: I got a kick out of this article. Can't believe this all happend to one guy
: but it made me laugh. Sounds like some of my run ins with traffic cops.

I wouldn't believe this happened to one guy either. So I've been checking on it, and so far I can't find this story in the Chicago Tribune database in the last 6 years ( any idea how old it is?) and still working on the Sun Times.

And, some of the references in the story don;t show up elsewhere. For example, there are no police courts and no chicago parks department. I can see how someone might call the circuit court a police court, or refer to the chicago Park District by another name, but too many discrepancies can damage the veracity of any story.

Besides, I can't believe the cops would arrest him simply for having no pants on the outer drive. By the time they saw him they would be past him, and it would take 5-10 minutes to get back. By that time he'd be gone.

I can't find a listing for any boatbuilding program at the Chicago Park district, although they do have woodworking programs for kids and adults, and it is possible that a group might rent a meeting room at a park district building for their regular meetings. (In fact, I am aware of several camera clubs which do exactly that. Besides using the meeting rooms for weekly meetings the camera clubs store their darkroom or projection equipment in the park district buildings.)

So, it is possible that there is a boat building group meeting at a Chicago Park District building. If it exists, I'd be interested in more information on this group.

Meanwhile, this story sounds like a bit of humourous fiction, and not a factual biography. I'm not going to put any faith in it until I can get some verification.

Of course, I am a bit of a skeptic anyhow, and subscribe to the motto of the Chicago City News Bureau: "If your mother says she loves you, check it out."

PGJ