Dateline: Wild Cat

With a nod towards the basketball post-season and Kentucky’s beloved men’s AND WOMEN’S teams, Amy Wilson and I took a trip to Wild Cat, Kentucky in Clay County to resume our Project Dateline series. I had to take a little break from working on this series since I left the Herald-Leader nearly a year ago. But now we’re back on it and I hope more will follow as summer marches on. Let’s just hope the cats march on as well!

WILD CAT — At dawn, the Mouth of the Beech Creek River is a deep jade green. The ground that rises up all it is the unmistakable color of wood shavings. The sky above it is cloaked in a still frozen fog. Visible in dark patches, freshly turned earth, ready for planting.

Still, the roosters down at Larry Owens’ compound are noisily gearing up for their big every-morning-doodlefest, beaten already to the punch by the gee-whiz daffodil bulbs which have forced their greens up and their yellow petals out to greet this day.

It’s March Madness in Little Wild Cat, a town of maybe 75. That might not count the whole Combs family that lives over in Big Wild Cat, says Chris Davidson, who is out in his camo-gear this morning, thinking of bagging a few squirrels, and isn’t up to doing a census.

To read Amy’s complete story, you can check out the Project Dateline website.