Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 16, 1990 TAG: 9003161998
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Ed Shamy
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
I've heard he turns up in rural honky-tonks, riffs a guitar and rocks the joint into the ground for a couple of hours. Then he disappears as mysteriously as he appeared, in a '58 Cadillac.
You know who we're talking about.
The King.
Bo.
Bo the cat's story appeared here Wednesday. In short, Bo spent the overnight on a warm car engine in Greensboro, N.C. Bo spent the next morning on a hot car engine bound for Roanoke.
One hundred miles and untold thousand close calls with fan belts later, Bo saw daylight at the Exxon service station on Hershberger Road.
Gina and Duncan Chapman of Greensboro, who own Bo the Siamese cat, visited Roanoke on Monday to search for him, to post signs asking for information about his whereabouts and to offer a $200 reward.
Bo's story spawned a series of Bo sightings unparalleled in the history of the Roanoke Valley.
Bo in the store, Bo in the bedroom, Bo in the weeds and Bo past midnight.
Either the ubiquitous Bo is playing games with us, or this valley has a very serious Siamese infestation problem.
Siamese cats fitting Bo's description (four legs, nine lives, tail) have been spotted from Southeast Roanoke to Williamson Road, from Valley View Mall to Salem.
One family from an hour outside Roanoke called Gina Chapman to tell her they spotted Bo on Sunday at the mall.
Bo reportedly strolled through The Hub furniture store on Williamson Road last weekend.
What next? Bo pumping gas at a Save-X? Bo at the deep fryer at Krispy Kreme?
No. Bo before dawn.
One woman from Roanoke called Gina Chapman at 1:30 a.m. Thursday. Her Bo had a white spot on the head. The real Bo has no white spot.
Bo in the weeds behind the General Electric plant in Salem.
And, of course, Bo was captured - where else - near the miniature Graceland on Riverland Road in Southeast Roanoke. That family kept Bo in the bedroom for a while until he could be positively identified.
Of course, that's miles from where Bo jumped from the open hood of the car when the driver stopped to check the oil.
Hey, said the woman who called to report the Bo recapture, this cat came 100 miles, what's a few miles more across town?
She had a point.
But Bo, ever the elusive little devil, has remained negatively identified, preferring to cultivate that air of mystique so important to cats on the lam.
Bo, frankly, ain't nothing but a hound dog.
If this does not lead to Bo's apprehension - and Gina Chapman and I are fielding all Bo tips as seriously as we can at 1:30 in the morning - can more Bo stories be far behind? Bo on a UFO. Bo and Bigfoot? Bo and Cher?
Bo lives.
by CNB