hoopers

[George Thompson]

>From an article in the NYTimes of June 10, 2004 (section B, p. 1, col. 2) on malefactors who have been capturing pigeons from NYC parks and carrying them to Pennsylvania where they serve as targets at gun clubs.  The malefactors throw down crumbs or seeds and catch the pigeons under a net.  The article refers to them as "netters", but "Edwin, a Bronx pet store owner who . . . asked that his last name not be used," who is an authority on the subject, differs.  ""Actually," he said, "they're called hoopers because thay use hoop-shaoed hand-held-nets.""

GAT

George A. Thompson
Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern Univ. Pr., 1998.