The Sattler Series: Worms & the Hershey Editorial Cartoon

The students were coming in from recess and stopping by the water fountains outside my classroom door to get drinks when the screaming began. 

A student came running into my room and cried, "Mrs. I, Mrs. I!! There are WORMS in the drinking fountain!"

What?? Surely not. Had I not heard the screams, I would've thought the child was pranking me. 

I stepped out into the hallway to investigate, and OH MY GOSH! THERE WERE WORMS IN THE DRINKING FOUNTAIN!

I called the school office and reported the issue. My call was met with confusion and, "Worms? Worms!! How could that be? I'll be right down!"

I stepped into the hallway again and scooped up a few of the worms into a paper cup, handing it to the school secretary when she hurried down to my hallway. The look on her face when she peeked into that paper cup! (I think it matched mine.)

Within 24 hours the worms in our drinking fountain had made the national news. 

Dave's editorial cartoon for that week looked like this:

A clever idea, but appalling to those of us who were there. Including Dave's wife, Nancy, whose classroom was next door to mine.

Out of respect for her and the school, he agreed to draw another editorial cartoon for the week and not use the PTA bait one. But he did make prints of that same cartoon and gave them to any teacher who asked to have one.

Of course, I was all in on that, even though I had been the teacher who'd first found the worms. 

A disclaimer on the cartoon carried a note that this editorial cartoon had never been published.

I was glad, especially since Hershey's name was on the cartoon FIVE times.

Dave caught the kids' reaction to finding worms in the drinking fountain with this image of a rather sickly green student.

The question we all had was, where had the worms come from? 

The answer was that school was built in 1964 and the drinking fountains were original to the building. The worms were drain worms, which are not uncommon in sink drains old or new. (Ever had a tiny insect buzzing around the drain in your kitchen or bathroom sink? It's most likely a drain worm.)

As such, drain worms are not IN the water source, they come from where the water goes after the tap has been turned on. And that is the drain, hence the name.

Luckily, the worms the kids and I were seeing were coming out of the drain and not the faucet. (Not that that made me feel any better.)

The principal told me that he'd taken care of the drain worms. I was NOT comfortable when I watched him pour bleach down the drain and call it good. Sure enough, later that day more worms were in the bowl of the fountain.

So, I privately took matters into my own hands.

I called a well known entomologist at Purdue - Tim, as in my barn owner. I explained what I had seen and captured, and that the problem had been handled by pouring bleach down the drain. I asked if that bleach would handle the problem.

Tim felt as I did - the fountains needed far more than bleach.

"When were the fountains last replaced?" he asked me.

"Never. They are from when the school was built in 1964." (Which was about 50 years ago at that time.)

A very long pause by Tim.

"Bring me that sample you have. I am pretty sure that they are just drain worms, but I'll look at them just to be sure. And, I served on the school board for years. I'm gonna make some calls. Fountains that are so old that the drain worms are crawling up the pipes is unacceptable. The fountains need to be replaced."

And Tim was as good as his word. He examined the worms I'd brought him and yes, they were drain worms. Harmless and not in the water we'd all been drinking. The fountains outside my classroom were turned off and had yellow "Do Not Cross" tape placed over them and the kids had to hike to another hallway if they wanted a drink. (If I remember right, bottled water was provided during this time to those of us who were in that part of the building.)

A couple of weeks later, three shiny new fountains were installed, and then during the summer the entire school also received new fountains.

Five years later when I retired, I still had not drunk the water at Hershey - be it from a drinking fountain or from the ice machine in the teachers' lounge. Never again - I brought bottled water from home.

And that is the worm story that I promised to share.

Stay 'tooned!

 

Surgical Incision & Text/Email Chain Photos

Teachinmama functions as my journal, and so once in a while I put something very personal in it. This is one of those times - I am posting photos of my incision from my recent distal pancreatectomy and splenectomy because I want to remember them.

Beware - if you are squeamish, this may not be the post for you.

 At home, three weeks post op. The steri-strips did not fall off on their own as they should have

 so I had to peel them off. The visiting nurse suggested that I take every other one off

 and work my way down my belly.

 The scar was raised a bit from the steri-strips having pulled it up, but that soon went down.

 Leslie wanted to see my scar (she'd just had back surgery), so I took a photo of my front and of my own spinal fusion scar from 2016 to share with her.

 It's pretty long!

While I was in surgery and in the hospital, Craig did a texting and email chain with our kids and my closest friends. Nancy Kelly volunteered to pass his texts on to some of my hobby friends.

Here's that video app that Todd was hoping for!

I don't think I said anything too loopy!

Once home, Nancy Sattler brought me a beautifully presented chicken salad meal.

 with a yummy chocolate pudding dessert.

Dave Sattler Roast and Toast

Dave Sattler drew the editorial cartoon for the Sunday Journal and Courier for nearly 50 years. Recently retired from cartooning, the town celebrated him last Saturday night with a roast and toast. Since Dave is a friend (and his wife, Nancy, a close friend and former colleague at Hershey), Craig and I went. We were not disappointed.

 It was held at the Long Center (the old Mars theater) in downtown Lafayette.

 Our seats were down in front and close to the stage.

I had not seen Nancy for a few months, and she seemed surprised and touched that I was there. In fact, their whole family was there - kids, grandkids, and siblings. It was a very big night for them all.

 Nancy is one of the best teachers I have ever known. She offered a lot to her students and is still missed at Hershey. To say she was legendary would truly be an understatement.

 The roasters/toasters from left to right: Tom Turpin, John Norberg, Angie Klink, Mark Brandyberry, Dave Sattler, Jo Wade, John Dennis (mayor of West Lafayette), and Tony Roswarski (mayor of Lafayette).

As each panel member roasted and toasted Dave, a cartoon he had drawn of them was shown overhead.

 Dave was the concluding speaker, and he got the opportunity to roast and toast his fellow panel members. The evening lasted two hours and was hilarious. Craig and I laughed and laughed.

I have my own Dave Sattler portrait that Dave did as a gift to me. It is one of my treasures, and hangs in our bedroom. Knowing how much I loved Boo, the little cat that often appeared in Dave's drawings (and was their real cat), he included Boo in my drawing. (I used to email Dave on Sundays as president of the fictional Boo Fan Club if Boo was not in that week's cartoon and file a "complaint" about the missing kitty.)

Just as Nancy is deeply missed at Hershey, Dave's chronicling of Lafayette through his cartoons will leave a big hole in the fabric of our community.

Goodbye to Boo

My favorite cartoon kitty is Boo, the little black cat that appears in Dave Sattler's editorial cartoons. But there is a living counterpart to Boo the cartoon - Boo the real cat!

Dave's wife Nancy taught with me for years and I got to know both Dave and Boo through her. She often told Boo stories while we ate lunch, sharing that Boo got up on Friday mornings at 3:00 AM and went to the basement with Dave, sitting on the drawing table while Dave drew that week's editorial cartoon. When I learned that the cat was so patient with their grandchildren that he would let them put diapers on him and play with him as though he were a doll, I was hooked - I was a true Boo fan.

And so, I dubbed myself the president of the Boo Fan Club and "campaigned" via tongue-in-cheek emails to Dave for more appearances of Boo. Dave always responded with some sort of witty remark or another. For example, when this editorial ran November 20, 2011, I fired off an email to him asking why Boo was not in the picture.

He responded that Boo was hiding behind the newspaper vending machine.

The next week, November 27, 2011, Boo reappeared.

(Dave received a heartfelt thank you note from the Fan Club president that Sunday.)

Two months later, I was preparing to send yet another "protest" email on behalf of the Fan Club when something caught my eye.

Tiny kitty ears in the bottom lefthand corner of the cartoon! (January 22, 2012)

Even sneakier - look in the car on the right side - see the ears again? (February 2, 2012)

I think Dave really liked that strategy because here it is again. (March 18, 2012)

Once in a more serious email he said that there were times when including Boo just wasn't appropriate because a cat would not be in the situation portrayed. This way he could still get the cat in for those of us who looked forward to his appearances.

Here is an example of that in an earlier comic. Notice how Boo is not in the left panel?

Now look at the silhouette on the right panel - there he is on the far right!  (November 6, 2011)

Dave even added Boo in the portrait he drew of me in 2012 after visiting my classroom and talking to the kids about cartooning.

This picture is one of my treasures, all the more so because Boo is in it.

Sadly, Boo died last Tuesday (May 13.) He had become very ill and was in the vet hospital for several days. Nancy told me that it became apparent that Boo was not going to make it, and so they had him euthanized. He is buried on the top of the hill behind their home in the woods where he used to roam. And she told me that Dave is planning a tribute cartoon soon. I am very much looking forward to that.

A final cartoon, the one and only time Boo had a voice in one of Dave's editorials.

Boo, you were never chopped liver, to me or to the others who looked hopefully for you on the Sunday editorial page week after week! Thanks for all the memories. You will be missed.

(All pictures posted with Dave Sattler's permission.)