The happenings in the small town of Long Creek have come to dominate Don Porter’s life — but that’s not surprising when you know his history.

Members of Porter’s family were original settlers of the area that came to be known as Long Creek in the 1880s. The town even has a Porter Road, immortalizing the family in Grant County pioneer lore.

And for the past 20 years or so, Porter has served as the mayor and fire chief of the Grant County community of 179.

That wasn’t always the plan, however.

Porter left Long Creek in 1968 and settled in Portland. But a family crisis in 1984 brought him home — and this time, he decided to stay.

“My grandmother got sick, and I worked for the Department of Forestry out of Monument and I really liked the job,” he said. “She passed away, and I had an opportunity to buy her house.”

Relocating to the area in 1984 wasn’t the start of Porter’s political career in Long Creek, however. It wouldn’t be until 2005 that Porter would decide to run for the office he’s occupied ever since, citing troubling developments in Long Creek that motivated him to seek the unpaid job of mayor.

“The town was just going downhill, and a lot of things were going on,” he said. “We were on the verge of losing our incorporation status.”

The previous year, Porter took on the responsibility of leading the town’s volunteer fire department.

“Since 2004 I’ve been the fire chief, and no problem there,” he said. “It provides interesting challenges.”

Along with making sure Long Creek doesn’t lose its incorporated status or burn to the ground, Porter runs a nutritional supplement business, Blue Mountain Herbs, from his home.

Back in the 2000s, Porter said, some of his biggest customers were a pair of Gold’s Gym franchises. These days, however, the lion’s share of his sales are online.

“A lot of my customers are just point-of-sale purchases on the internet,” he said.

Porter said he prefers this sales method largely because he doesn’t have to talk to anybody — he just has to double-check that everything with the order is correct and send it to the post office to be shipped out.

If you’re thinking all of this sounds like there would be no room in Porter’s life for personal interests, you would be correct. He and his wife, Denise Porter — who also serves as the training and safety officer for the fire department — spend much of their free time caring for their elderly mothers.

“I don’t have a personal life,” he said. “We’re (always) in training with fire or doing something along those lines. My wife and I talk about it quite frequently — we know everybody, but we don’t have a lot of friends,” he said. “Mainly because I have an 86-year-old mother … and then I have my 89-year-old mother-in-law staying with us down here at the house. And it’s been great.”

For now, Porter is content with life as the longtime mayor and fire chief in Long Creek. He said he’s been asked to run for county office before, but his response is always the same — he’s not interested.

“I don’t want to do that because I’m over here,” he said. “Every time I get over there, they throw sand at me and kick me out of the sandbox. I got my own sandbox over here and I’m king of the sandbox here.”

Grant County Neighbors

NAME: Don Porter

AGE: 64

RESIDENCE: Long Creek

FAMILY: Married to Denise Porter

OCCUPATION: Long Creek mayor and fire chief, owner/operator of Blue Mountain Herbs

ETC: Members of Porter’s family were original settlers of the area that came to be known as Long Creek in the 1880s