Today is election day locally, so please get out and exercise your American-given right to vote.

I won’t go into my column-long soap box preaching about why we all need to vote, and how important it is, and how many people in other countries have died trying to vote, and how much other people across the ocean would love to have the right, and how one vote can really make the difference, and how…..oops, sorry.

So you get the point. Make sure and vote today.

Speaking of voting, you’ve got to check out an ad on our food page in next Wednesday’s paper, put in by Ed Rhinehart of ChefEd’s Restaurant on River Road in St. Charles Parish.

Chef Ed is having some fun with the coming presidential election, and he has created some special items particularly designed with our two candidates in mind.

“McCain’s Meatballs A La Palin Pasta” is a lunch special on Wednesday for $7.95, or if you prefer, you could have “Barack Obama Fried Chicken” for only $6.95, which Ed bills as “the other guy healthy baked chicken.” Hmmm, I notice the Democrat meal is cheaper. Ed, that doesn’t ring true with my thinking about them Dems always wanting to spend more of our money!

But as for the ad, good one Ed. Seriously, if you haven’t tried Chef Ed’s place in New Sarpy, right on River Road, you really must make the short ride there.

Ed specializes in really fresh ingredients in his food, so much so that he actually grows some of the items right near the restaurant. He advertises about “really green party salads” that have organic materials that are as fresh as you will find anywhere.

Oh, and don’t forget some Tuesday lunch specials which are his Smothered Chicken Breast, billed by Ed as “voting for change to a healthy low carb treat,” or his Classic Hamburger Steak for $7.95, touted as “the Classic Republican Meal.”

Ed is a great guy with a good sense of humor and you have to love his advertising. But if you make a trip to the restaurant this week, I guarantee you’ll love the food even more.

And while I’m giving out tips for the day, you ladies should benefit from these:

Five tips for a woman….

1. It is important that a man helps you around the house and has a job.

2. It is important that a man makes you laugh.

3. It is important to find a man you can count on and doesn’t lie to you.

4. It is important that a man loves you and spoils you.

5. It is important that these four men don’t know each other.

Start making your plans now for what promises to be the best Andouille Festival in the history of the event, coming up in only two weeks on the weekend of Oct. 17-19.

The new parish administration has been hard at work, headed by our own lovely Julia Remondet in the Economic Development Department—and of course her hard working sidekick Terri Abadie.

The Andouille Festival will be held on the grounds outside the St. John Community Center on Highway 51. That is opening things up for a much bigger festival with much, much more to offer this year.

As Parish President Bill Hubbard was telling me, since much of this change is his baby, there will be an even larger set of amusement rides since there is more area to set up, and lots more space for the many booths offering lots of our great Louisiana food, crafts and more.

And here is the biggest tip of all that you must, and I mean MUST, mark on your calendar.

Yours truly, and some of my L’Observateur staff, will be set up at the festival this year as well, meeting the public from start to finish.

So of course, with that kind of celebrity planned for the festival—I’m talking about me!—why would you not plan to be there from the start on Friday at 6 p.m., all the way until it closes on Sunday at 10 p.m.

See you there!

Kevin Chiri is Publisher of L’Observateur and can be reached at (985) 652-9545 or at kchiri@bellsouth.net