Appointed to city council (as a known atheist)

[Anymouse]

Print out a bunch of these, keep them handy and dispense as needed.

Hehehe.

[Zen Badger]

And so the evil atheist plan to takeover the world commences....

[KichigaiNeko]

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I live in the most religious state outside the Bible Belt (Nebraska).

In September, a long-standing member of the village board (city council) announced that he had to retire from the board due to health reasons, and died October 3.

In accordance with State Law and the village's ordinances, at the October meeting, the village board chairman took applications to fill the vacant seat. There were four other applicants, but figuring that atheists will never get their voices heard if they don't at least try to affect government in some way, I also volunteered.

Later, during a volunteer clean-up effort with the village, the chairman told me privately that he was going to place my name in nomination, as he considered me the least divisive candidate.

At the November meeting, I was nominated and unanimously voted to fill out the remaining two year term of the deceased member.

Before the affirmation of office, I appeared on KLAY-AM (Tacoma WA), in an interview on the fradio show Ask an Atheist. The show was about the elections and an apostate Muslim, and Rep Pete Starke was to appear with me. He had scheduling problems though, and I wound up with his time on the air as well. Thus my thirty minutes of fame on the radio.

The programme, and the E-mail I sent that prompted the interview, can be found at Ask An Atheist's Broadcast Archive.

So after thoroughly embarrassing the atheist community on the radio, I took the affirmation of office on December 3.

I was amazed. I did not think they would actually select me. But though this village is religious, it is also pragmatic.

I have a photo of my long-haired hippie visage executing the affirmation with the board and the county attorney, but I cannot seem to upload it . . .

Also, now everyone in town knows my number. "James, what are you going to do about . . ." "James, my neighbour's dog is crapping on my lawn again . . ."

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James.

Hey Anymouse!! good to see you! keep up the good work mate! And congratulations councillor

[Anymouse]

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And so the evil atheist plan to takeover the world commences....

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Hey Anymouse!! good to see you! Big Grin keep up the good work mate! And congratulations councillor.

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Thank you both. In two years the seat comes up for election. If I don't foul up between now and then, let's see if I can actually be elected to the post.

(To give you an idea of how elections go here, one incumbent was recently defeated in the election by a vote of 34-33 - he won - but then a ballot challenge threw out one ballot making it a tie. The tie was settled per state law [drawing lots]. That was determined by the county clerk to be a card draw from a playing card deck - he drew a deuce and the challenger an eight.)

I'd never before participated in an election decided by one vote, and it was overturned.

The Four Horsemen: hehehe. I can see it now, the big atheist takeover from a village of 128 people on the High Plains. Today the village board, tomorrow the nation. - James.

[Whateverist]

Is there a future for the non-divisive atheist from Nebraska in Washington D.C.?

[Brian37]

And so the evil atheist plan to takeover the world commences....

Is that Hitchens with the crown?

[Anymouse]

I had to cast my first abstaining vote at the village board meeting.
It seems my wife, (the village's other atheist), spent a great deal of time setting up a computer so the public can access the Internet while the public library continues its move to its new location. (She even donated the computer: the only folk in the village with Internet service are the public library, the general store, the village office, and our house.)
She spent a few days working out the details and setting up her own computer in the village hall. At the last village meeting, the Board of Trustees moved to give her a letter of appreciation.
I abstained (she is my wife, though I do appreciate her.) My first vote was a non-vote.

[KichigaiNeko]

Life's tough at the top

How's the move coming along though?

[Kayenneh]

Congratulations, Anymouse! That's a huge milestone! Good luck and do your best!



And good to have you back(?) with us

[Anymouse]

Life's tough at the top

How's the move coming along though?

My wife developed a card catalogue program for the library, to put its collection on the Internet.
It seems when I was researching such programs, the cheapest one for a public library was about US$100,000. (That's just a little less than a thousand dollars a head for everyone in the village.)
Now the library board, the library director, and I are shelving books and entering them into the new database. She has made the software available as shareware (the proceeds to go to our library) for other libraries to use.
Well, we were shelving books. Since my wife and I have the flu, they are going on without us for a few days.
She also got an audio book company to donate a thousand dollars of books to our library for its grand re-opening.