The dog’s name is Mary

Here’s an email I (Orin) got from my dad the other day. Yes, this is the entire email:

Hi Orin and Erin. Just to let you know that Erick was elected mayor and the
dog next door got 5 votes. DAD

You see, in my hometown of Tyler, Minnesota, no one had filed to run for mayor by the filiing deadline – no one really wanted the job. My folks’ neighbor put a sign out in his front yard that his dog Mary was running for mayor. Eventually, a friend of mine from high school, Erick Harper, decided to run, along with a couple other guys, as a write-in candidate.

This is Erick. You can see a little more about his victory and other exciting aspects of Tyler, Minnesota life here at the Tyler Tribute web page (that’s the weekly newspaper).

For instance, elsewhere on the site, you can see a picture of other neighbors of mine growing up, Lorraine and Mervil Knudsen, trying to vote at the high school gym:

I’m not sure who the elction worker is. Sorry.

There’s also an interesting story on the 1939 time capsule discovered at the old hospital building which was recently torn down, about a block from where I grew up.

Anyway.