Digi-Scene

Hearty congratulations go out to my Dad who was elected Mayor of Hyrum, Utah yesterday. He soundly defeated his opponent Gary Clawson with a final vote tally of 727 to 513.

Personally, I attribute Dad's victory to the fact that he recognizes that Hyrum, while not exactly a cosmopolitan place, has changed over the years. This town now has a fairly sizable ethnic population and more and more non-Mormons live there and need to have their voices heard in city government. His opponent on more than one occasion, used his leadership status in the Mormon church as some kind of endorsement that he was the man to be mayor. Dad stuck to the issues of running a city and left religion out of it.

I remember the time when he was on the city council and a new pizza parlor opened up in town and wanted a license to sell beer. Well, all of the good Mormons on the city council (who of course don't drink alcohol) were opposed to granting the license. Even though Dad was a bishop at the time, he voted to grant the license. His reasoning? Not everyone is a Mormon, and they should have the right to have a beer with their pizza if they want it. If you don't want a beer with your pizza, DON'T ORDER ONE. You go Dad!

Even though I love my Dad and respect and admire him greatly, in my opinion he really is going to make a good mayor who will serve ALL of the citizens of Hyrum. That's what representative government is all about.