Hit them with your best shot.

One look was all Rick Minerd needed.

"It hit me instantly," said the Columbus resident, whose entry to the 34th Dispatch Caption-Writing Contest took first place.

The panel depicted two youngsters trick-or-treating and a woman at the door who had apparently fainted.

The kids in the panel -- drawn by Jeff Stahler, also the newspaper's editorial cartoonist -- didn't seem frightening, so Minerd surmised that the lady was shocked by their kindness.

A retired Obetz police chief, Minerd knows a lot about human behavior. His quip is just an observation, he said, not an indictment of young people.

His submission appealed to Stahler, who said: "The irony in being polite on Halloween seemed to rule out the fact that the trick-or-treater wasn't in much of a costume. It seemed very natural coming from the witch." copyright Columbus Dispatch 2009