Recently, I was reminded of something I had read about copperhead snakes, when I was told about the grandchild of a church member at a county park near my home, in a summer camp studying lizards. The pre-schooler lifted a rock and was bitten by a copperhead snake. The snake was captured and killed and the little boy carried by ambulance to the hospital. The child was fine, as the snake did not deliver much venom, probably because it was a juvenile copperhead. However, throughout the history of Virginia and the South, poisonous snake bites more often than not have a sadder outcome. Therefore, we know our snakes and we are ever vigilant.

In 2003, I had read an editorial by Senator Zell Miller about his family life in Georgia and snakes and I wrote - “Exactly! That is what this War on Terrorism is about- Copperheads!” I was troubled by hearing so many of our government officials who did not understand this war. Even worse, it continues to be maddening when many Americans seem to hope for the war to go badly, so that President Bush will be disgraced. This kind of talk gives comfort to our enemies and spurs them on. It hurts our cause; it frightens our allies who want to be with us. And worst of all, it puts our battlefield troops in even more danger. Zell Miller’s comments about the war and about copperheads is well worth the reading. This was written before “Give ‘em Hell” Zell had challenged Chris Matthews to a duel on TV. I wonder if Zell’s choice of weapon for the duel would have been a garden hoe?

“we were doing some work on my back porch back home, tearing out a section of old stacked rocks, when all of a sudden I uncovered a nest of copperhead snakes. I know the difference between those snakes that are harmless and those that will kill you. A copperhead will kill you. It could kill one of my dogs. It could kill one of my grandchildren. It could kill any one of my four great-grandchildren.

“And you know, when I discovered these copperheads, I didn’t call my wife Shirley for advice, like I do on most things. I didn’t go before the city council. I didn’t yell for help from my neighbors. I just took a hoe and knocked them in the head and killed them dead as a doorknob.

“I guess you could call it a unilateral action,” I said. “Or pre-emptive. Perhaps if you had been watching me, you could have even called it bellicose and reactive. I took their poisonous heads off because they were a threat to me. And they were a threat to my home and my family. They were a threat to all I hold dear. And isn’t that what this is all about?”

~~ from “In pursuit of an American Churchill” by Zell Miller, published in The Washington Times.