Remembering Houx

I spent the last nine months covering the Butte County Board of Supervisors as a reporter.

So when I learned District 3 Supervisor Mary Anne Houx died Friday morning, it did impact me.

I can't say I ever had a lengthy conversation with Mary Anne. There wasn't much reason for us to; as far as I can tell, the Paradise Post isn't distributed in her district. Most of my supervisor conversations were with Kim Yamaguchi.

But one thing I noticed is the way Mary Anne made her presence felt at the supervisor meetings.

It was with her words.

As a reporter, you look for "quotable quotes." In other words, good quotes don't come from just having people say something isn't good enough. The way it's said is important too. Having these kind of quotes makes stories even more engaging to the reader.

Among the five supervisors, Mary Anne was the best at making "quotable quotes."

She didn't seem to speak up as often as others during meetings and even when she did, you had to be close to hear her because she talked so far away from her microphone. But that sinister, selfish and somewhat evil reporter side of me would internally whoop for joy whenever Mary Anne did speak. Because odds were on my side she was going to say something that would reprint great.

My personal favorite was when the trash franchise between the county and the Town of Paradise was being discussed.

"Quite honestly, it seems like Chicago to me," Mary Anne said. Pull quote bells and whistles started going off in my head as I wrote the words down.

Then there was also the incident where, if someone wasn't paying attention closely, it would sounds as though Mary Anne was advocating killing an endangered snake. I recall that, during that exchange, at least two high-ranking county employees had to turn away from the board for a few seconds because they were laughing too hard.

I think part of Mary Anne's appeal to me as a reporter was somewhat personal, because her attitude reminded me a lot of someone else: my maternal grandmother, in that they didn't exercise extremely calculated restraint in their statements and could appear to be rather stubborn. Part of that could be due to the fact my grandma died shortly after I started covering county meetings.

With Mary Anne's death, I learned of even more similarities between the two:

*A fierce independent streak — Mary Anne was a Republican, but wasn't afraid to go against the party line, rip fellow party members in responses to the Grand Jury, or endorse the left-wing (or lefter-wing, depending on your point of view) candidate to take her spot on the board. My grandma was a military wife and packed the parachute of a top sportsman class drag racing car. Enough said.

*Both were widowed relatively young, in their early 40s.

*Smoke breaks.

*Both were 73 when they died.

But here's something from May. This is when the supervisor appeared with the Governator at a press conference. Her speech starts around the 8:15 mark.