CBS 3 Your Source For Inflatable Rat News

Big news on the front page of CBS 3:

Yeah, I still can’t believe the Supreme Court just gave that rat the election.

(Oh, and if you’re wondering, this is a free speech case in front of the New Jersey Supreme Court, stemming from an incident where a union was fined $133 for protesting with said inflatable rat in front of a Gold’s Gym. The Camden Courier-Post has more.)

Legitimacy Of Giant, Inflatable Rat Questioned [CBS 3]

Cape May Should Not Have Crossed Cats

Score another win for the federal government! Earlier this year, the feds (along with the state of New Jersey) encouraged Cape May to move a colony of feral cats off the beachfront because they might kill endangered birds. The cats were moved off the beach, and now the beach has a skunk problem.

Animal Control Officer John Queenan said he has gotten very few calls about skunks on the beachfront in his 23 years of working in the city but that suddenly he is being inundated with such calls. Queenan said he relocated the feral cats to the Cape May Harbor area in February, and he began receiving skunk complaints this summer. “Nature takes its own course. One species in eradicated and another comes in,” Queenan said.

There isn’t much Queenan can do, he said. The new beach-management plan designed to protect piping plovers and other endangered species takes control of predators - except cats - on the strand out of his hands. It is up to the state Division of Fish and Wildlife to deal with the skunks.

Queenan recommends using coffee cans filled with ammonia-soaked rags to deter skunks, and notes that they would not be there if not for a food source. [...] However, Queenan says that removing the skunks may invite another problem, such as the Norway rats that live in the jetties. There is food and shelter, so wildlife will fill the void once occupied by the feral cats.

If you didn’t get all that, let’s recap: Cats could eat endangered birds, so the cats were moved. This brought in skunks, who if moved will bring in rats. So the only way to stop the skunks is to put ammonia-soaked rags in coffee cans. Ahh, yes, what a wonderful time down the shore, smelling skunks mixed with ammonia and coffee beans.

As far as I know, the Atlantic City boardwalk cats are still okay.

Feral cats gone, Cape May now as a problem of a different stripe [Press of Atlantic City]
Photo by Andrew Larsen, Creative Commons License

Camden Courthouse To Collapse In A Minute Or So

Got a leak in your apartment? Maybe a broken cabinet door? A slow drain? Maybe a mouse or two?

Well, you have nothing on the Parkade building in Camden.

This really can’t be contained in paragraph form, so — and I really hate to do this for the second article in a row, but — I have to go to charticle format. The Parkade building, which houses probation, juvenile and child-support offices, has:

• a leaky roof, leaving half of the top floor unusable.
• deteriorated to the point where you can see through a wall.
• concrete, metal and other tiles falling on workers from the ceilings.
• unreliable elevators that smell like urine and frequently break down.
• a worker who contracted Legionnaires’ disease.

More »

Blogicized: Money Woes?

• Is the Delaware Republican Party going broke? Would make sense. After all, they’re supposed to be the more fiscally responsible party, right? [Delaware Watch]

• Hey, guess what? There are rats! In the city! And not just in the subways! [Metroblogging Philadelphia]

• Remind me that, if I ever get into an argument with my cell phone company, not to write a missive as long as most PW cover stories — 3,396 words — about it. [Phillybits]

• Wait, I’m supposed to make fun of this, too, aren’t I? Right? Well, a commenter took care of it for me: “Um, I don’t even know where to begin. You kids make it that much easier for me to move. Oh well, good luck with what may very well be the sweat pants of all -ists.” Ba-zing! [Phillyist]

• JGT Update: In Chicago, heading to storm-damaged St. Louis soon. [Traffic.com Roadtrip]

Quickies: When Animals (And Presidents) Go Bad

• Animals strike back, part one: Rats are terrorizing a Kensington family. “They stand on the fence, sniffing around and playing with their fingers,” says a Kensington resident. Oh, and I didn’t make that quote up. [NBC 10]

• Animals strike back, part two: A beaver dam was causing concern over in Jersey. Then the humans struck back in turn — don’t they always? — and destroyed the football field-size dam. Beavers just can’t catch a break. [6 ABC]

• If you hurry, you can hear some people talk about impeachin’ the prez over at the Central Library at noon. And none of them are Canadian rockers. [Inky]

Is it REALLY a protest without a giant rat?

Wow. Now Comcast is just flaunting it. Pays to be the biggest, I guess.

Education is like a rat, or something

Yes, Thursday has come and gone and I didn’t mention any Northeast Times letters. Fear not! There’s a letter in this week’s edition that’s better than 20 rants about Mayor Street:

Education leads to power of the mind

Yes! The recognition of the power of the mind. You have to discover the power that you hold inside of you. Education is the key that unlocks the door to life. But you need to pick up that key and put it in the lock.

Education is the hammer and your life is the nail. Use that hammer to bang in the nail. Poor people lack education. That is why they are out there calling to people. And only at night will the rats answer their call. If you keep on going back into a poor man’s history, it will always go back to lack of education. Only a poor fool who lacks education will accept it eagerly but then squander it on folly. For is that not how he became poor? Is it not?

Wait. So is education a hammer or a key? And can I use education to end the rat problem in my building? I’m so confused.

Education leads to power of the mind [Northeast Times, last letter]