AND THEN AGAIN………………..by Tamara Pettit

………The only signs that an election took place is the lone election sign you see sporadically along the highway.. While putting signs up is tedious, if you’re a losing candidate taking them down is heartbreaking. I think the saddest post election story I heard was about Doug Skaff, who was running for a State office. He was taking down his sign when he got bit in two places by a Copperhead. He was hospitalized and said the snake bites were the worst pain he’d ever experienced, more I’m sure than losing an election.

……..If you still have a sign in your yard and the candidate hasn’t picked it up, do them a favor and put it in your garage until they get it. At least you can take the signs down. If you bought space on those smaller billboard, the space might not sell for months. That means you’re stuck looking at a reminded or your loss every time you drive by. There was one in New Cumberland that I thought was going to haunt me to my grave.

………Winning is great, but losing is hard. You have to experience losing to know what it’s like. I have won, but I have lost. It takes the breath out of you and sometimes it takes the hope out of you. You also know that in making the decision to run you have hurt your family who are now seeing a father or mother in distress. This is the major time losing candidates need to cut themselves a break. How many people have the courage to put their name on the ballot and just see how many people like them and how many people don’t. This is the time you to focus on how many voters liked you?

………Is it apathy that caused such a lower voter turnout in Hancock County or a lack of candidates on the ballot. Democrats especially, had no candidates locally. The two Judicial races with a race were hurt by that (27 percent) in Hancock turnout.

……..We don’t pull any punches when it comes to telling each other how it is in our family. Win or lose, we’ll be honest. My grandson, Addison Sayre, was may be 7 or 8 when I took him door to door with me in Country Club Estates the Sat. before the election. Making idle conversation as we walked to the car I said to him “Well, what do you think Addison? Do you think I’m gonna win this election,” “Maybe, maybe not Nana,” he solemnly replied. “A lot of people don’t like you.?” He was right. I lost.

……..The area lost a real friend and promoter of the area in Dewey Guida last week. At 80, Dewey was a true example of the American Dream. He was a visionary who saw opportunity and wasn’t afraid to take a risk to make his dream a reality. Most of the younger people knew Dewey as the “Rib King” who had taken a successful recipe for ribs and built a thriving business around it. But, that was Dewey’s second act. Dewey and his brother, JJ, began their careers as home builders and built many of the single housing developments along with apartments. But, when the bottom fell out of the housing industry. Dewey switched gears, He found a former car wash to turn into a restaurant/bar featuring those ribs. It was a roaring success and just like the TV show cheers, it was the place where everyone knew your name, especially Dewey. There’s no question that the ribs were most of the reason for his success, but Dewey himself was a major part of the success. He genuinely liked people and it showed. You felt like you belonged at DeeJays and isn’t that a part of what we all want……a place to feel we belong. Dewey’s positive impact cut a wide swath with his many projects and his vision for the future. We sure will miss him.

…….The Memorial Day schedule for New Cumberland includes the service at New Cumberland Cemetery. If you’ve never seen the Avenue of Flags before honoring those who served, you’ve missed something very touching that brings home the tremendous sacrifice those who fought for our country made so that we can continue to live in a free country.