I often hear that Mark Davalos is the guy who finally got Centralia to pass a bond to rebuild schools. To his credit, I have never heard him say that, but board members certainly do.
I think it is important for the community of Centralia to know that a reserved nice guy who works at the high school should get credit for the instrumental work that actually put the bond over the top. That person is Mike Stratton, a science teacher and academic coach at Centralia High School.
The campaign for the bond did all the typical campaign stuff. Signs were everywhere, radio ads played, phone calling was done, speaking engagements at as many civic groups as possible, flyers were mailed out, and signs were waved on the street corners.
All these things may have increased the overall interest in the campaign and increased the yes vote across the board from what it might have been, but the accumulation of all these efforts did not get the job done. And how do I know?
Thirteen precincts voted yes with majorities over 60 percent. Of the 13 precincts that passed the bond, all but two had been door-belled. Of the eight precincts that had not been door-belled, only two passed the bond and six did not. One was at 45 percent.
While all the other campaign activities no doubt improved the yes vote, it wasn’t until doorbelling was added that enough voters were voting yes to win.
Mike Stratton was on the levy committee, and he was the one who promoted door-belling while others did not want to do it. He recruited someone to set up the door-belling charts of possible voters and he recruited the overwhelming number of door-bellers, door-belling a few days himself.
The committee chair, Vicki Jackson, was an avid door-beller, as was Edna Fund and a couple dozen others recruited by Mike.
Without the door-belling, those 13 precincts may have been more in the no column than the win column like the precincts not doorbelled.
Mike Stratton took the lead and stepped up when others weren’t inclined to do it and organized door-belling for the bond election. And the data shows it was door-belling that made the difference. Most of the precincts that voted no got all the same information as the winning districts, except they didn’t get a warm, friendly person at the door asking for people’s votes.
Mike deserves credit for a job well done, and should be proud as he watches the buildings go up.
Ami Johnson
Centralia
