Rolly: Woman stunned by unexpected act of kindness

Lisa Brummer was at a Walmart in Sandy, purchasing shelf-stable food, snacks, magazines and personal care products to send to her 21-year-old nephew who is serving his second deployment to Afghanistan.

Suddenly, an amazing thing happened.

While she was at the checkout stand, the clerk asked if she would like to put the lip balm in her purse. She answered that all the items she was purchasing were going to her nephew in Afghanistan so they could all go in the bag. She and the clerk then conversed about her nephew, a Marine on his second deployment.

As the clerk rang up the total, the woman standing in line behind Brummer suddenly stepped forward with her credit card and said, "I'd like to pay for these items. I don't get the opportunity to support our military and I'd like to take this opportunity to do so now."

Brummer objected, telling the woman she can afford to buy the items for her nephew and the woman's act of kindness, while appreciated, was not necessary.

The woman then swiped her credit card through the machine and said: "It's not about you being able to afford the items. It's about me being able to support our military."

The bill was $99. Brummer was stunned. With tears running down her cheeks, she thanked the 30-something woman who wore a bright red University of Utah sweatshirt and gave her a hug.

After Brummer emailed her story to her parents, her mother told her she planned to read it to her Sunday School class. Her father said it "truly is a once-in-a-lifetime event" that she will remember the rest of her life. Brummer also posted the story on her Facebook page, inspiring a "pay-it-forward" movement.

All because a young woman, who declined to give her name, saw an opportunity to support our military.

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Back to the future • Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon is not running for re-election, and the 2010 Democratic gubernatorial candidate did not file to run for any office this year.

But it appears his political career is not over.

Corroon is preparing for his eighth annual Corroon Golf Classic, his yearly fundraiser, even though he has no political contest on the horizon.

The money will go into his Corroon Leadership PAC, which he has used for his county mayor and gubernatorial campaigns. The PAC had a balance of $58,000 at the end of 2011.

He told me he will use the money for political expenses and to help other candidates, and "for possible political opportunities for myself in the future."

Since there will be no U.S. Senate or governor's race for another four years, the opportunity in the near future that seems to make the most sense would be a congressional race in two years.

Corroon, when I asked him, did not rule that out.

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The Democratic curse • As Corroon planned his golf fundraiser, which will be held at Meadowbrook Golf Course, his schedulers probably didn't pay as much attention to detail as they should have — which brings up the question of whether anyone will be there.

The fundraiser is scheduled for June 1, the same day as Gov. Gary Herbert's fundraising golf tourney near Kamas.

Maybe Corroon's pitch should be: If you spend your money supporting the guy who will have no position of political influence over the guy who likely will remain governor, at least you won't have to drive as far.

prolly@sltrib.com