The Korona Fire Station has seen better days.
It’s no longer a fire station. Chris and I received a notice
that it was permanently closed but it would be open for primary voting on Aug.
18. Good news, as that’s our polling place here in unincorporated Flagler
County.
As we left my Ormond dentist’s office (good news on teeth!),
Chris called the election office just to make sure we were headed to the
correct polling place as we are new to this neighborhood. Mark, Office of
Supervisor of Elections, answered. “Yes,” he said, “the Korona station is
permanently closed but open for voting.”
We drove east on Grenada to U.S. 1 and headed north. Korona sounded
familiar but I didn’t know why. Once we reached the white cinder-block building,
memory took me back to road trips in the ‘60s, driving Daytona to Bunnell for
basketball games. Driving north to Jacksonville before the interstate opened in 1967. Korona
was a blip along the way, a tiny town with a tiny fire station.
Still tiny. But open for business this election day. An
election judge motioned to the handicapped parking spot, I grabbed my rollator,
and we rolled and walked inside.
The interior is about the size of a two-car garage. Election
judges greeted us. They are paid, these good citizens, but not much. Trained,
too. I served as one during many elections in Cheyenne, Wyo. I asked for
electronic voting as I need the big screen to read tiny type. They showed me to
my seat. I voted. I knew the candidates for the major offices. I was clueless
about the local school board candidates. Are they right-wing loonies out to
keep books from the minds of our youth? Or are they moderate GOPers or Democrats?
I just took a stab at it.
I printed out my ballot, placed it in a “Secret Folder” and
brought it to the judge at the tabulator. The ballot then comes out of the Secret
Folder to be fed into the machine which is monitored by a judge. He can see my
ballot as it’s sucked in. So much for secret. But unless he had special
high-tech glasses equipped with a camera, there is no way he could see my
ballot and report that there’s another commie in the neighborhood.
I sat in the SUV as Chris went back inside to use the
restroom. In the station’s fenced backyard, the weeds are getting a bit out of
control. A concrete basketball half-court stands empty. I could see the
firefighters out there playing three-on-three, shirts off under the oaks. Good-natured
in-your-face taunts.
More voters arrived as we left. We were stopped at a traffic
light at the entrance to Plantation Bay, one of the many housing developments
that have skyrocketed the population of a rural county we used to refer to unkindly
in our youth. Palm Coast didn’t exist. Bunnell didn’t have a massive new city/county
building. Flagler Beach was not becoming another Daytona Beach. Aging World War
Two veterans played ball outside the Korona station, awaiting the latest barn
fire or fiery collision between liquored-up teens.
I awoke this morning to good news. Democrats made impressive
showings in Florida. In Wyoming, 14 members of the Freedom Caucus went down in
flames, bested by more moderate GOPers.
Here’s this morning New York Times headline:
“A Stunning Win for the Left in Florida: 6 Takeaways fromTuesday’s Primaries.”
And this from Wyoming’s WyoFile:
“Wyoming Freedom Caucus loses at least 14 incumbent lawmakers.”
Maybe, just maybe, “the times they are a-changin’.”
For some background on the community of Korona, founded in 1914 by Polish immigrants from Chicago and Detroit, see the late Sisco Deen's entry at the Flagler County Historical Society
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