10A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, JANUARY 5, 2016
Thomas: He misses hunting in Georgia
Continued from Page 1A
hunting was nothing new to
him when he captured Levi in
2012.
Born and raised in Geor-
gia, Thomas recalled, “My
dad had been taking me hunt-
ing since I was 3 years old. I
was just tagging along. But
then, when I became able, it
became less about tagging
along and more about having
a hunting partner, a buddy.”
On this successful alligator
hunt, his dad was with him on
the boat. So was a man named
Chris, who acted as guide — a
man who, the year before, had
caught his own record-setter.
Chris had hunted that area be-
fore.
Alligator season had just
started up about a dozen years
before. “For so long, they
were endangered,” explained
Thomas. For years, he said,
“Everybody was taking care to
try and get the numbers back
up. But I can assure you,” he
paused and smiled, “they are
in no way endangered now.”
Speaking of a typical sit-
uation on a Georgia night, he
said, “You shine lights across
the lakes and it’s just eyeballs
everywhere.”
So there they were, in a
boat, with alligators aplenty.
But Chris wanted to be sure
they didn’t get just any alliga-
tor, but the alligator.
Thomas recalled that Chris
knew this was to be a one-time
hunt to get a trophy catch,
though he says now, “I’m not
sure that trophy is the right
word.”
Then bam. They hooked
one. Thomas remembered,
“:hen we had the ¿rst hook
in him, he didn’t even know
it. He was down on the bot-
tom, trying to hide from the
boat.” They hadn’t yet even
seen this gator, other than its
nose.
Chris knew that Thomas
and his father were looking for
something in the 10-foot class,
so he asked if, based on the
pull and ¿ght, if they thought
this one would be big enough.
They soon found out, when
they got a second line in (a
Georgia state regulation) and
as Thomas recalled, “He knew
he was hooked and came alive.
He came out of the lake like a
Tarpon and tail-walked across
the water. I told Chris, ‘Yeah!
He’s big enough’.”
There’s no such thing
as a dead alligator
“We fought him for a cou-
ple hours. Most of the time,
he stayed on the bottom and
just pulled the boat around,”
said Thomas. When the ¿ght
was over, Thomas ¿gured the
gator had died on the bottom
of the lake, but by Georgia
regs, they had to be sure.
“Normally, you have to dis-
patch them by pulling them
right up next to the boat. And
usually, by the time you do
that, because they’ve pulled
the boat around, they’re spent
and don’t have any energy left
to really ¿ght you. But in our
case, he was de¿ant and had
refused to come up.”
They had to be sure. Thom-
as added, “Just a little word of
caution. There’s no such thing
as a dead alligator. They can
never be too dead.” So, a pistol
made sure it was over.
Thomas explained how he
named the gator. “I call him
Levi, short for Leviathan,” a
literal animal that is described
in vivid detail in the book
of Job. “There’s a reference
where God asks Job, ‘Who can
catch the Leviathan or stick a
hook in his jaw?’ And the last
thing God says to Job in that
section of Scripture is, ‘The
hunter who attempts it will
have an experience he never
forgets.’”
A background as a
leader
Thomas has a history that
basically prepped him for pa-
storing.. He credits years in the
Air Force for that. “When I got
out,” he said, “I was a captain.
I’d been a section commander
in Alaska. That was a phenom-
enal assignment and I cannot
think of anything I’ve done
that has prepared me better for
what I do now.”
He relates to his congre-
gation, both young and old.
During a recent service, as a
Christian rock song was be-
ing played, lyrics Àashing on
a screen, he stood in front of
the ¿rst pew, clapping and foot
tapping to the rhythm. With-
out looking down, he peeled
off his suit jacket and dropped
it onto the fabric coated seat.
He is energetic, enthusiastic
and rocks out with his church
members.
If Thomas misses any-
thing about his former years,
it’s hunting in Georgia with
his father (who still lives in
the South) and also the beau-
ty and expanse of Alaska. But
he’s ¿nding similarities with
peninsula ¿shermen he’s met
here and those he knew far up
north. “They’re similar types
of folks. Kindred spirits.”
New Life is a welcoming
church and probably the only
one in Washington State with
an alligator in the of¿ce.
SCOREBOARD
PREP SCHEDULE
Lynda Layne/For EO Media Group
Tazlina Thomas, 11, (standing, wearing hat) oldest daugh-
ter of “Pastor John” and his wife, Sundrea, assists anoth-
er member of the New Life children’s group in decorating
a gingerbread house.
TODAY
Girls Basketball — Astoria at
Estacada, 5:30 p.m.; Gladstone
at Seaside, 7:30 p.m.; Oregon
Episcopal at Warrenton, 6 p.m.;
Knappa at Neah-Kah-Nie, 6 p.m.;
Livingstone Adventist at Jewell,
5:30 p.m.; Raymond at Ilwaco, 7
p.m.
Boys Basketball —Astoria at
Estacada, 7:15 p.m.; Seaside at
Gladstone, 7:30 p.m.; Oregon
Episcopal at Warrenton, 7:45
p.m.; Knappa at Neah-Kah-Nie,
8 p.m.; Livingstone Adventist at
Jewell, 7 p.m.
Swimming — Valley Catholic at
Seaside, 4 p.m.
WEDNESDAY
Girls Wrestling — Astoria at Il-
waco, 5:30 p.m.
THURSDAY
Boys Basketball —Ilwaco at
Raymond, 7 p.m.
Swimming — Astoria at Tilla-
mook, 4 p.m.
FRIDAY
Girls Basketball — North Mar-
ion at Astoria, 5:30 p.m.; Seaside
at Newport, 5:30 p.m.; De La Salle
at Warrenton, 6 p.m.; Vernonia at
Knappa, 6 p.m.; Jewell at Country
Christian, 5:30 p.m.; Ilwaco at Ta-
coma Baptist, 7 p.m.
Boys Basketball — North Mar-
ion at Astoria, 7:15 p.m.; Seaside
at Newport, 7:15 p.m.; De La Salle
at Warrenton, 7:45 p.m.; Vernonia
at Knappa, 8 p.m.; Jewell at Coun-
try Christian, 7 p.m.; Ilwaco at Ta-
coma Baptist, 7 p.m.
Wrestling — Seaside Pac Rim,
3:30 p.m.
SATURDAY
Girls Basketball — Stayton at
Astoria, 5:30 p.m.; Warrenton at
Riverdale, 4 p.m.
Boys Basketball — Stayton at
Astoria, 7 p.m.; Warrenton at Riv-
erdale, 5:45 p.m.
Swimming — Seaside at The
Dalles Invite, 10 a.m.
Wrestling — Seaside Pac Rim,
10 a.m.