Numbers
32:23
And
you may be sure that your sin will find you out.
It
was Oakridge, Tennessee. A referendum was held to determine whether
alcoholic beverages could be sold in the county. My friends,
reporters working for the local newspaper, asked my wife and me to
pick up a press card and go to Gamble Valley, a precinct, to observe.
We went.
We
stood on the official line which separated us from the three people
who were counting the votes, and I realized the man who was handling
the votes and counting them could not count.
He
was floundering and he was sweating profusely. So I, an engineer,
moved across the line and helped him, and he thanked me, moved over
so I could see, and off we went.
Meanwhile,
my wife stood legally on the line, and on the way home told me she
was fascinated by the fact that the two women tallying the votes (by
pencil in notebooks) were very precise. One marked her book
twenty-four entries per line; she never varied. The other marker her
book twenty marks per line; she never varied.
Well,
52 votes for whiskey won the day.
Several
weeks later, the editor of the paper called saying "We told them
you would not have to be subpoenaed; we were sure you would appear on
your own." We did, at the county courthouse to be questioned by
the Attorney General of the State of Tennessee.
He
asked a number of questions until he casually wondered if we would
know if the books had been tampered with. I heard my wife speak very
firmly: "I would! I watched those women. One always put 20
marks per line on her book and ---" At this point we were
thanked for our cooperation and were told we would hear from them.
We never did, even after a lawyer for the Baptists and the
bootleggers asked us to go the courthouse again, then leaving us,
saying they would require a deposition. They never did.
The
result? A dummy copy of the newspaper: "YOUNG COUPLE FLEES"
and a hilarious article to follow.
Help
us, O God ... and forgive our sins, for your name's sake.
(Psalm 79)
Arthur
Held
No comments:
Post a Comment