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Page 4B The Braselton News Wednesday, October 17, 2007 photos eoufl test of pamilyi m uagazi ml Chatter Box Tm a horror-movie fen: ‘Halloween,’ ‘Nightmare on Kim Street,’ ’Friday the 13th,’ I freak my sell out sometimes when Pm home alone — Carrie Underwood, in Saif inagazina Wacky Facts Money often features portraits of queens or presidents or other femous people. But you also may 1 a rhinoceros, tiger or elephant (India), a sea turtlej (Brazil), cows and fruit (Nigeria) or even school children (Taiwan) on a nation’s currency L — World Ahtxinaefor Kids ■fi V V V:; Si L £ Cats, bats, wolves — — how did these creatures come to symbolize Halloween? By Emil ie Le Beau Chicago Tribune Cals don't eat candy. Bats never trick-or-trcat and wolves don’t carve pumpkins. Animals don’t cam about Halloween. So why am some creatures, such as black cats, so closely associated with the holiday? Superstition and folklore have helped connect certain animals with Halloween. Some of those supcistitions arc centuries old. Most arc mydts that make the animals sound spooky and evil. In real life, the animals of Halloween are just normal crea tures with a bad rep, BATS AND THEIR BAD REP I .ittlc rubber hats strung on Shrubs. Paper bats taped to the window. Hanging bats grazing yoiu" head at parties. How did these flying creatures become tied to Ilallowccti? "They arc seen as evil because they are nocturnal. They come out at night, and that’s when people think monsters and the boogeyman come out," says Mike Brown, lead mammal depaiimcnt keeper at Brookfield Zoo in Bmokfield, 111. Bats have gotten “a bad rap ," anti Brown says they are no tiling like their reputation. In movies and books, vampires turn into bats and suck the blood of their victims. But real hats aren’t bloodsuckers. There are more than 1,00ft species of bats and only three dine on blood. And no offense — but human blood just isn’t l to their taste. Brown ~ ^ says these blood sucking bals live in r . \ >u> j South America and lake blood from animals such as livestock. Only a few teaspoons are needed, so the host animal isn’t killed. Other kinds of hats cat bugs, nectar, fruit and even fish. A FAMILIAR SIGHT: WITCHES, FELINES We’ve seen it dozens of times in movies and books. A witch hops on a broomstick and her black cat rides along. “Historically, black cals were called a Tamili:ir’ tor witches,” says Peggy Broil Asseo of PAWS Chicago, a no-kill animal shelter. A familiar is an animal or crea ture that has a special relationship with a witch. A familiar obeys its master and sometimes spies on its enemies. It usually has a special power, such as a talking black cat. Familiars are an old belief, and even mentioned as being evil in the King James version Bible, fust published in 1611, Black cats were thought to be tarniliars because their dark color enables them to hide in shadows. WOLVES: THE BIG, HAIRY DEAL It was a scary moment in “Harry Potter.” Professor Lupin sees the moon and transforms into a killer wolf. Werewolves may be entertain ment now, but they seemed very real to Europeans in the Middle Ages. In the late I5l)0s in Prance, there were several murder trials where the defendant admitted to being a werewolf. These defendants claimed to have used a magic ointment Modem scholars now say the defendants were more likely serial killers, not werewolves. In real life, wolves aren’t like ly to attack people. And that spine-tingling howl coming from the woods isn’t a message for humans' Wolves howl when sep arated from their pack. They also howl to warn other packs to stay I off their turf. j RAVENS HAVE A LOT TO CROW ABOUT A raven is a large black bird that is extremely smart, says Judy Pollack, director of bird conserva tion for Audnlwn Chicago Region. Ravens have long been associ ated with the spiritual world. Pollack says Native Americans of the Northwest regarded ravens as the creator of the earth, moon, sun and stars. Ravens also were considered tricksters and cheats. You might spot anodxcr bird that looks a lot like the raven. Crows also are black birds and are in the same family as the raven. Pollack says ravens are bigger than crows and can be as large as some hawks. THIS IS NO TIME TO GET CATTY it’s just fur, but the color of its coat can make a big difference in a cat’s life. Black cats often are the last to be adopted from an animal shelter, says Asseo of PAWS Chicago, Some, superstitious pet owners still think a black cat means bad luck. Asseo says black cats do not bring bad luck and arc attrac tive animals. No matter the color of a kitty’s coat, Asseo says an animal should be treated with respect. To keep them safe, she recommends keep ing cats indoors. Some, shelters, such as tile Red Door Animal Shelter in Chicago, even take safety a step further and do not allow black cat adoptions during the month of October. The Red Door is concerned that a black Cat could be used as a prop for a Halloween party and abandoned after the bash. JULIE NQIARIANNI/MCCIATQHY NEWSPAPER'S In The News | The $5 bill gets a brand-new look Officials from the U.S. Treasury Depaiimcnt recently unveiled a colorful new $5 bill with advanced security features. The most noticeable difference between the new bill and the old one is a large purple “5” on the bottom right of the back of the bill and an are of purple stars around Abraham Lincoln’s image on the front. Splashes of gray and purple have also been added and the bill’s security strip has been moved to the right Side. Treasury officials hope the changes will make $5 bills more difficult to counterfeit. tji i: i H.TATia* \ n \\>ii; mi -v > NO MORE FAKES! Counterfeiters had been bleaching $5 bills to cre ate phony S100 bills because the security features on both bills were very similar. But the revamped live will look nothing like a $100 bill. “We wanted this redesign to scream, Tm a five. I’m a five,”’ says Larry Felix, die director of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. “Wc wanted to eliminate any similar ity or confusion on the pail of ihe public between the $5 and the $100 bill” It’s not a total makeover for the fiver; some of the old features were kept, Lincoln will remain on the front and the Lincoln Memorial will still grace the back. The new changes are similar to those that appear on redosigjtcd $10, $20 and $50 bills. Those denomi nations were recently revamped with modern security features to curb counterfeiting. Last year, police made more than 4,000 arrests related to forged bills adding up to more than $6ft million worth of fake money. NEXT IN LINE FOR A MAKEOVER The Treasury Department will begin printing the new $5 bills in Fort Worth, Texas, this month. The currency will be in circulation next spring. Next up for a high-tech makeover is the $100 bill. It will be embedded with a new security thread. It will feature 650,000 tiny lenses that will make images on the bill appear to move in the opposite direction of where it is moving. The new $100 bills will roll out next year. — Claudia Atticot ® 2007 Tim* ino. AJ Righis Fnnorvad TWE FOFt KIPS Tim+ICfkld*.«»H .HO rOflMtimd ¥*d[)mtrl() ol Tim* IflO Try This | Make your bathroom festive for fall Give your extra toilet tissue a festive look this Halloween. $et each roli in the center of a 22- by 1$- inch piece of orange fabric, gather the fabric around it, and tuck the edges into the top hole. For a stem, roll a strip of brewn paper hag and glue the edge. For a vine, glue one end of a 12-inch green pipe cleaner to a green fell leaf, then curl the pipe cleaner around the stem. Insert the stem in the hole. — FamityFm magazine Fold a flock of spooky origami bats Haunt your halls with a colony of these denizens of the dark. They can just hang around, or they can take wing as a hat mobile — tape several to pieces of monofilament and string them from a small branch, 1. Fold an 8- by 8-inch square of black papei" into a triangle (oonslruction or scrapbook paper works best). 2. Fold down the top 2 inches of the triangle, 3. Fold each side flap in along the inner lines shown in the photo, then back out along the outer lines, to torm dimensional wings. 4. To create ears, use scissors to cut a notch along the top, between the wings 5. Flip the bat over and add eyes with glow- in-the - dark paint. To give the body dimension, make a vertical crease down tire center. AMAZING BAT FACTS • As mammals, hats nurse their babies . • Hundreds of plant species rely on bats to pol linate them. Like cats, bats spend lots of time grooming their fur. — FamilyFun magazine