Dead doe is put inside Comfort Deer bus

Web Posted: 10/18/2007 12:44 AM CDT

Zeke MacCormack
Express-News

In what's being called a rivalry gone overboard, a rotting deer carcass was dumped inside the bus of the visiting Comfort Deer girls volleyball team Tuesday at Blanco High School. The traumatized Deer players then lost a critical division match to the Panthers, who were cheered on by the crowd bearing signs reading "Kill the Deer" and "Slaughter the Deer."

James Poerner, parent of a Comfort player, said the carcass in the bus is "the most unsportsmanlike act I've ever seen."

He wants Blanco to forfeit the victory and take strong action against the pranksters.

A forfeiture was also called fitting by Deer team captain Maeghan Eckert, saying the prank had a big impact on her squad's performance.

"When you focus on a dead deer that's lying on your bus, it's hard to focus on a game," Eckert, 17, said Wednesday. "The school rivalry got way too out of hand."

She said that before the carcass was discovered, Blanco boys in the gym had shouted, "It smells like dead deer."

Blanco High School Principal Dustin Barton refused comment. Blanco Police Chief Ed Sonier and Game Warden Don Jackson couldn't be reached.

Comfort High School Principal Jadie Matthew described the incident as the misdeed of one person, and said it did not reflect poorly on the entire Blanco district.

Others suspect several people took part as the Comfort junior varsity team was losing.

"There has to be at least a couple of more folks involved to drag that deer and put it up into the bus," said Comfort parent Brian Vaughan.

The 90-pound doe had been shot and "was bloated and stinky," he said. "It was green on the belly from mold."

Vaughan described the Comfort players as "frantic" after two students retrieving homework from the bus made the gruesome find.

But he didn't blame the defeat on the hijinks and said forfeiting the match that put Blanco in first place in District 25-2A would only punish the Panther girls, not those responsible for it.

Poerner said many Blanco students were milling in the parking lot as the Comfort bus drove up. Blanco police Sgt. Carl Bragg, on duty there, said he didn't see � or smell � the deer.

It didn't take a super sleuth to find a suspect once the carcass was found. A bloody trail led from the bus to a nearby pickup with blood in its bed, said Vaughan, a peace officer.

He praised Blanco officials for keeping control of a situation that could have become violent, and for cleaning up the bus.

Comfort kids will be warned against retaliating when the Panthers visit, Matthew said. The principal likes healthy rivalries, but said, "Our goal right now is to make sure things like this doesn't continue."

Kendall County deputies escorted the Deer bus home, underscoring the deep safety concerns of some parents.

"Are we going to allow our kids to go back to Blanco?" Poerner asked. "What's next?"

Oh dear...the article doesn't say, and I'm not a hunter, but doesn't a deer have to have a tag on it? If not, that would be a crime.

Add to that the fact that it's not deer season, yet, unless the deer had an arrow in it.

My vote for the offense: Criminal mischief. Have you ever tried to get any unpleasant smell (let alone that of a rotting deer carcass) out of the cabin area of a vehicle? The bus is probably totaled. That would be a felony, wouldn't it?

Agree with Scott B, as usual. I would think that disinfecting that bus would cost several thousand dollars. With the prevalence of blood borne disorders in animals, not to mention bacteria from a dead animal, that some sort of disinfecting would be in order. That would probably knock a criminal mischief case into the sj range.

I'm disappointed in the youts (see my cousin vinny) who did this, if it was youts. If it was their parents, I'm really disappointed.

If anyone on the team was connected with it, there should be some sort of UIL suspension for the rest of the season for that team.

A 50/50 mixture of bleach and water will disinfect any area where the deer's body fluids were left. Several bottles of Febreeze should get rid of the smell, I bet. You might have to replace the seat the deer was left on. I'd think the total cost would be below $1,500.00.

Scott, it sounds like a County Attorney case to me.

No animal crimes under Shannon's new undomesticated cruelty to animal laws?

quote:

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Originally posted by Terry Breen:
Scott, it sounds like a County Attorney case to me.

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Maybe they need a special prosecutor. He can rest his Stevie Ray strat in the corner whilst he gives his closing argument. Maybe a few power chords as emphasis during his argument...

Or maybe a melancholy rendition of "Deer Prudence" (he says, standing behind chicken wire as the beer bottles fly at him).

i love that the author of the article is named Zeke.

p.s.-if you play rawhide or stand by your man, scott, they won't throw beer at you.

Isn't there a song called something like "There's a deer in my beer..."