Block · one region of the page, as the scanner read it. It may hold a whole story, part of one, several, or an advertisement; stitching blocks into articles is the next step. Text is supplied OCR.
Page 11 · column 2 of 7 · from the scan, no model involved
perfect representative.
The press adored her. Life wrote: “. . .Washington’s new first lady is the prettiest mayor this side of Neptune.”
Other members of the press corps picked up on the title “Petticoat Regime,” and referred to the new town council in that fashion repeatedly.
So when Davis and her six new council members — Achsah Dudley (who tallied the highest vote total with 70), Louise Miller Price, Nellie Elizabeth Racer, Bobbie Critzer, Dorothy Hawkins and Ruby Jenkins (who was out of town when the Post photographed the council that Saturday) — were sworn in on Sept. 1, 1950, to officially take office on Sept. 7, the event attracted some 300 spectators and media-types.
The story was newsworthy for other reasons.
The local campaign was not over money, or politics, but rather simple issues facing most small towns. The women ran on a platform pledging to replace burned out bulbs in street lights, chase stray dogs from town and trim weeds and keep grass from growing through cracks in the sidewalks and streets.
At the time, the town budget barely totalled $1,900. A staggering tax rate was no more of an issue then than it is today.
And the women certainly didn’t make the effort for the money. The mayor’s job paid $5 month; council members were paid $2.
Politics was not at issue. Life reported on Sept. 18 that Rappahannock County “is so unanimously
92.4%