BETTER THAN HEARSAY - Headed for the Hills

By Michael Ryan

MOUNTAINTOP - It is election season, with a couple of, shall we say, humdingers for town supervisor in Jewett and Windham.

Before we get to them, I am electing to tell a story about a raccoon that curiously and strangely snuck up behind me the other night.

It was around one o’clock in the morning. I was out looking at the stars and the black of the night sky, or deep space or whatever is up and over and down there.

The quiet was especially hushed, with no wind. I heard a sound that could have been rose hip bush thorns scraping against metal house flashing.

I didn’t pay it any attention until it happened again, much closer, sounding more like a child kvetching, causing me do a 180 and point my trusty flashlight into the darkness where I saw the raccoon.

It was sitting on its hind legs, whimpering. My immediate thought was, “rabies.” I backed up a bit, wiggled the light and waited for a reaction.

Thinking back, I probably should have bolted but I stood there and the raccoon sat looking at me. It was pleasant, interacting that way.

The little bandit didn’t stay seated long, rising to its paws and moving in my direction, not wobbly or anything but definitely toward me.

Coming to my senses, I darted into the nearby garage, figuring if the thing followed me in there it probably meant it was sick.

It followed me in there and again, looked at me, whimpering softly. I went in the house and loaded the .410, not wanting to use it but not feeling real comfortable leaving the critter to maybe get worse.

I was hoping it would be gone when I returned but it wasn’t, so, as a last resort, I yelled at it to get the heck out of there, which it didn’t.

“Please don’t make me shoot you,” I thought, and I don’t know if the animal was a mindreader or what, but it started moseying into the yard again.

I followed the raccoon for awhile, along some trails I have mowed through the property, before losing track of it when it slipped behind a stone wall.

There has been no sight or sound of “Racky” since then. I told my neighbor about it. He wasn’t fazed at all, telling me wild creatures have been known to communicate with humans, or try to, when one of their own is hurt.

Who knows whether that was the case or not, but the raccoon was certainly doing something and never got aggressive or ran, stopping a few times on its sojourn through the trails to innocently glance back at me.

There are four people running for two supervisor seats, one each in the town of Jewett and Windham, that are politically tantalizing.

In Jewett, Greg Kroyer, the Republican incumbent, was running unopposed for a second term until suddenly he wasn’t after John Pumiiia, a fellow Republican, announced a write-in candidacy.

The announcement, three weeks ago, came amidst rising tensions within the town board that recently overflowed into a rare and very public, profanity-infused display of deep discord.

Frictions extend beyond the election and if Kroyer wins, Pumilia would keep his council seat for two more years, setting the stage for who knows what.

And tensions are not limited to Kroyer and Pumilia, also involving highway superintendent Bob Mallory, chairman of the local GOP, who has gone nose-to-nose with Kroyer.

The second humdinger - a word my dad often used - is in Windham where incumbent Republican Thomas Hoyt is opposed by Connor Exum.

Exum announced his intentions to run over a year ago, getting the local Democratic Party endorsement, this past summer, and rather quickly causing three stirs in the GOP-ruled town.

The first stir is having a Democrat run at all, although it has become less noticeable in recent years, following the 40-year stint of the late and seldom-if-ever challenged, highly respected T. Patrick Meehan.

Second is Exum’s self-described link to Anarcho-Syndicalism (you can look it up) which has apparently raised the hair on the back of the necks of Democratic Party leadership all the way to the State level.

Exum has fought back, saying the Democrats’ discomfort is fear-mongering and rooted, “in the fact that I welcome challenges to local government and a vigorous debate by our residents with their representative government to create the best policies for this community.”

Which brings us to the third stir, Hoyt’s declining of an invitation by Exum to engage in a public debate, with Hoyt doing what incumbent supervisors with six years in office often do, stick to their record.

The underdog is Exum, for sure. Hoyt is taking nothing for granted, putting up a plethora of campaign billboards, going door-to-door and airing local radio ads featuring high praise from Assemblyman Chris Tague.

Exum is active on social media and regularly attends town board meetings where he sets up a camera and is a frequent enquirer, resulting in some sparks flying between the two candidates.

If you find these kinds of things entertaining, keep your popcorn ready. New York State has changed election law, so however it goes in Windham, the outcome will be for only one year.

Voters in Windham could be back at it again next November, which is maybe why that friendly raccoon has already headed for the hills.