Friday The 13th In Oshkosh

Just in from the Chief of Police:

"We plan to continue the deer herd reduction activity on the National Guard Armory property on Friday February 13, 2009 under the same basic operational plan as last time. Osborn Avenue will be closed and police personnel will be maintaining a safe perimeter during the activity."

Sharpshooting deer in Oshkosh on Friday the 13th. I don't think you could make something like that up. Perhaps the sharpshooters will be wearing Jason Voorhees masks. Or maybe the protestors will.

Of all the speeches given on Tuesday night regarding this issue, I thought the first speech by Nancy Binder (I think that's her name) was the best. She has supported killing the deer, but made a strong plea for people to listen to each other. She is actually willing to keep her mind open to the possibility of nonlethal solutions. To the possibility of giving those solutions more time to work. But I guess it's all academic at this point--it's rare to find examples of cities that can go lethal for just one year and not have to continue.

I taught until 8 p.m. on Wednesday after the council had met until after 1 a.m. on the same day. When I got home there were some interesting messages on my machine. One woman called to say that the deer need to be killed because "the people in that neighborhood are living miserable lives and you need to do something." Another called to say that she's having trouble explaining to her children, who have been enjoying the deer since they were small, that they need to be killed "because people think they will be able to keep growing their favorite plants."

Today I was buying hair shampoo at Family Dollar on Main St. (where you can get Family Dollar brand 2 in 1 shampoo/conditioner for 2 bucks), and a fifty-something guy came up to me to say this: "Hey Tony, the council okayed culling that most people don't want because it's 'only deer.' Then you okayed big garbage carts that most people don't want because the people getting fired are 'only garbage men.' Who gets to be the only at the next meeting?" He smiled, but I sensed a deep anger there.