‘Springy’ cottonwood limb leaves mark on governor

Gov. Butch Otter is sporting a shiner today, after a tree limb he was cutting over the weekend snapped back and hit him in the face. “With those windstorms that came through, I can’t tell you how many trees I’ve lost,” Otter said. “It was a cottonwood tree, and they’re pretty springy.” His chainsaw had stopped working, so he was cutting the limb with a buck saw when he got smacked. “It was under some tension, and bingo, she snapped and hit me in the eye,” Otter said. He added, “I should’ve spent some time making up a more romantic story.”

He noted, “We did have one fall on a horse trailer,” but he was disappointed to find that the damage didn’t require any of his newly developed aluminum welding skills, honed in a community college class this spring. “It was just a dent,” the governor said with a chuckle, “so I have to take a class in removing dents from aluminum now.”