Gulf Coast Boy..The Community Years

It was 1993 or there abouts. I had been a communications technician for the phone company for 23 years. I worked in the central office, hi tech and all that. I enjoyed the work, but my old friend Danny was getting me involved in community affairs on the side. He thought I should 'expand' a bit. He was involved in a lot of local service and politics, he was a natural at it.
I began with the Chamber of Commerce. Danny and I co-chaired the annual golf tournament fund raiser for two years, then I chaired it for two more with a new friend, Mike as co chair.
I also did a few committees and such. My wife became an 'Ambassador' for the Chamber.
We were socializing in 'high cotton'.
And then my company's External Affairs department took note of me. I was one of their own who had good connections to the local business and political folks...
Translation..."Use Him".
Now, bear in mind that all of this 'community involvement' stuff was voluntary, unpaid and after hours, I still had my day job to make a buck.
I had a great boss who helped me any way he could, but my work came first. I would change from my work clothes into Dockers and nice shoes and race to a Chamber luncheon and be back in an hour to fix phone company stuff.
After a while, the External Affairs manager I worked with started taking me to city council meetings and such. They were all registered state lobbyist. My education into politics had begun.
She had a large area, with many small towns. But in politics, there is no such thing as a 'small town'.
Once she asked me to come with her to a town about 60 miles away. She had been there once and became uneasy when they locked the door behind her. The Mayor wanted his town to be included in the Houston area code. She couldn't explain to him why that was impossible, so I was there as a security/back-up/tech guy trying to explain to 'His Honor" why his demand was not available. I drew him a chart, explaining that his town's pre-fix number already existed in Houston and couldn't be repeated. Numbers are numbers.
The Mayor didn't get it, the meeting ended in a draw, but they unlocked the door for us.
She recruited me to approach several small communities, seven or eight, with a new proposal.
I don't care how confident you are, or what the item you are offering them, city councils can be imposing. But, my biker career had made me somewhat immune to that.
I presented the proposal to all of the towns and they accepted it, it was good for them.
Now, my external affairs manager was a very attractive woman. In her line of work, that was an asset. We became good friends, but nothing more.
She spent a lot of time and money keeping one VIP politician happy. I asked once if she would sleep with him to get his vote on an issue. She said "Absolutely Not". She was lying out her ass, I knew it and she knew I knew it. Who said politics can't be fun.
One of the communities I presented my proposal to was a remote village that had suffered some serious flooding earlier. Their town hall was a small trailer. As I waited in turn to present my proposal, I listened to other citizens address the council. One was an elderly lady wanting to know what they were going to do about the 'damn raccoons' that invaded her trailer. That problem just didn't seem to have a political solution, but one councilman offered to come by and 'shoot a couple of them'. Now, folks, that's service!
It went that way all evening.
At one point, the city council was to vote on paying the police chief for his over time in the previous flood situation. They had a very small budget. About then, the trailer door opened and the Chief came in. He didn't say a thing, he just found a chair and hiked one leg up on it, staring at the council from 15 feet, his very big 'pistola' jutting out prominently...and low and behold, the issue passed...
Democracy in action is sweet to see.
I presented my proposal soon and they agreed it was good for the community. I didn't even have to bring out my 'pistola'.
But it was time for me to get back to just being a civilian and my day job. I phased out of politics and community affairs. I had met a lot of good people and shared many interesting experiences, but my life, as I'm sure yours has, has been a great ride.
Well, that's about it for the Gulf Coast Boy series. I'll add short stories from time to time. Write about your life, everyone has stories. Share them with others.
Thanks for your time.
Party on, Dudes!