The Star - News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area

Everyone should come to the Electric City Puppet Show before it’s over. You’ll have a chance to watch the Puppet Master work the Head Puppet and the other five. So far, the Puppet Master has gotten all the puppets to close a road, buy a car, remodel city hall, put up speed signs, put in a park and sidewalks! But have the citizens of Electric City asked for this?

At the last puppet show, the Head Puppet did something totally out of character. He made a decision and the other five fell in line with that decision. Once again, it was orchestrated by the Puppet Master. I was ordered by the Head Puppet to join in the show or I would have to go. As much pressure as the Head Puppet and Puppeteers put on me, the city ordinance said that the other puppets were in charge. In charge they were! The Junior Puppets, without even talking to me or getting input from another source, met for 25 minutes with the Head Puppets and removed me from my Fire Chief position.

As all of you know that have showed support, I was shocked! I would have thought that after 23 years of service, one of the puppets would have said “Wait a minute, the Fire Department and Fire Chief are doing good. He just doesn’t want to be a Puppet!” But the Puppet Master is good at what he does! He can get the puppets to create a new position, put him in that position and give him thousands of dollars to do the same puppet mastering he’s been doing. Also, if the show changed, he would get a severance package that was recently voted in by the puppets. It doesn’t even stop there. He can even get the Head Puppet to do City work while he is at work in his full-time government job at the USBR.

Luckily for the citizens of Electric City, WE have the choice of sending this show down the road. I would like to thank the firemen of Electric for doing what’s best for community and not punishing all of us because of the Puppet Master and his six Puppets.

Mark Payne