STORM2K

Twenty-two outhouses and portable toilets competed last weekend in the annual Outhouse Races to win the Royal Flush Trophy. With such names as "Pee II" and the "Urinator," they catapulted down the main drag of town before cheering fans. The races started in 1999 and are inspired from the time when Storey County banned outhouses and citizens protested by placing their outhouses on wheels and rolling them down Main Street. In order to compete in the race, the outhouses had to be at least 6 feet tall and weigh 200 pounds, have a toilet and toilet paper and have a maximum of three people pushing it. The Royal Flush Trophy is a glass outhouse, but participants can also win other prizes such as a toilet seat and bedpan.

Where can I get an entry form?

In Vietnam we had outdoor toilets that consisted of a hole in a piece of plywood that would then empty into a half barrel. Nyugen Ban was the attendant whose only job was to keep the barrels empty, spread the "ingredients" out to dry and then burn it!

He had names for the six barrels in our latrine. We affectionately called the open air outhouse as the "six sh..ter."

Were he still around these days, I would happily enter this fellow into the race!

Were the winners quoted as saying "We won because the competition stinks"?