The Cat and the Man in the Hat - Pryor Daily Times article.

� 1998 Pryor Daily Times published: February 11th, 1998
The cat and the man in the hat
By Kevin Shank
Staff Writer

    Call it return to Temple of Doom.
    He even wore a fedora, just like Indiana Jones.
    Still, Dan Judd insists he's no hero.
    It was late Friday evening when Judd, a Pryor computer businessman, was relaxing at home when the phone rang.    "Your building's on fire," the woman said.
    Judd leapt to his feet, fearing not for the tens of thousands of dollars of computer gear locked inside his office in the unit block of South Mill.    Judd wanted the sentimental items, like his homemade U.S. Flag and his Army honorable discharge certificate.
    Most of all, Judd wanted to rescue his pet cat - a former stray he already rescued once from the streets - and six kittens only days old.     "I thought, 'Oh, my God, the kittens are in there'," Judd said.
    He rushed to the scene and, having donned his dark fedora hat, rushed into the building which was quickly filling with smoke.    "When I got here you could see maybe two feet in front of your face," Judd recalled.
    In addition to the life-endangering smoke, Judd had another problem: the frightened momma cat had tucked her kittens up behind a wooden cabinet in a back room of the office.    Brute force took over and Judd yanked the cabinet free.     "I don't know how I got it off the wall, it had six anchor bolts. I guess it was one of those adrenalin things," Judd said.
    Once the counter had been pulled from the wall, Judd began feeling frantically for the animals, stuffing the babies inside his coat pockets.     "I was grabbing whatever felt fuzzy," Judd said.     Finally, he scooped up the alarmed mother who immediately began protesting with her claws, apparently unaware where her babies were.
    With smoke billowing through every room in the office, Judd had to exit out a locked back door secured by screws.    Judd had to grope some more, trying to find an electric screwdriver needed to undo the door screws.
    Indiana Jones, perhaps. More like Keystone Cops, as Judd tells it.     "I had my pockets full of kittens, a cat in my hand - a clawing and scratching cat in my hand - and I was running around trying to get this screwdriver. Of couse, I can't see the screws, and I'm about to strangle this cat...."
    But eventually, Judd was able to open the door and emerge from the burning building, wafts of smoke streaming off his fedora.    Judd said the momma cat complained all the way home until she was reunited with her children, safe and sound, in a bathtub.
    Momma and babies were relaxing at home this week while Judd, like other business owners in the affected building, sorted through the damage.

And now, the rest of the story: Mother and Babies saved, but Business and Jobs lost!

e-mail Dan Judd Fire Cats Home