Our Hometown: The News Couldn’t Be Weirder or Sweeter
Aug 6th, 2007 | 8 responses
Is your hometown like mine? Strange and sweet in its profound oddities?
Perhaps you remember the piece I wrote on TMV a few weeks ago that was big news in my hometown newspaper … it was about the man in the wheelchair who was at a gas station just across the road from where I grew up.
He wheeled himself in front of an idling 18 wheeler rig whose driver did not realize he was there. The big semi started forward, and the handlebars of the wheelchair stuck in the grill of the truck. The semi headed onto the interstate and rolled at 55mph for over five miles with the man in his wheelchair stuck on the front of it, before the police pulled him over…
Miraculously, the fellow in the wheelchair was still lodged in the truck’s grill, and the road-rider was unharmed. Several other drivers on the road rolling in the opposite direction had seen the man in the wheelchair fastened to the truck’s grill like some kind of bizarre hood ornament, and they thought they were hallucinating. Well, in the midst of their self-same hallucinations, several called the state patrol. You can imagine how those conversations went.
After it was all over, honest to gosh, the young man in the wheel chair said to reporters, “It was a nice ride. I wasn’t scared.”
Ok, so, that will prepare you for this next. I grew up in a rural area in a village of 600 people. Our town was about one mile long and 5 street wide with a US highway and a railroad track running through the middle of it. About 30minutes away was a larger town which still prints a daily newspaper. Yesterday, the headline was, Rain Heading This Way. Yes. It was.
Also on the front page yesterday was a story about how the green beans are not getting enough moisture and farmers are concerned. There was also a story about a shooting at a road house, a murder over gambling debt, and the mysterious disappearance of graveyard vases.
Interpretation: Surrounding is still farm country and the farmers need the rain. Corn was NOT knee-high on Fourth of July the way it was supposed to be. Green beans will turn out bitter if they don’t have enough water. Rain is a BIG story therefore. There are gambling dens and roadhouses all up and down the backwoods, and for whatever reason, people pack heat; some people way back there still sit on their porches with shotguns across their laps.
The graveyard vases were made of metal, and there is a ten-finger discount going on amongst itinerant homeless men who troll for metal to turn in to recyclers for money . Um, well, sure, we can give you fifty dollars for them there 102 funeral vases. Just found them, did you? Ok.
But here the story I really wanted to bring to you… like I said, if you, like me, come from a small village… ‘depiction is often stranger than fiction’ as in the following story. It is 4-H fair time back home right now and… look, I am pretty sure the guy being interviewed might have been an immigrant, or English not his first language, or syntax was just weird for a moment there, or the reporter omitted a clarification… but it’s your call… If it’s dehydration that was the problem, that’s one thing, but if it’s merely being ‘that way,’ geez, maybe all of humanity is endangered… and we all need to be ‘relaxed’ more…
Here you go:
Pig At Fair Dies Because of Stress
Tribune Staff Report
— A female Grand Champion pig that died at the 4-H Fair was not neglected, but probably died because of a high level of stress.The gilt, or young female pig, was found dead in her pen Tuesday, said St. Joseph County 4-H Fair Board Director Lee Slavinskas.
“Earlier at the show, she was showing signs that she was stressed, and we relaxed her,” he said. “She was in heat, which puts a lot of stress on their bodies.”
According to fair veterinarians, Slavinskas said, the animal was not diseased nor carried an infection, so there isn’t a risk that other animals will become ill.
“All animals are checked when they’re brought in,” he said. “That animal got as much attention as it possibly could have gotten.”
To combat the heat, topping 90 degrees the past several days, the pigs are given plenty of water and have fans blowing on them constantly. 4-H leaders walk through the livestock barns hourly to make sure all the animals are safe and comfortable.
Pigs don’t perspire, Slavinskas said, and many animals are cared for better at the fair than at home.
“These are not household pets … she was a champ and sometimes, unfortunately, (death) happens the week of the fair.”
8 Responses to “Our Hometown: The News Couldn’t Be Weirder or Sweeter”
LOL, actually I don’t think that was an error of syntax, I think he literally was referring to the sow being in her estrus cycle. That does put additional stress on the body (during stress of high temperatures, a lot of pigs and other animals DON’T cycle- no doubt an evolutionary protectant factor) and pigs are notoriously susceptible to stress from heat, transport, and close confinement with other pigs. The ‘heat cycle’ certainly didn’t kill her, but it could be one added physical stress factor.
C Stanley, thank you. We have many new readers at TMV, C. Stanley is a vet, and knows about such matters. I only know that so many of the kids, like we did in 4-H become attached to their animals, even though they tell you and tell you, not to. So, though life and death is up close in rural areas from the time you’re a little kid, still…
Yes, even though I’m trained in the physical aspects, your experience has taught you more about the human and emotional part of the story of rural life Dr. E.
I’ve heard a lot of kids who grow up on farms tend to go through phases of vegetarianism but it seems that eventually most of them adopt a more pragmatic view where it’s OK to use animals for our consumption as long as they’re treated humanely. In that regard, it’s sad that there’s been such a shift toward factory farms and I’m glad to hear that 4H is still alive and well and kids are still grooming their pigs for the state fair.
Speaking of humane treatment of animals, I’m wondering if you’re familiar with Temple Grandin and her work to influence the meat industry toward humane practices? She is a high functioning autistic person who empathized with cattle who are stressed by handling and found ways to minimize their stress. She convinced industry leaders to adopt many of these practices, not by making emotional appeals but by showing them how the quality of their product and their profits would increase with better animal handling. It’s a fascinating story, I think.
The subject of pigs always brings memories of my stay in Lleida (Lerida) in northern Spain. Nearby were pig farm territories, and the animals were housed in inimpressive 2 and 3 story dormitories.
I never met any of the pigs personally, but when
driving in that direction, we always hoped the wind would be blowing in the opposite direction. Strangely, by the third day, I was becoming used to the pervasive aroma.
C. Stanley, I do know her; she used to live next town over out here in the West. Her book, I cant think of the name of it at the moment was one of those reads, I think, that make some people reexamine. Reexamining is something that I think of as a ‘natural insticnt ‘ that lots of people here at TMV have. Then there’s others who it seems put to sleep. I appreciate people who try to give people someting to think about rather than slam others around. Youre one of the former. Thanks CS.
Sorry, I forgot to say that, since pigs were so commonplace in the area, the locals hardly mentioned them, unless a visitor sniffed pontedly when the wind turned.
The talk was much more about the storks which were nesting precariously on top of traffic lights and telephone poles.
It takes something unusual to warrant headlines. So, if too many pigs were to fly, we would be reading about talking dogs, instead.
That’s funny domajot… if too many pigs were to fly, you know politically? somebody would surely make sure they had to have pilot licenses, then they’d build a pigport, and then they’d have porcine controllers, and… stop me help stop me….lol
wow three story condos for pigs. Human never cease to amaze me domajot. You are lucky to have traveled; you’re a sensitive recorder
Thanks D.
dr.e.
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