WhiteBoard News for Thursday, November 02, 2000

Kansas City, Missouri (Reuters):

Marriage has never been scarier.

Richard Blankenship and Jenyfier Osborn were headed to
the altar on Tuesday in a darkened room in the "Edge of
Hell" haunted house in Kansas City in celebration of
their marriage and of Halloween.

Forgoing the traditional tuxedo, the 22-year-old
Blankenship has chosen instead to dress as a vampire,
while his bride selected a blood-red gown.

"I'm kind of like his victim," Osborn told Reuters.

Flickering lights and the sounds of crashing thunder
were chosen for special effects and guests were
encouraged to attend in costume.

"He loves Halloween, it's one of his favorite
holidays," Osborn said of her groom. "It's just
something fun and something we'll remember for a long
time."

The couple have worked at the Edge of Hell haunted
house for more than seven years and have long wanted to
hold their wedding there, Osborn said.

Some criticized the couple's wedding plans as
sacrilegious, but Osborn said the Halloween theme was
meant only in fun.

"We're not Satanists. A minister is marrying us and we
believe in God," Osborn said.
==========

Traverse City, Michigan (AP):

It was a fairy-tale wedding complete with a glass
slipper, fairy godmother and the clock striking
midnight.

Shelby Twigg and Derek Pahl agreed early in their
relationship that when they married, it would be a
Halloween wedding with a Cinderella theme.

"Halloween is her favorite holiday, and she spends
hundreds on makeup and wardrobe each year and I told
her we'd do it any way she wanted," Pahl said.

The ceremonies started Saturday with Twigg dressed in a
pink ball gown, dancing with Pahl, who donned a black
velvet tunic with gold trim and a crown.

Twigg heard the clock strike 12 and dashed out of the
room, shedding a glass slipper. Her fairy godmother
Derek's aunt Sonja Craven told her she had to leave.

Pahl, aided by his loyal courtiers, tested the slipper
on a number of the women in the audience, drawing
giggles. He finally found the right foot Twigg's.

Then the wedding ceremony began with Twigg in a formal
white gown.

Before the ceremony, Rabbi Stacie Fine said she had to
be sure the couple really understood the seriousness of
marriage.

"They convinced me that they really were in love, had a
deep commitment to each other and that all the fun in
no way meant they weren't serious," she said.
==========

Evansville, Indiana (AP):

Joe Webb doesn't get into parties or cakes on his
birthday. He prefers getting into the water.

The 64-year-old Evansville man swims across the Ohio
River every year to celebrate his birthday. Webb added
another twist Sunday by tugging two kayaks one holding
his wife and the other for getting him back to Indiana.

While Webb was swimming his heart out, his wife was
enjoying the cruise and talking on her cell phone.

Webb said the 20-minute swim was pleasant with
temperatures in the 50s, although he remembers previous
birthday swims in 20-degree temps.

So what's the plan for next year's swim, when Webb
turns 65?

"I may pull a small barge and work myself up to a big
one," he said.
============

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (AP):

JayVillemarette is making some headway with a
million-dollar business that is sure to turn some heads
during Halloween.

The Oklahoma City man has turned his lifelong penchant
for roadkill and animal skulls into profit with Skulls
Unlimited International.

Villemarette started collecting dog bones and skulls
from roadkill as a child. He would search the woods for
bones and skulls while his father and brother fished.

The auto mechanic by trade used the hobby as a way to
earn extra money in the 1980s when mechanic jobs were
hard to find. He and his wife would put animal heads in
a boiling pot of water on the kitchen stove to clean
them.

"My wife would have to clear the table off before we
could set the table for dinner," he said.

The business now has seven employees, $1 million in
annual sales and a million special beetles that remove
the flesh from skulls in the company's new
7,500-square-foot office in Oklahoma City.

The company's customers include museums, zoos, medical
schools and movie producers.

Skulls from beaver, raccoons and coyotes are the
biggest sellers, going for $35 to $45 each. The company
also sells human skulls, which range from $249 to $649
and are sold mostly to educators.
==========

Kent, Washington (Ananova.com)

A woman branded "the world's most gullible hooker" has
been arrested for the 44th time after she climbed
willingly into a marked patrol car, apparently
convinced that a uniformed deputy was a paying
customer.

The woman was allegedly touting for trade on a highway
near Kent in Washington state when the police car
approached her after the officer saw the Seattle woman
"in a very short dress, stockings and high heels".

The officer pulled over to talk to the woman who freely
admitted that she was a prostitute and when the officer
asked for a price, the woman she said she'd take $40
(£27), police spokesman John Urquhart said.

The officer suggested the back of the patrol car and
the woman told him she had a lifelong fantasy about
uniformed policemen - but when she hopped in, the
deputy slammed the door, locking her in.

Police said the woman bragged about making $300 (£207)
the night before, saying she was building a clientele
in the area and even gave the officer a phone number
for "repeat business."

"The deputy has obviously got the gift of gab. She was
obviously working. He could tell that just by looking
at her," King County sheriff's spokesman John Urquhart
said.

The woman has been released on bail, reports the
Seattle Times.
===========

Quebec City, Canada (Reuters):

Canadian entrepreneurs announced plans on Tuesday for
North America's first Ice Hotel and said 1,000 tourists
had already signed up to spend a night in a chilly
building made of ice and snow.

"We've already received more than 1,000 reservation
requests. These numbers exceed our expectations and we
predict a big success for our first year of operation,"
Ice Hotel communications director Francis Leonard told
Reuters.

The hotel, built of 4,500 tons of snow and 250 tons of
ice, is scheduled to open next January just outside
Quebec City. It will stay open for the three months,
before it melts next spring.

The historic city is already well-known for its Winter
Carnival in early February.

The Ice Hotel's facilities will include a bar, a cinema
and art galleries, with exhibits made of ice, as well
as executive suites complete with an ice bed. The cost
-- C$165 ($109) a night -- will include a hot
breakfast.

The concept of an ice hotel is being imported from
Sweden, which constructed what its owners say was the
world's first ice hotel in Jukkasjarvi, some seven
hours' drive from Stockholm.

The Canadian structure will cost C$350,000 to build,
including C$125,000 from Quebec's government.

"This bold new project will add a major activity during
the winter period, a time of the year that we need to
develop more," Quebec Tourism Minister Maxime Arseneau
told a news conference.
==========

Waterloo, Ontario, Canada (Canadian Press):

The world's longest sandwich could finally capture fame
in the Guinness Book of Records.

The sandwich, baked by a team at the University of
Waterloo, used up 259 kg of dough, 119.25 kg of
sausage, 22.5 kg of sauerkraut and 90 L of mustard.

"A team of land surveyors used a laser range finder to
map and measure the monster at 502 feet, 6 1/2 inches,"
says Mark Murdoch, director of food service at the
university.

He says the baking team started mixing dough at 4 a.m.
and the dough went into the oven at 4:30 a.m. that day.

Murdoch said the survey crew and judges arrived at 2
p.m. and completed the required measurements and
observations. By 3:30 p.m. "the crowd began to devour
the sandwich. An hour later the snack was history and
work began on dismantling the custom-built oven."

Now Murdoch's staff are compiling the required
documentation for Guinness.
==========

South Georgia Island (Electronic Telegraph):

British scientists are heading for the South Atlantic
in an attempt to disprove claims that penguins fall
over backwards when aircraft fly overhead.

Royal Navy and RAF pilots have been bringing back
reports of toppling penguins since the Falklands War in
1982. The flightless birds are said to be so mesmerized
by helicopters and jets that they lose their balance as
they attempt to keep track of them.

Dr Richard Stone, of the British Antarctic Survey, will
spend four weeks videoing helicopters from the ice
patrol ship Endurance as they buzz colonies of King
Penguins on the island of South Georgia to discover
what effect they have. Stuart Matthews, operations
officer of the Endurance, believes the reports. He
said: "The penguins always look up at the helicopters
and follow them all the way until they fall over
backwards."

But Dr Stone was more sceptical. He said: "I'm afraid
it's an urban myth. Aircraft do have an effect on
penguins, but not to the extent of birds falling over.

"The intention of the work is to discover if
overflights can harm colonies at breeding time. The
tourism trade is growing on South Georgia and we want
to ensure that the effects are understood."

It is believed that penguins react to aircraft because
they see them as possible predators. They have been
known to run from low-flying planes, and minimum
altitudes are already recommended.

Endurance's two Lynx helicopters will fly at altitudes
between 1,500ft and 6,000ft over breeding grounds,
using different approach patterns. The expedition will
take advantage of the benign Antarctic summer.
Experiments will continue next year with fixed-wing
aircraft.

South Georgia, once home to a thriving whaling station
but now with only two or three permanent residents, is
becoming popular with adventure seekers.
===========

Chow
SuperChef
WhiteBoard News Service Bureau Chef
www.joeha.com/whiteboard