Posted on 12/24/2013 8:36:18 AM PST by JoeProBono
Dec. 24 A North Carolina judge ruled on Monday that a mountain town's New Year’s Eve celebration can include the lowering of a captured possum at midnight as planned despite protests from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).
PETA petitioned Superior Court Judge Allen Baddour to ban the annual Possum Drop in Brasstown next week, but he elected to allow the town to continue enjoying a possum-tinged taste of Times Square on New Year’s Eve.
The live possum is dropped to the ground in a plastic box in a similar way to how a mirrored ball is lowered at midnight at Times Square in New York City.
The Wildlife Resources Commission gave Clay Logan a permit for the event on Friday. He said this isn’t the first time that PETA has tried to put a stop to the annual event and that he went as far as to use a dead possum once in an effort to pacify the organization.
“If I thought there was anything to traumatize this possum, I wouldn’t do it,” Logan said. “It’s not that I’m being really stubborn … it’s either (PETA’s) way or the highway.”
Logan got the idea for the Possum Drop 24 years ago when he discovered canned possum during a trip to Mississippi.
“The population of Brasstown is small, we hadn’t grown a whole lot in the last 200-300 years,” Logan said. “We had to come up with some kind of gimmick. It’s good, clean, family fun, and there’s no alcohol and everybody brings their kids.”
The possum is released after the drop.
Les Nessman’s on-the-scene live report:
It’s flying something behind it and I can’t quite make it out. It’s a large banner and it says H A P P Y... T H A N K S... giving... from W... K... R... P! What a sight, ladies and gentlemen. What a sight. The ‘copter seems to circling the parking area now. I guess it’s looking for a place to land. No! Something just came out of the back of a helicopter. It’s a dark object, perhaps a skydiver plummeting to the earth from only two thousand feet in the air... There’s a third... No parachutes yet... Those can’t be skydivers. I can’t tell just yet what they are but... Oh my God! They’re turkeys! Oh no! Johnny can you get this? Oh, they’re crashing to the earth right in front of our eyes! One just went through the windshield of a parked car! This is terrible! Everyone’s running around pushing each other. Oh my goodness! Oh, the humanity! People are running about. The turkeys are hitting the ground like sacks of wet cement! Folks, I don’t know how much longer... The crowd is running for their lives. I think I’m going to step inside. I can’t stand here and watch this anymore. No, I can’t go in there. Children are searching for their mothers and oh, not since the Hindenberg tragedy has there been anything like this. I don’t know how much longer I can hold my position here, Johnny. The crowd...
An all-time classic sitcom episode.
WIBC radio in Indy has a Saturday Morning gardening show that has an old woman that has become a semi-regular because she volunteered to show them how to cook a possom for their Thanksgiving Turkey Fest at one of their sponsors stores.
She said she just drives around with a shovel in her car to try to find one.
When they asked what the shovel was for, she calmly replied, “How else you gonna scrape ‘em up off the pavement?”
I think I’ve finally seen something even dumber then our Moon Pie Drop down here in Mobile....Happy New Year!
Poking fun at NYC is NOT allowed!!!! No having fun!
Nothing could possibly be stranger than New Jersey!!
Yeah....nuthin’ weird goin’ on in Joisey, is there?
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