May 05, 2008 10:33 am
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Bill Bramanti is a “die hard” beer drinker.
He loves Pabst Blue Ribbon beer so much that he purchased a custom-made beer-can casket.
"I actually fit, because I got in here," said Bramanti of South Chicago Heights, Illinois.
Bramanti ordered the casket from a funeral home and a local sign shop designed the outside to look like a Pabst Blue Ribbon beer label in the company's signature colors of red, white and blue.
The 67-year-old doesn't plan on needing the coffin anytime soon, though.
So on Saturday he threw a party for friends and filled his coffin with ice and his favorite brew.
"Why put such a great novelty piece up on a shelf in storage when you could use it only the way Bill Bramanti would use it?" his daughter said.
- Here’s the story of a guy who tried to conceal his identity, but picked the wrong name.
Police in Sheboygan, Wis. stopped a vehicle Saturday for improper registration. One of the passengers lied to police, giving them a false name in an attempt to hide his unpaid traffic citations.
It turned out to be the name of someone who had an active felony warrant for vehicular homicide.
When the passenger found out, he quickly gave police his real name. He said he lied earlier because he has outstanding traffic fines in another state and wasn't sure whether there was a warrant out for him. He was then arrested on an obstruction charge.
Before he was released, police verified through photos and fingerprints that he wasn't the vehicular-homicide suspect.
- A Denver man who wants the city to be prepared for space aliens is proposing a commission to deal with the matter.
The assistant city attorney says he doesn't know what officials will ask about Jeff Peckman's proposal during next week's "review and comment" meeting.
Peckman says an 18-member commission would form a strategy "dealing with issues related to the presence of extraterrestrial beings on Earth."
The 54-year-old Peckman also needs 4,000 signatures to get his proposal on the November ballot.
- And finally, let's end today with a good note about priorities.
Country music singer Gretchen Wilson has a mantel full of awards in her Lebanon home.
Her first radio single, "Redneck Woman," spent five weeks at No. 1 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart and it earned her a 2005 Grammy. Her debut album sold 4.5 million copies.
Despite all her successes, the 34-year-old songwriter was one of 20 percent of Tennesseans without a high school diploma. But no longer.
Wilson, who dropped out in ninth grade, passed her General Educational Development exam in April and will don a cap and gown during a May 15 graduation ceremony.
Wilson told The Tennessean that her 7-year-old daughter was the big reason to finally finish, saying, "I certainly don't want her to think you can be this successful without an education."
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