#130 Black Panthers

In a few more days, I made another trip to the Lake Butler Game Management Area. On this two and a half hour drive, I saw two deer, two rabbits, and a cottonmouth. I watched the moccasin try to catch a big frog. With a mighty leap, the frog jumped out of the water hole and into the brush. There was no following by the snake. Once I tired of scouting, it took twenty minutes of driving on the sand roads before I got to a hard-top road. I had begun to wonder if I would ever find one. Having come from crowded southeast Virginia, I was not used to the long, uninhabited areas you could still find in some parts of Florida. In spite of the four-wheel drive, I almost got bogged down by the deep sand several times. To be fair to the Ford F-150, I was not using the special low-speed four-wheel drive which I am sure could have gotten me out of any sand. Still, I thought I had seen very little game for almost three hours of driving and believed that attested to the overwhelming presence of pine trees, armadillos, fire ants, and coyotes. Surely, starvation would be the plight for a panther in this area. This was nothing like the experience I had on the Ecofina River where I may have seen a black panther along the side of the road. But the Ecofina River was three hours of driving away. To Be Continued. Peter Nickerson at peternickerson12@yahoo.com or much better, 352-359-0849.

Black Man Started Slavery, Black Panthers

I have been asked how Anthony Johnson was able to have slaves. Anthony Johnson is on records from Jamestown as "Antonio a Negro." In the 140s he was able to purchase liberty from indentured servitude for both his wife and himself. By 1651, he had prospered enough in the New World to be able to purchase five "servants." As a result of this, he was given 250 acres as "headrights." As this point I do not know what he did to become so successful financially, and if the books I have ordered tell me, I will tell you.
Returning to "The Black Panther Betrayal: Government At Work" "In the first part of June, 1999, I drove into Gainesville to see a picture of a black panther. One of the assistants at my dentist's office called to say she had found the picture in a children's book that belonged to one of her children. I stopped at the dentist's office but quickly saw that the caption above the picture read that the big cat was a black panther, the black color phase of a leopard. The woman, a mother and full-time employee had not taken the time to read the entire caption. She was embarrassed, but I told her it was just like all my black panther leads: it fizzled out. Poor me! She said that her mother knew there were black panthers, and they ranged up and down the Santa Fe River (in North-Central Florida, USA).
Last night, I was reading in the "Swamp Screamer" by Charles Fergus that some people believe the black panther is a black jaguarundi, an 18 pound Central American cat. Fergus writes that the jaguarundi likes the water so much that he is called "the otter cat." Although many sightings of black panthers have been near the water, none have been of the cat being in the water. The Florida panther does swim, but he does not like the water as much as the jaguar. Talking about jaguars, did you know that there are more jaguar fossils in Florida than panther fossils? Could the black panther being seen here be the black color phase of the jaguar? But why would Florida just have the black phase of the jaguar and no jaguars with the dominant color - tawny with black rosettes?
Several days later, I dropped my son, Jon, and the boat off at Lake Butler and locked the trailer. I was going fishing with him but decided at the last moment to look for panthers. I really was not sure that was the right thing to do for I should be supporting Jon's dream to become a professinal bass fisherman. I was taking myself out of his life by not participating in that dream. On the other hand, I knew he could handle the boat, and I needed to pursue my dream of seeing a black panther and making the general public aware of his existence. I told him he could handle the boat, and left for the other side of the lake where the game management area was. I returned at dusk and didn't even notice how withdrawn he was. I realized it later." To Be Continued. Peter "Two-Guns" Nickerson, MS, MSW, at peternickerson12@yahoo.com. Telephone 352-359-0849 much better.

#128 Slavery In America Started By A Black, Rogue Cops

I want to interrupt the body of lies by Corporal and Sergeant Stout of the Gainesville (Florida, USA) Police Department to bring you news that very few Americans and other know about: Slavery was started in America by a black man named Anthony Johnson. I had known this for years but had forgotten the names involved. Last week, through the help of an outstanding librarian, I got the needed information. I had learned it from a talk radio show in which a University of Virginia professor was interviewed. I also called the Early American History Institute at the College of William and Mary and was given the title of a book that would give me what I was looking for. Scoffers may point out that the following comes from Wikipedia, but Wikipedia is quite reliable and gives references which I plan to order. Anthony Johnson may have been one of the first 19 slaves to come to the New World by way of Jamestown Island in 1619. However, more serious scholarship shows that he came in 1621 aboard the boat, "James." Quoting Wikipedia : "According to the earliest known court records, slavery was first established in Virginia in 1654, when Johnson convinced the court in Northhampton County that he was entitled to the lifetime services of John Castor, also a black man. Claiming that he had been imported as an indentured servant, Castor attempted to transfer what he argued were his remaining time of service to Robert Parker, a white, but Johnson insisted that he 'had ye Negro for his life.'"
I suggest that you give all your white liberal friends who suffer the guilt of slavery a copy of the above paragraph and free them from their misery. Make sure they "embrace" the information and "celebrate" it appropriately. Give it to your black friends when they wail about slavery.
Am I a lead dog or what! Now, I return to the body of lies by Corporal Dan Stout of the Gainesville Police Department" : "The only thing this act accomplished was to harass Whitney and I (sic) and agitate our dog. During a taped interview with GPD Sgt. Weaver (IA investigation), Mr. Nickerson admitted that this was his intention."
Looking at this as an exercise in critical thinking, the first thing you notice is that Corporal Stout did not specify how big the circle I was supposedly running in was. Was it 10-12 inches in diameter, or feet, yards, or miles? Secondly, if it were "very difficult to access" and "in a very dense area of brush, vines, and trees" how was I, Mr. Nickerson, able to run in it "repeatedly." Corporal Stout used the word "jog" to describe what I was doing : "In all the time we have lived next door to the Nickersons, I have never seen Mr. Nickerson jog at anytime." Why would you refer to running around a circle repeatedly as jogging? Then Corporal Stout mentions Internal Affairs Investigator Weaver who was a sergeant before his sudden rise to captain a few months later. Next we will look at the reference to the ex-Captain Weaver. To Be Continued. Peter "Two-Guns" Nickerson, MS, MSW at 352-359-0849.

#127 "Tranny By Police: How Cops Ganged Up On One Brave, Honest Man"

" 5) On 01/30/04, at approx 0900, I was awakened by my dog barking outside. I went outside to see why he was barking and saw a large punching bag was hanging from a long rope near the fence on Mr. Nickerson's property in front of our home. Also located there was a "striking post" - neither the post or (sic) bag had ever been located there, as it was a very dense area of brush, vines, and trees, making it very difficult to access. I did not see anyone when I went outside but saw the bag swinging. I put my dog in (sic) the house and came outside again where I saw Mr. Nickerson running in a 10-12 (sic) diameter repeatedly at the property line. In all the time we have lived next door to the Nickersons, I have never seen Mr. Nickerson jog at anytime." To Be Continued

#126 "The Black Panther Betrayal" Online Book cont.

We continue with "The Black Panther Betrayal: Government At Work": "Sure," he said, "We'll give it a try. I've got $1,000 worth of tracking gear ( radio-collars for the dogs and receivers for the humans so the dogs can be found after they run the panther, deer, hog, or whatever gets them going). Ray said he is used to his dogs running hogs for eight to twelve hours. You don't think of hogs having that kind of stamina. Panthers pursued by dogs usually tree fairly quickly as cats are sprinters not marathon runners. The former prison guard said, "Years ago, I was driving over to High Springs and saw a black "boar" where I had never seen pigs. That bothered me so I drove a mile or so, not wanting to disturb him and then turned around and eased back. It saw me coming and moved like a flash. It had brilliant black hair and was too long for a pig."
Inspired by the ex-guard's story of seeing a black panther, I drove to the Lake Butler Game Management Area to look around. I got there just after the sun set and slowly drove around for about an hour. No panthers.I will try to get there earlier next time so it will be light enough to look down the road and look down the numerous trails.
I talked over the phone with a Sergeant Weaver at the Lakeland Regional Game Commission. He was very friendly and told me about one of his investigations of black panther sightings: "This gentleman called me from his car. He said he was looking at a black panther. It was going into and coming out of a ditch. He was positive it was a black panther. I got directions, and he was only a quarter of a mile away. He stayed on the phone as I drove over. As I was on the way, he eased his car closer to the "panther" and realized that it was an otter. He told me he had been absolutely sure it was a black panther."
I would say first that the gentleman should have been suspicious about a panther repeatedly going into and out of a ditch. Otters, not panthers. love to slide, and that sounds like what the animal was doing. I would also say that the gentleman corrected his own mistake. He realized it was an otter, not a black panther. The cell phone made it a little too easy to jump the gun. To Be Continued.
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I would now like to give a probable excerpt from my upcoming online book, "Tyranny By Police: How Cops Ganged Up On One Honest, Brave Man" : " I was driving when I heard on the radio that a Gainesville Police Department employee had been awarded $75,000 for a sexual harassment suit against Captain Ray Weaver of the Gainesville Police Department. Ray Weaver had been allowed to retire before the suit became public. Weaver is the cop from Internal Affairs who interviewd me when I complained to the Chief of the Gainesville Police Department of some of the actions of Corporal Dan Stout and Captain Whitney Stout. I had initially agreed with Sergeant Weaver to be interviewed at my home, but on the day of the appointment, I got worried about being near a cop alone and in an isolated area. When I called Gainesville Police Department to cancel the appointment, the receptionist said he had already left, and there was no way to call him back. That made absolutely no sense to me, and I called John Cooper in St. Augustine. John owned the "Florida Outdoors" magazine for which I wrote a monthly column about black panthers. John heard my story and asked, "The police station has no way to get in touch with an officer in the field? That makes no sense. No sense at all. Something's wrong here."
Interestingly enough, Sergeant Weaver did not come to my house, so Gainesville Police Department obviously did get in touch with him. So why did the receptionist lie to me? What did they have planned that they didn't want cancelled? I did eventually meet with Sergeant Weaver, but it was at a crowded McDonald's in Gainesville. I had lots of witnesses plus the entire staff was black, and I didn't think cops would want to get cute around blacks. Whites they can push around, but not blacks. When we did meet, Weaver was much more interested in talking about his hunting trips out West than he was in hearing my complaints about the Stouts. It was obviously just a pro forma interview. As I have said, at that time he was only Sergeant Weaver, but at my trial several months later, he was Captain Weaver. Advancement must be very fast at Gainesville Police Department! Actually, I think Gainesville Police Department wanted to impress Judge Glant with a captain, not a mere sergeant. The department tried to use what I had said to Internal Affairs about the two officers in a complaint the two officers had made against me. I think that was illegal, and a subsequent lawyer, Lloyd Vipperman, agreed with me. Stout's lawyer triumphantly played a portion of the tape, acting as if it showed something damning about me. All the tape contained was my telling Sergeant Weaver that while
my son and I hanged a punching bag, I laughed and said that when Whitney Stout saw me working out and compared me to her shrimp of a husband, she would fall in love
with me.
This taped portion was to support Corporal Stout's pitiful assertion that I put up the punching bag to intimidate him. I say that if a man is intimidated by his neighbor's punching bag, he shouldn't be a cop, much less a SWAT member. He needs to become a hairdresser or fashion designer." Peter "Two-Guns" Nickerson, MS, MSW at peternickerson12@yahoo.com or better, 352-359-0849. Watch your back!

#125 "The Black Panther Betrayal" Online Book cont.

Continuing with "The Black Panther Betrayal: Government At Work": " Around June, 1999 I saw Lester Perryman, a local retired man, at the S&S store in Worthington Springs (Florida). I asked, "Did John (another retired, local man) tell you I wanted to talk to you about turkey hunting?"
"He did, but my wife would have a fit. She feeds the turkeys and deer. I don't even get to shoot any. It's not worth arguing with her for a week."
I asked him about the black panther. "They're here," he assured me.
"Then why do the professionals, people with letters behind their names, say they're not?" I asked.
"They're full of shit! Twenty years ago, I owned some land on the Santa Fe River. My children own it now. I had a squash patch there. A young woman and her children walked down to it. They saw a black panther there and called me. I took a pack of hounds down there. They hit a trail and took off. In just a few minutes they ran into a small bay, and a horrible commotion started. Very soon here come my hounds! They went right under the truck and hid. The cat had given them a beating.
My hunt club is right by my house. I didn't even hunt there last year because the roads in there were so bad. But one of the guys coming out of the club saw a black panther. He came by to tell me since it was so close to my property. He said, 'Please don't say anything to the other club members. If they know, they'll shoot him.' There are black panthers, and they're around here."
Saturday, I picked up ten mallard ducklings and their mother from a little farm in Lake Butler. I had been told that they were flyers and wanted to enjoy the beauty of ducks flying around the property. This little farm had hundreds of animals including ducks, chickens, emus, rabbits, horses, deer and boar hounds, and beagles. The owner is a retired prison guard whose former worksite was across the paved road from his farm. He was extremely friendly so I asked him, "If I see a black panther, can I come over and get you and some dogs?" To Be Continued
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Bullets From Two-Guns: Attorney Bill Davis did tell me some interesting things.
Perhaps it was the teacher in him. He said, "If a regular person in involved, it is a judicial matter, but if a policeman is involved, it is a political matter." That was a good warning that I might not get justice but the result of police power exerted over people. The police not only have large numbers and a union but they also get a lot of dirt on a lot of people through their private confidants and their investigations. They can use that dirt. They also get people beholden to them when they discover people doing wrong things but do not report these people to the State Attorney. Cops can use that dirt too. As I was to find out, I would receive not justice but the jackboots of the Gainessville Police Department and other "law enforcement" agencies. But thankfully Bill Davis had prepared me mentally. Bill also said (again, I am paraphrasing), "Corporal Dan Stout went to several good lawyers in town about you. He also went to the Rush Law Firm and got a lawyer there. That was a good move as that law firm had by far the best success in suits against the Gainesville Police Department. Corporal Stout was clever in going to all these lawyers because it locked you out from using them." In spite of recognizing Dan Stout's cleverness, Bill Davis believed Dan Stout over me. He was just too close to the police department and not just physically but culturally. Many Army Rangers become cops, and I wish many more would because these are men who have seen the world and have a high sense of honor. They aren't redneck good ole boys. Peter "Two-Guns" Nickerson, MS, MSW at peternickerson12@yahoo.com. or 352-359-0849. Calling is much better. You may see two pictures of the "nonexistent" black panther at my website peternickerson.com. Take care, but stand for something good.

#124 An Attorney's Disrespect

I promised to give you the name of the attorney who was the most respectful in manner of any attorney I've talked to but the most disrespectful in what he said. I went by his office which was just a block or two from the Gainesville Police Department because I could not recall his name. The names I saw on the sign at his office did not ring a bell either so I went inside and described him. It turns out that attorney Bill Davis is now a Circuit Court Judge. Now let me explain the issue of respect. I went to see him about five years ago because Vincent "Keith" Starling had publicly charged me with carrying a firearm in the public. He had a picture of me wearing a sheath on my side as I walked a dog, Rambo, down the lane. The sheath contained a Bowie knife, and I was carrying it to protect Rambo and myself from Starllings' seemingly vicious Rotterweilers. Keith himself had warned me that the dogs would come through the fence and therefore did not want us walking down our lane becaue it upset his dogs. I wanted Keith to build a stronger fence so my wife and I could take our dogs for daily walks like we did in Virginia. But he wouldn't. Instead, he and his wife, Sherry, would yell at us whenever we tried to walk the dogs on our lane past his trailer. I should have called the police but I had worked for government so many years in Virginia that I wanted as little contact with it as possible. Anyone with any knowledge of handguns could look at the picture and see that it was not a holster for a short gun but a knife sheath. But State Attorney who represented the Starlings was just out of law school and was Jewish. Now American Jews are notoriously negative toward guns in spite of the fact that it is the gun that allows Israel to live as a small nation in a sea of murderously hostile Arabs. This young lady probably didn't know a holster from a sheath. The first lawyer I went to about this charge did not make his appointment because he and his wife were taking home their adopted child. When I drove into the lawyers's parking lot with the tallest palm tree in Gainesville nearby, I was followed by a Gainesville Police Department forensic truck. The truck drove to the back door of the lawyers' office and a cop got out of the truck and went inside. "These defense lawyers are entirely too chummy with the police department," I thought. "When did you ever see a policeman speaking for the defense and not the prosecutor? Never!" When I went inside, the very polite secretary said that Bill Davis would be seeing me. Bill ushered me into his office. He was an ex-Ranger and had his medals framed just above the chair I sat in. He spoke in a most gentlemanly manner, truly Old South. After I told him a little of the history behind the charge, he interrupted me, saying (this is paraphrasing, not a true quote), "I may not be able to help you, Mr. Nickerson. Some of what you have told me rings a bell. I know lawyers are supposed to remember everything, but I don't. Corporal Stout may have mentioned this, and thererfore I can't represent you and go to court on something he may have told me about."
"Did you represent him."
"No, but I can't speak of anything he may have told me, and I really don't remember all he spoke about."
"Dan Stout was not involved in this."
"He wasn't?"
"No, only Keith Stout, his wife, Sherry, and her son, Aaron."
"Okay then."
We discussed the case, I left, and soon he called me back to his office. "I have some bad news for you: I called Corporal Stout and asked him if he was involved in this issue of carrying a firearm in public. He said he was. I asked him if it were second hand or direct. He said he was a direct witness."
"That's not true. He was not there."
Bill Davis shrugged his shoulders in a helpless gesture and - here comes the disrpectful part - said, "This is all about your neighbors being terrified that you're carrying a gun down the lane. That's what this is all about!" Bill Davis was telling me that he didn't believe me. First impressions were right. He was too close to the police. At that point, I did not have a copy of the picture the Starlings took of me carrying the sheath knife. Unfortunately, my T-shirt was out and covered the hilt of the knife. But as a Ranger, certainly Bill would have recognized the sheath for a knife sheath and known it was not a handgun holster. I hope that would have made a difference as I would have liked working with him. When I told him about the behavior of the State Attorney toward me - being very short with me and hanging up without saying goodbye and described what she looked like, he said, "She sounds like my intern. I am a professor at the (University of Florida) lawschool." When I had my second visit with him, he had called around about her too and said, "I was right about who that State Attorney was. She had been my intern. I'm sorry you got treated so roughly by her. She wasn't like that here." Peter Nickerson at peternickerson12@yahoo.com or 352-359-0849. Calling is much better.

#123 "The Black Panther Betrayal" Online Book cont.

I talked to Jan whom I had not seen since last summer. He has been accepted into graduate school at the University Of Florida. I told him, "David Maehr says he's never been to Costa Rica."
"That is strange. He was a speaker at the Big Cat conference. He was on the program. Also, he was selling his book there and inscribing it."
"Well, I haven't told him your name, and I don't plan to. This black panther issue is very controversial and political. David has a lot of power, and you have none."
That may sound dramatic, but people do come after people, often for very small reasons. I noticed that Jan's pupils dilated, and I changed the subject by asking what people put out to attract panthers. He replied, "We mixed dry dog food with sardines to make a nice aroma. It worked on smaller animals. It should work on cats. I'm off Mondays and Tuesdays. I'd like to get into the field. I miss it. I'd be glad to go with you."
The next Monday I did not take Jan out into the field, and in retrospect, recognize that was a bad decision. I could have used the company, found an ally in looking at the black panther betrayal, and learned a lot from him. Instead, I called David Maehr. He was not particularly pleasant. I asked him about a reported panther sighting of two panthers and a cub being seen together. "Who are these people who see them?" he asked irritably.
"Well, hunters."
"Yeah!"
As if that ended it.
Then, I told him about possibly seeing an unmentionable type of panther on the Ecofina River. He had no comment except: "Chris Belden (another Florida Fish and Game Commission panther expert) regularly told people who thought they had seen a panther that they hadn't. I don't do that, but people need to have some objectivity before they're believable."
Next time, I will ask him what that "objectivity" would be.
"What's MacBride (a veteran cougar and jaguar hunter the Florida Fish and Game Commission was using along with his pack of dogs to find and tree panthers in Southwest Florida so they could be shot with a tranquilizer dart and then evaluated and treated by veterinarians. The field biologists would attach radio-collars to their neck also.) doing?"
"He's still there, running cats."
"I guess he's never seen a black panther or he wouldn't be working for the Game Commission."
"Absolutely. I've got to go. Bye."
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Bullets From Two-Guns: LIBERAL LIES ALERT: Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, is trying to use hysteria and fear tactics to pass the Pork Stimulus Bill. She is saying that if we delaly in passing the pork bill, "500 million Americans" will lose their jobs "each month" we delay. I've heard her say this several times. Someone needs to tell nattering Nancy that there are "only" a little more than 300 million Americans in Anerica pluse another 10 million or so of illegal aliens. It would be a little difficult for 500 million Americans to lose their jobs each month. But thanks, Nancy, for the lie and the hysteria. Peter Nickerson at peternickerson12@yahoo.com or 352-359-0849.

#120 New Black Panther Sightings

About a month ago, I was dining at MacDonald's in Starke (Florida, USA) and saw a hunter in camouflage standing in line. I picked up a paper napkin to write notes on and went over to him. His name was Ronnie Fogherty, and he had seen a black panther in the Lochloosa Game Management Area which is about twenty miles southeast of Gainesville and The University Of Florida. The event happened last fall when he was bowhunting, and he saw the big cat from about 100 yards. I asked him what the black panther was doing, and Ronnie Fogherty replied pithily, "He was trying to get out of there as fast as possible."
About three weeks ago, I got gas at the S&S store in Worthington Springs (Florda, USA) and noticed a man in a camouflage shirt pumping gas across from me. A dog was in a dog box in the back of his pickup. I asked him the black panther question, and Tim Corbitt, who runs a tree moving and stump grinding business,replied that he had seen a black panther years before when he was hunting in St. Johns County. The cat was only forty yards away. At church that night, Reverend Eddie Gandy said that Bob MacMillan, another church member, had seen a black panther. Bob is a stocky redheaded man and has a beutiful, petite, blond wife. She is the woman who years ago in Bible Study class found a psalm that said that doves had souls. I had asked Brother Eddie if the Bible said animals had souls, and this woman found a supporting passage immediately. After she read the passage, she lost the place, and can't remember where it is. I haven't found it either. Brother Eddie said he knew of no passages in the Bible saying that animals had souls. After service, I found Bob MacMillan and introduced myself to him. He said, "I was dog-hunting up at Sandhill Hunt Club (between Steinhatchee and Perry (Florida) and was driving down the CC (Civilian Conservation) Grade where the Tide Swamp Unit is on one side of the road, and the Sandhill Hunt Club is on the other side. It came out of the Tide Swamp Unit, saw us, and went back into the Tide Swamp Unit. I saw a long black tail. I immediately stopped and yelled at my son who was in his truck right behind me, 'Did you see that?' 'Yes,' he said. We found his tracks in the sand. They were about that wide (indicating one and a half inches). We saw him from about thirty yards. It was very fast. I'd say he was about forty pounds so he must have been a young panthers. Some say it was something that's not even a panther."
"They must be talking about a jaguarundi. They weigh 28 pounds, top."
Please give me your black panther sightings and any signs or sightings of Bigfoot or the Swamp Ape. Peter Nickerson at peternickerson12@yahoo.com or 352-359-0849. Thank you.

#119 "The Black Panther Betrayal" Online Book cont.

Continuing with "The Black Panther Betrayal: Government At Work": " I drove up the road a ways, turned around, and started back. The truck made a huge racket as I slowly accelerated. I drove back to the spot where I may have seen the black panther, but whoever he was, he was gone. I figured that if he were a black lab, he would still be around. I forced myself to keep my left elbow sticking out of the truck window. I called Wayne, he listened to my story, and commented, "You know it was a black panther." Still, I was afraid I was being an hysteric. I also called my wife and told her about the encounter. I started heading home, but after twenty miles I was fairly confident my truck wasn't falling apart so I went back to the Ecofina River, hoping to positively see a black panther. Wayne had suggested rubbing soap on the fan belt, so when I got to the light at the boat ramp, I did that. Sometimes, it comes in handy carrying everything but the kitchen sink on my little expeditions. I also mixed a big bowl of cat chow with a can of sardines. I drove to the spot where I may have seen the big cat and put out the food. With a shudder, I returned to the safety of the truck. A little farther up the road, I put out some corn for the deer. I got home at 2:30 in the morning and was dog-tired the rest of that day. I am still readng, "Swamp Screamer," and have just read that panthers will often be twenty miles in the morning from where they were the previous evening. To Be Continued. Peter Nickerson at 352-359-0849, Alachua, Florida.

"The Black Panther Betrayal" Online Book cont.

Let's continue with the online book, "The Black Panther Betrayal: Government At Work": "One deer came onto the road from the north side and nervously milled about on the road. She appeared not to know what to do. Her companion was waiting for her on the south side of the road, but she appeared reluctant to go into the jungle-woods too. She turned back toward the road but did not step onto it. Both deer were clearly upset and confused. I then flashed my lights at an approaching truck which was the first vehicle I had seen on the road. The truck halted, and both pickups waited until the deer on the road joined her companion on the south side. The truck moved up to me, and being such an extrovert, I hailed the driver saying, "Nice deer, aye?"
"Yeah, these deer are really upset about something. One almost ran into the truck a few yards back. Be careful."
He was about to drive off, so I quickly asked, "Tell me, have you ever seen a black panther?"
First he hesitated and then replied, "I've seen two in the past twelve years."
"When did you see the last one?"
"I saw him last fall."
"What was the situation?" I persisted.
"I was fishing not far from here in my airboat. I had been there a while. He came down to the river. It was a clean shot."
"Oh, I wouldn't shoot one!"
"I wouldn't either. I'm just telling you that I would see him perfectly clear."
"Are you sure it was black?"
"Absolutely. I know there's more than one in here."
His buddy then spoke up, obviously to show me that they were animal lovers as well as hunters and fishermen. Many non-outdoorspeople don't understand how that is possible, but it is true. His buddy said, "We've got two foxes that come into our campfire together. One's only got three legs. Some hunter shot the other one off."
We chatted a bit longer, and I gave them my card. I then proceeded to the end of the road. There was a public landing and the Ecofina River on the left side of the road with a closed lodge and campsite on the right. I turned off the radio to listen to the river and became very aware of how much noise my truck engine was making. Like my father, I am mechanically challenged. First, I thought it was a loose fan belt, but then I worked myself into believing something was wrong with my transmission. I was in the middle of nowhere. Oddly, a huge sign on the side of the road said that firearms were prohibited. Who or what was going to protect you then?
I turned around and headed for Perry, about thirty miles away. I was driving with the air conditioning on, but the window open. That way I was perfectly comfortable but had great vision for what was going on outside the truck. My left arm was resting on the door, and the high beams were on. I continued worrying about the racket coming from under the hood as I passed the spot where the jittery deer had stayed out in the road. I went around a little bend in the road and suddenly, just below my left elbow, I thought I saw a large, black animal with a small, square head tucked between two massive shoulders that rolled as the animal walked. It fit the description of a black panther completely except I didn't see a tail. With all the looking and talking about black panthers that day, I went for a null hypothesis, saying aloud, "It has to be a black lab." To Be Continued
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Bullets From Two-Guns: I was talking to my sister, Sarah, who has been a self-proclaimed socialist most of the life, though now she avoids that label. I said to her, "I look for the day when people are independent and successful enough that people with money are no longer forced to take care of them. I look forward to the day when everyone can either take care of himself or private charity will be adequate to help them. I look forward to people not being forced by the gun and prison to take care of others." Now what could my socialist sister say? She couldn't say, "Oh, I think people should be forced to take care of people period! There's nothing higher than that." You would have to have a very serious character defect to say that. On the other hand, Sarah did not want to admit that if was immoral to force people to take care of other people, so she confused the issue by saying, "You're talking about taxes not welfare." Unfortunately, I got into a discussion of apparently necessary taxes instead of replying, "Public welfare comes from taxes, Sarah."
I promised to give you the name of the very mannerly lawyer who nonetheless was very disrespectful in what he said to me. I tried to find his name, I would know it if I saw it, in the yellow pages, but couldn't. Next time I'm in Gainesville, I will to go by his office. It's very distinctive for it has the highest palm tree in Gainesville in the front.