In a Representative Republic like ours, the place where the people have the most power is with their local government. You can (usually) access your elected officials pretty quickly and share your concerns, and (the good ones) will at least respond to you even if they don’t agree with you. And unlike Federal or State problems, local issues can often be resolved quickly. Thomas Jefferson said, “The government closest to the people serves the people best” and I get so happy when that is true.

A great example of this occurred this week. On Monday afternoon I noticed the Wilfong Memorial Sleigh was missing from the Courthouse. Monday night I went to the City Council meeting to ask their assistance in freeing it from storage. The public rallied to the cause and contacted City Council members and County Commissioners and less than 48 hours later, the sleigh was available to the public in City Hall.

Community member Ramona DeWitt Moe called it a Christmas Miracle and I heartily agree.

To be clear, the missing sleigh was not the fault of City Council or the County Commissioners. But as our local leaders, they were able to “encourage” those who left the sleigh in storage to bring it out. They did so and we are all the beneficiaries of their encouragement.

Saturday, December 6th is our annual tree lighting party. It is the only time of the year all our elected officials gather in one place to celebrate our community. Even the judges get a chance to be announced and honored! This year, let’s clap and cheer extra loud for them. They probably did something this year we didn’t like, but we can put that aside for this season.

Because this week, they got us our sleigh back.

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Special thanks to everyone who offered to help move the sleigh with your muscles, trailer, and box trucks and who contacted our elected officials to ask them to help us.

Special thanks to Mayor Tanner, City Manager Hendrickson, Vice Mayor Bronson, Councilman Hallal, and Commissioner Hawkins for responding to the public inquiries and helping us get our sleigh back.

Special thanks to so many of you who sent me photos from the last four years of you and your family in the sleigh. I can’t begin to express how happy you made my heart. I love us!

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