Knock Knock, Who's There?

Last Friday, we were in the middle of setting up arrangements for my mother in law and my disabled brother in law, 150 miles from us, to have a place to stay should the storm eventually to be known as Superstorm Sandy make her area lose power.

There was a soft knock on the door.  It was after dark, and I couldn't see anyone through the peephole - which turned out to be because a Halloween decoration was blocking the peephole. We normally don't have people knocking on our door at that hour. But my spouse peeked through a window, and opened the door to an older man standing on our porch.

It turned out that this man was running for county legislator.  And this short visit turned into about a 45 minute conversation with this local man, a retired business owner by the name of Ron Hebner. He was running for reelection.

He was targeting registered voters of the "party opposite" and that got my attention right away.

He wanted to know what was on our mind, and that was the possibility of our neighborhood flooding, just as it did last year. Turns out he lives in a neighborhood in Johnson City that was also hard hit.  He had 56 inches of water in his basement.  He told us various steps he was taking, since he's pretty sure it will happen again, and he wants to stay in his home.


He sat down and his passion was obvious as he explained what he did after he took office two years ago.  He was a good salesman, too.  He explained many things, including some of the interesting privileges that county officials get from their part time "public service".   He, incidentally, rejected every one of those privileges.

He told us he spends at least 6 hours a day knocking on doors.  He loves talking to people.  And, his literature includes his home phone number. "Call him anytime".

When is the last time something like this happened to you?

At least we will have an election Tuesday-unless New York State postpones the election because of the terrible damage downstate.