Possum Drop

Here in our little neck of the woods in the Southern Appalachians, also known as Western N.C. an eighteen year old tradition is being threatened by a group that calls themselves P.E.T.A. Most of you have heard of them but for the ones that haven't it means People Against Ethnic Treatment of Animals...

Next to my community is a  small community called Brasstown  and each year on New Year's Eve a man called Clay Logan has an event called The Possum Drop. Now some may have heard of it since he has been on the morning shows in years past.. Clay owns a little country store known as Clay's Corner and right beside it, he has a little stage that's set up for the event. They have good, down home, clean fun. No alcohol what so ever on the premises . Clay sees to that.. They usually start off with good singing and picking and church groups come out and sing  then they have a Womanless Beauty Pagent. At the end of the night just before the clock strikes midnight they start the lowering of the possum and at twelve o'clock  the possum is on the ground in a Flexi Glass Cage. Weeks before this event Clay goes out and finds the scrawniest possum he can find, puts it in a pen and feeds it dog and cat food until its sides are sticking out.. He was quoted as saying he grooms it and bathes it, blows it dry with a hair dryer, all for the big event..The possum is taken care of so much and pampered that Clay said it didn't even want to leave after he puts it back out into the wild.. He also was quoted as saying, There's all kinds of possums running around on Brasstown holding up little signs that says "Take me this year".

Each year he goes by what the law says, he fills out all the necessary paper work and gets his permit that allows him to catch and hold a wild animal.. But P.E.T.A. has already been saying that it would be ok if he killed the possum and lowered its carcuse but not while it's alive. It scares it to much..Go Figure..

Well, today they finally found a Judge that agreed with them and he handed down an order that says Clay Logan can't lower anymore possums on New Year's Eve..

Now when one ponders on this , one would think there's a lot more pressing things in the country to worry about , like helping the Victims of Hurricane Sandy or helping to feed the needy and hungry. Before you go and jump to conclusions let me say this, I love animals to no end and they become our family. I would NEVER be mean to any animal or ever condone it...It's against my beliefs and the way I was raised. But if this is called being mean to an animal I'd hate to see what real abuse is..

As for Clay Logan, he said in the news paper that he would be having something but he doesn't know what .. Knowing Clay, he'll probably go out and get some Road Kill and puts it in a Flexi Glass Cage. I just hope he seals it really tight.

So our little Mountain Tradition will go on with or without the possum, it's not over yet.