East Dundee cops get their bird ... well, at least they found it

It's early. The sky is just beginning to pink up, and it'll be hours before the sun will burn off the blanket of fog that shrouds the Fox River.

He's at it again. Like clockwork, it seems.

East Dundee police had been called out to investigate the day before. The chief himself had been on the hunt, but the perp took off before he could be caught. His wings, it seems, hadn't been clipped.

Not much happens in this small river town in the hazy hours before most people rise for work. This perp was upsetting the balance of things.

Shortly after 5 a.m., Officer John Theis pulls up in his cruiser, no lights, no sirens. Not at this hour. He pulls out his black Mag Lite and sets to work.

"All we need is a plug of tobacco and some camouflage clothing," he says.

Theis draws wide arcs of light across the heavily treed backyard, ever listening.

And then he catches something, not green but rusty red, halfway up a blue spruce.

He moves closer, parts the branches.

There he is, a rooster who'd flown the coop and apparently gotten lost in a part of town where roosters are as common as $2 bills.

The bird doesn't move; just seems to crow louder.

Not long after, the cop's walkie squawks. It's Officer Louie Kloepper, wondering where Theis is. He's on his way.

"Backup's here," Theis says.

Louie and John run down the various ordnance at their disposal, joking about what might be best to dispatch the bird. In the end, they decide there's really nothing they can do.

Village Trustee Mike Ruffulo is accustomed to getting up early. Earlier than most. But the clatter that had been starting as early as 4 a.m. near his backyard got his dander up. It was he who mentioned the neighborhood menace at Monday night's board meeting.

"I was surprised by how loud they were," Ruffulo says. He'd counted 54 cock-a-doodle-doos in a 28-minute span.

"At first I was a little annoyed."

He softens.

"We're starting to get used to it," he says. "I think it's just going to fit in with the flora and fauna of the neighborhood here."

He rationalizes that he and his neighbors won't have to worry about setting their alarm clocks as long as the rooster is around.

"I told the officers to just let it be for now. Unless they want a chicken dinner at the police station tonight," he quips.

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