Herald Journal Blog

This morning south of Silver Lake I drove through a cloud of skunk stink. The odor was so strong, it almost felt painful under the bridge of my nose. I heard the US Defense Department is developing a non-lethal weapon using a horrible stench to repel rioters and for crowd control. It would be very effective. Not only would the smell cause people to back away from it, but also the memory of the smell would repel people. A few years ago, my husband and I were sitting next to a campfire one evening up north. We heard a loud crashing in the brush, as if a large clumsy animal was coming our way. A “cat” came out of the woods and crossed the cabin lawn. Usually cats are more quiet and stealthy than that, but I didn’t think any more about it. A short time later, the “cat” came back from the other way. It wasn’t a cat. It was a skunk! We quickly jumped up and went into the cabin. The point is, the skunk was boldly making a racket in the woods because it knew predators remembered how bad the skunk smell is. The skunk didn’t need to use its spray, the memory was enough. Law enforcement officers could use the non-lethal weapon only once ( on rioters, such as the Re-create ‘68 group planning to disrupt the Democratic convention in Denver) and that is all it will take to quell the violence. No one would get hurt.