Four of the younger members of the Chukar Harbor Ancient Order of Sportsmen (CHAOS) left early Saturday morning to go squirrel hunting. For weeks, Aaron D. Lawndrie, Nolan Voyd, Ivan O. Dodge, and Rick Uvwood had been looking forward to hunting the oak and beech forest around Sam’s Hill. The area had always produced plenty of gray and fox squirrels. The September leaves were at peak color and just beginning to fall. The temperature was just right and the ground was still damp from the previous night’s rain. The damp leaves would make walking quieter and easier to approach game. Ivan laid his Ruger 22-LR in the trunk of Aaron’s car along with the other three weapons and climbed into the back seat next to Nolan. Nothing could spoil such a great day except for Badgerton.
The 40-mile trip to Sam’s Hill would take the young men through Badgerton, a tiny village whose business district straddled about two-tenths of a mile along County Road 194 at the intersection of a gravel road. Badgerton’s business district consists of a tavern, a small bank branch office, a combined Post Office/Grocery Store, a single pump gas station, and a volunteer fire station. There is no traffic light in Badgerton, not even a blinking yellow caution light. Badgerton’s traffic control consists of a fading speed limit sign at each end of the business district and Constable Wright M. Allupp.
Constable Allupp took his responsibility very seriously, since he is the largest source of revenue for the community treasury and had been for 8 years in a row. Constable Allupp’s most productive location was the empty lot beside the Badgerton Post Office and Grocery Store, which is where he was stationed when Lawndrie entered Badgerton at 27 miles per hour. Constable Allupp wheeled his cruiser out of the lot and pulled Aaron over at the north end of the business district. Aaron shut off his car and rolled down his window as Constable Allupp approached.
"Sir, do you know why I pulled you over?" Officer Allup asked. Aaron said he didn’t know why. Knowing Badgerton was a speed trap, he had applied the brakes at the edge of town and was traveling at 25 mph when he was pulled over, so he didn’t think he was speeding.
"You entered our town at 27 mph, Sir. The speed limit is 25 mph. May I see your license, registration, and proof of insurance, please?" the officer asked. Aaron complied as he tried to explain that he had slowed to 25 mph when he was pulled over.
"The speed limit starts at the sign, Sir, not after you pass it." Officer Allup said with no change in his somber expression. He took the papers from Aaron and returned to his patrol car. A few minutes later, he returned and handed Aaron his papers and a ticket for exceeding the speed limit by 2 mph. Then he leaned over and peered at the Nolan and Ivan in the rear seat. "Where are you boys headed this early?" he asked. When Aaron explained that they were headed up to Sam’s Hill to hunt squirrel, Wright stepped back and placed his hand on his revolver.
"Why don’t you boys step out of the car?" Officer Allup asked, but it was really a command. The four hunters got out of the car and nervously stood at the front of the car as the constable looked inside the car and under the seats. He instructed Aaron to open the trunk, checked out the legally stored cache of weapons, then let the four young men back into the car.
"Have a nice day, gentlemen." Constable Allup said, as he tipped his hat. Aaron nodded as he started the car, then sped out of Badgerton at 20 mph.
For Aaron, the mood of the hunt was marred by the Badgerton incident. He knew he was a victim of petty authority … a technical application of the law and it ate at him all day. That is why, on the return trip, Aaron pulled over to the shoulder next to the Badgerton village limit sign.
"Why did you stop?" Ivan asked. Aaron sat quietly with the motor running.
"I want to fight back, somehow." Aaron replied as if focused on something. Rick and Nolan were in the back seat showing their support by rolling their eyes and tilting their heads back, a sure sign of deep thinking like ‘I wonder what they feed you in jail’ or ‘How long would it take me to walk home from here’?
"We could go back a few miles and take the road around Hawk Mountain." Rick said.
"That’s over 50 miles out of our way." Nolan observed. Aaron rejected the idea. That would be avoiding Constable Allup, admitting defeat, and Aaron was not one to avoid a good contest of wits.
"You could pass through doing 90 mph." Ivan laughed. "You’d be out of his jurisdiction before he could get his car in gear."
"Nah. That would just get us in trouble." Aaron said. "That’s too obvious a challenge for the Constable. He’d just call ahead and have us arrested down the road."
"Us? You’re the driver." Nolan commented. "We’re just riding along trying to persuade you to drive cautiousl …"
"Wait! I’ve got it!" Aaron whooped.
As usual, Constable Wright M. Allup was parked in the empty lot beside the Badgerton Post Office and Grocery Store, near the end of his day, when his radar unit sounded the familiar beep as it detected an oncoming vehicle. As he watched the radar’s readout, Allup thought the unit was broken. He tapped the unit several times and turned the unit off and back on before he noticed some movement to his left. He looked up from the radar display to see Aaron’s car approaching at about 3 mph, propelled by three young men pushing it through Badgerton.
As the car passed the patrol car, Aaron glanced over at the constable, then tipped his hat as he navigated the car south toward the village limit sign.
