When Kelly and I moved into our home in Garner, we had two immediate brushes with Garner politicos. Our first day, a car pulls up to our house. Inside was mayor Don Rohrbaugh, who lived a few houses down the street. Talk about first impressions! I was impressed with any city where the mayor personally greets you on the day you move in!

The second brush was a bit more cryptic. Kelly wasn’t used to standalone mailboxes, having lived in townhouses or apartments all her life. One day Kelly put mail in the mailbox without raising the flag. This brought a stern message from our mailman, scawled boldly on a piece of paper: “mail will not be delivered without raising the flag!” We chuckled at the serious tone of the note, wondering if we had violated some kind of federal postal service law or something. We sure made sure that flag was up!

Over time, I got to know our mailman and soon discovered he was on the town board. From then on, Ronnie Williams always said hello as he made his rounds. He’d ask about the family when I met him at the mailbox. We would wave as he and his wife went for walks around the neighborhood. He would also say hello to me when I attended the occasional board meeting. I began to realize that Ronnie had a rare opportunity as a politician: few people know their towns the way a mail carrier does. He was on the street every day and knew everyone by name. Mail carriers arguably know their towns better than the cops that patrol them.

It was a cold November day when Ronnie last campaigned for alderman. I stopped into my local polling place and said hello to him as he greeted voters outside. I didn’t like seeing my neighbors working in the cold weather, so I returned later with hand warmers for everyone. Ronnie and the others were very appreciative.

Ronnie’s a good guy. Garner is in good hands with him as mayor. It’s good to see a neighbor do well.