THE SANDBOX Great American Conversations With The Alumni of RHS Issue 121 ~ January 30, 2001 "Fellow citizens, We Cannot escape history." - Abraham Lincoln - This Issue Reviews Recent Electoral Events With An Eye Toward History. Subjects and Contributors: Dick Epler's Comments on Election Irregularities. Peggy Hartnett (72) Votes and Vote Counters Bill Didway (66) Has your Chad been Dimpled? Andrew Eckert (54) Fat Ladies Not Allowed to Sing Bob (Mike Clowes) Carlson ' 54 What Has Happened to Bomber Basketball? Richard Anderson (60) ------------------- Subj: Dick Epler's Comments on Election Irregularities. From: Peggy Hartnett (72) highdesert@theriver.com (A modern hotel in a timeless town) I read with interest that a number of illegals from Mexico voted here in the Southwest and CA and that the overwhelmingly voted for Gore. I can believe anything actually but I live in a small backward town on the Mexico-AZ border, I know many of the fine people who work the polls, many are Hispanic in background/culture/primary language but they are all US Citizens. So, I wonder how it is we "know" that all those Hispanics who voted here in the West were illegals, how it is that they got to vote (Where I live you still have to present identification), when one of the major "complaints" about illegals is their problem with English and if voting is a private affair, how do we know they voted for Gore? Just curious since no one that I know who worked the polls has indicated there was any such problem. And I think I need to ask a direct question, are you suggesting that just because some precincts with large African-American populations had very high voter turnout there must be fraud? Perhaps those people have a greater sense of community/responsibility/need than our cynical minds can imagine. All of this leads me to want to suggest a couple of books that, though fiction, should give us pause on where all this information and technology that we have access to could lead: "Cryptonomicon " by Neil Stephenson & "The Killing Time" by Caleb Carr. If any of you have already read them, I would love to hear what you thought. One last thought, go outside tonight and look up at the stars--now that is a good way to keep an appropriate perspective on things. -Peggy Hartnett (72) ~~~~ Subj: Votes and Vote Counters Date Submitted: 12/11/2000 From: Bill Didway (66) didway bj@fidalgo.net I think it was Joseph Stalin who said, "It is not the voters that choose the winner but the vote counters." ~~~~ Subj: Fat Ladies Not Allowed to Sing From: Bob (Mike Clowes) Carlson ' 54 bobsown1@hotmail.com Date Submitted" 12/15/2000 It would seem that the Supreme Court has decided that fat ladies are not allowed to sing in the state of Florida; hence we'll never really know the "true" vote count from that state. What the real surprise of the Court's decision is that two "party" appointees bolted and voted for the opposition. Will this mean a change in the Court? Will the Bush kid ask these two to resign so that he might appoint those who would adhere to the party line? And now the hue and cry is for "voter reform" (or is it "ballot reform")? Wouldn't the better choice be "candidate reform"? In this particular election there was no lessor of two evils, no "clear cut" leader, no one to whom the populace could look at with admiration. All we got was a lackluster, somewhat tarnished (in his own right) vice president who thought the job should be his, and a governor whose major claim to fame is that during his administration his state executed more people that the rest of the nation combined. A friend of mine predicted that in two years it will be difficult to find anyone who will publicly admit to voting for Bush. I would say that in two years it will be difficult to find anyone who will admit to having voted in this election. And guess what the first thing we have to look forward to will be? Tax reform. Yes, it seems that the 1% who make the most money and pay the least taxes are going to get yet another tax break. I truly feel sorry for these people, think of the hardships they must face each time April (formerly March) 15th, rolls around. And now to more pleasant things. Oregon's illustrious governor, who believes the Snake River dams should be torn down, is now demanding a meeting to address the electricity shortage in California and how it affects Oregon and Washington. I guess he got his latest electricity bill and saw that the cost of river water had gone up, therefore he has to pay more for the electricity he used. Never mind that the state of Confusion (AKA California) deregulated power companies. It seems that this wonderful thing, deregulation, is only capable of driving prices up not down. Those who have been "deregulated" only want to make as much money as they can before they get "regulated" again. Never mind all that, we must tear down the dams so that a few fish can live free. Well, that's my opinion, and I'm entitled to it. Bob (Mike Clowes) Carlson ' 54 ~~~~ Subj: What Has Happened to Bomber Basketball? From: Richard Anderson (60) mailto:bomber60@pobox.com Last night (Tuesday, Dec. 19) I got to witness a result of today's astonishing coaching philosophy: Bombers 48 - Kamiakin 57, after overtime. Bombers scored 6 two-point baskets in four and one half quarters of hoops — SIX! During the first half of the game Bombers accumulated all of 18 > points from 5 three-point baskets and 3 (somewhat miraculous) free throws. In all the team would throw up 23 heaves at the hoop from 3-point range. This would be all well and good if the team comprised midgets; however, the only "midget" is a useful Stein-sized sophomore guard, John Tierney -- the rest of the roster is all over 6 foot (an OK starting five could be 6-2, 6-2, 6-4, 6-6, and 6-6; what would Dawald have done with that)? So does this crew bang away inside? Well no, it does not: from what I observed play number "five" seemed to consist of five (snappy) passes around the three-point arc, ending with a heave at the basket. Does this crew look foremost for a fast break? Well, no, it does not: having grabbed a rebound the player carefully hands the ball over to a guard underneath the basket and everybody proceeds up court at a stately pace worthy of a funeral. You have just no idea how boring this sort of thing is to watch! I'll give the kids credit for sticking with the "program"; it must be even more boring for them to play this style of "basketball." Sartorial notes: 1) Bomber home uniforms are traditional yellow with subdued trim and an elegant Bomber mushroom cloud logo on the left thigh of the shorts, 2) Coach would not be out of place on the bench of an NBA team -- very natty suit, carefully knotted tie, a real clothes horse! Sigh. --Richard Anderson (60), Richland ~~~~ Subj: Has your Chad been Dimpled? Date Submitted: 12/25/2000 From: Andrew Eckert (54) ECKERT1108@aol.com This article was in the BBC News, on their web site. A fascinating news site. http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/americas/newsid_1086000/1086411.stm The counting of contested ballots continue An American newspaper which is reviewing votes in Florida says it has uncovered evidence of irregularities which, together with the discarded ballots, could have affected the outcome of last month's presidential election. Having examined just under a quarter of the ballots cast in one county, the Miami Herald said it found nearly 150 ineligible votes, including one cast in the name of a dead man. Many Gore supporters believe their votes weren't counted. Last week, the same newspaper reported that tests conducted just before the polls opened showed that 13 out of 20 voting machines were faulty in two of the precincts with the highest rates of discarded votes. The Miami Herald and other organizations have commissioned a recount of votes excluded from the final tally and which were at the center of the debate over the outcome of the elections. Both candidates needed a victory in Florida to win the presidency - George W. Bush was declared the winner in the state by fewer than 1,000 votes after the US Supreme Court halted a manual recount. An estimated 60,000 votes, or "undervotes" were excluded from the final result across the state of Florida. The Supreme Court put an end to hand counts A recount undertaken for the Miami Herald in just one of the state's 67 counties indicates that Mr. Gore picked up what could have been a decisive number of extra votes. The Miami Herald - which endorsed Vice-president Al Gore during the campaign -- also looked for irregularities in Florida's most populous county, Miami-Dade. On Sunday the newspaper reported that it had found a vote cast by someone calling himself Andre Alisme. But Alisme (Alis me)? died of cancer in 1997. The paper also said it found nearly 100 ballots from people not registered to vote, and 25 from felons with no voting rights, as well as other irregularities. America was divided over the recounts The investigators suggest that if the same trend were repeated across the county, hundreds more illegal ballots could have been cast. The Miami Herald said antifraud rules were not always followed because some of the poll workers were so poorly trained that they did not know the verification procedures. Other possible causes were poll workers faced with constant engaged-tones when calling the Elections Department hotline, or feeling pressured by long queues. The Miami Herald's investigation into the Florida vote is expected to continue well into the New Year, possibly when George W. Bush is already occupying the White House. The Bush team has dismissed the exercise as "mischief- making," and one Bush ally has proposed the ballot boxes be sealed for 10 years. "WHY?" But the paper's executive editor, Martin Baron, has said it is not intending to declare who it thinks should have been declared the winner. "Our intent is to examine the ballots and describe in detail what they show," Mr. Baron said. "People can come to their own conclusions." END OF QUOTE Now what if Gore turns out to have won this as clearly as the 500,000 popular vote indicates? In Yeltsin's book, he wrote that the KGB informed him fully a year before it broke that they had information that the Republican party was going to bring down Clinton with a sexual scandal. If we thought that was divisive what will happen if this, The stealing the presidency?? becomes the agenda of the democratic party, the Hordes of Lawyers, and of coarse the media. --Andrew Eckert (54) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ That concludes this issue of THE SANDBOX folks. Please include your class year and maiden name, (if applicable), in all correspondence and subscription requests. You may also include your current locale if you wish. It's easy to join us in the ongoing conversations here. Just send your comments to: THE_SANDBOX@bigfoot.com! We are the Alumni of Richland High School, Richland Washington, AKA Columbia High School, representing classes from 1942 through 2000. Visit the THE SANDBOX website. Al Parker (53) Shippenville, PA Your SANDBOX Host ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~121~