salt of the earth

So this guy Dave Adams called ABC4 after he saw our story on Tuesday. He owns a collision repair business (Adams G-3 Collision Repair in Orem) and said that he'd fix Chris's and my cars for free! What a man! I took my car in this morning at 8 am and they had it done by 5 pm so I could pack it up and pack it to drive across the country the next day. These guys are just really good guys. Joe, Dave's brother, told me that once a year they have a raffle thing where they give away a car they've fixed up to a single mom who's going to school and doesn't have transportation. How great is that? Check out Dave's interview on ABC4 ("under ABC gets results with Provo drugged moose story").

I gave Dave a Garrett the Carrot to say thanks for all his great work. My dad would be proud.

the moose that wouldn't die

So remember when a moose hit my car in the parking lot of the Marriott Center? And remember how Dale Liechty and he said that he would fight tooth and nail to get the state to pay for the damages to my car? Well it turns out that Dale is a liar. Sad because he sounded like such a nice guy over the phone.

I got a call from the Wildlife Resources insurance agent Jim Christensen yesterday at 7 am to inform me that they have evaluated my claim and, oh, determined that they are not at fault. They followed protocol so the fact that the moose damaged my car to the tune of $1500 is not their responsibility; no people were injured, just property. Really. Really?!

Well, my dad didn't like that. He didn't like that at all. So what did he do? He called people he knows who know stuff about sticking it to the man. And today ABC's Channel 4 News came down to do a little story on the whole thing. For real. The idea was to get the state to pay attention so they realize that just because they are the government they can't just do what they want. Granted, a two minute slot on a local news show is most likely not going to change anything, but it was worth a shot. We'll see what happens.

Here are some sketchy stalker pictures that Stephanie took of me talking to Kerry and the camera guy in my back parking lot by the car. They were both super nice and helpful. Stephanie too. As soon as the video is posted on the ABC website I'll be sure to link it here (under Local and State News: "Drugged moose falls on cars; state won't pay for the damages"). Follow that link to watch the news clip or just enjoy these lovely photos. Follow your heart.

my story was better

(click on article to enlarge)

Courtesy of the Daily Universe

5 June 09

moose on the loose

So today a moose hit my car. That's right, a moose. Hit my car. It was a run and hit, not a hit and run. To his credit, it wasn't really his own fault. This is what happened, as it has been related to me:

A young moose, a calf, wandered out of the mountains this morning and into the city of Provo. The poor little guy was lost and probably just trying to find his mom. He wandered over to Provo High, up to BYU campus and over to the MTC, all without getting hit by a car (which, let's be honest, is pretty impressive and leads me to believe that he is a little more street savvy than perhaps I've given him credit for). The police had been called and were monitoring it up to this point, just waiting for the wildlife guys to show up. Eventually they do, while the moose is still at the MTC, and they shoot it with a tranquilizer gun. Supposedly when they do this normally the moose walks about 50 feet, turns to look at the guys that shot him, then lies down. However, this little guy, not knowing that this is moose protocol, instead takes off, runs down 9th East through the police barricade, takes a right down University Parkway, turns left into the Marriott Center parking lot, runs past four rows of parked cars, and this is when the tranquilizer finally kicks in and he collapses between my car (the silver Yaris) and Chris Hair's (the white Saturn). But mostly on my car. He cracked my windshield and the side of Chris's car. Then he was hauled away unceremoniously in the back of a truck. There is still moose snot smeared across my windshield and down the front of the driver's side. Delicious.

Luckily, I talked with the people at Wildlife Resources today and they apologized profusely, assuring me that this has never happened before ("At least not in the 22 years I've worked here!") and that they will pay for all the damages. And I was able to get an appointment to get my new windshield tomorrow. They won't have the paperwork done until Monday but Dale (my Wildlife Resources contact) said that it shouldn't be a problem for me to just submit the bill to them after the fact. He also said not to quote him on that, but that he would fight tooth and nail to make sure they take responsibility for the expenses. Contradictory? Perhaps. But I feel safe in my assumption that it will all work out.

I just laughed all day thinking about the ridiculousness of what happened. Really? A moose? Hit my parked car? In Provo? This is one for the history books, folks.