It's a bird. It's a plane. No, .... it's a piece of a farmer's crop cover.
Remember the story Saturday about a balloon "or something like" falling from the sky near Pratt Road.
One resident described it as "a giant roll of toilet paper" flying through the air.
East Pembroke's fire chief, Don Newton, called today and clued us in on what really happened.
On Friday, a local farmer put down a 250x50-foot cloth crop cover over freshly planted seeds. It was weighted down with soil.
But a strong enough gust of wind hit East Pembroke on Saturday to rip up a portion of the cover and send it flying through the air. It traveled a good long distance before getting snagged in the trees.
Everybody who responded thought it was a weather balloon and spent a good deal of time looking for the weather device that would have been attached to it. The Buffalo weather station wanted it back.
But, we now know, there was no such device attached.
Newton said the farmer was afraid he'd be in a bit of trouble for the mishap, but Newton reassured him -- you're a farmer, this is an agricultural community, things happen.
