slb@drutx.UUCP (Sue Brezden) (09/17/85)
An article in the local paper that qualifies for bizarre:
COLORADO SPLATS TEXAS IN ANNUAL TOMATO WAR
(Rocky Mountain News, Mon, Sept. 16, 1985)
Twin lakes, Colo (UPI)--A crack platoon of tomato tossers pelted
an outnumbered contingent of Texans into defeat to give Colorado
another win in its annual Tomato War against the invading ranks
of its southern neighbors.
The Knights of the Round Tomato, who also won the event last year,
survived the two days of tomato combat thanks largely to the strong
arm of minor-league baseball player Greg Adams. Adams was the only
one among 700 to 800 combatants to escape of fatal tomato hit to the
torso.
"He is right on target," Tomato War organizer Taylor Adams said
Sunday at the end of the war. "He went through a couple of hundred
people all by himself."
Colorado's victory in the fourth annual war came despite the Texan's
use of several airplanes and helicopters, along with a Jeep outfitted
with wooden "armor" and a navy made up of kayakers in wetsuits, she
said.
"The Texans were terribly outnumbered," she said. "There were about
350 Texans, and the rest were Coloradans, but they lasted until
about the fourth- or fifth-to-last person, so they fought valiantly.
Adams, 39, borrowing from the annual Boston-vs.-New York tomato
battle staged in Vermont, began the tomato wars between Colorado and
Texas as a way of venting mutual resentment that builds during each
year's tourist season.
"I think the Texans just come here to find a little more raw land for
more condo sites," she said. "It's their personality, too. The final
straw came when a Texas woman sitting in our restaurant overlooking
the San Isabel National Forest said, 'It sure is beautiful here. It's
too bad no one's done anything with it yet.'"
This year's battle, waged in the national forest, consumed 10,400
pounds of overripe tomatoes. The participants were divided into
11-member platoons, some fighting for Texas, and more for Colorado.
--
Sue Brezden
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