Etc...

Thank you. Oh, thank you

Almost lost in the news coverage of last week's state and local elections was what happened to Thomas LaMont. He lost the race for mayor of rural Montrose, Pa., by four votes. Unlike other candidates for office around the US, however, that doesn't make him one bit unhappy. LaMont, you see, has held the office for more than a decade and wished not to be reelected - even though the May 17 primary resulted in his name appearing alone on the ballot. OK, then, he said, if you insist on voting me back in, I'm out. Happily for him, traffic enforcement officer John Wilson decided at the 11th hour to run for the $900-a-year post and attracted 116 write-in ballots, to LaMont's 112. So, was there any part of the job that LaMont enjoyed? Yes, he said: presiding over weddings and Independence Day parades.