Backcasts archive: Through April 18, 2008
By Brett PaulyBlog calendar: April 18 | April 16 | April 14
Bitten by a water moccasin not enough for burglary suspect; he grabs a gator
The dateline is Brazoria, but after getting wind of this tale we may suggest renaming it Bizarria, with all apologies to the southeast Texas city.
Indeed, it certainly was a bizarre enough weekend for one William Eric Johnson, 30, perhaps most recently of Brazoria but formerly of Tennessee and "several addresses," the Brazosport Facts reports.
First Johnson attracted the attention of authorities after restaurant workers phoned police to report a drunk man near the premises. When cops arrived they found Johnson with a 4½-foot water moccasin in his late-model Buick, according to the Web site of the Clute, Texas-based daily newspaper.
It only gets worse for Johnson. He apparently told police he'd put the snake in the car and that they should be careful in searching the vehicle because the serpent would bite.
Johnson ought to have known, having claimed to have been tagged by the snake himself. But despite a visibly swollen left hand, Johnson, a tree trimmer, refused medical treatment and was released to the custody of his employer, according to Brazoria Police Chief Neal Longbotham.
Apparently the snake charmer wannabe didn't appreciate his boss' gesture and took action the next day: According to the Facts, Johnson is accused of entering the trailer home of his employer's son and stealing a Wii video game controller and a hair trimmer, among other items.
Had enough? We're not done, not by a long shot.
Johnson hit the road in his Buick only after a trailer park neighbor refused to assist him load a TV into the car. Not long afterward, Johnson was pulled over along Highway 35 by Department of Public Safety Trooper Steven Stanfield, who, according to the Facts, spotted a 6-foot alligator in the back seat of the Buick.
Nice.
It seems Johnson can't get enough of reptiles or taking the scaly, coldblooded critters joyriding.
"It was like Crocodile Dundee, Brazoria style," Longbotham said.
Johnson claimed to Stanfield he had found the gator on the road and decided to take it to a friend's house. The green beast wasn't taped or bound and was just crawling around the car, "perfectly content," the officer said.
The Facts reports Johnson smelled of booze but authorities concluded he wasn't drunk. Wow, at least he had that going for him, right?
Stanfield summed up the scene perfectly: "It was a weird deal. … You don't see that every day, that's for sure."
Only in Bizarria, apparently.
Johnson was booked on $25,000 bond for a burglary charge and also cited by a game warden for illegally possessing an alligator.
Hat's off to the Brazosport Facts for sinking its teeth into this report.
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Bears, cubs, bulls and now cougars in Chicago?
Chicago improved its reputation for big shoulders this week when a cop took it upon himself to shoot a charging cougar in a North Side neighborhood.
Police are crediting the officer's quick thinking for saving lives in the Roscoe Village residential area where the rogue cougar was taken down, according to wire reports and the Chicago Sun-Times.
Big shoulders, indeed. We'll no doubt be hearing more soon about the hero of the Windy City, who apparently wasn't immediately identified.
According to reports, a Belmont District police captain said four officers fired shots at the mountain lion early Monday evening, some six hours after a sighting of the 150-pound cat sleeping on a porch was called in to the Department of Animal Care & Control.
The fatal scene unfolded less than a block from a grammar school.
"The police officer exercised sound judgment in eliminating a dangerous threat to a community and to small children in making a split-second decision to discharge his weapon after the cougar charged at the officer," said Police Supt. Jody P. Weis.
"There's no doubt that lives were saved as a result of his actions and his fellow officers' attempts to contain the animal away from innocent bystanders."
Backcasts tips its hat to the unnamed cop; we're glad you're on the beat in Chi-Town.
Great police work overall, by the way. After the puma was first spotted by police, megaphones and speakers in squad cars were used to inform neighbors of the imminent danger and to stay inside their homes.
And we thought Chicago was all about bears and cubs and bulls.
One wild note – or perhaps more appropriately a tame one – is that the cat apparently was so healthy and well-fed there was initial speculation the animal belonged to someone. The cougar was to be examined to see if it had a chip that might lead authorities to its owner, reports indicate.
Cougars, as pets? In big cities? Near grammar schools?
Sounds like fodder for a future Backcasts blog right there, and we like when those things fall right in our laps.
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Massachusetts airport works to avoid a very different image of flying deer
Rudolf and his reindeer friends may be noted for their remarkable flying abilities, but officials at Regional Airport in New Bedford, Mass., don't want anything to do with deer in their flight paths.
According to the local Standard-Times newspaper, deer herds at the 847-acre facility are posing such a risk to aircraft that approvals are being sought to remove the pests of the tarmac using guns or bows, or perhaps even by non-lethal methods.
Alas, only a portion of the cross runways are fenced, and one of the areas where the deer make nuisances of themselves is on the airport's Instrument Landing System runway, which is generally used at times of low visibility, increasing the danger, according to the New Bedford newspaper.
"It is a serious concern," airport manager Ed DeWitt told the Standard-Times. "We are trying to (deal with deer) in a way that is least injurious to the deer population."
Excuse us, but with the state deer population estimated to be 85,000 to 95,000 and growing as much as 30 percent a year, according to state wildlife managers, we're curious why killing the offending ruminants wouldn't be the only option. Maybe it has something to do with the cute images of Rudolf and Co. Who knows?
But the matter is expected to be discussed with the Airport Commission during its regular meeting Wednesday, according to the Standard-Times.
An airport official said there was a collision between an aircraft and a deer many years ago at the regional airport and apparently other accidents have been avoided only by the quick thinking of air-traffic controllers who have notified pilots of the impending dangers on the runways.
Indeed, according to DeWitt, when deer are sighted near a runway, aircraft sometimes have to wait, causing delays.
We applaud airport officials for being concerned about wildlife, but lethal measures seem to our way of thinking the only sure way to eliminate the risk and avoid potential tragedy. Otherwise we're going to have a completely different image of flying deer.
About the author: Brett Pauly spent nearly six years editing and publishing ESPNOutdoors.com before moving on to produce the ESPN.com Sports Travel site. He is a national award-winning writer and editor with 14 years of experience in the newspaper trade, including stints at the Los Angeles Daily News and Seattle Times. The Evergreen State is where he now makes his home. Click here to email him.
