Va. Governor Signs 'Official Bat' Bill
Posted on: Monday, 28 March 2005, 21:00 CST
RICHMOND, Va. - Governor Warner, indulging his muse,
On Monday put his pen to use,
Signing a new law that
Makes a big-eared brown bat
The state's official cave-dwelling recluse.
In four limerick verses, the poet-in-chief explained why he signed legislation that gives the Virginia big-eared bat the same standing as the brook trout (the official state fish) and Chesapecten jeffersonius (state fossil).
"We have a state dog and a fish and a bird,
And of the fossil I'm sure that you've heard.
So why not a bat?
What's wrong with that?
The state beverage is no more absurd," read one verse ascribed to Warner in a news release.
The Virginia Cave Board proposed designating an official bat as a way to educate people about the commonwealth's caves and the creatures that inhabit them. The legislation was introduced by Del. Jackie Stump, D-Buchanan.
The bill won overwhelming passage in both houses of this year's General Assembly despite a tongue-in-cheek bid by a baseball fan in the Senate to declare the Louisville Slugger the official state bat instead.
The flying mammal assumes the same rarefied status Virginia affords the northern cardinal (state bird), the Chesapeake Bay deadrise (state boat), the American fox hound (state dog) and the dogwood (state flower and tree).
As for the official state drink: Got milk?
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On the Web
Gubernatorial limericks online: http://www.governor.virginia.gov/
Source: Associated Press/AP Online
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