Mount Ayr Record-News
Mount Ayr, Ringgold County, Iowa
Thursday, November 11, 2010

A vandal in city hall?

That's what it looked like when city employees came into city hall one morning recently.

Papers were strewn around the room. Items were knocked over. The heating vent was pushed open near Lisa DRAKE'S desk. What was going on?

What soon became evident was that there was a vandal -- but it was of the four-legged variety.

The "calling card" left in the middle of city clerk Pam POORE'S desk was one of the clues.

First a search of the upstairs was made, with no miscreant found. City superintendent Chuck WASKE then went down to the basement to continue the search. It was there WASKE got the glimpse of a raccoon as it disappeared out of reach.

Ranger Kate -- new county conservation officer Kate ZIMMERMAN -- was called in with live traps to try to catch the visitor.

One was placed near the entry spot into the office and another in the basement.

Fast forward to the next morning. More mess, a tripped trap in the basement, but no raccoon.

When the heat vent was reset and was hard to push aside, the raccoon made a new hole through the dry wall to come exploring.

It left pawprints on the window, broke some of Pam POORE'S knickknacks on the windowsill and generally made a mess of things again.

Again the raccoon was nowhere to be found.

The next night the traps were reset and this time the raccoon was caught in the trap upstairs.

The only problem was the trap had been set on the carpet in the room.

When the city employees arrived, there lay the raccoon on his [her?] back in the trap, his [her?] legs curled up, sound asleep. The only problem was that the raccoon had shredded up the carpet it could reach, making a pile of carpet shreds to sleep on.

"We should have taken a picture," DRAKE said. "It was a classic pose."

Ranger Kate took the trapped raccon out to the wild to be let out. There was no report if the raccoon received a good talking to for his [her?] vandalism.

NOTE: It doesn't matter. Roxanne doesn't have very good listening 'ears' along with her inability of not being able to play well with others. ~ SRB

It looks like the raccoon gained access to city hall through the chimney -- maybe a dry run for a holiday job.

That pathway into city hall has been closed up, the dry wall replaced and the vent secured. The shredded carpet has been replaced and things are back to normal in city hall.

Folks there are hoping that there's not another vandalism incident -- two-legged or four-legged variety.

And Pam POORE does not want any more "calling cards" on her desk.

Contribution & photograph [doctored up, I'll admit it] by Sharon R. Becker, December of 2010