Alive After Five... and New Interns? What??

Next monday, I will be attending the interview of 2 more new interns in the law office. Whoa, imagine the surprise on my face to this news: I've only been here a month and they've already got new interns for me to work with? Nice. In other news, I helped out with "Alive After Five" last week in an effort to bolster the campaign effort of Mayor Wood. He had set up a tent right next to a chicken coop handled by Mr. Andrew Wordes, the "Chicken Man" (NOT the Chicken Whisperer); Interesting strategy don't you think? Nevertheless, it turned out to be a great success as Mayor Wood got lots of publicity from this traditional Roswell event. Interestingly enough, however, about 100 yards down the street Mike Martin and I spotted the campaign tent for Lori Henry with Mr. Pug Mabry (the former mayor of Roswell) sitting right behind her. Funny thing is I am almost positive that I could hear crickets chirping as I walked by her tent; there was no buzz, no activity like at Mayor Wood's campaign tent. Looks like her campaign just isn't creating the buzz that Mayor Wood's is. Oh well. David Tolleson, on the other hand, was no where to be found on Canton Street. Go figure. What I learned: Chickens are a GREAT marketing tool.

First Mayoral Debate

Today was a very eventful day as I attended my first ever Mayoral Debate at the Holiday Inn on Holcomb Bridge Road. I arrived early to notice that there was a lot of buzz going around as no one knew what to expect from Councilwoman Lori Henry and Councilman David Tolleson in the upcoming debate. But they all knew exactly what they were going to get from Mayor Wood: a man that was very honest and highly personable. There were many jokes made by each of the candidates (and by each I mean just Councilman Tolleson and Mayor Wood, because I didn't really hear Councilwoman Henry make too many jokes), but more than 90% of them were made by Mayor Wood. He was extremely personable and seemed very approachable: a trait that anyone would want in their Mayor. But the one astonishing thing that I noticed throughout the debate was the undoubted bias against Mayor Wood and Ms. Henry by the Beacon. Mr. John Fredericks, the Beacon Media host for the debate, stated time and time again that Mayor Wood was "fighting for his political life" when in fact, there was absolutely no evidence to prove such an outlandish claim. He even took a jab at Ms. Henry asking why all the people that used to support her don't anymore: which seemed very much like a low blow and completely unnecessary at such an event. It just doesn't seem right for a newspaper, which is supposed to be unbiased, to have a very strong bias against any candidate. Isn't unbiased journalism what we strive for? In any case, the debate was a huge success for Mayor Wood as many people that attended seemed to think that he was the clear winner of the debate. What I learned: In any political event, it is important for the leader to be personable and approachable so that the people are not afraid to voice their concerns to make what is wrong, right.

Chickens!

You may be looking at the title of this new post and think that I have gone truly mad, but that's essentially what the atmosphere was like at the law office this morning when I got in. Mayor Wood had gotten new chickens. The idea was passed around the office to name the chickens Lori and David, the names of Mayor Wood's opposition in the upcoming election, but the Mayor would have nothing of it (even if it was absolutely hilarious). Then, on to the more important matters of the day: Mayor Wood and I attended the local Rotary International meeting where I met many more new and interesting people. Mayor Wood used this opportunity, as any politician would, to announce his first Re-Election Campaign Fundraiser to which the President of Rotary replied: "I guess it's just that time of year again, isn't it Mayor Wood?" It seems as though he had heard many such announcements by Mayor Wood in the past and seemed to be getting bored of them. Mayor Wood would explain later that the Rotary tries to stay out of politics as much as possible. From there, we made our way to Mill Street, where the City of Roswell was being recognized for being a "Water First" city, which basically means that Roswell has made huge strides towards the water conservation effort of the state of Georgia. It was a pretty eventful day and there will surely be many more to come.