with my local Chamber of Commerce...This town is located in a scenic mountainous area of West Texas adjacent to Big Bend National Park...The local chamber had a write-up in the local newspaper stating they were exploring ways to increase tourism in the area...There was the usual concern about money as this is the most sparsely populated county in Texas...Being the good citizen I am, I called the director of the local chamber and told her I would be happy to donate my services free of charge in order to help them out...I mentioned how they could get free publicity nationwide for an upcoming hot air ballon festival and all they had to spend was less than $300 for a CD with contact info for media outlets nationwide, write a press release and fax it out...Well, they thought that I was trying to 'sell' them something and they would "try to work me in" at their next meeting...I called the director and told her I was offering my services 'gratis' and I would even help them write the press release...Well O.K., "I will call you back and we can set down and talk about this"...To make a long story short, she never called back and they decided instead to hire a "Tourism Director" and pay him $40,000 per year to increase tourism!...Needless to say the ballon festival was a "bust" because only those that read the local newspaper even knew about it!...All I can say is that small towns are sometimes quite 'narrow' in their thinking...Go figure!....Rooster
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