Newbie: anything resembling static?

[Phil Rittenhouse]

> >def foo():
> >   static count = 0
> >   print count
> 
> This sort of local state is specifically what objects are for... I'd
> rather advocate using them than adding a keyword for this...

I'm sure that is true in many cases, but is it always true?
I'm thinking about something like a function to send a byte out
a serial port.  The first time it's called it needs to initialize
the UART, but after that it doesn't.  Something like:

    def send_byte(x):
        static initialized = False
        if not initialized:
            do_init()
            initialized = True
        xmit(x)

If you used this function the way you might use print() for debugging 
purposes, it might be called in hundreds of places in a large project.
If you wrapped it in a class, you'd have to take care of creating the object
before anyone calls it and sharing that object around somehow so everyone 
can access it.  It seems like a lot of complexity for what is supposed 
to be a very simple task.

I'll admit I'm no OO guru, so if there's a better way to do it, let me know.

Thanks!
Phil