Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
CHAGRIN FALLS, Ohio, May 23, 2006 (UPI via COMTEX) -- An Ohio man who set himself on fire and plunged over a 25-foot waterfall has raised at least $6,000 for his village's arts center and school.
Ted Batchelor, 47, organized the event as a repeat of a stunt he did for the first time 30 years ago as part of a bet to earn money to go to his high school prom, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported.
Saturday night, about a dozen people paid $100 each for front row seats in Chagrin Falls, southeast of Cleveland, and more than 100 other people crowded into the township hall for martinis and to watch Batchelor's dive live on closed-circuit television.
Mayor Tom Brick said the village had to temporarily suspend a law forbidding people from jumping off the falls, and said Batchelor had signed a letter agreeing not to hold the village responsible for any injuries.
Brick said the village deployed extra police, fire and emergency workers, although their services weren't required for the stunt, the newspaper said.
URL: www.upi.com Copyright 2006 by United Press International
