Why have a State Slug?

     So you are not a tree hugger. You don’t care about the snail darter or the Kirkland Warbler. Perhaps you are a doubting Thomas who doesn’t believe in Loch Ness Monsters or little green men from Roswell, New Mexico. Why should you care?

     I am glad you asked. With very little community effort, Newberry, Michigan became the Moose Capital of Michigan, and the only cost was the ink needed to sign the legislation into law. Creating a State Slug will likewise require community effort, but no tax dollars.

     Once the A.S.S. is designated State Slug non-believers like yourself can fill their wheelbarrows with tourist dollars and haul their loot to the nearest bank. According to the Journal of Business & Economics Research, Roswell has nothing other than little green men to attract tourists, but those little green men bring in five million dollars each year (Per Forbes Magazine).

     The Loch Ness Monster is worth even more money. Didyouknow.org estimates that the Loch Ness Monster provides forty million dollars annually to the Scottish tourism industry. In 1912 Scotland passed the Protection of Animals Act to protect Nessie and the Scottish tourism industry.  The Loch Ness Monster even has its own fan-club.

     After the state anoints the A.S.S. State Slug, the Amorous State Slug name and logo will enter the public domain. A.S.S. hats, T-shirts, and other trinkets will spring up in tourist traps across the U.P. There are no data about the economic impact of Newberry’s moose capital, but the Comfort Inn in Newberry thought it worthy of a moose statue guarding their hotel entrance. They also invested in a promotional website with moose poem, official moose mascot (Moe), and pictures of live moose. All that effort suggests there is money to be made in the Moose Capital of the U.P. With a little community effort we could add the Amorous Spotted Slug to the Upper Peninsula folklore and bring in even more tourist dollars.