Local Militia at work

[pax]

From the Longview (WA) Daily News. I could not get an online link, but I'm posting the article here. It came from the Saturday Nov. 3, 2001 issue.

They were an odd-looking anti-terrorism squad. But they weren't protecting just any old bridge.

Federal warnings that the nation's suspension bridges might be subject to terrorist attack brought out the nutty side of the Longview Sandbaggers on Friday afternoon.

Armed with garden tools and BB guns, they took up positions on Olympia Way under the Nutty Narrows Bridge.

"We're looking for terror of all kinds, including from Kelso," said member Barry Morrill, calling the Longview span for squirrels "the most important suspension bridge in the nation."

The group of jokesters passed a resolution earlier Friday to protect the bridge, on of Longview's best-known landmarks. It was unclear how long the group would keep watch, though Morrill promised to do so "until no longer necessary."

Morrill said the group believes it's mentally healthy to make sport of terror, noting that officials advise the citizens to remain calm and not change their routing in response to the Sept. 11 attacks and anthrax incidents.

"We certainly would hope that people don't take it in bad taste."

The bridge referred to is a cute little suspension bridge for squirrels that a local resident built across one of Longview's main thoroughfares. The story is accompanied by a great picture of two men, one armed with a BB gun and the other with a garden hoe, looking around suspiciously with the bridge in the background.

Now this is the kind of reporting I like to see!

pax

Humor is but another weapon against the universe. -- Mel Brooks

[tstr]

Are they requiring the squirels to pass through a security check point? I happen to know from personal experience that some of those squirels are suicidal maniacs. That may be a nut cracker stuffed in those chubby little cheeks.

tstr

this was really acorny joke.