Moeller Commentary: An Old Man Votes and Remembers Dreams

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By now you might have already filled out your ballot and mailed it.  

If not, I don’t intend to tell you how you should vote, only why I’ve cast portions of my own ballot.  First of all, for Position 5 in the Centralia School District, I would never, ever vote against Tim Browning for whatever office he might be seeking.

I’ve never met or served with a more level-headed person who looks at all sides of an issue before acting in both short range and long range matters. Our school district needs him. Badly.

I wish I lived in District 2 of the city of Centralia because I could have voted for Rebecca Staebler to represent all of us on the city council. I feel she’ll be inclined to vote for ways to preserve what has made us unique rather than ways to make us a cookie cutter copy of cities where we wouldn’t want to move.

Then, my vote for commissioner in the third district of the Port of Centralia almost automatically goes to Peter Lahmann, not only because of the efforts he put in to save our museum but because of the two candidates running, I feel that he would think twice before voting that bigger is better.

And one thing more. I will always vote against a candidate who allows his or her campaign signs to be placed on public property, such as a parking strip.

Enough of that.  

Last week’s column ended with a dream about paying Hank the Dog back for, first of all, what he had to go through as a ward of the county and, second, how he has reminded us of what can be accomplished if enough citizens “join the fight, ”whatever that fight might be.

The dog was released by the county last month after a long legal battle following the county’s incorrect decision to label him as dangerous. 

Dreams were also brought to mind recently — in three words — as part of a statement buried in a comment by a psychiatrist. He referred offhandedly to “the flying dream.”   

Here I thought I was the only weirdo who had those dreams! In case you’ve never had one yourself, it’s a dream where, if you believe — really, really believe hard enough — you can will yourself to fly.

When I mentioned this to my son Matthew, he admitted that he’s had the dreams, too. The next thought was to wonder how many other people have had the same dream? The thought after that was how long — how many years — has it been since I had that dream of soaring over landscapes and astonished friends?



I’ve found myself recently trying to recreate the feeling as I drift off to sleep, hoping that somehow that same situation can be reestablished in my subconscious.  

It hasn’t worked.

Maybe some of you are old enough to remember a book and a movie both titled “The Flying Yorkshireman” back in the 30s. Unfortunately, I can’t seem to find any reference online to the movie and its well-known star, whose name — along with much else — has escaped my memory bank.

The book was written and published in 1938 by an English author named Eric Mowbray Knight.  By that time, Knight was involved in doing his part during World War II. He died one year later in the crash of a C54 cargo aircraft in Dutch Guiana — now Suriname.

While you’ve probably never heard of “The Flying Yorkshireman,” I’m willing to bet that you and your children have read another book written by Knight two years earlier. 

In fact, I’ll wager you never finished it without wiping your eyes once or twice.  

Over the years you couldn’t have escaped seeing numerous TV and movie spin-offs of that book, either.

I’m referring to “Lassie Come Home.” 

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Bill Moeller is a former entertainer, mayor, bookstore owner, city council member, paratrooper and pilot living in Centralia. He can be reached at bookmaven321@comcast.net.