Thursday, November 04, 1999

George Hillberg called me from Arizona Wednesday morning.

He wanted to know who won the Austin school board elections and if the levy referendum had passed or not.

Only a week before the Nov. 2 election, Hillberg endorsed Susan Fell Johnson, Sally Vogel, Larry Andersen and Bruce Loveland in a letter to the editor.

He matched two of four winners: Andersen and Loveland.

Bev Nordby, 1,935, and Kathy Green, 2,668, won the other two seats on the school board.

Andersen, 2,824, was no shoo-in despite running a fine campaign. Just think what could have happened if more people knew he was from Iowa?

Told that the levy referendum had passed, Hillberg, whose letters to the editor of the Austin Daily Herald provoked discussion on serious issues in the campaign, observed, "Well, I guess the voters have spoken."

Excuse the expletive, but, hell, George, they have shouted. That’s what they have done.

There should be no mistaking the message delivered by the citizens in Austin Independent School District No. 492.

The highest finishing incumbent, Carolyn Bogott, received 1,398 votes or 409 less than Loveland received (1,807) among the four winners. Bogott’s total was sixth highest behind the four winners and challenger Sue Maus, who received 1,420.

If you compare the vote totals of the four winners with those of the four incumbents, the newcomers collected twice as many votes: 9,234 for the challengers compared to 4,615 for the incumbents.

Of course, these are only unofficial vote totals. It could get worse for the incumbents after the votes are canvassed.

And, the levy referendum passed by nearly a 4-1 margin, 4,250 to 1,639.

What does that tell you? The Austin school district’s voting adults are, indeed, for the kids, but not for the failed policies of the past.

Good grief, I was so excited when I heard the results I wanted to call up former Austin superintendent Dr. J. Douglas Myers, and ask him out for a beer.

If I would have known the whereabouts of Charles Huntley, I would have called him too.

My guess is that none of the winners spent too much time in a pumpkin patch before Tuesday’s election. They obviously took very seriously the challenge ahead of them and the results paid off.

A school administrator once claimed that they could walk into a classroom and in five minutes tell if the teacher is a good one or a bad one. No kidding. The person was quoted as saying that in another paper.

Well, let me tell you, it didn’t take Austin school district voters five minutes inside the voting booth Tuesday to tell the good school board candidates from the bad.

I would rather be writing about other things to be sure. For instance, a lady called me Monday morning and said she had 48 youngsters at her house on Halloween and they were the "nicest children" she has ever seen.

Then, I ran into Mona Narveson visiting her husband, Norbert at Sacred Heart Care Center, and she announced she ran out of candy and turned out her front porch light after greeting 85 trick-or-treaters on her doorstep Halloween. Mrs. Narveson also described the children and teenagers as "just about the nicest kids" she has seen.

But, there is a common thread in what the two people observed on Halloween and what happened at the polls Tuesday and that is children.

The voters of Austin obviously cherish them and demonstrated that at the polls Tuesday voting for a referendum that will keep good things happening in the classroom and against bad things from happening at district offices.

Lee Bonorden’s column appears Thursdays