Editor’s Note” John Anderson is a candidate for the Democratic nomination for District 72 State Representative.

Letter to the Editor:

The noted sociologist Margaret Mead investigated the phenomenon how different cultures have different norms of behavior that seem self evident and preordained to the residing population. For instance, a neighboring tribe might do things one way but the next one doesn’t. These differences can be at times sacrilegious and have dire consequences to the newcomer. Take for instance my use of the computers at the Tama Library. I was kicked out the first time because I lied about having a library card. She knew I didn’t have a card and it was a off hand remark. I had been in the library at grand total of 5 mn in my life time. When I protested that a lifetime ban was a bit draconian, the Council in their infinite wisdom reduced it to time served, which was about a year.

If I didn’t say I had resolved, after this, to put a burr up the librarians tookus I’d be lying. Accordingly, I was kicked out again, this time the letter said was for putting my feet on the desk, leaving wrappers on the desk and having my dog in the alcove. The real reason was because, I objected to paying a fee for the fax, which the incoming 10 page fax amount to 10 dollars. Well, the Tama Sheriff came over to my house and demanded the 10 dollars or their would be consequences. Seeing this as a attitude adjustment I quickly paid the 10 dollars. However, I was kicked out again “for life”. Once again I made the rounds of the Tama Library Committee. After about another year they relented, and this time let me back in, on the condition that I will never again be allowed to use the library computers. They wrote that I had “attempted” to access porn. Who, what? Ah-ha, I had caught them in a lie, in the one and only time I went back to the library.

Whats more, the library commission and the Tama City Council let this brazen lie stand even though, I had a letter saying in black and white why I was kicked out the second time. I’ve had other run in’s with the idiosyncrasies of this District. I went into a local welding shop to complain about a faulty weld on my lawn mower and he basically said without a receipt I was SOL. The frosting on the cake was when I ran a stop sign and which I contested in the Tama County Court. Sure I was guilty as heck, but the reason the judge wrote for the denial was because, “she couldn’t remember what I said.”

All in all though I’ve found the residents of Tama and its environs really refreshing. You’ve got to take the good with the bad. I’ve found out there campaigning there is a awful lot of good. Though, after basically getting kicked out of Johnson County for complaining about subliminal advertising in my college textbooks at The University of Iowa, I’ve wondered if I haven’t run into a pattern. If this election thing for District 72 House of Representative doesn’t work out, I wonder if perhaps a place like Maldives might work out. Then again I’d probably just run up against the local customs there too.

John Anderson

Tama, Iowa