Free Republic

Dec. 24 A North Carolina judge ruled on Monday that a mountain town's New Year’s Eve celebration can include the lowering of a captured possum at midnight as planned despite protests from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). PETA petitioned Superior Court Judge Allen Baddour to ban the annual Possum Drop in Brasstown next week, but he elected to allow the town to continue enjoying a possum-tinged taste of Times Square on New Year’s Eve. The live possum is dropped to the ground in a plastic box in a similar way to how a mirrored ball is lowered...

BRASSTOWN, N.C. -- For the past 12 years, on New Year's Eve, this Appalachian town has lowered a possum in a Plexiglas cage from the roof of a gas station at the stroke of midnight. It is called the Possum Drop, and hundreds of people pack downtown Brasstown to see it. This time, Baby New Year was awfully still. And as the crowd soon learned, this possum wasn't just playing possum. It was roadkill. With just hours to go before the festivities, Clay Logan, host of the Possum Drop, said he got a call from a national animal rights organization...

Erik S. Lesser for The New York TimesThe possum that will be lowered, withmuch fanfare, from Mr. Logan's garageon New Year's Eve. It will be releasedat the end of the night.RASSTOWN, N.C., Dec. 30 — The lights are strung, the stage is set and Baby New Year is waiting in a cage, hissing. Brasstown, once again, is ready for the Possum Drop. Yes, the annual New Year's Eve Possum Drop, the one and only, inspired by the dropping of a certain illuminated ball 670 miles away. On Thursday, at the stroke of midnight, at the exact moment that hundreds of...

By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN New York Times BRASSTOWN, N.C. -- The lights are strung, the stage is set and Baby New Year is waiting in a cage, hissing. Brasstown, once again, is ready for the Possum Drop. Yes, the annual New Year's Eve Possum Drop, the one and only, inspired by the dropping of a certain illuminated ball 670 miles away. At the stroke of midnight, at the exact same moment that hundreds of thousands of people holler in the New Year at Times Square in New York, and millions more tip back champagne flutes and watch it on television, a...