The September community potluck of the North Shore Improvement Association was lightly attended but filled with jovial behavior as usual. This was the last potluck at Captain John’s Marina. The October potluck will be held at Miller Park.

Speaking of Miller Park…it is true that the parking lot will be paved. NSIA does not know exactly when–but it is official and scheduled to take place this month.

The nominating committee for the NSIA board was selected. If you are interested in serving as a board member throw in your hat. Jim Mcgill, Steve Cawsey, Betty Sunseri, Chris Weber, and Kathy Murphy are the ones to grab. The next board meeting for NSIA is on September 28th at 4:30pm at Fawnskin Realty.

BTW: Honorary Mayor Candidates were announced…they are Diana L. Guerrero (yours truly), Wayne Parker, and Gene Cyr. All candidates are distinguished members of Moose Lodge 2085.

For the record, you need to buy your politicians. If you would like to own one…throw your quarters in the can. You can also send in donations directly to the NSIA with the candidates name on your check. I’ll post the box number later with other news I am waiting on.

Sandy from our local Habitat for Humanity spoke. I didn’t know much about the group but it is exciting to hear about the local efforts and how it works. I’ll post more on this when Lori sends me the email full of addresses and details!

I mentioned the Moose Lodge was working on the Don Conroy Memorial Park. They planted five trees last week and the picnic tables will be in place shortly. Next season they have plants for flowers and related efforts and invite the community to drop by to enjoy the horseshoe pits and to partake in the social scene.

Speaking of gardening…did I forget to mention the Post Office sign for the garden? Check it out next time you are down there.

Although I tried to have the peach pie ready for the potluck, no such luck. Thanks to the Moose Lodge member who brought them up to share. Postmaster Cynthia instructed me to deliver a piece for inspection tomorrow.

My pear tree is loaded and I am looking forward to the crop in the next month or so. If you have any recipes to share, feel free to post them.

This was my first year attending the library auction for rare and notable books. With extreme budget cuts I thought it would be a good idea to attend and stay out beyond my normal curfew (keep those smarta** comments from the peanut gallery).

We had a great time and mixed with some old pals and new bibliophile friends. The one book I wanted began a bidding war between myself and Pat…seeing who it was I figured I should give up…but next time I may just keep the bidding going to raise more moola!

Thanks to everyone who turned up to support the effort. I hope attendance is larger next year.

In other news, the Fawnskin Chamber is hosting Mary Peterson from the county supervisor’s office at the next meeting. Word has it that they want to help Mark at the Fawnskin Market in whatever way they can. We shall see. Hope for the best!

You know I would hate to be the one to piss off the community I claim as home but one of our part-time residents sure has done a good job of it. I’ve certainly taken my own share of heat but if you want to piss your neighbors off, take notes because this is the way to do it:

First, solicit money from your neighbors and local organizations promising to open a community park. Next, make a big splash in local, regional, and national media regarding your benevolent work. Do this over and over again.

If you are really clever, you can get a memento from a big disaster and place it within the park to establish it as a memorial. This is smart since every time there is an anniversary this would present an opportunity to solicit more media attention and money.

Build the park with all kinds of unique items. Include a stage, work out areas, kiddie play toys, and include a horseshoe pit…that way you entice all ages to enter and show future promise of good things to come.

For a lark, place movie prop figures around the park so that they scare early morning amblers, evening walkers, and wandering animals. The upside is the figures can provide enrichment opportunities for high school students who, if bored, could amuse themselves by helping the figures turn up in pictures at different locations around town–kind of like that garden gnome or Mr. Bill.

Landscape the place nicely, plant lovely flowers, put in picnic tables and enclose your creation within an attractive white fence. Be sure to place a beautifully constructed sign with the park name and one of the native wildlife figures on it.

Now that you have created such a lovely park and convinced people that you have done a really benevolent thing…announce at the monthly community meeting that you will hold a party in the park for all to attend. When it comes time for the event, cancel it.

Solicit requests for events and activities within the park, consider them, but then cancel or prohibit usage. Next, prevent locals and town visitors from using the facility during one of the biggest weekends in the downtown area.

Finally, get mad at people, call them and rant, threaten to sue them, demand organizations and business groups meet with you…if you do all these things you can really burn your bridges. Sound familiar?

What I was not aware of was that a few donors were told that names would appear on a donation wall. This type of tribute or acknowlegement is usually constructed with tiles containing the names of all those who donated to the project.

An annonymous post made up a song about the park owner and I was not sure I wanted to post it but why censor? (See comments to “Marty Engles Song”)

So, I have to ask…as the race for Mayor looms–will the park be a platform? Have any of you written to the corporate officiers?