DAVID MIRHADI Star-Tribune staff writer | Posted: Sunday, July 23, 2006 12:00 am
Honeymoons are where couples meet white sandy beaches, craggy rock-climbing cliffs or the pampered life of a bed-and-breakfast before toiling as partners.
But a Kaycee couple decided to see what a night inside an old jail would feel like, even if the whole thing was staged.
So Melinda Austin Maas and her husband, Pete, spent a night at the Wyoming Frontier Prison in Rawlins, complete with their own mug shots (Pete took his while cross-eyed), and figured they'd do so for an annual golf benefit, the Rawlins Daily Times reported in its July 20 edition.
The couple marred last month, but were offered, Melinda Maas said, an all-expenses paid trip to the Big House in the mail.
"We've been sentenced to a night in jail for the most horrible crime of them all…marriage," Pete Maas told the newspaper.
While the two were charged with "crimes" - Melinda for the "murder" of her new mother-in-law, and Pete for the same offense, they were given a catered meal and a free viewing of the movie, "Prison" while at the Old Pen.
"The funniest thing about our crime is that his mother didn't show up to the wedding," Melinda told the newspaper.
On a wing and a prayer
Paraglider Josh Riggs of Wilson seemingly has no problem with allowing life to take him wherever it chooses.
One week ago today, Riggs launched his paraglider from the tiny Teton County town, and in five and-a-half hours, touched down behind a Lander junior high school, setting a new state paragliding record of 120 miles in the process.
"Whenever I launch, I always try to land as far as I can," Riggs told the Lander Journal for its July 19 edition.
Riggs said he's never sure where he'll land once he takes off.
"It was luck I landed in Lander," Riggs told the newspaper. In some cases, Riggs has had to hike miles, carrying his 60-pound pack before reaching anyone else. Then there's the need to hitchhike back home. Riggs said he planned to decamp at the Lander Bar to see if anyone had plans to roll back to Jackson that evening.
Perhaps he needed a cool drink. Riggs estimates it was 110 degrees as he flew over Fremont County.
In the heat of battle
These days, it seems the entire Equality State is crackling and popping as fires burn throughout the state. As hundreds converge on hot spots throughout Wyoming, the question has to be asked: Where will these hotshots eat, drink and sleep? In a 1,000-person tent city outside Gillette, that is, where crews were working to extinguish the Devils Tower blaze. Firefighters from South Dakota, Californa, Utah and Wyoming rise at 6 a.m. to cook breakfast, then it's out to the blazes.
This, the Gillette News-Record reported in its July 16 edition, before they even put their turnouts on.
They distribute Gatorade, water, anything they can before carrying the hoses out.
"Got to help people," said Clay Wood, helping out near Devils Tower.