hank Ketcham (different spelling and hopefully not a distant relative!) Then there was “It’s time for ‘Spike’ to take a hike!” … and he did. Bob Bastress probably made his point with the voters: “I thought it was poor judgment vacationing with Mr. Blankenship,” but didn’t garner enough support to win him a spot on the next ballot. Margaret Workman sat back calm, cool and collected and cleaned their clocks. Beth Walker met no resistance seeking the Republican nomination for the bench.

The point is the Supreme Court candidates were on their best behavior at the meeting with the editorial board. Now that we have three winners in the primary, let’s see how this will play out next November. Will Beth take a walk? Will Dennis the Menace catch’em or leave’em? Who knows, but one thing for sure the men won’t be “buddying up” to go after the ladies. We could have three women on the Supreme Court. Uncle John would have just laughed and said “Turn on the TV, the Cincinnati Reds are playing.” Politics does make for strange bedfellows.

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On the hill at Whitethorn School early Tuesday morning a few people were showing up to vote. One of the voting machines went on the fritz leaving the poll workers with a dilemma. A small boy showed up for school to the shock of the poll workers who cared for him a short while until an aunt appeared to retrieve him. The little fellow was a little bit frightened to find that there were no familiar faces to care for him. Another poll worker said that she wished she had a newspaper to read. (I don’t think she had any clue that I worked for the paper, but we made sure she had one.) A new worker said that she really did not know what to expect.

I said, “This is an experience. You get to sit in small chairs sized for second graders, work on tables that are knee high, enjoy all the people that come to vote, and baby sit. How could you better spend a bright sunny day?” Some poll workers found themselves at the courthouse late Tuesday night delivering precinct votes to be counted. They had a long day. It is a sacrifice to be a poll worker and they deserve a round of applause for their dedication and good citizenship.

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The new voting machines were rather easy to use. However, processing the results seemed to be a major problem last Tuesday. The newspaper was pretty much handicapped because of the delay. The paper has to go to press about midnight in order to be printed, sorted and delivered to your door early in the morning. Radio and TV have no relative deadlines. With the broadcast media you get the news as it happens and they have until show time to get the latest results. However the paper has the distinct advantage of being able to give you a hard copy of the election results and noteworthy news that you may read and refer to at your convenience.

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The atmosphere at the courthouse in Princeton was like the dad’s waiting room the maternity ward in the hospital. The onlookers and candidates were having one serious party. They were treated to, soft drinks, spaghetti, pastries, and homemade treats galore. Some probably gained five pounds. The election workers poured over the voting information, worked past frustration with the counting, gathered a second wind, and got the job done. Everyone, even those that did not win, seemed to enjoy the event. The losers, while disappointed, were gracious. No one to my knowledge got out of line except that guy from Tazewell County telling those tales about Virginia foxes about how they were superior to Mercer and McDowell County foxes and how they discovered one caught in a trap near Peeled Chestnut Gap. Anyway, that didn’t amount to much of a problem and it had to have been a West Virginia fox to get that much attention on election day.

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There you have it, a few words on politics and items of interest to the area. I hope you see a blue sky today when you look out your window today.

Wilson Butt, a Bluefield resident, is a retired Department of Highways official.

        

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