Tuesday, July 24, 2012

No more mules for him

While mayor of Homer I was easily accessible in person or by phone so people with complaints would call on me rather than  the department that was involved.  I would get calls like "you didn't pick up my garbage this morning," or "come get this stray dog from under my house."

One morning an elderly black man came to me with a problem I had not had before. He had kept a mule that he utilized to plow gardens in his neighborhood.  The mule had died and the parish sanitation official had ordered him to remove the mule immediately for health reasons. The only help I could offer was the name of a company in Shreveport that picked up large dead animals.  He was  told Homer was several miles out of the area they covered.

When I saw the mule owner a few hours later, he still had not found a way to dispose of the carcass, but he told me, "I know this; if I ever get rid of this mule I'll never get another one."  (How he managed I don't know, but he did dispose of the mule.)

Most of us are unlikely to have a dead mule to dispose of, but many times if we could foresee  the obstacles we would face later on, we would have the opportunity of avoiding many problems.  On the other hand, if we knew the difficulties ahead we might never start a project that in the future offered  many benefits. I know that I said that about some major projects, including improvements to our water system and the construction of the airport.

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