Taking On City Hall

In the last month and a half so much has happened! We have become a family of protesters. First, I got involved with trying to get a burning ban for our little village. Most people would think it was cool to be able to burn leaves now and then, but here is what happens when out neighbor gets going.

Here comes the smoke........ better get inside.

And there it is. Enough smoke that you can't see our neighbors roof or our own roof clearly! This happens at least 15 times a year. It is gross. So this complete liberal and I formed the Freedom to Breathe Coalition. We agree on nothing, except leaf burning and the need to stop it. In our small town it has caused an uproar with the people that moved in as Earth was cooling. They don't think things should ever change.

The last straw was when the landlord across the street decided to burn a huge pile of branches and a pine tree. This is what it did to the clear coat of our car. And they said, "You can't prove it was us." Everywhere the ash landed there was a discoloring around the area. Joe got most of it off, but it kind of makes me miss the good old days when you could smack someone with out fear of prosecution. Did I say that outloud?! Actually, I've forgiven them and I'm glad that I am more strongly motivated for this cause. I've heard from lots of parents who have kids that struggle with the smoke. Some have even been hospitalized.

On April 15th I pulled the kids out of school to go be political as a family. They had a blast. We made signs and marched around the park. There was a great cross section of people there. Lots of people wanted to take pictures of the kids with their signs. I wondered if any of them were opening up files on right-wing extremists. Yes, Cora probably has a file now! She won't be able to be appointed as a nutty judge in Illinois! There were maybe 400 people including all three conservatives from the local university who were handing out the conservative college newspaper.