Here's one to give Jay a bit of hope. -- VM -----Original Message----- From: Wilkinson, Steve <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]' <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: February 04, 1999 12:02 PM Subject: 1998 Darwin Award Nominees > > > > >> Subject: : The Darwin Awards >> >> Once again it is time to start thinking about casting your vote for >> the 1998 Darwin Award winner! As you may already know, nominees are >> those who contribute to the gene pool by dying off in spectacularly >> stupid >> ways before they breed (hopefully). >> >> The 1998 nominees are: >> >> NOMINEE No.1 [San Jose Mercury News] >> An unidentified man, using shotgun like a club to break a former >> girlfriend's windshield, accidentally shot himself to death when the gun >> discharged, blowing a hole in his gut. >> >> NOMINEE No.2: [Kalamazoo Gazette] >> James Burns, 34, (a mechanic) of Alamo, Mich., was killed in March as he >> was trying to repair what police described as a "farm-type truck." >> Burns got a friend to drive the truck on a highway while Burns hung >> underneath so that he could ascertain the source of a troubling noise. >> Burns' >> clothes caught on something, however, and the other man found Burns >> "wrapped in the drive shaft." >> >> NOMINEE No.3: [Hickory Daily Record] >> Ken Charles Barger, 47, accidentally shot himself to death in >> December in Newton, N.C. Awakening to the sound of a ringing telephone >> beside >> his bed, he reached for the phone but grabbed instead a Smith & Wesson >> .38 Special, which discharged when he drew it to his ear. >> >> NOMINEE No.4: [UPI, Toronto] >> Police said a lawyer demonstrating the safety of windows in a >> downtown Toronto skyscraper crashed through a pane with his shoulder and >> plunged 24 floors to his death. A police spokesman said Garry Hoy, 39, >> fell >> into the courtyard of the Toronto Dominion Bank Tower early Friday >> evening as he was explaining the strength of the building's windows >> to visiting law students. Hoy previously had conducted demonstrations of >> window strength according to police reports. Peter Lawyers, managing >> partner of the firm Holden Day Wilson, told the Toronto Sun newspaper >> that Hoy was "one of the best and brightest" >> members of the 200-man association. >> >> NOMINEE No.5: [Bloomburg News Service] >> A terrible diet and room with no ventilation are being blamed for the >> death of a man who was killed by his own gas. There was no mark on >> his body but an autopsy showed large amounts of methane gas in his >> system. >> His diet had consisted primarily of beans and cabbage (and a couple >> of other things). It was just the right combination of foods. It >> appears that the man died in his sleep from breathing the poisonous >> cloud >> that was hanging over his bed. Had he been outside or had his windows >> been >> opened, it wouldn't have been fatal. But the man was shut up in his >> near airtight bedroom. According to the article, "He was a big man with >> a >> huge capacity for creating "this deadly gas." Three of the rescuers >> got sick and one was hospitalized. >> >> NOMINEE No.6: [The News of the Weird.] >> Michael Anderson Godwin made News of the Weird posthumously. He had >> spent several years awaiting South Carolina's electric chair on a >> murder conviction before having his sentence reduced to life in prison. >> Whilst sitting on a metal toilet in his cell and attempting to fix his >> small >> TV set, he bit into a wire and was electrocuted. >> >> NOMINEE NO.7: ["The Indianapolis Star"]. >> A cigarette lighter may have triggered fatal explosion - Dunkirk, >> Indiana. A Jay County man using a cigarette lighter to check the >> barrel of a muzzle loader was killed Monday night when the weapon >> discharged >> in his face, sheriff's investigators said. Gregory David Pryor, 19, died >> in his parents' rural Dunkirk home about 11:30 p.m. Investigators said >> Pryor was cleaning a .54-caliber muzzleloader that had not been >> firing properly. He was using the lighter to look into the barrel when >> the >> gunpowder ignited. >> >> NOMINEE No.8: [AP, St. Louis] >> Robert Puelo, 32, was apparently being disorderly in a St. Louis >> market. When the clerk threatened to call police Pueblo grabbed a hot >> dog, >> shoved it in his mouth, and walked out without paying for it. Police >> found him unconscious in front of the store; paramedics removed the >> six-inch wiener from his throat, where it had choked him to death. >> >> NOMINEE No.9: [Unknown] >> To poacher Marino Malerba, who shot a stag standing above him on an >> overhanging rock-and was killed instantly when it fell on him.... >> >> NOMINEE No.10: [Associated Press, Kincaid, W. VA] >> Blasting Cap Explodes in Man's Mouth at Party. A man at a party >> popped a blasting cap into his mouth and bit down, triggering an >> explosion >> that blew off his lips, teeth and tongue, state police said Wednesday. >> Jerry Stromyer, 24, of Kincaid bit the blasting cap as a prank during a >> party late Tuesday night, said Cpl. M.D. Payne. "Another man had it in >> an >> aquarium, hooked to a battery, and was trying to explode it," Payne >> said. It wouldn't go off" and this guy said, "I'll show you how to set >> it >> off." >> >> NOMINEE No.11: [Reuters, Mississauga, Ontario] >> A man cleaning a birdfeeder on the balcony of his condominium >> apartment in this Toronto suburb slipped and fell 23 stories to his >> death. >> Stefan Macko, 55, was standing on a wheeled chair when the accident >> occurred, said Inspector D'Arcy Honer of the Peel regional police. "It >> appears >> the chair moved and he went over the balcony," Honer said. >> >> NOMINEE No.12: [UPI, Portland, OR] >> Doctors at Portland's University Hospital said Wednesday an Oregon >> man shot through the skull by a hunting arrow is lucky to be alive, and >> will be released soon from the hospital. Tony Roberts, 25, lost his >> right >> eye during an initiation into a men's rafting club, Mountain Men >> Anonymous, in Grants Pass, OR. A friend tried to shoot a beer can off >> his >> head, >> but the arrow entered Roberts right eye. Doctors said had the arrow >> gone 1 millimeter to the left, a major blood vessel would have cut and >> Roberts would have died instantly. Neurosurgeon Dr. Johnny Delasha >> at the University Hospital in Portland said the arrow went through 8 >> to 10 inches of brain, with the tip protruding at the rear of his >> skull, >> yet somehow managed to miss all major blood vessels. Delashaw also said >> that if Robert had tried to pull the arrow out he surely would have >> killed himself. Roberts admitted afterwards he and his friends had >> been drinking that afternoon. Said Roberts, >> "I feel so dumb about this." >> >> NOMINEE No.13 The Calgary Sun Saturday, December 28, 1996 VANCOUVER >> (CP) >> A man arguing over a love triangle accidentally shot himself in the >> groin, taking off his testicles and part of his penis. Police said >> the man was waving a .357 Magnum revolver around during the shouting >> match early yesterday. But when he stuffed it back in his pants the gun >> went off. Police were called to the hospital after the man in his 20s >> was >> brought in by friends. Charges are pending against the victim, who >> is expected to survive. >> >> AND FINALLY, NOMINEE No.14!!!: [Arkansas Democrat Gazette] >> Two local men were seriously injured when their pickup truck left the >> road and struck a tree near Cotton Patch on State Highway 38 early >> Monday morning. Woodruff County deputy Dovey Snyder reported the >> accident shortly after midnight Monday. Thurston Poole, 33, of Des Arc >> and Billy Ray Wallis, 38, of Little Rock are listed in serious >> condition >> at Baptist Medical Center. The accident occurred as the two men were >> returning to Des Ark after a frog gigging trip. On an overcast Sunday >> night, Poole's pickup truck headlights malfunctioned. The two men >> concluded that the headlight fuse on the older model truck had burned >> out. As a replacement fuse was not available, Wallis >> noticed that the .22 caliber bullet from his pistol fit perfectly >> into the fuse box next to the steering wheel column. Upon inserting the >> bullet, the headlights again began to operate properly and the two >> men proceeded on east-bound toward the White River bridge. After >> traveling approximately twenty miles and just before crossing the river, >> the >> bullet apparently overheated, discharged and struck Poole in the >> right testicle. The vehicle swerved sharply to the right exiting the >> pavement and striking a tree. Poole suffered only minor cuts and >> abrasions from the accident, but will require surgery to repair the >> other wound. Wallis sustained a broken clavicle and was treated and >> released. "Thank God we weren't on that bridge when Thurston shot >> his _____ off or we might both be dead" stated Wallis. "I've been a >> trooper for ten years in this part of the world, but this is a first >> for >> me. I can't believe that those two admit how this accident happened," >> said >> Snyder. Upon being notified of the wreck, Lavinia, Poole's wife >> asked how many frogs the boys had caught and did anyone >> get them from the truck. >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >
