Everyone is getting excited about these amazing mouse trap cars and other gadgetry. Great fun for the family, an excellent resource for teachers. The following excerpts were taken from a very interesting article by the Pulitzer Prize winning author and syndicated columnist, Dave Barry. It appeared in over 40 newspapers coast to coast. All of this was followed by other print media as well as TV and radio coverage through the years.
 |
Buffalo News, 11/29/95 New York: "...We think that this book would also make an excellent movie property for Sylvester Stalone...". "Pranks such as the 'Two Bottle Timer' prank, in which you use two soda bottles to build a timing mechanism that enables you to be far away from the scene when the mouse trap finally snaps down on the turkey baster and squirts water on the victim from inside a hollowed-out book ....". |
|
Miami Herald, 12/3/95 Florida: "Each year we try to include at least one literary selection in the Holiday Guide, and this year we are especially pleased to present Great Pranks Using Mouse Traps! ... We are not talking about simple pranks here, we are talking about pranks on the same order and complexity as the invasion of Kuwait.". |
The following are but a few small excerpts from media coverage taken from a variety of other newspapers:
|
Dallas Morning News 12/28/96 Texas: Excerpts from the Bob St. John column: "Forget a better mouse trap: just try the tricks - Mel's mouse-trap tricks that also make raw eggs whisk past your head, wall pictures jump out at you, hidden cap guns explode unexpectedly...". |
|
The Shorthorn, U.T. Arlington. 3/26/96 Texas: "It all began with Mel McDaniel wanting to share some personal pranks involving mouse traps. It has now become a part time business and brought him to the physics department on March 13...... he called the physics professor Roy Rubins for help. Mr. McDaniel was on campus trying to determine the speed of the slammer..." |
|
Arlington Morning News, 9/14/96 Texas: "Students hit the trappings of success .... This unconventional approach at teaching students about science was inspired by a book called Great Pranks Using Mouse traps, by Mel McDaniel from Cleburne ..." |
|
Fort Worth Star Telegram, 6/9/96 Texas: "In a world full of mouse traps, things are always jumping.... The world does not necessarily need a better mouse trap as much as it needs an explored one. That's Mel McDaniel's philosophy..." |
|
Fort worth Star Telegram, 2/20/97 Texas: "Better mouse trap? Well, its bigger .... Yesterday, officials there unveiled what they call the 'World's Largest Mouse trap', a 6-foot contraption that stands ready if any mighty mice venture too close..." |
|
The White Rocker, 2/27/97: "World's Largest Mouse Trap!.... Mel McDaniel a Cleburne businessman who conducts Science awareness workshops at various schools... McDaniel shows off his amazing collection of mouse trap powered science/physics gadgets,(a formidable cannon, a motor vehicle, a gadget that catches fish using the pulley principle)- even a gizmo that plays a Chinese gong in "G" major ..." |
|
Dallas Morning News, 3/1/97: "Lets hope it doesn't lead to a bigger mouse ... Darlington Tower, standing, pulls a string to trigger the 6-foot mouse trap that Mel McDaniel brought Friday to Hexter Elementary School ... and he uses it as part of a science and physics program he puts on for school-children..." |
|
Cleburne Times Review, 2/28/97: Gerard mouse trap team qualifies for Guinness Book..." ...His ultimate goal in his work with the students is to get them interested in science with the Mouse Trap Fireworks competition, then move them into the more technical side of the trap and its relationship to physics ... It's a medium of learning about angles, levers, fulcrums, and the push, pull, grab,..seeing students creating and developing their own ideas while learning about the fulcrums, pulleys and inertia..." |
|
Cleburne Times Review, 3/30/97: "Checking Out the Big Trap are Nell Dixon, Mel McDaniel, Roger Pedigo and Nancy Davis. The "Big Trap" will be used at the Springfest Mouse Trap Fireworks Competition April 12 at Cleburne High School..." |
|
Dallas Morning News, 4/15/97: "Capturing The Imagination ... On Saturday, as part of the town's Spring Festival, students from several area schools gather to compete in the first annual "Extrapaganza" in the Cleburne High School ... all the teams work together to set up 1,200 mouse traps at once to set another world record ... In a room next to the gym, Mr. McDaniel has laid out an exhibit of mouse traps from all over the world, including Italy, Germany and Africa,courtesy of a national mouse trap collectors association ... A local museum, for example now displays what is said to be the world's largest mouse trap ... City leaders not only recognize the educational value of mouse traps but are snapping them up as a matter of civic pride... 'People might come to say that Cleburne is the mouse trap capital of the world', says Nell Dixon the executive vice president of the Cleburne Chamber of Commerce..." |
|
Cleburne Times Review, 6/6/97: "A number of students from Cleburne Public Library Summer Reading Club gathered at Cleburne Civic Center Wednesday for a lesson in how to create something through imagination... McDaniel also showed the students how to build toy cannons and other items using mouse traps..." |
|
Times Review February 13, 1998: 8 Country films members of Gerard Elementary's 1996-97 Mousetrap Fireworks Team in a piece to be aired Saturday at 6 p.m. ...." |
|
Arlington Morning News May 7th, 1998: "Area students discover fun side of physics during UTA event - .... Leading the discussion was Mel McDaniel, ... who has been featured on television news for his mouse-trap demonstration ...." |
|
Cleburne Times Review August 18, 1998: "...local author Mel McDaniel recently donated a copy of his book, "MOUSETRAP SCIENCE IS FUN!" to Cleburne Public Library..." |
|
Star Telegram - Arlington March 21, 1999: " Mel McDaniel of Cleburne demonstrates a car made out of mousetrap parts. Mel McDaniel is known as the Mousetrap Man. ................... The science lesson demonstrated lessons on levers, pulleys, kinetic and potential energies, ..." |
|
The News Star January 15, 2000: " Mel McDaniel, auther of Mousetrap Science is Fun, of Cleburne, recently held a science workshop at East Baptist Church for 75 home school children from the Paris area along with 28 from a private school in Hugo. ................" |
|
The Paris News, February 28 2000: " Mel McDaniel, auther of Mousetrap Science is Fun, of Cleburne, recently held a science workshop at East Baptist Church for 75 home school children from the Paris area along with 28 from a private school in Hugo. ................" |
In addition to all the print coverage, television
coverage has also been plentiful. TV coverage has been provided by both local and
national stations in 1996, 1997 and 1998 on ABC, Texas-FOX 4 News, Channel 8 Texas
Country, KXTX, KDFW, Family Life, Odyssey, Acts, FamilyNet, Warner Brothers affiliates,
and more. Media coverage still continues!