SALEM — Take a bow, Joe O'Keefe. You're the acting mayor.
O'Keefe, the Ward 7 councilor, became the city's top dog yesterday. Mayor Kim Driscoll is on vacation, and City Council President Paul Prevey is also out of town.
The mayor's job fell to O'Keefe, 76, because he is the most senior member of the City Council, with 23 years of service, and the next in line of succession.
Let's hope it goes better than when Mike Bencal took over.
Bencal perhaps took the title "acting mayor" a little too seriously in 2005 when he demanded access to then-Mayor Stanley Usovicz's locked office and ordered the mayor's executive secretary to "take a letter."
Anyway, for the next day or so, Acting Mayor O'Keefe is calling the shots. If you have a ribbon-cutting, he's your man. Looking for an after-dinner speaker, give Joe a ring. Want your wife's cousin fired or hired, just dial J-O-E.
There's a rumor that the Conservation Commission is guarding the Forest River tidal gates, which O'Keefe has tried to slam shut on weekends to turn that area into one huge swimming pool for his constituents.
O'Keefe, by the way, was last in charge back in 1963 when Francis X. Collins was mayor.
If you are wondering about the line of succession when the mayor leaves town, it goes something like this: city council president; most senior councilor; Mary Manning, the no-nonsense principal of Collins Middle School; John down at Red's Sandwich Shop; and Pep Cornacchio.
Dog-tastic
Here at the newspaper, we always enjoy a good pun.
So we were thrilled to see an e-mail from Donna Michaud alerting us to this Sunday's annual dog show, where the theme is "Howlywood."
"'Howlywood' is looking for the next Brad Pitt-bull, Liz Tail-or or Paw-l Newman!!!" reads the event description.
There is even an obstacle course event titled "Running by the Pup-arazzi."
Good stuff.
The dog show is part of Salem Heritage Days and will be held at the Common this Sunday. Registration starts at 3 p.m.
Moose majick
Laurie Cabot, the city's official witch, is hosting a "majick circle" Saturday at the Moose Lodge.
Cabot, by the way, is a member of the Loyal Order of Moose.
Door to door
Did you get the e-mail from City Hall?
They wrote to inform residents that more than a dozen people will go door to door the next few weeks selling home security systems for a company from Utah.
It's all legal, but police just wanted residents to know about it and to call the station with any concerns.
If the police want to keep the public informed, how about a warning that this is election season and strange people will be knocking at your door? "You can answer the door," the e-mail could advise, "or just pull the blinds."
Brave man
If you see George Markos over at Dotty & Ray's, wish him good luck. He and the Boston Braves are playing a Brazilian all-star soccer team Sunday at Manning Field in Lynn.
Not bad for an old guy.
Tour for a cure
CityView Trolley Tours raised just over $1,000 this week for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the organizers of the well-known three-day walk for breast cancer research.
CityView donated $1 of every sightseeing trolley tour sold in both its Boston and Salem locations last Sunday.
Eggs-clamation!
People hungering for fresh, local food have been flocking to the new Salem Farmers Market, held in Derby Square on Thursday afternoons.
The market is so popular that Salem farmer Peter Maitland bought 30 more laying hens to keep up with demand for his organic, free-range eggs at the market, according to Jennifer Bell, who runs Salem Main Streets, which sponsors the market.
Maitland owns a 2-acre property off Loring Avenue he calls Maitland Mountain Farm.
