Memories of the Primary....(verse 1: BUSTED!)

On Monday, September 14th, I was suddenly called to City Hall to help with the final set-up of the polls. The previous Registrar made the moderators do this work; but Michelle Hufcut (in my opinion, rightly) thought it more important to stress the election process over grunt work.

However (and it can't be stressed enough that this was this Registrar's first election), setting up took more time than she thought.

So I came in; and we set up three additional polls by 7:00. At that time, Michelle prudently told me that she had to go home for her medication (we're none of us too young anymore!); I foolishly told her I'd wait for her to return, as we had only 3 more polls to do.

I sat at her desk, opened my laptop, started Media Player (Peter, Paul & Mary), and started to play Spider Solitaire to while away the time. I got a call from a friend asking if I had their cellphone; I said no, but I'd look for it in my laptop case.

About 5 minutes later, I got a knock on the door; assuming it was my friend, I opened it....it was none other than Beth Denton:

She took a picture of me on her cell phone before I closed the door (BTW, Beth, they won't let you in with that when you go to court....interference with election officials is a serious offense).

About 15 minutes later, the knock comes again. This time, it was a West Haven Police Officer (with the - ahem - "great one" in tow.)

I identified myself and my capacity as Head Moderator for the primary; but we had to wait for Michelle to come back to verify this. Better yet, we then had to wait for a second officer to arrive, to give all this information again (because - despite the fact that she called this into 9-1-1, the "Great One" couldn't wait until an officer was dispatched - assaults & robberies aren't as important as this, in her, um, mind: she pulled a cop from a meeting in another room in City Hall! Mustn't defy the "Great One"!).

All in all, it took about an hour to clear this mess up...and we didn't finish setting up until about midnight. And we had to be up at 4:00 am the next day for the primary.

Bo-Bo-Beth better get her lawyers in a row...hope they're as big in the law as she is in the City!