43 lines
2.1 KiB
Plaintext
43 lines
2.1 KiB
Plaintext
:-) A Cat, a Tree, and a New Word
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As one who is an unabashed admirer of cats, telling this story
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is somewhat painful. This is a true story which happened during the late
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1970's. My wife has firsthand knowledge of the circumstances since, at the
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time, she was a police officer in whose jurisdiction the incident occurred.
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There is a small rural town, somewhat northeast to the city of
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Niagara Falls, NY. One evening, a resident of the town called the local
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volunteer fire department to request assistance in removing their cat
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from a tree. Since this was a "questionable" call, the fire control
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dispatcher called the fire chief at home to ask if he wanted to respond.
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The chief said sure, call out the department, since it was early evening
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and it shouldn't be a problem for the volunteers to respond.
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The fire department responded with a rescue truck which had an
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extension ladder. The tree, however, was too tall and willowy to support
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the weight of the extension ladder. Rather than send men back to the fire
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hall to bring the aerial ladder truck, one of the firefighters suggested
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an alternate course of action. Two of the firefighters supported the
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ladder while a third climbed high enough to tie a rope around the tree at
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about half its height.
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The other end of the rope was tied to a trailer hitch on a pickup
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truck, with the truck slowly driven forward, forcing the tree to bend over.
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One firefighter was poised to grab the cat as soon as it was within his
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reach.
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The knot securing the rope to the trailer hitch slipped free.
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The cat was last seen airborne heading south toward the city of
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Niagara Falls, and was never seen again.
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This incident adds a rather new definition to the word "catapult".
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Needless to say, the particular fire department did not receive
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praise from the local ASPCA when the story made its rounds. Please note
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that this story is not meant to put down volunteer fire departments, who
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perform a dedicated and essential community function.
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--
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Larry Lippman @ Recognition Research Corp. "Have you hugged your cat today?"
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--
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