Digging--will probably lead to ethical discussion but...

[guest]

I just saw Jon (sp?) Vincent on the learning channel. I noticed that he looked alot different now than on his jump video. I saw the post here by Earl from a while ago saying he was tarred and feathered. Did that really happen? Maybe the difference was burn marks?

[space]

Yep, that tar for feathering normally is best at 112°c, which can play havoc with the complexion which has a melting point of around 69°,
hope this helps
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[guest]

As John told me the story, he burned a good building in atlanta by jumping in the middle of a weekday (10-12 years ago). the local boys drove to new orleans, had a babe knock on the door, john of course answered without thinking (with his big head anyway) and they piled in, visqueened the living room so they wouldn't damage his carpet, then did the deed.

THen, just to show there were no hard feelings, they gave him tickets to a Lynrd Skynyrd concert or something. Justice properly administered.

[space]

Actually, Lynyrd had died an hour north in ´77 in a DC-3 crash due to insufficient fuel, but I´m sure there was some tickets involved but a few of them got busted on the way out jumping Plaza towers which they could have gotten away with had they used John in a different way........Justice always makes her own way i guess.
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[base311]

I can state, with certainty, that the tar was not hot. Warm, perhaps, but not hot. It was a solvent-thinned roofing tar and was flowable at room temperature.

See http://www.gardnerasphalt.com/

We bought two of the best feather pillows Sears had available, too. No expense was spared.

We were mindful of the mess it would make, so we did put down a heavy duty mil thickness polyethylene plastic sheet in his apt.

Just last week, my original video of this episode in base history was returned to me. In watching it (after nearly 10 years), I noticed that we certainly took our time about it. It should have taken a third of the time to do the job than it actually did. Poor planning, I guess. However, it did come off relatively smoothly.

I think the biggest motivator for us to do this was seeing John's over-the-telephone interview with an Atlanta news station wherein he stated (I'm paraphrasing here.. but I'm very close to what he said) that he was, "...sorry that the crane operator and foreman lost their jobs, but what could anyone do??? I'm in louisianna and nobody can get me, now." Needless to say, we were livid. As I recall, the first suggestion was to go and cut his balls off... then I believe Earl suggested the tarring and feathering.

It wasn't so much the fact that John had jumped.. it was the glory-seeking, the construction workers losing their jobs and the over-the-phone-rub-it-in interview with the news station that did it for him.

Always try to contact the locals - it's the right thing to do.

c-ya!
Gardner

P.S. John if you're still jumping and you happen to read this... some see us! But email us first, k?

[guest]

I can't believe you used Gardner brand tar.

Or did they just rename their company to take advantage of the publicity?