Small-Town Mayor: Political Adventures In The Ozarks

Not many books make a reader let out a hyena laugh at 2 a.m. or cry like a baby in full daylight, but “Small-Town Mayor: Political Adventures In The Ozarks” does. Pick an emotion, any emotion, and this memoir resonates. Luge Hardman, former two-term mayor of Waynesville, Mo., is a brutally honest writer -- funny, wise, tough, practical, graceful and, above all, insightful. This memoir about her eight years at the helm of the small town she moved to in 1971 to teach social studies, is a page-turner because she documents her journey vividly. No sugar-coating, no pretense. “Never touch your hand to your nose in public with cameras around. It’s not a good look.”Hardman is caught in the act of being herself throughout even when she face-plants on concrete while trailing the governor at a ribbon-cutting during a blinding rainstorm.Hardman is a storyteller in the vein of Bill Bryson. She sprinkles her pages with you-can’t-make-this-up challenges, serious and otherwise.Near the end of her tenure she deals with Vulture Culture and how to get rid of endangered black vultures living in an abandoned building on the town square.She details her criticism of the name of a start-up newspaper, Uranus Examiner.She fields constituent complaints on everything from economic development to potholes: “Could we please have an ordinance against sagging pants?”“My road has ice on it. When are you coming with hot water?”Hardman remains impossibly and instinctively grounded throughout her tenure with a single purpose of making Waynesville a better place to live. Early in her first term she deals with a deadly flood that changed the town’s landscape and the lives of residents. She became the face and the voice of her community on CNN, the Weather Channel and large and small news media outlets from coast to coast.In her maiden term she also faces the decline and death of her husband of 42 years, First Gentleman Paul X. Hardman. This chapter becomes a guide to handling grief with grace and courage. “I don’t ever want to hear, ‘he’s in a better place,’ again.” She didn’t quit, and one of her husband’s last acts was to encourage her to seek a second term, which she won without opposition. All politics is local so if you really want to know what’s going on in America, “Small-Town Mayor” is a tutorial on understanding how divisions form, how to bridge them and how to move on with purpose when minds don’t meet. The book is about one place, but it has a broader everyman, anyplace appeal.Send this book to the pols in Washington, but read it first.

Waynesville is a charming town in the middle of the Mark Twain Forest. Slower pace of life. The community is driven, full of tradition, and ever evolving The shops, businesses, museums, and people are so friendly. It is small town USA at its best!Luge Hardman is a wonderful Story teller...a former teacher who keeps history alive. Those who read her book will get an honest story of community and struggles in a small town. Luge was and is well loved by so many. She has left a huge Heart Print on the town of Waynesville.This is a wonderful book for any newcomer, town resident past and present, Future mayor, or historian. Luge is a natural story teller which leaves no stone unturned. She tells it all with such conviction and heart.Luge and her husband Paul ,shared their personal iife and stuggles as Paul battled kidney disease. Luge worked hard during this time as Mayor and also took Paul to many doctors visits...she detailed her Sweet Pauls nightly...keeping the community aware of Paul's illness. She had such strength and always keep humor and love in the messages she blogged. Hope was ever present in their struggles. Waynesville fell in love with the story telling of how the two of them navigated Paul's illness. They stood by her with Pauls passing and there was a 24 hour quiet with porch lights of love for Paul across the globe. She has a chapter...Sweet Paul in this book that is forever touching.I learned so much about Waynesville and being a Mayor of a small town by reading chapter after chapter....It is always about the community and people that work to help progression to change for the better. But I must admit, Waynesville hit the lottery for having Luge caring for its heart while she was Mayor. You'll close this book feeling the goodness about the struggles and things that happened along the way. So much love the community of Waynesville had for Luge. So much love Luge had for the community. It's such a good read.