Vermonter.com

Just when you thought things couldn’t get any stranger! Howard Stern recently held a contest to find a new addition to his “whack pack” on his daily satellite radio show on Sirius. Anyone who knows there Vermont real estate and lives in the Newport area probably shouldn’t be surprised as there has always been a “whack pack” in the area for years. One (unnamed here) sometimes homeless individual is well known throughout the state for redeeming empty bottles and cans, while running for political office on several occasions. Another prowls the banks of the Clyde River in warmer weather, scantily clad in American Indian trinkets.

Probably the most infamous of all is Mark S., aka “Bigfoot”. His name and presence is well known in the Northeast Kingdom, especially among the local police. Years ago, he gained a small bit of notoriety for stealing the contents out of nearly every lakefront cottage on Strawberry Acres…in broad daylight! It was quite a sight to see his old Torino automobile slowly making it’s way up the road loaded to the bumper with furniture stolen from summer homes. In fact, his whole caper was so casual that most of the neighbors though someone had hired him to help with a move. Only when the State Police came around asking if anyone had seen him driving by did it become apparent that he wasn’t performing any good deeds. When asked why he took his time and was so brazen about it, apparently not worried about getting caught, the police officer said “…winter is coming soon. He usually does stuff like this every fall in order to get caught, so that he’ll have a warm place to stay for the winter months”. The local correctional facility.

Thankfully, during his contest stint on the Howard Stern show he admitted that his days of larceny were behind him. He mentioned that his prize money would be used to help pay his fines, if he were to win. When asked by Howard (jokingly) what he would do if he won the contest and was signed on for 5 million dollars per year, he said he would buy and manage an apartment for homeless people in the Northeast Kingdom. He also put in a plug for the Border Motel in Derby saying that “nobody comes in to clean my room. They’re all afraid of me, it is” One day he sniffed too much lighter fluid and thought he had become the roadrunner after seeing the decal on the side of a car.
They say truth is stranger than fiction and this is certainly proof. But then again if Paris Hilton can become a celebrity then perhaps it’s not so surprising that a local Newport area personality could become (by nearly unanimous votes) Howard Stern’s latest discovery. Howard Stern mentioned giving him an hour long show of his own. Stay tuned…”it is”!