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Canadian man chugs eight beers, swims to Detroit
upi ^ | July 24, 2013 | VERONICA LINARES

Posted on 07/24/2013 12:41:50 PM PDT by JoeProBono

John Morillo, a 47-year-old Canadian man, acknowledged that it was "really stupid" of him to drink eight beers and swim across the Detroit River on Monday night. However, he is glad that he actually made it.

“If I’m going to be in the paper, I’d at least like them to say I actually made it, even though I got in trouble and everything,” he told The Windsor Star Tuesday. “I gotta pay fines and stuff. But I don’t want it to sound like I didn’t make it, because then my buddies are going to say ‘ha, ha, you didn’t make it.’ Because that was the whole thing, to show them I could do it.”

Morillo, who had been planning to swim across the river for years, began his journey by jumping in the river near Hiram Walker in Windsor, Ontario, Canada on Monday night.

“I was drinking, but I wasn’t really drunk,” he said. “The thing is, I’ve been telling people I’m going to swim across the river for years ... last night I just decided it was the time to go.”

A neighbor of Morillo's, who wanted to witness the swim, reported the stunt to police after having lost sight of him for over half an hour.

Police then notified the Canadian and U.S. coast guards and three helicopters were deployed to search the area. The U.S. guard found him at around 12:50 a.m. swimming on the Canadian side, just west of the Hilton Hotel.

Morillo explained that he made it all the way to the Renaissance Center, got out of the water and posed for pictures with a few people before swimming back and being apprehended by authorities. He added that by the time he heard the helicopters he knew he had done something stupid.

The 47-year-old was charged with being intoxicated in a public place and will probably be fined for swimming in a shipping channel. The Windsor’s harbor master said the fine could go from $5,000 to $25,000. He spent the night in jail and was released on Tuesday.

Authorities told Morillo that swimming in the Detroit River is “extremely dangerous” because of the strong undertow in the shipping channel. He said that both the harbor master and his mother were extremely mad at him.

In the end, he learned his lesson.

“I never should have done it. I’ve been telling people I could swim across the river for 20 years and they all laughed at me, and I finally did it. But I would not suggest anybody do it. There are giant fines for doing it, crossing the shipping lanes. It’s just really stupid and I apologize for all the people that had to go out looking for me,” he said.


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Outdoors; Sports; Travel
KEYWORDS: aliens; beer; canada; detroit; holdmybeer; michigan
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To: dfwgator

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCbXl-BR-9U


61 posted on 07/24/2013 2:55:53 PM PDT by Carriage Hill (Guns kill people, pencils misspell words, cars drive drunk & spoons make you fat.)
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To: RetiredTexasVet

I believe it would take drinking a lot more than eight beers for me to want to go to Detroit...a lot more.


62 posted on 07/24/2013 3:04:27 PM PDT by hal ogen (First Amendment or Reeducation Camp?)
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To: Cletus.D.Yokel

Heh. Jason’s.


63 posted on 07/24/2013 3:08:37 PM PDT by Cboldt
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To: Cboldt

Ya gotta admit...it ain’t ^just^ Jason’s.

There’s a lot more to see at the ballet than just the prima donna’s!


64 posted on 07/24/2013 3:10:35 PM PDT by Cletus.D.Yokel
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To: Cletus.D.Yokel
Well, 30 years ago, "the Windsor ballet" (as it was known at the time) was pretty much "just Jason's."

Then there is Omar's in Lansing (not sure if that is still there).

65 posted on 07/24/2013 3:13:43 PM PDT by Cboldt
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To: Cboldt

30 years ago it was fun to go to the other “shops” around the mtero area to make “skank evaluations” compared to Jason’s.

I’ve since outgrown such adolescent frivolity.


66 posted on 07/24/2013 3:25:02 PM PDT by Cletus.D.Yokel
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To: Cletus.D.Yokel
With apologies to Triumph the insult comic dog

America is a great country

For me to poop on!

67 posted on 07/24/2013 3:29:27 PM PDT by xp38
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To: JoeProBono

And he’s going to swim to Switzerland tomorrow night.


68 posted on 07/24/2013 3:32:13 PM PDT by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
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To: JoeProBono
“I never should have done it. I’ve been telling people I could swim across the river for 20 years and they all laughed at me, and I finally did it. But I would not suggest anybody do it. There are giant fines for doing it, crossing the shipping lanes. It’s just really stupid and I apologize for all the people that had to go out looking for me,” he said.

Another individual beaten into conformity.

69 posted on 07/24/2013 3:52:47 PM PDT by farsny
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To: Tenacious 1
The Windsor’s harbor master said the fine could go from $5,000 to $25,000

If he was Mexican, he would been let off.

70 posted on 07/24/2013 3:57:53 PM PDT by dragonblustar
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To: cripplecreek

LOL

It seems reasonable and since I read it on the interweb I know it is true!

Thanks


71 posted on 07/24/2013 4:04:00 PM PDT by John Galt's cousin (WTF? We couldn't rescue four men in Benghazi? Is our military IMPOTENT? ( /s ))
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To: dragonblustar
If he was Mexican, he would been let off.

If he were Mexican, they'd have never caught him.

72 posted on 07/24/2013 4:09:18 PM PDT by Tenacious 1 (If the government told us to expect rain, I'd schedule an outdoor wedding.)
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To: cripplecreek
Probably a half mile at the Ren Center.

Some 45 years ago my oldest brother swam the Hudson from Pavonia Ave. Jersey City to Manhattan. Just short of a mile.

73 posted on 07/24/2013 4:16:49 PM PDT by Focault's Pendulum (I live in NJ....' Nuff said!)
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To: JoeProBono

It would take more than that to get me to Detroit.


74 posted on 07/24/2013 6:54:48 PM PDT by Some Fat Guy in L.A. (Still bitterly clinging to rational thought despite it's unfashionability)
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To: Some Fat Guy in L.A.

75 posted on 07/24/2013 11:58:38 PM PDT by JoeProBono (Mille vocibus imago valet;-{)
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To: Azeem

>>You must be VERY drunk to actually want to go to Detroit.<<

Yes. Swimming from Windsor to Detroit sounds almost like swimming from Florida to Cuba with the exception that Cuba is not as near and not near as 3rd world as Detroit.


76 posted on 07/25/2013 12:27:35 AM PDT by cunning_fish
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To: cripplecreek

Not true. Toronto is further South than Minneapolis and Seattle.


77 posted on 07/25/2013 7:09:30 AM PDT by Buckeye Battle Cry (Audentis Fortuna Iuvat)
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To: Buckeye Battle Cry

Windsor is the only Canadian city directly south of anywhere in the USA. Lots of places in Canada are further south than places in northernmost parts of the USA but in Detroit you can look south into Canada.


78 posted on 07/25/2013 7:24:22 AM PDT by cripplecreek (REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
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To: JoeProBono

That’s actually pretty darn impressive!


79 posted on 07/25/2013 9:26:31 AM PDT by CSM (Keeper of the Dave Ramsey Ping list. FReepmail me if you want your beeber stuned.)
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To: cripplecreek

I agree CC. I’ve travelled that tunnel southwards many times for good Cuban cigars and friendly ballet dancers.


80 posted on 07/25/2013 9:41:00 AM PDT by Buckeye Battle Cry (Audentis Fortuna Iuvat)
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