I appreciate all feedback this column receives - good, bad and in between. I am especially thankful when readers take the time to send me mail to share their thoughts.
This week, I'll share a couple reader submissions with the rest of you. They provide valuable insight. And, as always, if you have anything to share in response to (or in critique of) anything I write, feel free to contact me.
After I wrote my April 7 column regarding the controversy over ''Molly,'' a bird-killing cat at Chautauqua Institution that led to a County Court in 1978, Philip Brunskill of Mayville dropped me a line with some additional information. He was the vice president for public affairs and development at Chautauqua at the time, and he said that both families involved in the incident came to him ''in anger'' and demanded the Institution settle the matter.
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When the Institution declined to get involved, the bird-loving family took the issue to court. While the issue was a serious one for the families involved, it did ''provide some humorous conversation for others,'' Brunskill said. He recalled the story even made the NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw, though he did not know how the network news team caught wind of the incident.
In response to my April 14 column, in which I spoke of road kill and how I found it strange that nature columnist Robert Ungerer (see his column about natural history this week on Page C4) was curious about it, I received very interesting correspondence from Helen Burch of Jamestown.
Helen shared a story about a memorable experience she had at a restaurant in the middle-of-nowhere town of Greenville, Maine, called the ''Road Kill Cafe.'' While the name may be nauseating, and the menu may include dishes such as the ''Chicken That Didn't Make It Across The Road,'' the restaurant would pass all health codes. In fact, Helen wrote, ''we reported a moose road kill we had seen on the highway, but there were no volunteers to go get it.''
The restaurant is a top tourist attraction in a town with a population of about 1,500, Helen wrote, providing a ''memorable dining experience'' that includes a backtalking waitstaff, kitchen dramatics and decor made of road memorabilia.
A stop at the Road Kill Cafe is an essential part of an adventure to northern Maine, Helen wrote. I can't argue.
These are just two recent examples of interesting feedback I've gotten. You have the real stories. I'm just here to learn.