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Thong-clad bicyclist's death ruled a suicide
Associated Press ^ | 08/04/03 | Staff Writer

Posted on 08/04/2003 9:37:43 AM PDT by bedolido

SAN ANTONIO -- Authorities said a thong-wearing bicyclist committed suicide when he fell 100 feet to his death at Big Bend National Park in June.

Joseph Gottschalk, 52, earned the nickname "Thong Man" by showing his buttocks during leisurely bike rides around San Antonio -- first near his southeast San Antonio home, then into other neighborhoods.

His death was ruled a suicide Saturday due to "a preponderance of evidence," Brewster County Justice of the Peace Shirley Williams said in Sunday editions of the San Antonio Express-News.

Gottschalk's naked body was found by passing hikers June 21 below a cliff at Big Bend National Park. Park rangers found boots and clothes about eight feet from the drop-off, along with about a half-gallon of water -- enough for a day's hike.

The ponytailed nonconformist had described himself as an unemployed truck driver. He said he wanted to challenge himself while startling others into examining their shame and their identities.

Three days before his body was found, a friend of Gottschalk's, Norm Billings, said Gottschalk told him he planned to jump from the South Rim of the Chisos Mountains at the park.

"He said he was getting low on funds and he was going to have to figure out something," said Billings, 71. "He didn't want to go back to driving a truck. He thought it was too dangerous."

"He said he knew of a place at Big Bend that he could step off and not have any more job worries," Billings said. "It certainly wasn't alarming at the time. He was the last person in the world that you would think would kill himself, the very last. "

An autopsy found no alcohol or drugs in Gottschalk's body.

"He's a lot of person to lose," said his brother, Paul Gottschalk.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: bicyclists; bigbend; death; sanantonio; suicide; thongclad
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1 posted on 08/04/2003 9:37:44 AM PDT by bedolido
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To: bedolido
He just snapped.
2 posted on 08/04/2003 9:38:53 AM PDT by Tijeras_Slim
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To: mhking
Ping!
3 posted on 08/04/2003 9:39:49 AM PDT by bedolido (Quitters Never Win! Winners Never Quit! But those who never win and never quit are idiots!)
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To: bedolido
Some people are as undignified in death as they were in life.
4 posted on 08/04/2003 9:40:45 AM PDT by Paul Atreides
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To: bedolido
No pictures please!
5 posted on 08/04/2003 9:41:43 AM PDT by AntiGuv (™)
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To: bedolido
"He didn't want to go back to driving a truck. He thought it was too dangerous."

No comment required.

6 posted on 08/04/2003 9:42:08 AM PDT by halran
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To: bedolido
"An autopsy found no alcohol or drugs in Gottschalk's body."

Poor guy, no wonder he commited sucide. Thongs just didn't do it for him anymore.

7 posted on 08/04/2003 9:42:17 AM PDT by CJ Wolf
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To: bedolido
Natural selection at work.
8 posted on 08/04/2003 9:43:07 AM PDT by Southern Partisan
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To: Paul Atreides
and (just read the article) vice-versa.
9 posted on 08/04/2003 9:43:08 AM PDT by King Prout (people hear and do not listen, see and do not observe, speak without thought, post and not edit)
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To: bedolido
"He didn't want to go back to driving a truck. He thought it was too dangerous."

Well then...nothing left but to kill himself...

10 posted on 08/04/2003 9:43:08 AM PDT by eniapmot
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To: bedolido
Gottschalk's naked body was found by passing hikers..

I still maintain that some gansta offed him for his thong.

11 posted on 08/04/2003 9:43:10 AM PDT by Bigg Red
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To: AntiGuv
afraid of a red flapjack?
12 posted on 08/04/2003 9:43:52 AM PDT by King Prout (people hear and do not listen, see and do not observe, speak without thought, post and not edit)
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To: CJ Wolf
Poor guy, no wonder he commited sucide. Thongs just didn't do it for him anymore.

He had a "Crack Attack"!

13 posted on 08/04/2003 9:44:23 AM PDT by bedolido (Quitters Never Win! Winners Never Quit! But those who never win and never quit are idiots!)
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To: bedolido
"He didn't want to go back to driving a truck. He thought it was too dangerous."

Not as dangerous as jumping from the South Rim of the Chisos Mountains.

14 posted on 08/04/2003 9:45:35 AM PDT by Luke Skyfreeper
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To: bedolido
Is this the same thong dude that was posted earlier in the year?
15 posted on 08/04/2003 9:46:21 AM PDT by biblewonk (Spose to be a Chrisssssssstian)
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To: King Prout
A hippie who didn't want to have to earn a living. Figures.
16 posted on 08/04/2003 9:48:09 AM PDT by Paul Atreides
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To: Luke Skyfreeper
Incidentally, as someone who's been unemployed/ underemployed/ living in poverty and sometimes outright despair for the past two years, I understand quite well how the guy may have felt. However, he's just reduced his chances of getting a decent job, and having a decent life, to zero.
17 posted on 08/04/2003 9:48:30 AM PDT by Luke Skyfreeper
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To: bedolido
Flake.
18 posted on 08/04/2003 9:49:09 AM PDT by Clara Lou
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To: Paul Atreides
and an actively/aggressively annoying hippie, too.
sigh... leaving the world no poorer, ThongMan executed a graceful swan dive off of Loser's Lookout, ending as a fatty red smear on the rocks far below.
19 posted on 08/04/2003 9:51:32 AM PDT by King Prout (people hear and do not listen, see and do not observe, speak without thought, post and not edit)
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To: bedolido
Joseph Gottschalk, 52, earned the nickname "Thong Man" by showing his buttocks during leisurely bike rides around San Antonio -- first near his southeast San Antonio home, then into other neighborhoods.

Authorities said a thong-wearing bicyclist committed suicide when he fell 100 feet to his death at Big Bend National Park in June.

I wonder how many of his neighbors are going to be mourning...
20 posted on 08/04/2003 9:53:07 AM PDT by sc2_ct
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