OTUS THE HEAD CAT : Children rally to support rat as beloved wastewater mascot
Posted on Saturday, May 10, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/Style/225315/
Dear Otus,
I read with great interest your April 26 column about Capt. Sewer, the Little Rock Wastewater Utility mascot.
Shivers went down my spine as I read the letter from Albern Nagetier of Camden as he described “the thought of poor traumatized children awakening in the night screaming in terror from visions of giant razor-toothed sewer rats creeping up their drains.”
I actually went to check our drains just in case.
So you can imagine my horror and shock when later that very day, with my children in tow, I attended the Arkansas Earth Day Festival and Concert at the Clinton Presidential Center and Park.
In addition to the many booths on living green, eco-friendly gizmos, and bicycles that filter water, there was, right before our eyes, the very giant rat of which I had read that morning. Capt. Sewer, as he’s called, was prancing about the booth and occasionally making terrifying squeaking noises. I recoiled in fear and loathing and grasped to my bosom my three precious children, Remy, Emile and Django. I was backing slowly away toward the not insubstantial protective bulwark of Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola when I noticed something bizarre. My smiling children were fixated on Capt. Sewer. They couldn’t take their eyes off him. I got to thinking that maybe his beneficial message of conservation and civic responsibility overshadows the fact that the mascot is a creature that, thanks to its disease-bearing ectoparasites, was responsible for the plague deaths of countless millions over the centuries. Could Capt. Sewer not be a brown or black rat, but rather a much more lovable wood rat ? I’d feel better about him. — Maggie Muroidea
Alexander
Dear Maggie,
I never cease to be amazed at the power of this humble little column and the collective influence of its estimated 1. 77 million readers once they are marshaled.
The cautionary letter from the Camden reader that was highlighted in the initial column started a firestorm of support for Capt. Sewer and the rat costume.
An SOS (Save Our Sewer ) campaign sprang up overnight, and so many children wrote in (an estimated 12, 000 ) that Little Rock Wastewater Utility has sacked its new Capt. Stinky Sewer mascot in favor of the traditional rat.
There can be no more touching and moving plea for the continuation of the rat than the letter below from Capt. Joseph Sewer himself — the man within the costume. His words are eloquent and from the very core of his larger-than-life rodentia heart. I let them speak for themselves:
Dear Otus,
I appreciate the concerns I read about in last week’s column. I echo these concerns and I want you to know that I, too, believe that children are our future and that we should teach them well and let them lead the way. I also believe that we are the children. We are the ones to make a better day so let’s start giving.
Here I stand accused of being aesthetically displeasing and atrocious, but can I not be a rat on the outside and a human on the inside ? I am Quasimodo, born into a position of which I had no choice; I am Cyrano de Bergerac, hiding in the shadows for fear of judgment.
I go to classrooms and teach children about water conservation and proper grease disposal. Ask the young ones at Gibbs Elementary or Fuller Middle School if I frightened them. I assure you that you will be met with disbelief and asked in return, “Are you speaking of the adorable, furry, blue-eyed creature that hugged us and taught us the ways of peace and posterity ? Surely you are mistaken, for he frightens us not, but rather he shows us what it means to love, to build and to prosper.”
And this is from the mouth of a 4-year-old.
Here I stand accused by a resident of Camden — the Queen City, where history lives — where I was born and raised. I was a loyal Camden Panther (not a Camden-Fairview Cardinal ) and my loyalty has served no purpose if I now face judgment at the end of a pointing finger for nothing more than being who I am — a gentle giant; an educator; a friend of friends. I will continue on undeterred by ridicule or accusations, for I have a mission, which is this: I am dedicated to your future and environment. Thank you, Otus.
Sincerely, — Captain Joseph Sewer Little Rock Wastewater Until next time, Kalaka reminds you that if the rats are still around, the ship is not yet sinking. Disclaimer: Fayetteville-born Otus the Head Cat’s award-winning column of humorous fabrication appears every Saturday. E-mail: mstorey@arkansasonline. com