Sheriff William Blatter tipped back in his black, executive style, imitation leather seat of power, and glanced out the open door of his office to see whether he could be observed by any of his "public," before planting both of his Fort Worth, triple stitched, cowboy boots upon the simulated cherrywood desk top. He wanted to light up a fat cigar, but as this rite of manhood had been restricted to the privacy of his home by Blatter's political advisors, he surreptitiously snuck a pinch of chew instead.

Blatter consciously worried about his public image. "Too many damn fool TV programs make fun of country sheriffs," he continually had to explain to his not so understanding wife, Millie, just one of the "troubles and tribulations," Willie-B had to overcome in his quest for respect among Cascade County voters. As the "media" was all important to a man in the public eye, Sheriff Blatter made it a point, whenever the press appeared at his office, of posing for photograph just a smidgen left of the framed diploma granted him for the completion of a six week long FBI short course in criminology.

This morning, with a satisfied smile, he unfolded the Cascade County Pioneer to such a photograph. The diploma was clearly visible in the background of a full page layout, on page four, of this eight page weekly.

The cutline read: Sheriff Blatter investigating possibility of foul play in mysterious plane accident.

The storyline developed that Jed Smith, son of an old-time Cascade County family of pack station operators (Pioneer File Photo of Amos Smith, above) in the Cascade Mountain Wilderness Area (Mountain Photography, right, courtesy Mr. Ben Hallock's Cascade High School Creative Photography Class) had turned into Sheriff "Willie-B" Blatter's office, a fragment of aircraft fabric he had discovered on the slopes of Mt. Cascade (Polaroid photo courtesy of Cascade County Sheriff's Crime Lab).

Following the basic principle of small town journalism (Cascade County population 4,749; paid circulation of Cascade County Pioneer, 1,146) the account mentioned as many local names as possible, and continued:

Due to his extensive training, Sheriff Blatter recognized the numbers painted in black as those of an aircraft's registration. He immediately directed Deputy Ron Hollenger to begin inquiries with the appropriate authorities.

The Federal Aviation Agency confirmed our sheriff's primary deductions, but were unable to shed any further light on the mystery. Their records showed that the plane, a single engine Taylorcraft, was last certified for airworthiness in the early 1940's. No account of any crash involving this airplane, or a missing-presumed-down report was noted.