Stories From The Past

Greetings from the present my friends and readers. Today I have thought about starting a new trend for myself. I thought I would start writing once in a while about events that happened during my career. Mostly because I want to share stories about my days as a police officer. But also because I want to try and record some of these events due to my failing memory. Of course the events will be disclosed as I remember them now. It will my perspective of the event as it happened anywhere from a year to 21 years ago. I have many fond memories of my career and I never tire sharing the excitement of days gone by. It is nice to be able to say "I loved my job". So here goes with my first story. As time goes by some be rather graphic, maybe I should warn you in the title of that rating...??? I will work on that thought. But we won't need it for today

That's A Lot of Bull

As a girl growing up I was around cattle a lot. We had cows on our little country acreage, bought and sold calves, butchered our own beef, and of course I had my show steers. We had a pet Brahma calf that my brother and I snuck into the house when my parents were at work, we had unwelcome bulls come onto our property, we had livestock around a lot during my 18 years at home. So when we got the call early one Sunday morning about a bull running loose in down town Enid I thought, "Oh Boy!" Sure enough there was a bull, a lot of bull running loose. He was ever bit of 2000 pounds, a huge red bull, and I had no idea who he belonged to. And what do you do with a big bull that is loose you ask? NOTHING. What could I do with him? We called for animal control to come out and help (laugh, laugh, laugh) What are they going to do??? We needed to call a couple cowboys with ropes or get a tranquilizer gun ready. This guy was going through yards, going out in traffic, going right through anything in his way. I know you should not crowd him, don't get him running, don't spook him, just keep things calm. Well not all police officers are like me. This big guy didn't want to be bothered by any of us, but we had to keep him out of the road, we didn't want him tearing up yards, gardens, etc. and we did try to move him back to an area where we thought he might have come from. But he is in down town Enid. It seems we chased this guy for hours trying to "herd" him back to an area where we thought he came from. We made phone call after phone call trying to figure out who might own him. It seems we checked brands (not so unlike labels on a can of soup!!) trying to figure out which farmer owned him. But all to no avail. No one knew who he belonged to, no one wanted to claim him and he had a mind of his own. This bull had gone all over town by mid-morning. The old saying the grass is greener on the other side of the fence??? Well there were a lot of fences and he must have been hungry. Because he kept going to the next "pasture". I remember towards the end of our round up this bull was headed towards Meadowlake Park. I nice family park where people gathered for outings and reunions. There is a little lake there, a train for the kids to ride, along with other rides ie, merry-go-round, little airplanes on chains that swing, a nice little family park many years old. And the bull was headed right for it. He crossed Van Buren, also known as Highway 81. Our four lane going north and south through town. We are trying to get there to stop traffic, I guess you know in Enid the bull has the right of way if he chooses to cross the street and he does not use cross walks either. So can you see a bunch of small town cops chasing a big agitated bull in down town, south of town, around town Enid Oklahoma when he heads right for the park. He is not a happy camper, he is not going where we tell him, he is mad as a bull in a china shop(what a pun) and he is headed towards what I think is a family reunion. I see a little old lady there right in his path. I fear the worse. She is probably about 80 years old, a frail white haired little old lady. No body seems to be paying attention that a big ole mean bull is headed right towards her. Where are the men of the reunion? The brave men and boys that should be there protecting the family. I look and do see some running away, people pointing and laughing at the event. I see horror on some faces, that was probably mine in the mirror as I fear what is about to happen and I can't get there to save her. She is going to be mowed down by this raging stampeding bull with death and destruction on its mind. Do I draw my weapon and shoot it? No, too many people in the line of fire...this is my nightmare and I am living it right now. I scream for her to move, get out of the way, run , (what was I thinking, she is 80 years old for Pete's sake) and here it comes. This little frail lady reaches into her sleeve as all grandmas do, and pulls out her hankie. Her little white lace hankie, and grabbing it by the corner she starts waving it in the air and in her firm old lady voice says, "Shoo bull, shoo!" "now you just get on out of here". That bull stops!!! He looks at her, gives a little snort her way and turns and goes off the other way. I stood there with my mouth opened, had to pick my jaw up from the ground as the majestic red bovine of over one ton, turns at the request of a little old lady and goes away. You just had to see it to believe it.

The bull was later captured and taken to a vet clinic while he was held awaiting his owners return. Funny, he was never claimed and the bull was later sold at auction I believe. But it made front page of the Enid News and Eagle about 20 years ago! Some moments should probably not be published!!!!