Belltower: A pajama story

It’s never too late for a good Census joke. One of our reader panel members, longtime resident George Amo, sent me the following item last year and I hung on to it until I could share it with you:

“Well by golly … They sent my Census form back! AGAIN!!!

“In response to the question: ‘Do you have any dependents?’ I replied: ’12 million illegal immigrants; 3 million crack heads; 42 million unemployable people, 2 million people in over 243 prisons and 535 idiots in the U.S. House and Senate.’

“Apparently, this was NOT an acceptable answer.”

Thank you, George.

George is manager of the Greenstone Country Community Services District. He also worked for Dillinger’s Furniture. That’s the green building that sells Kinkade prints next to the Carey House.

Noel Stack, managing editor of Village Life, is traveling to Idaho Falls to pick up a new dog. I believe it’s the same kind of dog the Obamas got.

This reminded me of the time I spent a night in jail in Idaho Falls, or it might have been Mountain Home. After high school I traveled from California to Montana (by Greyhound, of course) and spent the summer hitchhiking to Kansas City with my friend Crazy Dick Baker. When we started out he brought his guitar and amplifier with him. In spite of that we got rides. He eventually sent the kit back. Nowhere to plug it in most of the places we camped. We had planned to build a raft and float down the Missouri and Mississippi rivers. That never happened. Ran out of money and ambition.

We were on our way back to Eastern Oregon, to rest up at my grandparents and ask for bus ticket money home. We found a laundromat in Idaho Falls or Mountain Home that kind of had a back room out of view of the window. So we laid on top of the folding table to sleep. My friend, however, insisted on putting on his PJs and the red Elmer McCoy Montana Safe Hunting hat I loaned him because his shaved head got sunburned the first day riding in the back of a pickup truck.

Well, that was kind of a red flag for the town police who came upon us later at night and gave us a place to sleep in their jail. They were kind enough to not lock us in or book us. I blamed my friend for insisting on putting on pajamas. They even gave us breakfast.

Baker went on to be a high school Spanish teacher.

Here’s another wise observation forwarded to me by George Amo: ”Apparently, I’m supposed to be more concerned and angry about what Mitt Romney does with his money than what Barack Obama does with mine.”

Heck, I’m a little perturbed about Obama letting rock stars hitchhike on Air Force One to his fundraisers. I wonder if Jon Bon Jovi wore his PJs on Air Force One.

Michael Raffety is editor of the Mountain Democrat. His column appears biweekly. Follow @MRaffetyMtDemo on Twitter. 

Michael Raffety

Michael Raffety has been editor of the Mountain Democrat since 1989 and was managing editor beginning in 1986. He was city editor prior to that, having started here in 1978. He was the first person at the Mountain Democrat to be given the title of city editor. He also was an adjunct professor at the El Dorado Center from 1980-2003.

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