I was surprised at the letters-to-the-editor firestorm created by my recent column about my battle with chipmunks.

In that column, I wrote about chipmunks invading my home at Paradise. I told of live-trapping them and of the blue heron that walked my Lake Superior shoreline catching, drowning and eating chipmunks. I named him Clyde. Clyde and I got about 40 chipmunks that summer, but there were about 200 still roaming the yard.

Some readers objected to my slaying of the critters. One reader, Mary Kelly of Rapid River, was so angry in her letter that she said she sure hoped they didn’t pay me for these columns because I was a bad writer and often grammatically incorrect. Whew!

Mary’s letter fueled the fire and drew many letters and phone calls from readers who disagreed with her on all counts.

Many wanted me to respond, and assumed I was offended. Not so. In all my years as a columnist, I have often urged the editors to print reader letters critical of me. After all, this is America and everyone has a right to express his or her opinion. Taking a hit from a reader is part of keeping your integrity.

Can you find 13 chipmunks, including the obvious large one, in this puzzle by Lansing artist Dennis Preston? We got the answers, too.

But, Mary, I can tell that you never had chipmunks chewing up the wiring in your parked car to the tune of a $400 repair. You never had them in your attic and crawl space chewing things up. Don’t tell me you never trapped a mouse. Chipmunks might be cuter, but they are still rodents. You can’t live with their nest in your living room easy chair.

I get no kick out of killing things and I even lost my interest in hunting prior to my vision problems. But I must confess I never lost my appetite for a venison steak or a tasty partridge.

Michigan had 47,000 car-deer accidents last year and my wife, Darl, and I were one of them when a deer came out of the highway median and hit our car north of Gaylord. We had $4,500 in damage and we could have been killed. I hope they sell lots of deer hunting licenses.

All of this reminds me of a time several years ago when the great Ernie Harwell was running out of things to say during a rain delay at a Detroit Tigers baseball game. I made up a story and sent it to Ernie. I told of the king who became the ruler of his land and ordered that there be no more hunting of animals. The animal population soon got out of hand and the deer were defecating in every home yard. So, the people rose up and threw the king out of office. That was the first time in history that the reign was called on account of the game.

On his next rain delay, Ernie read my letter and I still hear about it today.

If my king ever rules on chipmunks, I’ll throw him out of office.

By the way, if any of you readers want to be a columnist, why not give it a try? I need some vacation time and you are hereby invited to fill in. Just write your column (700 words or less; photos encouraged) and mail it to the Michigan Country Lines editor, Gail Knudtson (2859 W. Jolly Rd., Okemos, MI 48864). If yours is chosen, it will appear in this space. You can write about anything, and even attack or praise me.

However, if Mary Kelly writes a guest column, I urge her to be very good and grammar-correct. All others can be bad writers and grammarians—just like me.