Remembering My Term as Mayor
James Edward Houck
Being elected Burgess of
Emmitsburg in the early 1960's was quite an eye opening
experience for me. The regular duties that you expect to
do and the things you want to accomplish are only a
small portion of the job. I had been active in the
Junior Chamber of Commerce for a number of years and
took part in many civic programs.
I worked with a committee from the Potomac Edison
Company to survey our community to find out what we
could do to get more business moving into the town. When
it was pointed out that the empty store fronts and lack
of an active Library, Theater and places for families to
enjoy living and working in our town, we were able to
push for some for some action. The JC's found where the
Library Books were stored and set about finding people
that were interested in getting it active again and then
found a home in the empty store front of the former
Hokes Hardware Store. The VFW then picked up the object
of rent and the new committee got it open and active
again.
The Movie Theater was reopened as written in
"Remembering the Gem Theater" and each of the
existing factories in our town were approached and
considered increasing their workforce.
A group of JC's met and decided to have a run at the
town offices. I ran for the Office of the Burgess or
Mayor and John S. Hollinger ran for the Town Council
Office. Each of us were successful, John by a large
margin and myself by a mere four votes over the
incumbent Clarence Frailey that had already served about
three or four terms.
After the swearing in ceremony my term began. I met
with the town clerk and the town officials and began to
find out what was done, what was partially done and what
was needed to be done. I then met with the Lawyer
representing the Town, Mr. Ed Storm, and went over the
recent changes in the laws and items governing our town.
Emmitsburg was just making the move from a small quiet
community to move into the future. A major project was
getting funding from the State for the paving of the
alleys.
This had been an ongoing project of the town as for
many years before, people that had coal burning stoves
and furnaces would take their ashes and clinkers to help
build a solid base in the existing alleys. This had to
be continued and could not be done all at once. In
charge of the streets program was Norman Flax, a very
dedicated worker and could get more done with less
funding than anyone I knew. Norman would come to me
during the day or night and we would make a survey on
what should be done and what he would like to get done
shortly, and then go to it.
Another project was the sewer plant and its operation
and again Norman Flax was the main contact person and
would take me on inspection trips of the plant and let
me know the problems as they came up. One problem
appeared one day and he took me down into the sewer
plant where the sewage came in from the town. There
caught in the blades and causing the entire plant to
shutdown was the hide and carcass of a steer that had
been slaughtered illegally and dropped into a manhole in
the west end of town. After some searching we found
where it happened and fined the culprit. There were
other items that were discarded and either flushed down
the system or dropped into the manholes that would break
the cutting blades. Some we never could get an answer of
where or who.
Johnny Law was the Community Law Enforcement Officer
during my term of office and kept me aware of what was
happening. I reviewed with him many of the problems that
faced him day to day. One big problem was still the
parking meter situation in town and that the citizens
were so used to parking in front of their home every day
and for all day that the meters provided a type of
protest for many of them. Being a local store owner on
the Square, the problem was always - Not Enough Parking
Space.
I remember when one customer came into the store and
bought a pair of shoes, some underwear and a shirt. On
paying for them, he returned to his car at the meter
outside the store. He had a ticket. He returned to the
store and told me he had gotten a ticket for not putting
money in the meter and since I was Mayor, I should take
care of it. I told him that was a separate job from my
store work and could not in good faith take care of his
ticket. With that he threw the bag back on the counter
and demanded his money back and stated he would never
come into my store again. I returned his money which
came to a little over $35.00 and said I had to treat all
the customers and town people alike. With that he
stormed out and was good to his word too, never came
into my store again.
Another situation with the law came up one evening as
my wife Doris and I were coming home from somewhere and
while climbing the stairs to our apartment above the
store, heard a commotion. There was a fight going on
across the street involving a man and woman. I asked my
wife to go in and call Johnny Law and proceeded across
the square to break up the fight. The man had knocked
the woman down and I yelled at him as I approached to
stop the fighting as the law is on the way. He stood
over the woman and said this is his wife and that he was
a policeman from Baltimore and "Who the hell are
you". I told him I was the Mayor of Emmitsburg and
he asked to see my badge and he produced his. I told him
Mayors don't carry badges but I am keeping you here till
the Law arrives. He kept swearing at me and then his
wife joined him in letting me know that I couldn't do
that. Thanks be, just then Johnny Law appeared on the
scene and took charge. He took the both of them in and
charged them both with being drunk and disorderly. When
I went home, I was still shaking from the experience.
Situations would arrive fairly often with the new
laws that were now on the books. One such situation came
up when a milk dealer from Thurmont decided he was not
going to get a license to peddle his milk in town, door
to door. I knew the man and he told me flat out that he
did not think this law would hold up in court. After a
discussion, we decided that he would come up to the town
limits the next morning to sell his milk. Johnny Law and
I met him at the edge of town and asked to be shown his
license or permit. He had none and we gave him a ticket
and the next time we met was in court and he lost and
paid a small fine and purchased the peddler license. We
remained friends and he found out the law did stand up
in court.
One of the better official duties that came with the
office was the Presentation of the Key to the Town, when
Mt. St. Mary's College won the NCAA College Basketball
Championship to Coach Jim Phaelan. Nearly 300 people
greeted the team when they arrived back from the
tournament. The celebration was chaired by George L.
Danner and was one of the largest celebrations ever put
together in that short of time.
It was one of the official duties to proclaim a
special week or day for different causes and then to
give the first donation to that cause. With the limited
pay you receive as a Mayor, this was eaten up in no
time.
Another project that needed to be acted on was the
purchase of the Emmitsburg Water Co.. It had been worked
on prior to my election and we continued to meet with
Sam Hays, the President and Manager of the company, in
hopes that we could reach a price that would be
agreeable to both parties. He had his appraised price
and the town had an appraiser from outside come in with
his appraised price. They were still far enough apart to
keep us talking but not enough to meet in the middle.
Sam Hays and I had worked together on
Emmit Gardens
when after my dad died, I became involved and was
President and he was Manager. The state was about to put
in the bypass and it was cutting thru the main part to
the development. The state would not give us exactly
where it was to go. Sam and I talked it over and decided
to meet early on the next Friday morning at the site.
Sam brought his bulldozer and began putting a road where
our next portion of the development would be. Within an
hour or two, we had a state representative approach us
and tell us we couldn't do that. He pulled out a map and
then we knew the area the new bypass was going to take
up. This put a stop to the rest of the project as we
lost our prime area. I enjoyed working with Sam on this
and the Water Co. project.
Just prior to my end of term, it was decided to put
the decision in the hands of the court. We would in
essence, place the Water Company in the best interest of
the town of Emmitsburg and let the outside appraiser,
named by the state, set the price and both parties were
to abide by the decision.
With the bypass now in existence, business in our
market was dropping and people would shop for clothing
and shoes in the larger Gettysburg, Hanover, Frederick
areas. I did not run for a second term and sold my
property and moved my family to the Washington Area. The
term as Mayor of Emmitsburg has been one of the biggest
memories I will continue to have. Not the meetings and
normal business of a small town that can be found in the
minutes of the past, but the little side situations that
seem to come at you from every direction. It taught me a
lot about human nature and a lot about myself.
Sincerely, J. Edward Houck
Read
more articles by Mayor Houck
Read
Bob Preston's Recollections as Mayor of Emmitsburg
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