UR HONOR THE MAYOR

Full of dubious double-takes, knee-slapping gol-durns and twanging Adam's apple humor, this novel about civic consciousness among some of the more awkward bumpkins this side of Dogpatch is by the author of Tales Mein Grossfader Told. Comic-strip absurdities are presented in a Lrdnoresque, colloquial style that defeats the author from the first paragraph. Otic Frank Tubb, 22, a garage mechanic, marries his sexy childhood sweetheart, Betty Mae Bennett. Otic Frank is asked to be mayor of Summit Valley, but the townswomen want Betty Mae and so they imitate Lysistrata. The vote ties, however, and both Otic Frank and Betty Mae become mayor. Comic complications include buying a 200 year old cannon (actually made in 1926); buying a 1000 gallon sprinkler truck the town can't supply with water; hiring a ""cultural"" speaker who turns out to be a gin-swilling drunk; and saving the Civic Center's mortgage from Skinflint, the town treasurer. Evory i gets polkadotted and every laugh its ""Gulp!