Some Country for Old Men

Usually people are really excited to be in their hometown newspaper. Maybe you just became an Eagle Scout! Perhaps it’s your wedding announcment! Or maybe you just got really wasted one night, ripped all the trash out of your neighbor’s garbage can and went to sleep inside the receptacle out by the curb.

If you’re Jeffersonville, Ind., attorney Larry Wilder, option No. 3 tickled your fancy. In fact, when you opened your very own copy of the News and Tribune yesterday (which we assume you did while eating Raisin Bran and drinking a beer), you saw the same sweet-ass picture we’re looking at here. You may have done a double-take. Maybe you thought, “Hey, those shoes look familiar!” Yeah? Know why? Because you’re still wearing them, and that’s you sleeping in your neighbor’s garbage can, you crazy coot! True story.

Jeffersonville Police Chief Tim Deeringer said Wilder was cooperative when police arrived at the home on Elk Pointe Boulevard and was able to walk back to his home — next door.

Wilder’s son and daughter, both adults, were home and able to take care of him from there, Deeringer said.

Oh, hey, Dad’s home!

A neighbor, Roberta Embry, said her husband found Wilder inside the can when walking out of the house that morning.

“He (Wilder) took all the trash out and laid it (the trash can) on its side,” she said.

Now the real question in a case like this (or any crime, for that matter): did anyone see this coming? Also, is this normal?

Councilman Nathan Samuel lives in Wilder’s neighborhood, Elk Pointe, and had not heard any commotion the night before the incident.

“It seems like very unusual behavior. I definitely haven’t seen him like that personally.”

Haven’t seen him like what? Asleep in a garbage can!? You really want to call this “unusual behavior?” Choose your words carefully, councilman.

Couple more high points on this story, and then we’ll put it to sleep (in a garbage can). First, Wilder is actually one of Jeffersonville’s six city attorneys — a job for which he earned $107,000 in 2008 (Enough to sleep wherever he damn well pleases, THANK YOU).

And finally, if you’re either Larry Wilder or one of his dear friends, you can capture this proud moment for years to come by ordering photo reprints from the newspaper. They conveniently provided a link.

UPDATE! Now with video goodness.