I had to share a story on a local note that has been interesting me for some time. As I understand it, it all started with our fine Sparta Mayor, John Miller.

As folks go, our mayor has a penchant for spinning yarns and entertaining folks, so I typically enjoy hearing his stories and jokes.

I sometimes steal his material, as he seems to have a particularly good ear for a funny joke.

I remember I was at an event once where he related the story of a couple who had problems remembering things in the current tense. Old memories were not a problem, but finding the wallet and keys or remembering why they walked into a room was always causing problems (and sometimes conflict).

After having problems for some time, they went to the doctor to be checked for Altzheimer's. The doctor told them they need not worry, but suggested they use note pads and pencils to help remember things. "My wife and I do it all the time," the doctor said. "Just stick these little pads in your pocket and make a few notes to help stay on track.

After they returned home, the husband, feeling happy about the good diagnosis, decided to have a little celebratory snack. He told the wife, "I'm going to have myself a little ice cream, would you like some, dear?"

"Sure I would," the wife replied, adding, "But put a little chocolate syrup on mine."

After a moment of pondering, she added, "And some whipped cream and a cherry."

As the husband attempted to leave the room, the wife noted quickly, "You better write that down, you can't remember anything."

"I don't need to write down every little thing, I can remember that you want ice cream with chocolate syrup, whipped cream and a cherry," he said, and walked out in a bit of a huff.

Soon afterwards, the wife heard the sound of the refrigerator opening and closing several times, followed by a drawer opening and then the surprising sounds of pots and pans, stove buttons, rattling untensils and a general commotion in the kitchen.

The wife resigned herself not to bother the husband and instead started a crossword puzzle by her chair.

Quite a few minutes later, the wife saw the husband approaching her chair with a large tray containing a plate of steaming bacon and eggs, a napkin and utensils, a glass of orange juice and a small vase containing a fresh cut flower. "Here you are, dear," he said.

The wife was agitated, noting, "I told you to write down what I wanted," she said.

To which the husband asked, "What's the matter with you? Don't you see how much trouble I went through?"

"But you forgot my toast," said the wife.

A more recent story that was passed along involved the mayor being in the funny story instead of telling it, involving an apparent resurrection and a lawnmower. As it was related to me, Mr. Miller was mowing his grass when he saw a large snake crawling through his yard last month. He ran over it with the mower.

After stopping to investigate, he found the back end of what would have been a very large rattlesnake with numerous rattles. Obviously, the mower didn't do the snake any favors, but it likely did provide ample comfort to our good mayor.

Thinking that no one would believe that a rattlesnake could have been found in downtown Sparta-the mayor and his wife live on Main Street-he called Tommy Calhoun, who has a business nearby. Tommy then skinned the snake so the mayor could tell others about his find.

Quite obviously, several local residents were quite concerned about the snake discovery, with the logic being that where there is one snake, there are likely more. "Who would have thought that rattlesnakes could be living in town in this day and time?"

Much speculation arose on how such a large snake could have grown in the city, with houses close to each other and so many public streets, without having been seen before.

As the talk commenced, it invariably reached the local center of conversation (or at least one of them), the Dollar Mart.

As I understand it, one of the customers took a particular interest in the tale of the rattled-tail snake.

As it has been relayed to me, the snake had been caught by a fellow, Ray Todd, who had hit it in the head and threw it in the back of his truck with the intention of getting it mounted. After all, rattlesnakes aren't as common as they once were-especially not large rattlesnakes like this one.

While I've heard it several different ways, I understand it had between 11 and 12 rattles in place. But for the sake of a good story, we might as well make it 13.

As I was saying, Mr. Todd apparently had stopped by the Dollar Mart to do a bit of shopping or perhaps eat lunch and then had his prize slither right out of the back of the truck.

He may have thought that something had stolen his prize, never dreaming that he actually had a live rattlesnake in the bed of the truck, nor that he had been handling the deadly creature whilst it was still alive.

As it turns out, the snake was found-the first time-somewhere in the Ennice area. However, it likely wouldn't have made near the story that it ended up had it simply died in the garden or alongside the road or even in a little patch of woods and been mounted on a board.

I can just imagine Mr. Todd, whom I might point out I don't think I've met, telling everyone about how he killed a giant rattlesnake and someone saying, "Pshaw." "Well come and see if you don't believe me, it's right out here in the back of the truck," he might have responded.

Then saying, upon arriving at the truck, surprise evident on his face, "Something must have drug it out of the truck!" "Sure, maybe it was Santa Claus and he was taking it to the rattlesnake festival," my doubting Thomas might have replied.

In this case, that might be as easily believed as coming back to life and crawling through town to the Mayor's backyard, only to die a second death.

If don't believe any of this, just ask Tommy- I was told he has that snake skin at his shop.
 

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