Date: Tue Mar 29 1994 00:17:00 To: All Subj: Big Beaver P_GEN - The following article appe

Date:   Tue Mar 29 1994  00:17:00
From:   Bob Dunn
To:     All
Subj:   Big Beaver
P_GEN                          -------------------------------

   The following article appeared in the 3/27/94 edition of the Lincoln
   Journal and Star and is presented without comment:

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   BIG BEAVER TERRORIZES YACHT CLUB

   Moline, Ill. (AP) - The sightings, the rippled water, a blurred
   photograph. A beastly beaver terrorizing this Mississippi River city
   has all the makings of the Loch Ness monster legend.

   The 5-foot-long, 80-pound beaver is gnawing through marina docks and
   birch trees. But no one has been able to snap a clear photo and the
   beaver has eluded capture.

   Some have dubbed the elusive beaver "Nessie" after the Scottish
   legend.

   The beaver has expensive tastes: It has chewed $1000 in damage at
   Marquis Harbor Yacht Club since January. "It's pretty
   well-documented," said Brian Menage, assistant manager of Captain's
   Table restaurant at the marina.

   Encyclopedia Britannica said the aquatic rodents usually grow only up
   to 4 feet long and 60 pounds. Nessies reported heftiness makes some
   skeptical.

   "Yeah, right. The beaver that ate Moline," said visitor William Morris
   of Sterling.

   Marina owner Jim Sweet carries a Polaroid photograph in his pocket of
   the animal but acknowledged, "It's a little hard to discern it's a
   beaver."

   The picture shows a tiny black smudge surrounded by what appears to be
   ripples. "He's been living under the dock. He's huge ... almost looked
   like a bear," Sweet said.

   Tom Green, Moline's superintendent pf horticulture, said Nessies
   strength has allowed it to twice escape traps. The beaver would be
   taken to a pond about 15 miles east and released - if someone can
   catch it.

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