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2\ nil M WS-JOl KWI \iiKusl 16. 20(H) Viewpoints Sweat on top of sweat \I\ Incnil S;im talks ahout the wc.ithcr in liis column "Around lown." I liosc \\ ho mcci in hisolTice c\ci\ morning to solve the world's problems have some smart eraek to make about m\ weather statements. Regardless, noneofthem should have ,in\ eomment about any statement I make, because they \eere reared the same e'av I was reared; the onl\ dit- terenee. I didn't get abrtve mv raising. I know be\ond a doubt they don't take the weather predictionsof Mighty Mike Ma\es seriously. Mighty Mike isgi\ ing ad\ ice about w hat one should do when it is hot outside. Me insists that eversime stay indoors. That is good advice if everyone had been born with a silver spoon in his or her mouth. I'he wise one hasn't climbed III a tobacco barn when it was 100 ilegiees outside, neither has he primed tobacco on a day when you could fry an egg on your head. I doubt if he has ev er been i n a peach orchard when the humidity was so high you had sweat on lop of sweat. 'I'hose who build houses would like to be in his air conditioned studio, but the man who pays the bill didn't promise air condi tioning outside where they work. Strange world, with some strange people. The weathermen with their advice sorta remind me of the ‘ol mountain m.in who came home after several days of drinking while lightning. He was sick as a dog. Staggering in the door, he asked his wife to pray for him. She started off by saying. ‘O Lord, please help this old drunken fool." The man raised his head and whis pered weakly, “Don't tell Him 1 am drunk, just tell Him 1 am sick." Some advice is better left unsaid. I recently read in another newspa per about wealthy couples who were getting a divorce. It seems when they started dividing property, some strange events took place. One couple couldn't agree on visitation rights for the two dogs they owned. This argu ment nearly scrapped the whole shoot ing match. One wanted the black lab. the otliei decided to take the eoldeii letrievei.'l lie problem oecuired when they started fighting about the week ends the il >gs were to visit. If anyone knows any thing about dogs, they are tzoing to love the one w ho feeds them last. Such goings-on caused me to re- A View from the Country i Raz \iitry fleet on vv hat property rights Ireni and I would fight over if after5() vears we decided to part ways. Now that is not going to happen; if so, she wouldn't want the peach orchard, livervone has heard her say. “If Raz dies first, 1 am going to take a chain saw and cut the trees down. "Therefore, the orchard is out in a property settlement. She probably would want the fixed- up cat . Not the goats, maybe the horse. Although he is so old he would be of little use to anyone. He does look better since his tail has grown out. riie goats ale it right after I bought him. Once he discovered what they were doing, he picked up one of them by a horn and shook him; that broke up the tail eating. My life mate probably wouldn't want the tractors; neither would she want the pickup with 255 thousand miles on it. The outdoor stove might cause .some problems. It takes wood and sometimes the wood gels heavy to lift. Oh well, we will stick it out. be cause she is the best friend I have in the world. Having said this, 1 don't look fora divorce lawyer to come calling. If so, 1 would be like the drunk who was going across the graveyard when he fell into a freshly dug grave. It had been raining, so the mud on the side of the grave was slick; he kept slipping back when he tried to climb out. He yelled for a while and nobody heard him, so he finally got tired and just sat over in the corner and w'cnt to sleep. Another drunk came along during the night and fell in there with him. He. too, started trying to climb out, without much luck. The first drunk woke up and watched the guy jump ing, clawing at the mud, trying to get out of there, until the guy got tired and sU)nd rhere in silonce for a second. The lust drunk spoke from his dark corner, “Might as well relax, buddy, you'll never get out of this place." But he did. M y pa ri i ng I ho ug h I — Th i n k Dop- pler 5()()(). “The only thing we’ve been able to agree on lately Is that we’re delighted you’re going to be OK." Addiction: passing it on Jeffery became irritated when his wife awakened him. I le became dou bly irritated when she reminded him that she had to go to work, and il was his responsibility to see that the chil dren were awakened and fed before the bus picked them up for school. 1 le still had a buzz on from last night's drinking bout with some of the boys. “Get up!” he yelled as he shoved open the bedronm etoor of his 13- year-old son .lunior. 1 le did the same to his I I-year-old daughter Tammy. “Hurry up and wash up!" he screamed. Jeffery opened the refrigerator and di.scovcrcd only one can of beer and All Together Now Ray P. Owens Rabies threat continues to be real Bv Tom Souii-.r Rabies is almost taking a back burner right now with so many people beingconcerned about mosquito borne diseases like the deadly West Nile Virus of New York and New England and Equine Encephalitis here locally and in the South. Rabies is a very real threat. Sur rounding counties have reported ra bies cases in wild animals. A shortage of animal control personnel may ac tually be resulting in under reporting of rabies infected animals and threats here in the Sandhills. My wife, Frances, recently visited near Lenoir. There they have experienced some 37 rabid animal incidents already this season. In one situation, a rabid fox attacked a woman riding a four- wheeler and bit her on the foot. In nearby Raleigh, a rabid bat was found dead in a house. That brings me back to a point made in the past — bats are usually pictured as carriers of rabies in anti rabies campaigns. We rarely see a live rabid bat. These liny creatures usually succumb to the disease before attacking people. More people are accidentally bitten by snakes than bats and the previous is a very rare situa tion. People would do well to avoid eontact with snakes and leave then alone. We would also be belter off .ind safer il we didn't mess with bats and other wild animals lound in the w ild. Don't catch little habv raccoons and other animals. 'Ihe threat of ra bies has become so great in recent V ears that animal control otficers can not catch and transfer those raccoons that come around to eat Ihe cat food you put out late in the evening to a better location. Raccoons can only be moved to a dillereni part of Ihe |)rop- erly on which they weie caught or they must be "put down." It is .ig.iinsl the law to bring raccoons in tiom otherareas and release them to“hunl" with trained dogs. With so much construction in the area combined with limbering opera tions eliminating toresis a' d trees and '>ltli I oil I'uaeg .olllinuing llieil pie scribed" burns, this is a lime we ate very likely loencouiilei vv ild animals. I hey are showing up in our y ard and we come lace to face with animals when we are fishing, picking wild berries and just hiking in the woods. As we see from the many nature shows on television, animals are supposed to act wild, but not strange. There is a subtle difference that we should learn to recognize and educate our chil dren. Animals and kids We trust that when youngsters are at home or in the yard they will be safe, particularly from wild animals. It didn't work with me, but children, especially very young ones, should be taught to stay away from any wild animals they might encounter, and to also avoid any cats and dogs that they don't know. Several counties have already re ported as many rabies cases in pets or feral animals as they had all last sea son. “Feral" animals, by the way, are those cats and dogs that have been abandoned in most cases by their owners and have taken up living in the wild. Feral animals could also include offspring of abandoned cats and dogs or even lost hunting dogs from last season. Many of these wild born pup pies are undernourished and though their parents may have been vacci nated against the rabies virus, they themselves are particularly vulner able to this and other diseases. That is vv hat we mean by strange behavior as opposed to being wild. Foxes and raccoons are generally not seen in broad daylight unless something startles them. You may see a fox around dawn or dusk or when vou cut on the porch light at night, but raccoons are virtu ally totally night time animals. When you see them in the da> light, that is a clue that something might be wrong. Often wf unknowingly invite toxes, raccoons and ‘possums around the home bv putting out eat or dog food after vvoik or supper. That is a good way to attract wild animals but not a smart thing to do on a regular basis. Any atiimal will tend tobe aggres sive if you happen upon it while it has voiitig ot its own, but getterally, wild ■inim ih won't eonie ti' people Thev mtiv be curious, but they don't inves- tigiite or approach people as a rule. If you have wild animtils come to your picnic or back yard while you’re still there, it is a good idea to move away. Rabid animals go through phases and they don't always look like the ones we see on television. When they get to foaming at the mouth, losing loss of their back legs or biting them selves, they arc just about dead. They are easy to spot, but strange-acting wild animals should be avoided. Of ten rabid animals will be out in day light and around people when they shouldn't be and they seem to be unaware of noises and other attempts to frighten them away. It is the bite or scratch of the rabid animal that breaks the skin and allows the virus to enter your body. If you see suspicious animals in your area, you should call 9-1-1 and get out of harm’s way. Even if the animal turns out to be rabid, you can find yourself in trouble for discharg ing a firearm inlhecity limits, besides it being dangerous. This doesn’t mean don’t enjoy the great outdoors or your yard, but use common sense and edu cate children. Occasionally, you encounter rabid animals as just plain bad luck. A boy in Asheboro recently woke up to find a rabid bat attached to his toe. lie- caught it in a towel and put it in a box. It was tested for rabies, and now he is undergoing the series of shots to pro tect him. The only way to truly deter mine if an animal is rabid is to cut off its head and have the folks in Raleigh test its brain. Thtit is why with pei-^ we allow suspicious ones to be quaran tined in a facility for two weeks after a bite or attempted bite. Get pets vaccinated The best thing we can do for our pets arc to have them vaccinated against rabiesand to have them spayed or neutered. Unwanted pets are a major problem in our area. Call the local Humane Society to find out when there will be a rabies shot clinic and take your dogs and cats. Also, ask which doctors participate in low cost spay and neuter programs. Please advise your children not to play with stray dogs and cats and to especially avoid the tem|)lation ol picking up baby wild animals they may cncounleT in the yard or woods. Rabies is something we can beat. became even more irritated as he popped open the can and took a swig. Jeffery was an angry man. He was angry dial his wife worked and sup ported the family. He was angry that he seemingly could not find the right job. I le was angry becau.se he thought that his wife and children considered him a bad provider, and less than a man. So he took his anger out on his son. “You've been in the bathroom too long, boy!" lie said as he grabbed his arm and snatched him out of bath room (bumping his young head against the door), “Let Tammy in there!" Junior look liisangeroutoiri'ammy as they wailed for Ihe school bus to pick them up. He punched her on Ihe arm and called her names. Tammy warned Junior that if he hit her again she would tell Dad that he had stolen two cans of beer from the fridge last night. Junior stopped hitting her, but vowed to gel even later. Junior dr:ink one can in Ihe school bathroom at 10 a.m. and shared the other beer with several friends at noon. At I p.m. Junior got into a fight. Among youth ages 12 to 17, an estimated 1.1 million meet Ihe dianoslic criteria for dependence on illicit drugs, and 915,000 are depen dent on alcohol. The month of September is Na tional Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month. Over the next few weeks, I will present to you, the read ing public, Ihe challenge of Recov ery, Gel Ready! Gel Ready! Gel Ready! Quote of the Week Hoke ('orreclional Institution Supeiintentleiil Cordelia Clark after a fire drill at the facility which involved I loke firefighters and other emergency and safely personnel: “Il wasagood experi ence. I lake my hats off to you guys. I thought we had a tough job but you are volunteers... It feels good to know if we had a serious fire, we’d have people who'dcome to our aid as quickly as you folks." Letter to EiJitor Deadline, Monday Noon The INews -Journal PRINTED WITH SOYINK Published every Wednesday l)y Dickson Press, Inc., Paul Dickson Pres. 119 W. Elwood Avenue i Raeford, North Carolina 28376 vA (910) 875-2121 l^_ Call for fax number Home Page: htt|)://>vvvw.dick.sonpress.com e-mail: Njournal (a cuastaluct.com Njournalffi aul.com ■ Sulrscription Rates in Ativaiicc In Hoke County: $14 — one year $8 — six montb.s Out of county: $17 — one year $9.50 — six months Out of state: $20 — one year $ 11 — six months Robert Dickson Publisher Ken MacDonald General Manager Pat Allen Wilson Editor Victoriana Summers Reporter Henry L. Blue Prudiiction Supervisor Mantise Andrews Press Foreman Sam C. Morris Conti ibuting Editor Teena .lones Advertising Representative Composing Room Staff Robin Thumpkins, Sandra Wiggins Postmaster: Send address changes to: P.O. Box 550 Raeford, N.C. 28376 Periodical Class Postage at Raeford, N.C, (USPS 388-260) e News-Journal is sold at these locations; Bo’s s. Mam St Wagon Wheel Rest 509 Hams 401 Shop N Save Hams and 401 Short Stop #14 401 & Palmer CVS Drugs 401 Bypass Food S. Stop W. Prospect Ave. Fast Shop W. 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The News-Journal (Raeford, N.C.)
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