A burn permit for Red vs. Blue
2022-08-06
Dear reader,
“You know what I would like, is if they just take all those Republican and Democrat stuff and just tossed it away,” Wayne Courser was saying to me last Friday. We were standing in the middle of the parking lot at the Whitingham Municipal Center. Wayne gestured with his hands as if to gently dump everything in America that’s “red versus blue” into the trash can nearby.
“I say vote for the person,” Wayne said, gesturing upward with his index finger.
I couldn’t agree more. But why does that seem so uncommon?
Maybe it’s that it takes time to get to know someone. To get to know candidates that you seldom see in person, in advance of an early August primary, can be out of reach for a lot of people. Voting on a party line provides a shortcut.
I’m not a born-and-raised Vermonter like Wayne, but I’m fortunate to have had 17 years since I bought land in Halifax to get to know Wayne and Joan Courser. Wayne’s been chief of the Halifax Fire Company for 51 years. I’ve called him many times to get the okay to burn a brush pile. Often Joan will pick up before passing the phone to Wayne. I imagine him on the other end, looking out at the weather conditions.
“Yeah, I supposed it’s wet enough,” he might say. “You’ve got a hose nearby? Go right ahead.”
That is how you get a burn permit in Halifax. I don’t know how they do it in other places.
I’d never talked to Wayne about politics. If I relied only on the voter data I’m using to find registered voters in my district for my campaign, I might not have wasted my time. Based on the ballot he votes on for the primaries, the data labels Wayne a “Solid Republican.”
I’m a lifelong registered Independent voter, running as a Democrat. Sometimes when I tell people that, I worry that it could sound like an awkward fit. But for me it’s a clear choice, one based on the value of teamwork.
“You’d be my chosen candidate for anything,” a former co-worker told me. Her comment didn’t go to my head for long. She went on to express near certainty that I would lose the election because I was running as a Democrat in this diverse district, in this year of President Biden’s low approval. She urged me to run as an Independent.
I could have brushed it off, but she’s a friend who’s not afraid to give me true advice, even if I hate it. “Stop crossing your arms so much,” she told me after watching me talk to voters. And, “Don’t laugh so much at jokes. Listen.”
After thinking it over, I told her that I respect Independent candidates, and I wouldn’t rule it out for the future. But in my whole life I’ve only ever seen anything get done by teams.
One individual alone can accomplish a lot. But who answered the dispatched 911 call one bone-dry August thirteen years ago after someone pulled up a camp chair in a quiet spot on my land to drink some beers and smoke? Wayne and his company snuffed out the fire that started with a smoldering cigarette butt. (Wayne also taught me the difference between a fire ‘department,’ which is part of a municipality, and a fire ‘company’ like Halifax’s, which is an independent volunteer entity.)
Being a voice for my district, these three towns, is my top priority. Serving on committees with like-minded members of the majority party would be reason enough to run as a Democrat. There’s a lot more to it, of course. If elected, I’d be proud to show up in Montpelier as a member of the party that has championed reproductive rights in Vermont and in the country, among other issues.
I don’t know if Wayne and I agree on those issues. Chances are we have some differences. But neither of us sought out those differences when we stopped to talk at the Blueberry Fest in Jacksonville on Friday evening. I asked him what he would like to see in his next State Representative.
“Oh I don’t know,” Wayne told me. “I think things are pretty good. There’s not a lot that I need. I had some issues with the ticker over the winter,” he said, touching his chest and going on to describe a series of maladies. “They gave me a bunch of pills and that helped clear it up,” he went on. “But I’m not a pill taker, so…” and he trailed off.
I hope Wayne’s ticker is in good shape. I saw him out weed-whacking, at 86 years old, the bank between the firehouse and his backyard on an 86-degree day last week. He told me that a friend asked why he was out doing that.
Wayne couldn’t have a more solid assistant chief, Malcolm Sumner, and another two dozen men working with him on the Fire Company. It’s a strong team. But as he said to me about weed-whacking, “I’m not just going to stop taking care of things.”
Wayne’s not everyone’s cup of tea. I’ve seen him in Selectboard meetings clashing hard with others. I’m aware that there can be divisions in our town. But I try not to keep a list of them in my mind when I’m talking to a neighbor.
We talked about the issues most important to each of us, and we found more to agree on than anything.
“I’ll vote for you,” Wayne said.
“Thanks!” I said. “Would you like a lawn sign?”
“Sure,” he said. “You can put one out.” Like a lot of people who take pride in their yards, he described for me the exact spot he’d put it.
“Thank you,” I said. Later I saw Wayne again, waiting in his truck for Joan. She was dishing scoops from the Halifax Ice Cream Wagon the whole evening. I see them helping each other out all the time with the Community Club. Joan is one of the pillars of that group. With a couple hundred dollars here and there from events, the scoops from the wagon support the upkeep.
I brought a lawn sign over from my car. Wayne told me the story he’s regaling with me in the photo.
I’d asked him how the Halifax Fire Company’s relationship was with Jacksonville’s, whose building we were both looking at.
“Stan Janovsky and I like to give each other hell,” he said. “We’re always covering for the other.” He went on to describe a recent call where a woman had fallen down some stairs. “When the alarm sounds first in Whitingham, I send our tanker his way, and when it’s first alarm in Halifax he sends a tanker my way.”
Teamwork. It’s how it’s done.
I see you,
Tristan
Quill Nook Farm