Suburbs

Arlington Mayor Mike Wissman wasn’t sure if his boast drew the town’s voters to the polls last week, but enough of them showed up that it led to a close trim for the mayor.

Before Election Day, Wissman said he would get his head shaved if Arlington surpassed a 30% turnout for the Aug. 4 ballot that included about six town offices, along with a load of state and county races.

Wissman was not on the ballot this year, so he wasn’t going to lose his office, even if he did lose his hair.

With two precincts reporting and a significant number of early voters, the unofficial turnout was right at 30%, give or take a few voters; close enough that Wissman could have sought a recount.

Instead, he conceded and took his medicine.

“I could have waited for certified, and we could be at 29.8% instead of 30.2(%), but I just decided to just go with it,” Wissman said.

And thus, at Wednesday’s Arlington Chamber of Commerce luncheon, the mayor dined on a sandwich wrap and a bit of crow before settling into a chair. Then Shelly Pilkington of Shelly’s Barber Shop on the Square, armed with a set of short clippers, put the patriotic cape over Wissman’s shoulders and began to shear.

Now before anyone gasps at the mayor’s sacrifice, Wissman didn’t walk into this Loser-Leave-Hair bout with a long-flowing mane like Samson or even Grizzlies center Steven Adams. Some may have argued that he really wasn’t giving up that much. And Pilkington went with the clippers rather than breaking out the shaving cream and straight-edge razor sharpened finely on a leather strap.

Nah, the mayor wears his hair fairly short to start with. And some noted that the front corners already were receding a bit, but that didn’t stop people from taking up the good-natured trash talking on social media.

“There’s a ‘Buzz’ and there’s a ‘Shave’. That’s a ‘Buzz’”, said one commenter.

“CHEATER!” mockingly laughed another.

“The ole politician promise,” wrote a third.

The mayor simply laughed as Pilkington thinned his dome.

Wissman boasted that his town was the only individual municipality to pass 30%, albeit not by much. The final results were a razor-thin margin on the mayor losing his locks.

But just like politicians stress in any election, every vote counts. - Suburbs editor Clay Bailey

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