Look out Mayor: City’s chief is trying to stay very, very quiet this week
The one attribute you can’t possibly assign to Mayor Al King is shy and retiring. So, you might wonder why over the past couple of days he has been nice to everyone — even the members of the Goldsboro City Council.
The answer is not that he has turned over a new leaf, or that he is worried he might have been taken off Santa’s “nice” list.
The truth is he knows just how close the United Way is to its 70 percent goal — and he needs all the friends he can get.
And if the community meets that magic number that means only one thing — he is headed for the coffee house.
When the community boosts the United Way’s goal to 70 percent, the mayor has promised to don his apron and head to Starbucks. And for a little while anyway, there will be a whole new taste to the coffee house’s offerings — and maybe even a familiar voice at the drive-thru window.
Too bad they don’t have a cute costume like that cow at Chick-fil-A.
Mayor King is pretending to be a little excited about his task, but after seeing what happened to State Rep. Louis Pate who had to don a hairnet at the Mt. Olive Pickle plant and stuff cucumbers into jars — he probably is a little worried about what might be in store.
You never know what kind of jobs the good folks at Starbucks have in mind for the chief executive.
In the meantime, Mayor King is hoping that if he is really nice, the community might just keep giving and skip over him all the way to the next victim — Sheriff Carey Winders, who is tasked with selling doughnuts if the community hits 80 percent.
Come to think of it, Sheriff Winders has been pretty quiet, too. Wonder if he is worried about hairnets?
Will Mayor King have a line down the block for coffee? Will Sheriff Winders get to press the “Hot Now” button at Krispy Kreme?
The result will be up to all of us. The United Way needs an extra push to get the money it needs to help more than 28,800 Wayne County residents next year.
And the only roadblock to achieving that goal is you.
If you want the mayor to listen to your complaints or suggestions over coffee or you want the sheriff to protect and serve you doughnuts, all you have to do is drop off or mail a donation.
Then, it will be time to tackle the next two goals — a team of baseball players will seem pretty good after Jerry Narron’s story hour with a room full of children and the last thing Geoff Hulse should be worried about is a hairnet.
Their fates lie in our hands.
Published in Editorials on December 5, 2006 1:28 PM