Timber rattler proposed as W. Virginia state reptile

While we can't resist a reference to backwoods Appalachian religious sects while reporting this story (key the banjo music), we see where a resolution in the West Virginia state Senate last week would name the timber rattlesnake as the state's official reptile. Then again, the juxtaposition of politicians with scaly, slithering and poisonous snakes is delightfully ironic enough. Reported in the Beckley Register-Herald and the Charleston Daily Mail.