Kids Today Have it Tough

Eek!: Men flee after seeing 'giant rat'.

VIRGINIA, Minn. - A furry, uninvited guest had manly men at an Iron Range tire shop shrieking and hopping on desks. "It was pretty humorous," said conservation officer Dan Starr, who filed a report on the critter's break-in. "Here were these big, burly outdoors guys running around screaming." Taconite Tire employees arrived at work on Monday to find what they thought was a giant rat inside the store.

"I was the first one into work that morning and the first one out," said Shannon Bergman, an off-road tire salesman. "I walked in, and in the waiting area I saw this big rat, and I took off."

Mayhem ensued.

Are there any men left in Minnesota?

Back in the day, before we learned what the word 'slum' meant, Grandpa Jerry and I would spend our summer days flushing rats out of their holes and our nights 'shining' and shooting or bludgeoning them in the farm's buildings. Dad promised to pay us a nickel per rat pelt and a penny per mouse. As I recall his debt rose to 78 cents apiece.

Dad never paid the debt, but neither Jerry nor I thought to seek reparations from the federal government.