Punxsutawney Phil 'indicted' over spring forecast

CINCINNATI (AP) — Famed ground­hog Punx­sutawney Phil might want to go back into hibernation.

Author­i­ties in still-frigid Ohio have issued an “indict­ment” of the furry rodent, who pre­dicted an early spring when he didn’t see his shadow after emerg­ing from his west­ern Penn­syl­va­nia lair on Feb. 2.

“Punx­sutawney Phil did pur­posely, and with prior cal­cu­la­tion and design, cause the peo­ple to believe that spring would come early,” Mike Gmoser, the pros­e­cu­tor in south­west­ern Ohio’s But­ler County, wrote in an official-looking indictment.

Gmoser wrote that Punx­sutawney Phil is charged with mis­rep­re­sen­ta­tion of spring, which con­sti­tutes a felony “against the peace and dig­nity of the state of Ohio.”

The penalty Phil faces? Gmoser says — tongue firmly in cheek — is death.

Punx­sutawney Phil does not have a listed phone number.

Bill Dee­ley, pres­i­dent of the Punx­sutawney club that orga­nizes Ground­hog Day, said Phil has a lawyer and would fight any extra­di­tion attempt by Ohio authorities.

Dee­ley defended his fur-bearing asso­ciate and said the death penalty was “very harsh” given the nature of the allegations.

“We’ll have to plead our case one way or the other, but I think we can beat the rap,” Dee­ley said.

The vit­ri­olic back­lash on social media to Phil’s dead-wrong prog­nos­ti­ca­tion has not gone unno­ticed in and around Gobbler’s Knob, Dee­ley said, and spe­cial secu­rity pre­cau­tions were in place.

“Right next to where Phil stays is the police sta­tion,” he said. “They’ve been noti­fied and they said they will keep watch­ing their monitors.”

Win­ter has been drag­ging on in the Buck­eye State and sur­round­ing areas, with daily high tem­per­a­tures this week hov­er­ing in the mid-30s and no end in sight for about 10 days, said Don Hughes, a mete­o­rol­o­gist with the National Weather Ser­vice in Wilm­ing­ton, Ohio.

A storm mov­ing into the region Sun­day could bring between 4 and 8 inches of snow, he said.

“It’s tak­ing too long,” Hughes said, adding that he’s hear­ing plenty of com­plaints from col­leagues and neigh­bors about the late spring. “Most peo­ple I’ve talked to say they’ve had enough. They want spring. They’re look­ing for col­ors and sun­shine and Easter lilies.”

The frigid tem­per­a­tures and snow might be par­tic­u­larly hard to swal­low after last spring, when the U.S. saw the warmest March in recorded his­tory. Highs in the Cincin­nati area, for instance, were well into the 80s.

Hughes said this spring isn’t nearly the cold­est on record but that the area is about 5 degrees below normal.

Gmoser’s indict­ment made no men­tion of a pos­si­ble co-conspirator in the false pre­dic­tion of early spring, Ohio’s own fore­cast­ing ground­hog, Buck­eye Chuck.

Chuck also failed to see his shadow when he emerged from his bur­row on Feb. 2 in Mar­ion in north-central Ohio.

Posted by Matt Echelberry on Mar 22 2013. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.