Strange but True Stories From 2007

Broncos kicker Jason Elam penned a novel with his pastor, Steve Yohn, that could score him some points with the man upstairs, though not necessarily land him on the bestseller list. Monday Night Jihad is "a Christian-based, football-laced, terrorist-thwarting thriller," according to the Denver Post, and stars a tough-guy linebacker named Riley Covington.

After two massive storms dumped three to four feet of snow along the Front Range at the start of the new year, Mary Walker of Loveland decided to auction some of the white stuff on eBay. And she found a buyer: Chris Hansen paid $200 for snowballs for his three teenage daughters, because it had been unseasonably warm and dry in Connecticut. When neither Mary nor her husband, Jim, could figure out how to ship the snowballs, Frontier Airlines offered to fly them, and the snow, to the East Coast for free.

The Aspen Mountain Ski Patrol rescued Rob Morrow, Chad Lowe and Fisher Stevens after the three actors and producer Kim Painter got lost while skiing in the Celebrity Downhill to raise money for Colorado's Aspen Youth Experience. Lost in an out-of-bounds area, the quartet had stumbled on another lost party who called for help on a cell phone.

Andrew Thistleton, a 21-year-old Australian man, was charged with third-degree assault after he allegedly threw a snowball at a co-worker at Copper Mountain Ski resort. The case was dismissed in December "in the best interest of justice."

With the new ski season barely under way, a 42-year-old Arapahoe Basin skier used his poles to pummel a seventeen-year-old snowboarder who accidentally slid into the man's girlfriend, Summit County police reported. Frank Robert Furlott was charged with assault. "I will kill you. I will stab this pole through your heart," Furlott allegedly told the victim.

Animal Detraction

In June, a woman living in a suburban, 1,850-home community called the Pinery, near Parker, walked out on her back porch and discovered the remains of a large white-tailed deer that had been shot by poachers and had its antlers removed for a trophy.

Car salesmen at Sill-TerHar's Ford-Lincoln-Mercury in Broomfield were surprised by an 800-pound moose that wandered into the dealership in September. "He started out at our service department, then ran all the way through, past every single new car, then pulled a U-turn and ran right at us. That's when we ran," one employee told the Rocky Mountain News. "He then ran through all the Aston Martins and Volvos."

A man who answered a knock at his door expecting to see friends instead was greeted by two cops, one of whom immediately shot the man's dog in the head. The police had gone to the home of Scott Schuett after a neighbor complained about loud music there. When Schuett opened the door, an officer felt threatened by Schuett's barking German shepherd, Jake, according to a police report, so he shot him.

Uriah M. Williams, who forced his way into his ex-girlfriend's home and puréed Blue, her pet Siamese fighting fish, in the kitchen disposal, was sentenced to two years' probation and a $500 fine. Williams was also told to stay away from his ex and not to own any pets.

Naked Truth

A sculpture of two naked women and a naked man was moved to a sculpture garden in Loveland's Benson Park in May. "Triangle" had sparked outrage when it was originally installed at a busy intersection in that town; complainers thought it was pornographic. But the artist, Kirsten Kokkin, says the sculpture is a metaphor for how people must rely on other people.

Looking to get buff in the buff, a handful of "body-positive" bicycling enthusiasts gathered in Denver in June for the World Naked Bike Ride, an international underground movement that aims to "stop indecent exposure to automobile emissions." After riding most of the pre-planned course, the cyclists, who ride with the motto "Less gas, more ass!," were stopped by police. Some were ticketed for indecent exposure.

Police in the town of Frederick arrested Catholic priest Robert Whipkey and charged him with indecent exposure after an off-duty cop spotted him jogging naked on a high-school track at 4:30 a.m. one June morning. "I'm a heavy man, and wearing clothing while running makes me sweat profusely," Whipkey allegedly told police. Whipkey, who was later placed on leave by the Archdiocese of Denver, pleaded not guilty on December 19.

In March, several Castle Rock Middle School students were accused of taking nude photos of classmates and forwarding them to other students on their cell phones. Castle Rock police said six girls may have been photographed as part of a dare.

In September, University of Colorado police responded to reports of two naked men running through the campus. They eventually arrested freshman Chandler Ross Wyatt, who was indeed naked, and accused him of trying to sexually assault a woman in a dorm until a group of male students subdued him. Police said Wyatt and a friend had taken LSD, then decided to get naked and run around.

Unnatural Disasters