Parker to run for Supervisor

Trustee George Parker has filed to run for the Supervisor spot that Bob Spencer is vacating at the end of the current term.  I ran into George at the IGA and he told me so himself.  Then he told me not to say anything about it yet.  Rats.  My very first real scoop and the guy tells me to keep it under my hat.  However, by the time I got home from my rounds, he’d left a message.  The word is already out – Don Gaskell left a message on the Parkers’ voicemail asking if the rumor was true. 

Here’s the thing about living in the Township: by the time it’s in the paper, everyone already knows all about it.  Blogging, I have a chance to surprise the three or four people who haven’t been to the IGA yet this weekend.  So for them – and for the constituents in the UK and Australia who are endlessly entertained by our monkeyshines – here is the lowdown on George.

He and his wife Donna moved to Torch Lake Township in 1995.  Before that, they had a cottage in Elk Rapids, and before that they vacationed up here for years.  Their daughter lives in Elk Rapids, which is important, but not nearly as important as the fact that some of their grandchildren live there too.  (I understand this because I am a Grandma Wannabe.) 

George was elected Township Treasurer in 1996, and served for four years.  Then he ran for Trustee, and has been elected twice.  As far as I know he hasn’t developed a website or a campaign staff and he probably won’t – which is one of the good things about living in a place where everyone pretty much knows what’s going on anyway.  But he does have a sense of how the Township has changed in the last 12 years.  Especially along the lakefront and bayfront, little old cottages have been replaced with big year-round houses.  Lots of people have retired up here, and they’ve built “real” houses because, let’s face it, the eccentricities of Up North cottages lose their charm during long winters.  Trust me on this – it’s true.  Anyway, here’s the thing – we have a pleasant community of many retirees, but we have a heckuva time staffing our fire and EMS departments.  Everyone who’s young enough to toss us on a stretcher and get us to Munson quickly lives Somewhere Else.  Mind you, this is not a Campaign Issue because we all know it’s true.  it’s just something we’re going to have to figure out together.

So.  George is running.  There will undoubtedly be other candidates for this and other Township offices, and I’ll tell you all about them, too.  (If you are a candidate yourself, you can send me an email about it through the “Contact Us” link over at the top of the right column.) 

I regret to inform the UK and Australian constituents that they will not be allowed to vote in the matter, but that’s the way it is.  No representation without taxation.  Something like that.  Please do not throw tea in Torch Lake.