Home > Uncategorized > That dame’s got moxie!

That dame’s got moxie!

Every now and then I something in the newspaper that strikes me just the right way. A few years back, it was the entertainingly written story of a local man who had saved someone else from a fire. He was a one-legged man living in a trailer park, watching Maury and drinking a beer at 10 in the morning, when he heard shouts. He strapped on his leg and ran to the rescue. Something about the way the story was written about this jobless, legless, buzzed trailer-park guy caught me in the funny bone, and I laughed as I read it, even while I felt a great affection for this guy.

So this week comes the story of Miss America 1944, who lives in a farm in Kentucky. She saw her dog go into a building where thieves had previously stolen some of her farm equipment. She went to investigate. And here, I must quote from the AP article.

Ramey said the man told her he would leave. “I said, ‘Oh, no you won’t,’ and I shot their tires so they couldn’t leave,” Ramey said.

She had to balance on her walker as she pulld out a snub-nosed .38-caliber handgun.

“I didn’t even think twice. I just went and di it,” she said. “If they’d even dared come close to me, they’d be 6 feet under by now.”

Then she flagged down a motorist to call 911. I can just picture the look on the thief’s face as this little old lady went all Dirty Harry on him. I imagine it was unexpected, to say the least. To quote Ms. Ramey in the Kentucky Enquirer, “He was probably wetting his pants.”

Favorite line of the story is the last one.

“I’m trying to live a quiet, peaceful life and stay out of trouble, and all it is, is one thing after another,” she said.

Like this kind of thing happens to her all the time, and it’s starting to get annoying. Go, feisty lady!

Categories: Uncategorized Tags:
  1. April 21st, 2007 at 19:24 | #1

    I can only hope I have half that fire when I’m her age.

  2. April 21st, 2007 at 19:24 | #2

    I can only hope I have half that fire when I’m her age.

  3. April 21st, 2007 at 20:22 | #3

    Our local news covered this because she’s right in our backyard. What she was defending was the most depressing thing ever. It was all dirty and rusted out. She said she was keeping it for a museum she wants to start. Think of the saddest, hillbilly trailer with all those rusted hulks of cars and refrigerators on the front lawn, all covered in dirt and probably animal pee and you’ll get a good idea of what she was defending. It just made me really sad that she was willing to kill for that.

  4. April 21st, 2007 at 20:22 | #4

    Our local news covered this because she’s right in our backyard. What she was defending was the most depressing thing ever. It was all dirty and rusted out. She said she was keeping it for a museum she wants to start. Think of the saddest, hillbilly trailer with all those rusted hulks of cars and refrigerators on the front lawn, all covered in dirt and probably animal pee and you’ll get a good idea of what she was defending. It just made me really sad that she was willing to kill for that.

  5. April 21st, 2007 at 20:59 | #5

    It may have been dirty rusted-out crap, but it was her dirty rusted-out crap. If she’d had a consistent problem with people stealing her property, I don’t blame her for getting riled up.

    I didn’t get from the article that she was going to shoot anybody, just the tires. Not stellar behavior, I’ll admit, but not murder either.

    I didn’t see the news story, of course.

  6. April 21st, 2007 at 20:59 | #6

    It may have been dirty rusted-out crap, but it was her dirty rusted-out crap. If she’d had a consistent problem with people stealing her property, I don’t blame her for getting riled up.

    I didn’t get from the article that she was going to shoot anybody, just the tires. Not stellar behavior, I’ll admit, but not murder either.

    I didn’t see the news story, of course.

  7. April 22nd, 2007 at 01:20 | #7

    That’s true. It was hers, but she kept insisting it was dear to her, but it didn’t seem like she cared for it at all. If something was special to you, would you leave it outside constantly?

  8. April 22nd, 2007 at 01:20 | #8

    That’s true. It was hers, but she kept insisting it was dear to her, but it didn’t seem like she cared for it at all. If something was special to you, would you leave it outside constantly?

  9. April 22nd, 2007 at 02:14 | #9

    I have a ten speed bike that I won in a drawing when I was 12 years old. Obviously now, 26 years later, it’s seen better days. I haven’t ridden it in quite a while. But even though I keep it in the shed, it has sentimental value and I’d be upset if someone stole it.

    Of course, the one time someone DID break into our shed and steal something, then went for the weed-whacker and didn’t touch the bike. I guess the bike hasn’t crossed that line from “crap” into “vintage” yet. Maybe the lady’s stuff had crossed back into “crap” again, but still. I don’t know what she values and what she doesn’t. I imagine a lot of the stuff that I value would seem mystifying to others.

    Based on our different reactions, sounds like there was perhaps a “crazy cat lady” vibe to the TV coverage that wasn’t present in the print media.

  10. April 22nd, 2007 at 02:14 | #10

    I have a ten speed bike that I won in a drawing when I was 12 years old. Obviously now, 26 years later, it’s seen better days. I haven’t ridden it in quite a while. But even though I keep it in the shed, it has sentimental value and I’d be upset if someone stole it.

    Of course, the one time someone DID break into our shed and steal something, then went for the weed-whacker and didn’t touch the bike. I guess the bike hasn’t crossed that line from “crap” into “vintage” yet. Maybe the lady’s stuff had crossed back into “crap” again, but still. I don’t know what she values and what she doesn’t. I imagine a lot of the stuff that I value would seem mystifying to others.

    Based on our different reactions, sounds like there was perhaps a “crazy cat lady” vibe to the TV coverage that wasn’t present in the print media.

  1. No trackbacks yet.
You must be logged in to post a comment.