Page A-8
Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, Ore. Wednesday, January 11, 2017
Winding Trails: by Al Hobart
Thursday, January 12, 1967
Illinois Valley News
Babyfoot Bat Story
When I was prowling around among
my souvenirs a while ago I ran across one
that brought back pleasant memories of a
botanizing trip I made around Babyfoot Lake
a few years ago, and the silent but dramatic
story of a minor tragedy revealed to me there
by the surprising evidence I found hanging
from a tree limb some distance above the
water’s edge.
The souvenir consists of a small glass
jar containing a tangled length of transparent
nylon fishing line, with a brown-hackle fly
attached, and with the barbed hook securely
caught in the still-open mouth of a tiny brown
bat.
From some distance away, when I first
spotted the strange little object dancing eerily
in the breeze my first thought was that it must
be a large moth caught in a spider’s web.
On moving nearer I saw what it was, and no
voice was needed to tell me the story of what
had happened. The sad truth could probably
be told something like this:
One day a fisherman, enjoying an
outing at this beautiful secluded little fishing
lake, stood beneath the high fir boughs that
overhung the water, and made his cast. Right
off the bat–at once, that is–he got a nibble
and, reacting in a manner that I, as a similarly
trigger-nerved amateur angler can readily
appreciate, whipped up his pole with enough
force to lift a hippopotamus out of the water.
If a fish had been on the hook he’d have torn
PATROL
. . .
Continued from A-7
*A trouble-maker was
arrested at 406 S. Redwood Hwy.
following an incident at 2:38 p.m.
David Bryant, 32, was detained at
Josephine County Jail on charges
of fourth-degree assault, menacing,
first-degree burglary, and interfering
with making a report.
*At 4:41 p.m. a tree was
hanging over the road a mile or so up
Deer Creek Road. The tree had not
yet fully cracked, but it was about
to do so at any time. Dept. of Public
Works was advised of the situation,
and was sending a road crew.
Outside the Valley
*Eighteen listings.
Saturday, Jan. 7
*A gal’s vehicle was reported
as stolen to Grants Pass Department
its head off or the hook loose, depending on
how firmly imbedded the hook. Anyway the
fishless hook went soaring skyward with the
velocity of a Titan booster, taking the near-
invisible line with it. A great green bough
15 or 20 feet overhead intercepted the line,
which became hopelessly entangled amid the
tough twigs and stiff green needles.
The fisherman, whose nervous and
impetuous nature should have dictated some
other sport than angling, such as solitaire
or tiddlywinks, tried in vain to retrieve his
line and hook. With characteristic haste and
peevishness he soon broke the line, leaving
the hook dangling free, high above the water,
and went stomping and cursing back along
the shore and out of the story.
Later that same day, at the coming
of twilight when the bat-folk come forth
from their dark hidey-holes to prey on the
pestiferous insect life that abounds around
our lakes and ponds, the hero of our story, a
small brown teenager of the bat community,
came flitting gracefully and happily around
the lake shore.
Suddenly, unbelievably, he saw
what appeared to be a beautifully fat and
delicious-looking insect doing a strange
dance against the dark green background.
Being contemptuous, like all teenagers, of
what authority dictates as to proper conduct
and due caution; and, after his day long
sleep, feeling ravenously hungry for his
favorite water flies and fuzzy brown bugs
(the equivalent of cokes and candy bars)
with mouth agape he dove onto the deadly
imitation fly–and was instantly doomed to a
terrifying and cruelly lingering death.
The sudden sharp pain and shocking
disruption of his flight brought the realization
of Public Safety in the morning, and
at 2:50 p.m. she spotted the car in the
500 block of Schumacher Street. The
registered owner watched as three
thieves brushed the snow off her car,
then she phoned a tow truck to bring
her jalopy home.
*At 3:20 p.m., the dispatcher
could hear a man saying, “Help,
help, help,” but then nothing could
be heard in the background. Another
caller stated that there were no lights
on in the church in the 200 block
of S. Junction Avenue. Everything
appeared secure when law
enforcement arrived at 5:01 p.m.
*At 3:40 p.m. a gal refused to
leave the 100 block of Ollis Road,
even though she and her guests were
not welcome. The dispatcher heard
two clueless people cussing at each
other and talking about their past
relationship. Although one of them
stated that he could see a deputy
Serving the Best Cheeseburger
with an Attitude!
Celebrating 10 years as the Valley’s Bar & Grill
of impending disaster to the little brown bat.
He fought frantically to free himself, but to
no avail. Finally, after many hours of weary,
nightmarish struggle, he was overcome with
fatigue and hung dangling and dying above
the placid water at the edge of beautiful cliff
and forest-encircled Babyfoot Lake.
The capricious breezes that often ripple
the surface of exclusive little Babyfoot and
keep the dark green evergreen boughs a-
whisper and waving gently around its shore,
now for many days performed the grim task
of keeping the little bat doing its macabre
dance in the cool pure air.
When I came along, the pitiful wee
body was entirely dessicated and perfectly
preserved. What happened to the departed
soul of the little brown bat (if little brown
bats have souls) I’ve no way of knowing?
But the tiny body has been given a decent
and fitting interment in the little glass
sarcophagus that rests over there on my
cluttered chest of drawers.
The Champion Runner
by Al Hobart
And I mind my own affairs –
I’m content to leave the fighting
To the cougars, wolves and bears.
My food is mostly leaves and twigs
Of tender woodland plants
But sometimes I raid a garden
When I dare to take a chance.
In autumn I eat acorns
Till I’m really fat and sleek,
So if winter’s cold and snowy
I won’t get too thin and weak
In the winter’s snow-clad forest
I just wander to and fro,
My only food, the lichens
That blow down on the snow.
I wait hungrily for springtime
When the leaves unfold again,
When there’s lots of food and sunshine –
I’ll be strong and happy then.
In the spring or early summer
When the earth is green and warm,
The little spotted babies
That all children love, are born
There’s no creature in the forest
That’s so fleet as I;
I run in great long leaps
So fast I almost seem to fly.
When my enemies come prowling
I don’t even try to fight;
I waste no time but take right off
In graceful bounding flight.
Then when the summer’s over
And again fall rolls around,
The babies’ spots have vanished
And their coats are pale brown.
And those that were he-babies
Grow new antlers every year,
To show off before their “ladies” –
That’s the way with all buck DEER
I am peaceable and gentle,
outside, neither party came out to
meet him.
*A 911 hang-up call was
received at 3:59 p.m. from the 19500
block of Redwood Hwy. When law
enforcement arrived, there was no
evidence of a crime, but the gal
relocated for the evening.
*At 4:44 p.m. a deputy
rendered assistance to a resident in
the 100 block of Ollis Road who
could not go outside because the
entry door was swollen shut due to
the weather.
*A fellow in the 100 block
of Ollis Road threatened to kill a
gal who was yelling and pounding
on windows at 5:13 p.m. She was
trespassed from that location.
Outside the Valley
*Ten items.
Sunday, Jan. 8
*Domestic violence was
reported in the 100 block of O’Brien
Road at 8:06 a.m., according to a
fax from Oregon State Police (OSP).
A woman was hysterically yelling
and crying because a guy was trying
to take a trailer with his truck.
Everything was peachy-keen when
law enforcement contacted her at
1:28 p.m.
*OSP reported a failure to leave
name at the scene of an accident at
MP 34 on Hwy. 199 at 12:25 p.m.
The suspect vehicle is an older black
Jeep Cherokee with damage to the
front driver’s side light.
*Search and Rescue and their
snow cat saved the day for a man
who was having medical issues in
the 600 block of Draper Valley Road
at 2:24 p.m.
*A guy claimed that there was
a red Dodge Durango parked in front
of his residence in the 100 block of
Pine Cone Drive at 3:27 p.m. He
thought the Durango was involved in
a hit-and-run because of a Facebook
posting that he had seen. However,
the actual Facebook posting
described a white Subaru, and there
were no reports of a crash involving
a red Dodge.
*A family in the 1900 block
of Rough and Ready Creek Road
posted to Facebook that they were
stuck and needed medications, but
they declined law enforcement
assistance at 5:14 p.m. (They weren’t
rough or ready.)
*At 5:16 p.m. a man in the
27800 block of Redwood Hwy.
activated his Lifeline alarm because
he wanted someone to check on his
caretaker. The only problem was he
did not know her name or where she
lived, other than in a mobile home
somewhere in Takilma.
Outside the Valley
*Nine items.
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