Troy Oliver: Increasing Our Word Power

"We need to vote; we get wrapped all around the axlem, and we can't get past it," Mayor Troy Oliver said. TimesDaily, June 8, 2010


There's nothing we like more than learning new words, so when the mayor of Russellville says that town's city council can't get past an axlem, we're enthralled--or we were until we discovered the word is not in any dictionary.

Is an axlem:

Bigger than a bread box?

Something we might find in our homes?

Something belonging to BP that our sweet/street talking chief exec wants to kick?

Something found only in the county seat of Franklin and does it need to be kicked?

If any readers know what's so hard to get past, please shoot us an e-mail

*****

$68.00 per vote: We recently wrote that Polly Ruggles spent 2K more than Chad Coker on their campaign for Colbert County District Judge. An update on figures reports that at last look, Coker has now outspent Ruggles by 2.5K. Perhaps the most interesting revelation is that Tim Milam spent 73K in his failed attempt to win the judgeship, or roughly $68.00 for each vote he received.

With the exception of Nathan Johnson, this was the initial campaign for the candidates in this race. In other words, they were trying out the waters; who knows how many of the four also-rans will attempt another race in two to four years. We hope they have good stock portfolios.

*****

Famous comedy teams: Abbott & Costello, Laurel & Hardy, Martin & Lewis, Lansdell & Lambert. We understand that last act is extremely hard to get tickets for; Chuck Lansdall and Thelma Lambert have been a no-show at their last three gigs. Let's hope Cherokee voters who favor these George Jones wannabes are also a no-show in the next election.


Shoalanda