Zombie Voting Good for Local Economy
Every Friday, this blog will re-post a letter to the editor of the “Crest Top Chronicle” newspaper, to provide a platform for voices from the community concerning some of the real issues raised by the short film “Dead Votes Society.” This week: local businesswoman Hester Morton.
Our fair city has been the center of a lot of nation-wide media attention recently. As debate rages in the rest of the country about undead voting rights, here in Crest Top the matter has already been decided. Thanks to the foresight of our late and lamented Mayor Roscoe Sackenheimer, Crest Top is the only town in America where zombies already have the vote.
Whatever your opinion of undead voting, the publicity surrounding the issue has been a boon to local businesses. Zombies are considered to be both “hip” and “cool,” and people are coming from all over the world to visit the place Holiday Road Magazine has called “The Premier Walking Dead Destination.” The hotels, bars and restaurants on our own Historic Tequila Row® have seen a surge in zombie-related tourism. Local gun shops and survivalist supply stores report brisk business as well. I say anything, even a zombie plague, that brings in tourists and their dollars is by definition a good thing.
While tourists might come for the zombies, they will no doubt stay for the local history and color. Crest Top has a proud tradition of pioneering civil liberties that began long before the zombie controversy. Did you know that the time of its founding, Crest Top was the first and only municipality in America to recognize same-sex marriage? Of course, this ended at about the same time the first women were admitted as citizens, but just a few decades later Crest Top broke down another Civil Rights barrier when horses were allowed to vote in the 1886 city elections. In fact, the horses just might have provided the swing vote that elected Virgil Sackenhiemer (Roscoe’s grandfather,) thus establishing a political dynasty that lasted well into the twenty-first century.
And now Crest Top leads the way towards liberty once again. Our city’s brave stance on individual freedom has attracted the attention of a Hollywood-type film production company, who has come to town to shoot a Major Motion Picture entitled “The Dead Votes Society.” I don’t have to tell you what a shot in the arm a movie can give to a town’s economy. So, despite niggling concerns about public health and how the entirety of Historic Tequila Row® tends to smell nowadays, I say zombies are good for business. And what’s good for business is good for Crest Top.
HESTER MORTON owns several local businesses, including THE MANOR saloon, the HOTEL MONTEZUMA, THE STAMPEDING BUFFALO fine arts and gift store and HESTER’S CONES ice cream parlor. The Crest Top Chamber of Commerce (of which she’s President) has awarded her the “Outstanding Local Businessperson” award for twelve years running. The views expressed here are hers alone and do not reflect those of the administrators of this blog or in fact of anyone, anywhere, ever.