Looking back at my calendar for last week it really becomes apparent how much goes on in a campaign which occurs behind the scenes and is not seen publicly until days or weeks later.

One of the time consuming tasks last week was answering the Park Record questions to the candidates which will be published in their Voters Guide and possibly elsewhere. Part of the problem was whittling down my responses such that I stayed within the 150 to 200 word limitations. I understand print space is expensive but it is difficult to do justice to the questions in such limited confines. Be sure to look for the PR Voters Guide coming out on the 18th.

Our campaign impressions (ads) on the Park Record web site, parkrecord.com, should be in full implementation. I wish they would come up on every page served but that would just be too expensive and overkill, so you may have to peruse the site a bit before one of our ads is displayed. Click on one and you should be taken to where you are now, our website, voteshumway.org.

We attended the PCHS football game last Friday. There was sure a reduction in the crowd from two weeks before. Be sure to get out there and take in at least a couple of games this year while supporting our high school students and teams.

Without going into detail, during the good weather we also continued our efforts in getting the word out regarding my campaign (wasn't the weather last weekend fantastic!)

Coming back from making the rounds of the County last Saturday, we noticed that most of the campaign signs on state highway 32 were missing. Since 32 is a state road the County should not be pulling our signs and the state wouldn't unless a public hazard was created, the big question was, who done it? Apparently it turns out an individual living not far from us took it upon themselves to collect the signs on 32 from Wanship to Kamas, leaving those in the city limits and most of Jones' signs unmolested. I can appreciate that at first blush these political signs are not visual candy to all parties but please consider: 1. it is a crime to take the signs, 2. these signs are expensive and a lot of time is expended putting signs up and in short order, taking them down, 3. the signs are indicative of an active political system and fellow citizens putting forth great time and effort in getting elected to serve you, the public, 4. the signs are only out there for a month and a half (at most) out of every two years, and 5. those not on private property should be pulled immediately after the election (my wife and I go out election night and pull our signs). So I would posit that these campaign signs get out a valuable message and need only be 'endured' for a relatively short time. That said, I will agree that some sign placements are over the top, particularly when all the candidates start placing their signs in that location. Hopefully those occurrences are rare. We candidates certainly want to put forth a positive image while endeavoring to ultimately serve our fellow citizens. In short, the campaign signs are a good sign, IMHO.

One last thing, the absentee ballots should have been mailed yesterday by the County, so you absentee voters be looking in your mail box over the next several days...and please vote!

Take care and until next time...remember, vote Gary Shumway for your Summit County Auditor, because it's about YOUR money!

Addendum

I got so wrapped up in talking about the sign theft, and now I learn, the return of our campaign signs in the 10/7 update that I forgot to update my opponents involvement in this race. I previously mentioned that from what I could see, my opponent is not that actively involved in his campaign. I hear the Dems did a meet and greet in Jeremy Ranch and some door to door posting of the Democrat candidate's info in a group flyer but that's about all I know. One of the Park Record questions was to contrast my campaign platform with that of my opponent's. It was difficult to do that since my opponent has put out very little information re: same. That said, I have noticed that last weekend his campaign signs started to appear on the East side of the county. Nice looking sign but it's difficult to read....now what's his name, Mildred?
Welcome to the race!