Peter Gruber, of Glendale, Ohio, was in a 25-foot Powerquest running at 35-40 mph when he went overboard into 60 feet of water on May 25, witnesses told officers from the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. Gruber jumped into the water near the Powder Mill Boat Ramp in Campbell County.
He told his companions that he wondered what it would be like to jump from a moving boat just before he leaped into the water, according to TWRA officials. He never resurfaced, according to his companions.
A few weeks ago, Mr. Gruber’s family had enlisted the help of an Idaho couple who specialize in recovering drowning victims from deep waters. But it was a boater who found the body right around the spot where Mr. Gruber supposedly went into the water.
I’ve heard of being scared shitless but this is ridiculous. This British woman is afraid to move her bowels. She’s scared by anything having to do with POO. Our word of the day, boys and girls: coprophobia.
Some local highlights include a day-long festival at Mount Vernon, the home of George Washington; a morning reading ceremony of the Declaration of Independence at the National Archives; a parade down Constitution Avenue; a concert on the Washington Monument grounds; and, of course, the annual fireworks display on the Mall. This year’s show, produced by Pyro Shows of LaFollette, Tenn., will feature more than 2,800 shells, collectively weighing more than 14,000 pounds.
My Orioles went to Wrigley Field and took two of three from the best team in baseball. The Cubs lost a series at home for the first time in over a month.
Should marijuana smoking be allowed in airports before one takes a flight? Of course, many will say NO to that. Probably some of the same people slamming down cocktails in the airport lounge.
I don’t know. I figure if you have to numb yourself before a flight maybe you shouldn’t fly. Besides, a tiny bag of peanuts (if you’re lucky to even get them these days) won’t satisfy the munchies.
But then again, who would you rather sit next to on a flight: a drunk or a stoner?
I was eleven years old when I first heard The Seven Dirty Words You Can’t Say On TV. Doug, my friend across the street, had the vinyl album. I never questioned how he obtained it. I just remember listening to it when his parents weren’t home.
George Carlin was a staple of my comedy diet. I grew up listening to his albums and watching his HBO specials and for the past decade I’ve played his tamer stuff on the air on Fridays when I highlight comedy on my show.
As much as I admired him for his comedy, I respected him for his boldness and perhaps even more so for his way with words. I think George himself would say he was a wordsmith first and a comedian second.
I suppose there are a thousand YouTube clips I could post. But being a radio guy, I had a special place in my heart for Carlin’s WINO radio bit. Here’s some very early George Carlin:
“There are three ingredients in my comedy,” he said in a 1991 interview with the Los Angeles Times. “Those three things which wax and wane in importance are English language and wordplay; secondly, mundane, everyday observational comedy — dogs, cats and all that stuff; and thirdly, sociopolitical attitude comedy.”
You’d have to be crazy to do a lot of traveling in an RV this summer. That’s why so many folks are staying close to home for fun. ‘Staycation’ is the new buzzword for the summer of 2008. Ed Marcum and Morgan Simmons report in the Knoxville News-Sentinel on a Speedwell family that recently spent a week at nearby Norris Lake.
Parked at the campsite was the family’s new 27-foot travel trailer as well as their pick-up truck, which they had filled with $88 in gas before leaving home.
Billie and David Evans have three children, ages 11, 13 and 15. After a week of swimming, trout fishing and bicycling at Norris Dam State Park, they were heading back to Claiborne County, where they’d find prices at the pump to be a few cents higher than when they left home.
“We normally go camping three or four times a summer,” said Billie Evans. “This year, we’ll take the same number of trips, but we can’t afford to travel more than 30 or 40 minutes from home. With these gas prices, it’s just too expensive to be towing the camper around.”
Amen, sister.
Meanwhile, the search continues on Norris Lake for a missing Ohio man who presumably drowned over the Memorial Day holiday weekend. The man’s family enlisted the help of an Idaho couple who have a reputation and special equipment for recovering bodies from deep bodies of water. WBIR-TV recently reported on the effort:
Gene and Sandy Ralston of Idaho have recovered 54 bodies in 8 years from deep waters all across the nation. Their reputation is what led Peter Gruber’s family to contact them.
26 year-old Peter Gruber has been missing since Memorial Day weekend. Investigators say he jumped from a moving boat and never resurfaced.
The Ralstons traveled 2,100 miles from Idaho to LaFollette in their RV with their 23 foot work boat in tow.
The vessel is equipped with a sonar scanning system that can read as far as 850 feet.
The Ralstons are willing to stay however long it takes to find Peter Gruber. They volunteer their time and only ask for enough money to cover expenses.
That was almost ten days ago. Still no sign of Mr. Gruber.
And speaking of the giving spirit, a Speedwell woman recently donated ten inches of her hair for a good cause.
And here are some videos I’ve wanted to share….
Robert Smigel is a genius. I love it when he does Triumph the Insult Comic Dog on Conan. Last week he was at the Belmont Stakes. The bit at the end where he rags on the guy in the ponytail is priceless.
Cyd Charisse died yesterday. Loving classic movies as I do, I know her work a little bit. But the first thing that came to my mind upon hearing the news was her cameo in Janet Jackson’s 1990 video for Alright. Charisse appears at the 3:00 mark:
And finally, I love YouTube for many reasons but mainly for being able to watch clips from shows I used to watch years ago. Among them is Prisoner: Cell Block H, an Australian soap opera from the 1980s centering on a women’s prison. To see the evil screw (guard) Vera (nicknamed Vinegar Tits by the inmates), prisoners Bea, Lizzie, Colleen and the gang again is a joy. Queen Bea was the leader of the inmates. You either befriended her or feared her. In this clip, she’s leaving Wentworth Prison after being forced into a transfer to another prison.
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