Fish story

Highway 31-W between Fort Knox and Louisville is not what you would call a scenic route. It has little to distinguish itself unless one counts the numerous roadside crosses, which often lead me to wonder whether the people around here are exceptionally religious, exceptionally bad drivers, or some combination of both. Just south of Louisville, the Dixie Highway runs through what one might charitably call a "wide spot in the road," the southern end of Valley Station, which looks like this:



This little oasis has been in the news lately because of controversy surrounding this particular establishment:



Pepper Tackle, or epper ackle if you believe the sign, has stirred things up good. The city of Louisville is trying to force Norman Pepper to remove this giant catfish that adorns his property (and that the city says is an illegal second sign):



Mr. Pepper says no way and has filed suit to save his fish.

Some of the commentary in the local news has me cracking up. The appeal prepared by Pepper's attorney, for example, says that the giant fish is not a sign and has as its sole purpose "the glorification of a species of fish . . . which Pepper holds in great esteem." I hold catfish in great esteem too, especially breaded and deep fried.

I think comedian Jeff Caldwell said it best: "[T]he muffler shops and massage parlors were complaining that the catfish ruined the aesthetics of Dixie Highway." Frankly, there's hardly a property along that whole strip that wouldn't be vastly improved by the addition of an enormous fish. I silently cheer for the giant catfish every time I drive by and hope for victory for Mr. Pepper.