A hundred squirrel hides must be delivered by males to receive a tax credit of $3 in compliance with an 1807 state law, according to “Historic Tales of Medina County, Ohio.” The new book (Arcadia Publishing, $21.99) by former Medina County commissioner Stephen D. Hambley has fascinating tidbits like this one, detailing that men who delivered fewer than 100 hides owed 3 cents per squirrel for neglecting his “civic duty,” as millions of gray squirrels “threatened the very survival of the farming communities.” The tax break ended in 1810, and squirrels have freely roamed Ohio ever since.
