Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, February 3, 1991                   TAG: 9102030071
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: PUNXSUTAWNEY, PA.                                LENGTH: Short

PHIL MAKES HIS FORECAST: SIX MORE WEEKS OF WINTER

The groundhog cast a shadow over the nation after his handler coaxed him from a specially made tree stump into the clear dawn.

The most devoted of Phil's followers, the 14 businessmen who comprise the celebrated rodent's Inner Circle, gathered in top hats on stage with the town's "Seer of Seers."

At 7:27 a.m., the exact moment of the sunrise, Inner Circle President James Means rapped three times with a cane on Phil's yellow door. Handler Bud Dunkel reached in, gently woke Phil, and lifted the squirming rodent.

Means twice held Phil up to his face and softly questioned him, held the woodchuck to his ear for the answer and signaled for a proclamation.

Judge Edwin Snyder, reading from the scroll, reported to the audience of college students, families, tourists and reporters that Phil "signaled in clear groundhogese: `There's a shadow down there. Not especially dark or strong, but enough to call for six more weeks of winter."'