Monticello Live

When Dr. Judy Bynum drove up to Drew Central High School at 6:15 Wednesday morning, it was foggy and dark. In the twilight, she could see a dark creature turning in circles in the front of the school. It was solid black and small, but not as small as a squirrel, with a bushy tail. On its head was a yogurt cup, stuck tightly.

The skunk had probably been spinning all night long, trying to get the plastic cup off its head, as it seemed tired and dizzy. As Dr. Bynum sat in the car and waited for Frank Ferguson, the principal, to appear, she turned on her hazard lights and watched for students who might arrive earlier than usual. Mr. Ferguson arrived, and, noticed the hazard lights, and looked over into Bynum’s car, where she was pointing frantically toward the spinning animal. Ferguson burst into laughter, then called the police to take care of the matter.

Bynum and Ferguson carefully exited the cars and stood on the front porch watching the spinning skunk. The police arrived, stopped, but didn’t get out. The officer (from the safety of his vehicle) requested Game and Fish officers but they were out of town. So it was up to the Drew Central faculty.

No one wanted the animal killed, but students were going to be arriving soon. A math teacher, Alan Goodding, and a coach, Tad Davis, saw the commotion came to see what was happening. They decided that if they ran up to the animal quickly, they could jerk the cup off the animal’s head and back away before getting sprayed. Meanwhile, Mr. Ferguson had found a long pole and attempted to pin the moving cup down in hopes that the animal would pull its head out.

Another police car cruised slowly by, rolled down the window, and watched two grown men dancing with the skunk and another one poking at the animal with a pole. “That’s the funniest sight I’ve ever seen,” he remarked from the safety of his squad car. After several tries, Goodding nabbed the cup, jerked it off the animal’s head, and retreated as the skunk turned to spray him, to no avail. Giving a farewell wave with his tail, the animal ran into the neighboring woods just as the first busload of children arrived on campus.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 15th, 2009 at 5:39 am and is filed under Site. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.