Elementary politics, updated

The boy who lives across the street who told us about his D.A.R.E. officer's classroom politickin' came back over today.

If you'll recall, Jake, who's 11, had come over to ask if we were going to have an Easter egg hunt this year. We gave a noncommital answer, hoping he'd forget to ask again.

He didn't forget. He asked again today.
He was told the Easter egg hunt, which we'd done for several years running, probably wasn't going to happen. This disappointed him.

Nevertheless, it presented an ideal opportunity to query him further about the news scooplet he innocently revealed the last time he knocked on the front door.

(Read the earlier blog entry if you're confused.)

Anyhoo, we asked Jake if his D.A.R.E. officer, who was extolling the virtues of sheriff's candidate Charles Wagner, had told the kids in his class to tell their parents to vote for Wags.

He said no.

But he said the D.A.R.E. officer brought up the big sheriff's race without any prompting from the classroom. In other words, some kid didn't solicit his views on the political contest; the D.A.R.E. officer brought it up on his own volition.

"He talked about it a lot," Jake advised.

"Why did he say Wagner was the best candidate?"

"He said he is a real good man and he keeps his ball on the eye."

"You mean his eye on the ball?"

"Yeah. Eye on the ball."

Jake, by the way, was wearing his D.A.R.E. t-shirt during this latest encounter.

If you're curious, Wagner's opponent, Alvin Police Chief Mike Merkel, didn't jump to the bait when we sent the previous blog to him. He didn't offer any opinions on the propriety of a D.A.R.E. officer, who's employed by the Brazoria County Sheriff's Department, campaigning in a classroom full of elementary school kids.

Merkel just said (paraphrasing here) the D.A.R.E. program does good work and that he hopes kids like Jake take its message to heart.

Presumably not the political message.