Calico on way to official state cat status

The state dog may soon have a state cat to chase up the state tree.Inspired by a group of fifth-grade girls, the Maryland House of Delegates voted Friday to adopt the calico as the official state cat.Several cat-loving girls from far Western Maryland decided that since the state had an official dog (Chesapeake Bay retriever), it should have an official cat, too. They chose the calico because its patches of red, cream, black are the same colors found on many state symbols.“We never would have thought that our bill would make it this far,” said 10-year-old Lexi Gentry, who noted only Massachusetts and Maine have official cats. “We would like to join this group of cat-loving states.”With the girls listening via the Internet at Westernport Elementary School in Allegany County, the House voted 116-12 in favor of the bill after a lighthearted debate.“That means it would be going to the Senate,” said 11-year-old January Mullen, “and then it would have a good chance of being the state cat.”“We’re pretty little — we’re mostly 10 and 11 — and we’re going to make a state cat,” she said. “So, I guess people should be pretty excited about that.”If the bill passes, the state cat would have a state insect (Baltimore checkerspot butterfly) to chase, a state tree (white oak) to climb and a state drink (milk) to lap up. The state bird (Baltimore oriole) had better watch out.Lawmakers often consider such bills frivolous, but the girls have proved to be both persistent and persuasive lobbyists.“The moral of the story is people who think they are estranged from the political process — that’s not true,” said Delegate Kevin Kelly, D-Allegany, the bill’s sponsor.It doesn’t hurt that the girls live in House Speaker Casper Taylor’s district.After their lesson on state government last year, the girls wrote Kelly, who promised to introduce the calico cat bill. Earlier this session, the girls reminded him of his promise and wanted to know where the bill was.Next, the girls made the 180-mile trip to Annapolis to testify about the bill Feb. 1 before the House Commerce and Government Matters Committee.They brought along a calico named Maggie and handed out calico cat buttons to everyone they met, including the shoeshine man in the State House basement.“Typically, they move on and forget, or it’s not important. What these girls have done is actually taken what they’ve learned and applied it,” said Steve Wilson, principal of Westernport Elementary School.Those who say the General Assembly has better things to spend its time on than calico cats should get over their own “inflated sense of self-importance,” Kelly said.“The bottom line is if this bill doesn’t go through, I think that’s a slap in the face to the state of Maryland.”