You gonna make me?

An addition to the legend of Fred Courser, crusty Yankee:

Fred lived in Warner and attended town meeting there, but he attended school meeting in Sutton; the school district included several towns.
Fred always sat in the middle of the front row of chairs. Always. For years and years.
One year somebody came up with the idea of having school administrators and board members and officials and so forth sit in the first two rows.  Well, Fred got to the meeting early.  Took his regular seat.  Moderator Alf Jacobson said, “Fred, you’re gonna have to move.”
Fred said, “You gonna make me?”
Fred set.
This may be a stretch on the truth, but probably not.  Shortly after Fred died, Warner went SB2 -- no more town meeting, just a boring informational session that hardly anybody attended, followed (a month later) by voting at the polls on everything from the new fire truck to the dog catcher’s salary.  

People say town meeting just wasn’t as much fun after they lost Fred Courser.

Comments

[New Stoddard Resident]

Becky - my husband and I loved the stories about Fred and your delivery recently at the Stoddard town hall. As we are flatlanders and had just experienced the first "town meeting" I especially appreciated your comments about helping the newcomers understand town meetings. NOT!

[Rebecca Rule]

Hi New Stoddard Resident -- as you heard, newcomers are "on their own." Character building, yankee style. :)