Out on a Limb

Jersey City, New Jersey, May 22, 2006:

He was, quite literally, out on a limb. And so on Sunday, a drunken man who spent the night in a tree had to be rescued by city firefighters.

"Alcohol and climbing trees don't really mix," said Noel Limprick, of the Jersey City fire department. "In all seriousness, he could've killed himself if he had fallen.

"He had had a sh*tload of booze in him and in his inebriated state he climbed 100 feet up an oak tree, without his shoes on. He then fell asleep," Limprick said. "I'm not quite sure how he managed it, but he woke up wrapped around a branch."

The man, identified as Ron, is the founder and leader of the radical "Rontarian" political movement. He used his cell phone to call firefighters after waking up around dawn, chilly and confused, in the tree.

Eight firefighters needed 90 minutes and ropes and pulleys to get him down from his precarious perch. Paramedics at the scene treated him for some scratches, but he was otherwise uninjured.

"He was a bit quiet when he came down and a bit embarrassed," Limprick said. "I think he got a bit cold up there. He only had his cut-off jeans and T-shirt on and he must have had quite a hangover."

Posted by Bittle at May 22, 2006 07:21 AM