7/31/2019 Dancers of the dark
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6 The WoodsTock IndependenTJuly 25-31, 2012
Cheryl Wormley
Publisher, Co-Owner
Paul Wormley
Co-Owner
John C. Trione
General Manager
mike neumann
News Editor
The WoodsTock IndependenT
Wt, IL w 1987
The ediTorial BoardCheryl WormleyJohn C. rioneMike
NeumannKatelyn StanekJay Schulz
Fun for all
at thecounty fairTe McHenry County Fair will return
Wednesday to Sunday, Aug. 1 to 5, bringingwith it the
entertainment and tradition thathas built it into one o the most
anticipatedannual county events.
Woodstock is lucky to host the county aireach year, bringing in
thousands rom othercommunities within the county and beyond.
Te air will eature many staples the4-H barns, tractor pulls,
demolition derbies,carnival rides and games, talent contests,
theMcHenry County Queen pageant and more
as well as a ew new estivities.Tis year, the 4-H
wether/ur/eather sale
will take place at 6 p.m. Aug. 3. A barnyardbuddies small animal
education expo willtake place near the bee barn Aug. 2 to 5 aswell.
Tese new events compliment the rela-tively newer beer and
entertainment tent,which will eature live music by the AuntJanet
Band, Modern Day Romeos, Hans andthe Hormones, rash Martinis and
the JenaeCherry Band.
Te air also will honor two McHenryCounty residents whose impacts
on theMcHenry County Fair run deep. Aug. 1 will beDon Peasley Day
at the air. Peasley, Wood-stock, has covered the air as a news
report-er or more than 60 years and has played an
active role in promoting and supporting theevents. Aug. 2 will
be Stuart Wells Day. Wells,Harvard, has a long history o
supportingthe 4-H program in the county. Te Indepen-dentthanks both
men or their contributionsto the air.
Daily admission to the air will be $7 oradults, $3 or senior
citizens 65 years andolder and children ages 8 to 12. Children 7and
younger are ree. Season passes can bepurchased or $15. For more
inormationabout the air, including a complete listing oevents,
visit www.mchenrycountyair.com.Te Independentwill eature multiple
storiesabout the air in next weeks edition.
Te Independentreminds readers to limitoutside water use as
Woodstock continues tooperate under mandatory water restrictionsdue
to the drought plaguing the area. Even-numbered addresses may use
outside wateron even calendar days between 6 p.m. and9 a.m. Odd-
numbered addresses may useoutside water on odd calendar days
betweenthe same hours. Wonder Lake has imposedsimilar restrictions.
Even-numbered resi-dences can water on even- numbered daysand
odd-numbered residences can water onodd-numbered days rom midnight
to 9 a.m.
OpiniOn ContaCt [email protected]
our vIeW
wig i
email lttr t t itr t [email protected] mail
tm t 671E. Calhoun St., Woodstock, IL 60098.
column
Sometimes in the evening,shadowy shapes can be seen yingthrough
the air rom tree to treeor circling the sky beneath thestars. Tese
creatures, lovers o thewitching hour, avoid daylight andonly come
out at night to stalk theirprey.
In recent months, the McHenryCounty Department o Health
hasreceived calls rom upset residentswho have come across orms
othese intruders hiding out in theirbedrooms or other rooms o
theirhouses. Venturing out primarilyat night, these little beasties
arethe vampires o McHenry County,though theyre almost
alwaysharmless to humans and, unortu-nately, not one o the sparkly
andhandsome wilight (movie) char-acters Im sure many women
wouldlove to run into.
Tere are more than 1, 200 spe-cies o bats and 12 are
spottedregularly in Illinois. Several specieslive in McHenry County
includingthe big brown bat, the eastern pip-istrelle, the evening
bat, the hoarybat and the little brown myotis.Many hibernate in
Illinois, whileothers migrate arther south dur-
ing the all and winter. Illinois batseed almost exclusively on
insects.Te McHenry County Department
o Health encourages people to trapan indoor bat by closing a
door andplacing a blanket over it, then call-ing Animal Control or
releasing thecreature outdoors.
Bats tend to live in caves, trees,
burrows, ow-ers, termitenests and largespider webs.Tey can live
be-tween 25 and 40years, and manyspecies pro-duce only onelive
ospringper year. Lessthan .05 percento bats carryrabies, contraryto
what manypeople believe.
As mentionedpreviously, bats are harmless. Teyare excellent or
the environmentand control agricultural pests andannoying insects
such as mosqui-toes a little brown bat can eat upto 1,000
mosquito-sized insectsper hour. Our ying riends alsodisperse seeds
or plants and aidin pollination. Bat ConservationInternational
believes a loss o batswould lead to devastating conse-quences in
the environment, andthe organization strives to inormand educate
people in order to stopbat population decline around the
world.Te majority o bat species eedon insects, though some
tropicalamily members eed on ruit ornectar. Some also eat fsh,
rogs,mice and birds. Te dreaded vam-pire bat lives exclusively in
LatinAmerica, and, contrary to popularbelie, the three species o
vampire
Dancers of the darkbats primarily eed on the blood obirds and
mammals and rarely attackhumans. Like many myths surround-
ing bats including the phobia aboutbats getting entangled in
ones hair(why would a bat purposely decide toget stuck in someones
hair?), the no-tion that bats love to eed on the bloodo humans is
nothing more than alegendary myth brought about due toear o
vampires.
Te McHenry County ConservationDistrict oers workshops and
bat-re-lated events throughout the year, suchas the Barn Full o
Bats inormationsession, which provides inormation,activities,
echolocation demonstra-tion and trivia or adults and children,and
ends with a tour o the NorthernPump Barn, wherein hundreds o
bats
leave every evening to east on insectsin the area.
Personally, I like bats. I fnd themcute in a creepy way, and I
was onceupset with a ormer boyriend or kill-ing a baby bat he ound
in his house. Ibelieve, like Bat Conservation Inter-national,
education is key. Like manycreatures (except or large,
hand-sizedspiders), these dancers o the dark aresimply
misunderstood. An easy way tolearn more about them and ease
anylingering ears would be to purchasea bat house and watch them at
work,gobbling up the insects that wouldnormally attack people.
Te more we learn about these
creatures o the night, the more wellrealize how benefcial they
are to ourworld.
For inormation, visit batcon.org.
Rhonda Mix is staff writer at T W-t It.
MixMessages
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Quotable
B t agy tat y at a t a y wi
t t b, i y at a yf a y
wi t b. Thomas Kempis
