On a newsday slowed by the 4th of July holiday, featuring tidbits about Sarah Palin resigning and an extremely heavy duty anesthesia found at the Michael Jackson home, this article was featured in the local section of today’s Arizona Republic:

Chicken on the road backs up Interstate 17
by Elias C. Arnold- Jul 3, 2009 03:40pm
The Arizona Republic

Drivers found themselves contending with more than holiday traffic Friday when a chicken was found crossing the road.

Northbound Interstate 17 remains backed up north of Loop 101 after a rooster tried to cross the freeway about 11 a.m. at Arizona 74

“It’s just a busy holiday – and of course the rooster,” said Officer Robert Bailey, a DPS spokesman. “The rooster only compounded matters.”

An officer removed the uninjured bird within 40 minutes, but Bailey expects the heavy Fourth of July traffic to remain slow-and-go through late this evening.

The officer gave the rooster a ride to New River in the back of a patrol car where the fowl was released.

“Luckily there’s a cage back there so the rooster wasn’t flying in the driver’s compartment,” Bailey said.

(end of article)

So what can we learn from this story?

1. The age old controversy continues: since officers removed him before he got across the road, we still don’t know why the chicken crossed the road.

2. The chicken was not interviewed, leaving his intentions and motivations unknown. Overly zealous law enforcement officers hid the chicken in the back of a patrol car and spirited him away to New River, disappointing philosophers and paparazzi around the world.

3. There really wasn’t a lot of local news today in Arizona.

July 4, 2009