Intriguing: Circle of stones and Air Force

Bill Deeley The existence of Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and The Great Pumpkin is debated every year by great minds and sidewalk philosophers. But without fail, every year since February 2, 1887, Punxsutawney Phil has emerged from his burrow on Gobbler's Knob to face very cold human beings. According to legend, if the world-famous Pennsylvania groundhog sees his shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter weather. If he does not, there will be an early spring. Today, Phil predicted more winter. Deeley is president of the Inner Circle of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club. In late January, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sent Deeley a letter urging the club to replace the real Phil with an animatronic one -- a robot. In the letter, the animal activists wrote, "Groundhogs are typically shy animals and are likely to feel fear and stress when they are out of their burrows. Each year on February 2, Punxsutawney Phil is trotted out to face human handling and hundreds of noisy people, flashing lights, and cameras. The animals used for Groundhog Day events are deprived of their natural hibernation periods." Deeley told the Erie Times-News that he agrees with PETA and what they stand for on most issues, "but you have to see what we do with Phil....he's treated better than the average child in Pennsylvania. He lives in an air-conditioned home in the summer and a heated building at the zoo in the winter. He has running water, someone who feeds him, and he even gets an annual physical. I don't think it was fair for PETA to do what they did to us."

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