Pig kissing raises $1,100 in library fundraiser

Four lucky local officials had a special romantic occasion Tuesday after votes in a fundraiser were declared a virtual tie and the potbelly pig Daisy II got a kiss from each.

The candidates all put in some last-minute votes of their own, with Havre Mayor Tim Solomon, Hill County Commissioner Mark Peterson, Havre Police Sergeant Jason Barkus and Hill County Sheriff's Deputy James Dahl contributing some cash votes of their own and from organizations.

Hill County Children's Librarian Lori Roberts said the votes were so close that it was a virtual tie.

"So they all get to kiss Daisy the pig tonight," she said.

But first, at the urging of Daisy's owner, "Farmer" Paul Minor, Roberts also gave the famous traveling pig a kiss.

"It kind of feels funny," she said after the smooch.

Library Director Rachel Rawn already had kissed Daisy.

Peterson offered everyone the use of his chapstick before the kiss.

The total votes - which will pay for books in the children's section at the library - came in at $1,105.45.

Some 15 children came to see Daisy and the kissing, and had the chance to pet and kiss - on the back - the potbelly pig themselves.

Most of the children sat enraptured as Minor told in his homey storytelling fashion the history of Daisy II and her predecessor - with whom Minor has been traveling for close to two decades promoting reading as well as visiting people in hospitals and nursing homes.

This is Minor's second trip to Havre, the first with Daisy II's predecessor, Daisy, who died at 14½-years-old in 2009. Minor and Daisy were in Havre about 2008.

Minor and his pigs - accompanied by two pug dogs on this trip, although Daisy's cat friend was not here - leave their home in Bristol, Connecticut, to travel around the country in the summer promoting children's reading.

Minor said Daisy loves books, too. The pig's favorite is "Charlotte's Web," he said.

Minor said he reads to Daisy II every night, as he did to Daisy, after explaining how it became a tradition when he and Mrs. Minor picked Daisy up from a farm, a terrified runt of the litter, to sleep in their bed with Daisy's head on his chest. Daisy II's mothers - the dogs and cat, that thought they were Daisy's children - also sleep with them on the bed, he said.

And the pig has received great acclaim, including receiving four keys to cities and proclamations, with the younger pig now three up on the first Daisy, who received one key to a city.

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Online: Pig Out on Reading, Farmer Minor and Daisy's website:http://www.daisyminor.com/