[meteorite-list] Wisconsin Man Says Meteorite Hit His Driveway

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun May 22 22:54:55 2005
Message-ID: <200505230254.j4N2sI214645_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.wisinfo.com/northwestern/news/local/stories/local_21122794.shtml

Area man says meteorite hit his driveway

Made 2-foot deep indent

By Patricia Wolff
The Northwestern (Wisconsin)
May 22, 2005

WAUTOMA - When something that looked curiously like a meteorite landed
in Bill Hicks's driveway and left a sizable indentation, he wondered out
loud if maybe it was meant for his neighbor.

"We live near Camp Phillip. Maybe God was trying to speak to them and he
missed," Hicks mused.

Pastor Tom Klusmeyer laughed out loud when he heard that.

"We've got some neighbors who wish we weren't here. Maybe he's one of
them. We sing and make noise and praise God. Some of the neighbors want
peace and quiet," Klusmeyer said.

Camp Phillip is a ministry of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod
Church that caters year-round to children and families. Hicks lives
about a mile from the camp on Buttercup Avenue west of Wautoma.

"I don't even hear them," Hicks said.

He definitely heard the rock that landed in his driveway about three
weeks ago. It sounded like a big thunderclap so he didn't think much of
it at the time.

"I got up in the morning and saw the hole and said, 'What the hell is
that?'" Hicks said.

He filled the hole, which he estimated at about 2 feet deep, with cat
litter, gravel and rocks so that his SUV wouldn't get snarled up when he
tried to back out, he said.

Hicks and his roommate Larry Linde haven't shown the rock to any experts
but they've asked someone from the astronomy department at the
University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh to take a look at it.

"It definitely looks like pictures I've seen of meteorites," Linde said.

It measures about 4 inches by 6 inches and is reddish-brown in color.

Neither Hicks nor Linde would be surprised if the rock turned out to be
a meteorite, they said. Other rare occurrences have happened on their
property.

"We've been struck by lightning twice since I've been living here,"
Hicks said.

The same thing happened at the camp, Klusmeyer said.

But, a meteorite is more rare than that.

"You're four times more likely to get hit by lightning than a
meteorite," Linde said.
Received on Sun 22 May 2005 10:54:17 PM PDT