The Popcorn Stand; This Wal-Mart needed Forrest Gump’s mom

Only if Forrest Gump’s mom was still living. A Walmart store in Tennessee could have used her.

The mention of “coons” in the movie “Forrest Gump,” was a poignant moment in the film depicting the racism of the time.

Of course Forrest misunderstood the reference and when he was told “coons” were trying to get into the University of Alabama, Forrest replied whenever raccoons tried to get on his back porch, “mama just chases them off with a broom.”

Well, a Walmart in Tennessee could’ve used Forrest Gump’s mom’s services. I write that in tongue in cheek because as I’ve written before while raccoons look quite cute they can be quite dangerous and pose a serious problem.

Walmart staff in Covington, Ky., had to tell customers who were waiting outside Monday morning it had to close its doors until they removed the raccoon. It took six hours for the raccoon to be removed.

While that may seem like a long time, again, Walmarts are big stores and raccoons are nothing to take lightly. I’m sure it took a while to find the critter.

Nobody was injured by the raccoon. And it was likely it took more than a broom to deal with the little sucker.

Of course the balance between nature’s animals and humans is a tricky one. We always seem to be dealing with each other.

I remember a long time ago writing a story about a school district that had a problem with gophers. I wrote tongue in cheek the district could’ve used the services of Bill Murray from “Caddyshack” which led to me receiving a phone call from a woman she had a sure fire way to get rid of the gophers. And it didn’t involve blowing up a golf course.

Back to the raccoon. We can’t resist the pun. When it comes to that little critter in Walmart, it was in there for a coon’s age.

— Charles Whisnand