My name is Amanda (Schneider) Prince, and I am running for Hooper City Council, District 1. I was raised in Hooper and have been blessed to live here for most of my life. I truly believe there is no place like Hooper. My childhood was filled with carefree days of running through fields of alfalfa with my siblings, buying penny candy at The Hooper Country Store, playing on the swings at Hooper Park, listening to my dad announce the annual “Old Timer’s” baseball game at the Tomato Days celebration, enjoying Little Buckaroo hamburgers from The Ranch House, and keeping Mr. Peterson (Gerald and Bill) on their toes at Hooper Elementary. I will always treasure these memories. There was a time when I could tell you who lived in almost every house in West Hooper. Things have definitely changed since then. Although Hooper has grown, we have been able to preserve much of our roots and the community connection that sets small towns apart and makes them so desirable. My heart smiles every time I pass someone on the road and receive that famous “Hooper wave”. I have a profound love for this place we call home, and a strong desire to preserve it, so future generations can experience the magic of growing up in a place like this. For this reason, I have decided to run for Hooper City Council. I have a deep reverence for our country and our constitution and have been politically active for 27 years. I believe that when you care about something, you do what you can to protect it, and at this time in my life, that means moving out of my comfort zone and throwing my name into the ring for this election.

For the past 5 1/2 years, I have had the honor of serving on the Hooper City Planning Commission. This experience has provided me with valuable insights into the role and function of our local government and the unique challenges we are facing. We are experiencing tremendous pressure to change Hooper into something that will be unrecognizable to many of us in just a few years’ time. This greatly concerns me, and I feel the need to do all I can to help preserve this little piece of heaven we are fortunate enough to call ours.