Local
resident Hugh Marsh has been pestered by flies for most of his life. At
age 42, he thought he had seen every kind of fly in God's creation. You
see, Hugh lives in rural Greene County directly between a large hog
confinement operation and a thirteen-acre liquid turkey compost pile.
Flies have been especially bad this year, according to Hugh. He says
matter-of-factly that he had one fly through the screen door on his back
porch last week. But that was nothing compared to what he encountered
Monday.Shortly before sitting down for his noon meal, which he usually prefers to enjoy outdoors (Hugh likes to breath in the clean, fresh country air), the largest fly he had ever seen landed directly in front of him on the deck railing. This was an enormous fly. It was later estimated to have weight around 22 pounds. How do you swat a fly of that magnitude? Thinking quickly, Hugh grabbed his wife's Taser, and pointed it at the pest. "It took two darts, but I was finally able to stun him," stated Hugh.
While the creature was immobilized, Hugh quickly picked it up and threw it in the back yard, where he was able to back over it with his SUV. "It was really a mess out there," added Hugh. "It looked like somebody gored an ox." A trip to the car wash got rid of most of the remains, although there is still that rotting carcass to deal with. When we visited Hugh two days later, it was still there, amazingly enough, surrounded by flies. "I have no idea what to do with a dead fly, so there he is," deadpanned Hugh.
Rick Bland, 08-11-2011