The Mayors of Ellis Valley - Year of the Monkey stamps are here!

[cityhawk 12]

I always love the stories about people doing things behind other peoples' backs. Nice pics, too. Lookin' forward to more!

[mayormommy 8]

Ooh, I've missed two updates! So much scandal in such tiny towns - the tale gets stranger and stranger!

[GaBoR 7]

Ha pure scandal!!! Great some spice in the CJ's!!! Keep this great story going!

[lardonbur 5]

great storyline.

it was very much fun to read it.

can't wait for more!

[sloppet 3]

Great work so far! The update are interesting, and the pictures aren't so bad either!

[Benedict 3,119]

Thanks for the comments everyone.

Don't worry, Collgab, there'll be more (and Gavin Ellis will be back in the not too distant future!).

 

Mayormommy, 'There's nowt so strange as folk', as the saying goes, and this is also true for SimMayors. Hopefully I can keep all the secrets, scandals and ambitions straight as the cast of characters grows.

[Benedict 3,119]

Episode 5 - Swapping Smithfolk in Smith

 

Smith is one of those towns... you know, the kind of place where it wouldn't surprise you if a cat was elected mayor, or if a pig was tried for murder. Some say it is because it is north of Ridgeback Mountain, and nothing good could ever come of that. Others think that the founder, Elrond Smith, was insane and, after all, like does attract like.
 

 

Nobody is quite sure how it started, but there is a definite difference of opinion between the Smithfolk who live in the west of town compared to the Smithfolk who live in the east. Over the years this difference of opinion has grown to the point that each half now has its own mayor, and the two towns are officially called East Smith and West Smith.
 

A worrisome fact about Smith is that there are two very common surnames: Eastson and Westson. The Smithfolk insist that this is just a matter of civic pride, and their ancestors changed their names a long time ago. The rest of the citizens of Ellis Valley are somewhat skeptical, and many of the jokes told in bars on Friday nights start out with: "There was a guy from Eloff, a guy from Elmouth, and a guy from Smith..." You know how the rest goes.
 

An unusual fact about this town is that the mail delivered to the mayor's house in East Smith is addressed to Mr Smith Westson. This is unusual because a Westson has never before been mayor of East Smith. Smith Westson used to be mayor of West Smith, back when life was less complicated. Back then Smith was actually friends with the mayor of East Smith, Jones Eastson. One dark and stormy night they were knocking back the beers and doing their favorite thing - watching reruns of Friends. It was the episode where the Joey and Chandler switch apartments with Monica and Rachel. Nobody is quite sure why a Westson and an Eastson would be drinking buddies in the first place, or why they would be watching Friends together, but ever since that fateful evening the mayors have governed the opposite halves of town.
 

Jones Eastson is secretly a lot happier running West Smith. The townsfolk are a bit leery of his eastern ways and therefore rarely bother him with their problems. West Smith is also a bit smaller than East Smith, so he has more time for his two passions.
 

His first passion is flowers. What the townsfolk don't know is that he has used town funds to build a beautiful flower garden next to his house, which is right at the edge of town. As it is out of most people's way it is almost always empty and Jones uses it as his private retreat.
 

 

The only drawback is that Jones has to drive to East Smith to buy fertilizer. However, this allows him to indulge in his second passion both on the way there as well as on the way back - Cecilia's Greasy Tacos!! What Jones doesn't know is that Smith Westson owns the fertilizer store in East Smith and makes sure that the clerk charges him double the normal price.
 

 

Despite his meanness about the flower garden, Jones does care about his community. He very sensibly built the skateboard park right next to the local clinic.
 

 

This saves the town a fortune in ambulance bills as most days little Jimmy Westson doesn't have a safe landing after attempting this stunt. Because, or perhaps in spite of, many knocks on the head (plus the innate disadvantage of being a young boy from Smith) Jimmy keeps on trying, so the clinic stays pretty busy.
 

 

The only sinister thing about Jones Eastson (other than the Friends obsession) is the fact that over the last few years quite a few townspeople have noticed that he has planted more and more trees around the mayor's residence. Here's a picture from the archives to compare with the present day one shown above:
 

 

Hopefully Jones' tree planting is benign and the West Smithfolk are just being unnecessarily paranoid... and hopefully Jones won't find out that his friend is cheating him out of money.

 

Next: Valium, vodka, the mess in Westmouth, and one of Gavin's ex-girlfriends.

[cityhawk 12]

Whoa, that's an interesting plot there. I've never heard of something like that happen, but you have thought it out well. Great job on the story, especially, and the pics!

[mayormommy 8]

Nice update! One wonders what the mayors might have wagered to end up switching cities. I can sympathize with an occasional need for tacos. The skateboard park clinic is a great idea.

[Darmok 34]

I laughed out loud reading your CJ!

There's so much interconnections between people, and it's so complicated It's like reading the brothers Karamazov! But at least your story is really funny!

Thanks for the laughs!

EDITED : Oh and please continue! But how can you keep up and stay organized in all those intertwinning stories???

 

[Benedict 3,119]

Thanks for stopping by, Cityhawk. The episode about Smith was a bit more convoluted than I expected.

Mayormommy, some secrets will be revealed in time, others will remain lost in the mists of time. "Mmmm... tacos!" (using voice of Homer Simpson)

Glad the story made you laugh, Darmok. So far I am managing to keep it all clear in my mind, however soon the paths of the characters are going to start crossing and then I'll have to be careful not to slip up. There are quite a few more mayors and cameo appearances to go, though!

[bat 6]

Nice update!

bat

[Benedict 3,119]

Glad you liked the update, Bat. On with the show...

 

Episode 6 - Vodka and valium

 

Westmouth is, oddly enough, at the mouth of the West River.

 

Most people think that the West River is a bizarre name for a river that is to the south of the Ellis River and flows eastwards... but in fact the river is named after Adam West who discovered it. Adam West and Everton Ellis actually explored almost all of Ellis Valley. They were best of friends until it finally dawned on Adam that Everton was naming the larger more prominent features after himself, leaving Adam with the scraps that remained. One of the biggest features of the Valley is Ellis Island, bordered to the north by the Ellis River and to the south by the West River.

 

However, this combined geography and history lesson has nothing to do with the mayor of Westmouth, Sue Ellen Ewing.

Ah, poor Sue Ellen. Ravishingly beautiful, universally popular and intellectually gifted, she has one downfall - men. Unfortunately she attracts men, usually of the wrong sort, without even trying! She really thought she had found the man of her dreams in Gavin Ellis. At last, a respectable guy with prospects, and not bad looking. But she hadn't counted on Ma Ellis, who hated her from the first moment they met, largely on account of Sue Ellen's revealing clothing, but also because she can't play poker. And when Mrs Ellis discovered Sue Ellen drinking vodka straight from the bottle in the conservatory so that the evening would be at least bearable, Gavin was informed immediately about her little problem. Needless to say, that was the last time Gavin took Sue Ellen, or indeed any woman, home to meet his mother.

While trying to get her binge drinking under control Sue Ellen decided that the best revenge would be to upstage the Ellis's and run for Mayor of Westmouth. Sue Ellen won election handily because (a) she was genuinely a nice person,(b) her ad campaign featured some of her low-cut dresses which won her the male vote, and © she made sure nobody found out about her alcoholic tendencies.

However, it didn't take long for problems to set in. Sue Ellen was determined to have a bigger population and more industry than Elmouth, so she lowered taxes to encourage growth. She rezoned idyllic farmland to feed her industrial revolution. And it worked! It worked really well! Except for the increased demand for services and power, and the awful pollution, and the heinous traffic jams. In her haste for results (and the post-bender hazes she went though a few times a week) she hadn't realized the consequences would be so hard to deal with. Curiously she remained extremely popular, even though the city was running a $500 a month deficit. The people of Westmouth even built a statue in her honor!

 

So, with new-found confidence, she decided to join AA and get to work to clean up Westmouth. The trash situation was out of hand, as were the frequent rolling black-outs.

 

So she built a garbage incinerator that would supply power. But the pollution was even worse, and the plant was expensive, so the city had a bigger deficit. Sue Ellen could feel the vodka bottle calling to her, but she resisted.

 

By decreasing some funding of schools, fire stations and allowing the occasional lapse in paying wages at the power plant, Sue Ellen managed to keep the city going. In fact, there were some very nice houses owned by some rather wealthy people in Westmouth.

 

However, the center of town was turning into a ghetto, and the newspapers, especially those published in Elmouth, were starting to refer to Westmouth as "Westslum". After reading that nasty slur Sue Ellen went back to the bottle.

 

So Sue Ellen built a farmer's market, but it still didn't help. By now Sue Ellen needed one or two vodka martinis at the end of every day.

 

It wasn't long before the traffic was totally out of control - the traditional farm roads just couldn't take the number of cars and trucks. Driving down this road next to Ted Neal's farm was almost as likely to result in injury as skydiving without a parachute.

 

And of course during construction Ted Neal went bankrupt, and no matter what incentive she offered, Sue Ellen couldn't attract another farming enterprise to work the old Neal place.

 

So she tried her hand at some town planning and built a new commercial strip and a little suburb of houses around a lovely flower garden.

 

Unfortunately, the only businesses that opened were eyesores - second hand car dealerships and greasy doughnut shops.

 

By now Sue Ellen was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. So she went to see her doctor who was very helpful.

 

These days nobody at the local clinic asks any questions when the mayor stops by to pick up her weekly valium prescription. In exchange, even when times are rough, the clinic is always fully funded.

Sounds like Sue Ellen is a lot happier these days! I wonder what crisis she'll have to deal with next? She may need more than valium to cope with reconfiguring this junction as it really is a mess...

 

And how is she going to afford to build a bridge to connect the town to the southern farms when her budget is such a mess?

 

Next: Ridgeback Mountain.

[sloppet 3]

good update there Benedict! Keep it up!

[mightygoose 92]

nice update

[smelikatt 1]

This is a great CJ, Benedict.  The cities are all very pleasing to look at and the stories are hilarious.  Looking forward to more.

[cityhawk 12]

I like how you use the problems of the SC4 game itself to make a good story. Great job!

[mattb325 28,899]

Great story telling in this CJ - it makes for a really interesting read!

[Darmok 34]

Again, a very good story, BTW could that be the same Adam West that played Batman in th old (very old) TV series??

Poor Sue Ellen, drinking vodka in the conservatory (with a lead pipe perhaps  ) I haven't have a Clue said the Major

Sorry, got carried away there!

It's better than any soap on the ol' TV!

Great work benedict!

[Shadow Assassin 336]

My goodness, they lead such a sordid life in Ellis Valley, don't they? It's very convoluted, and I look forward to when they find out.

Particularly funny was what Maddy has been doing and not caring that her husband is having an affair because she is having one too.

[Sisu 1]

Nice storybased CJ!Really interesting and hilarious story. Pictures looks cool too. 

I'll definitely keep reading these great stories. Keep up the good work. 

[Battlecat 14]

Hey, this is a cool journal!  The stories rock!  Very imaginative, but some of them actually remind me of the weird stuff that sometimes happens with the elected officials here at my work (I work for a local government).  The cities look great as well!  Very nice mixture of rural and urban development.  Keep it up!

[lardonbur 5]

The cities are all very pleasing to look at and the stories are hilarious. Nice update.

[Benedict 3,119]

Thanks for stopping by and commenting, Sloppet, Mightygoose, Sisu, Mattb325 and Lardonbur.

I hope that there aren't too many similarities between your local government officials and the Mayors of Ellis Valley, Battlecat, ... that could be pretty scary!

Thanks for being such a loyal follower of the CJ, Cityhawk. I decided to use the in game stuff as one of the motivations for the storyline.

Darmok, you are right it *is* turning into a bit of a soap opera, isn't it?

Glad you are finding the story fun, Smellikat and Shadowassassin. I'll try and keep it up, although the next update is a few days away.

[Benedict 3,119]

Episode 7 - Cecil touts synchronized tennis

 

South of Smith, west of the Skeleton Coast, east of Crater Lake, and north of Eloff... this can only be a description of beautiful Ridgeback Mountain.

 

Most of Ridgeback Mountain is a nature reserve, but the foothills are home to several farms and the tiny town of the same name.

 

Ridgeback isn't big enough to even have a proper mayor's house, but the mayor, Park Ranger Cecil Rhodes, doesn't mind. He enjoys living at the Ranger Station where he can be close to the nature that he loves.

 

His favorite pastime is to watch the eagles soaring in the sky.

 

He also enjoys the solitude at night, although the bright streetlight is a bit annoying as it attracts large numbers of noisy insects. Cecil doesn't mind the insects so much, they are, after all, part of nature. His friend, Jack Delmar, hates noisy insects, so Cecil plans on having a talk with the local authority about installing a dimmer bulb.

 

Despite the small size of the town it has become somewhat of a refuge for rich folk from the bigger towns and cities of the Valley, and they have built some rather nice weekend getaway homes in town.

 

There are even a couple of well-to-do tennis courts. Cecil loves to play and watch tennis. In fact, he has had an idea! He was watching the Pitt-Jolies and the Aniston-Vaughns playing just the other day when the light bulb clicked on for a new sport - synchronized tennis!!

 

Cecil can't wait for Jack to come over so he can share his idea. Cecil is so excited that he is pacing up and down as he waits at the Ranger Station.

 

Will Cecil remember to sort the streetlight out? Will synchronized tennis be the sport of the future? Will Jack be excited about the idea? Will this city journal ever return to Ridgeback to answer these questions?

You'll just have to stay tuned to find out...

Next: Edna Church goes to Eloff.

[bat 6]

Nice pictures!

bat

[jacqulina 162]

great updates love the story coming together nicely great pics too

[cowcorn 11]

Great CJ! The story is great also, there is a kind of small world feel to it. I like it.

[Darmok 34]

Synchronized Tennis

You're nuts, but keep it that way, I just love it!

Can't wait for Edna's story!

Take care

[Benedict 3,119]

Darmok, it's the Sims who are nuts... I just tell their stories

So far the mayors I have featured are from small towns, Cowcorn, which I think is reflected in their stories. Eventually we'll be peeking at some bigger locations in Ellis Valley.

Bat, Jacqulina - thanks for stopping by.