School kids push for official Oregon crustacean
SALEM, Ore. (AP) — There was no snapping, no clawing on the House floor Monday. Representatives unanimously endorsed the Dungeness crab as Oregon's official state crustacean.
The bill was introduced at the request of the fourth-graders at Sunset Primary School in West Linn. They're studying the states this year and found that Maryland has the blue crab and Louisiana the crawfish as state icons. So why not Oregon?
Legislative sponsors wore big red stuffed crabs on their heads and spoke of the fishery's value.
The Oregonian said members of Oregon's Dungeness Crab Commission later handed out free crab cocktails, rendering the first floor of the Capitol redolent of crab.
The bill still faces approval by the Senate and Gov. Ted Kulongoski.
(Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.)
