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The Pied Piper of Peterville

     And now with the WCCO midday report, here's Phil Elliot:

     "Good afternoon CCO'land I'm surrounded by picketers and police in front of the Hue Gudmer house in downtown St. Peter Minnesota covering a piece of technology which is testing the scope of state and federal animal rights laws. 

     The controversy began last Friday when Mr. Gudmer installed the Singing Bucket Insect Removal System in his yard.

     The difference between this, and other means of eradicating household bugs such as cockroaches, ants, and termites, is that instead of setting up traps, or spraying problem areas with poisonous chemicals, the Singing Bucket entices the crawly critters out of the house by sending out a pleasing ultra-high frequency tone. Attempting to reach the source housed at the bottom of the apparatus, bugs of all kinds fall into the five gallon pail where they happily remain until disposed of.

     Problems arose when next door neighbor Unis Jenson went to bed Saturday night. Instead of hearing as she puts it, "God's little black angelic choir," she heard nothing. It seems the Singing Bucket, which has a range of approximately one hundred yards, not only attracted household pests, but the harmless outdoor variety as well, including Mrs. Jenson's crickets.

     After numerous unsuccessful attempts at convincing Gudmer to switch to a more cricket-friendly way of roasting his roaches, or annihilating his ants, Unis contacted various organizations including PETA  (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), Insect Magazine, and the National Wildlife Organization all of which urged area members to pressure local government into creating an ordinance to silence the Singing Bucket.

     An agreement was thought to have been reached, when Gudmer announced yesterday that he would go through his bucket-o-bugs each afternoon and remove any crickets before transporting the rest to 7 Mile Creek Park to be released. Animal activists, who turned out in especially large numbers to applaud the compromise, took the law into their own hands after watching Gudmer release the first three choir members into a nearby bug zapper.

     By the time authorities arrived on the scene both the Singing Bucket and the bug zapper were destroyed.

     Gudmer, who filed charges against the protestors, their organizations, and Mrs. Jenson, installed a new Singing Bucket and promised to release more crickets later today.

     For WCCO in St. Peter, I'm Phil Elliot.

      Justin Olmanson

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