By I. B. Lyon

If you’ve been to the Puckett City Park to a ballgame this year, then you’ve seen Blind Billy Ball (B3) and his seeing eye dog, Slugger. Slugger has been attracting fans from across The Valley and beyond this year. Baseball and softball fans have never seen a blind umpire with a seeing eye dog. It’s always been a joke with fans when an umpire makes a bad call about him/her needing a seeing eye dog, but it’s become reality this year at Puckett.

William Ball (aka Blind Billy Ball or B3) was born blind, but he’s never let it hold him back. B3 has always had a love of sports and especially baseball. Growing up, he would hang around the park as his brothers played ball, and he was a manager for the high school team. B3 is now 23, and he’s been away from baseball for a while now. He’s been itching to get involved with baseball again. About a year ago, B3 came up with an idea. He was going to get a seeing eye dog, and he was going to train the dog to be an umpire. B3 has always been very independent, and he never considered getting a seeing eye dog. B3 chose a golden retriever and he named him Slugger. He and B3 immediately became best buds.

Slugger was trained as a seeing eye dog when B3 got him, but he wasn’t trained to be an umpire. Incredibly, it only took B3 about 2 months to train Slugger to be an umpire. B3 had Slugger ready to go by February, because he wanted to call games this year. Getting Slugger ready to call games was the first hurdle; B3 had to convince the ball association’s board that they could do the job. The ball association president, Chad Boll said, “B3 called me with the idea of he and Slugger calling games, and I told him he was crazy. You’re gonna have to prove to us that y’all can do it.”

The ball association basically had a tryout for B3 and Slugger. They did about 25 out/safe calls, and about 25 ball/strike calls. They passed with flying colors! Slugger barks to make calls. When B3 and Slugger are behind the plate, one bark is a ball and 2 barks are a strike. When he rings a batter up on a third strike, he barks twice followed by a howl. In the field, one bark is safe and two barks is an out. Chad Boll said, “I couldn’t believe it. I was dumbfounded at how good Slugger was.” Boll told B3 they’d give it a try, but they didn’t know how the coaches, players, and fans would react.

Fast forward a few months and B3 and Slugger are the talk of The Valley. People that have no association to Puckett or the ball players are coming to see Slugger. He’s become a local celebrity. Not only is he a big attraction, he is a very good umpire. One coach said, “Slugger is the best umpire we have by far. Us coaches hope we get B3 and Slugger every game, because we know they’ll do a good job.” Boll said, “When B3 and Slugger call a game, there are no arguments or disagreements about calls. How can you argue with Slugger? That’s been a big plus for us.”

Slugger is a big hit with the kids of course. They all look forward to hanging with him and petting him after games. B3 tells the coaches and kids not to bother him during games, because he takes his job seriously. After games, coaches and parents have a tough time getting the kids to leave. Slugger is great with kids, and he loves the interaction.

B3 said, “This has gone way better than I could’ve imagined. I appreciate the ball association for giving us a chance, and I appreciate the coaches, players, and fans for the love they’ve shown us. We look forward to calling the games the remainder of the year, and we’ll be back next year.”

If you want to see Slugger in action, B3 and Slugger call games 3 nights per week at the Puckett City Park, and they’ll be working on Puckett Ball Day on May 6th.

by B. S. Ryter

Traffic was delayed yesterday morning on Kersh Rd. because about 20 llamas were roaming in the road. The llamas are owned by farmer Homer Sampson. Mr. Sampson has been raising llamas for about 15 years on his Kersh Rd. farm. A few motorists that SRVO talked with about the situation were not happy with Mr. Sampson. Many motorists had to wait minutes for the llamas to get out of the road.

One motorist said, “The traffic down this road is going to be bad enough with the bridge closure, but now we have to worry about stupid llamas in the road. Plus, those ugly things are aggressive. If you honk the horn, they’ll run at your car.” Two other motorists said they honked at the llamas, and the llamas spit on their windshields. Both said they had difficulties getting the llama saliva off their windshields.

One unlucky car passenger got spat on by a llama. Speedy Duckworth’s wife wanted him to pet a llama, so he rolled his driver’s side window down to pet a llama. Speedy said, “That llama walked up to me, and I put my hand out. He wouldn’t let me pet him, and I could tell he was about to spit. So, I ducked, and he spat on my wife’s face. She was not a happy camper to say the least. But, she told me to try to pet the darn llama, so she couldn’t blame me. Don’t tell her, but I was laughing on the inside.”

One Kersh Rd. resident, who wanted remain anonymous, said she thinks Mr. Sampson let the llamas out on purpose. She said, “I’ve never seen those llamas get out. I think he let them out on purpose to delay traffic. I think he doesn’t want people driving down this road. He’s an ornery old man.”

Mr. Sampson was able to wrangle his llamas back into their pasture later in the day. But, motorists on Kersh Rd. need to be on the lookout for the llamas in the future. Also, don’t honk at the llamas if you encounter them, and don’t roll your window down!