Beer-can coffin
SOUTH CHICAGO HEIGHTS, Ill. - Bill Bramanti will love Pabst Blue Ribbon eternally, and he's got the custom-made beer-can casket to prove it.
"I actually fit, because I got in here," said Bramanti of South Chicago Heights.
The 67-year-old Glenwood village administrator doesn't plan on needing it anytime soon, though.
He threw a party Saturday for friends and filled his silver coffin - designed in Pabst's colors of red, white and blue - with ice and his favorite brew.
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"Why put such a great novelty piece up on a shelf in storage when you could use it only the way Bill Bramanti would use it?" said Bramanti's daughter, Cathy Bramanti, 42.
Bramanti ordered the casket from Panozzo Bros. Funeral Home in Chicago Heights, and Scott Sign Co. of Chicago Heights designed the beer can.
God's in Illinois?
ZION, Ill. - Steve Kreuscher wants a judge to allow him to legally change his name. He wants to be known as "In God We Trust."
Kreuscher says the new name would symbolize the help God gave him through tough times.
The 57-year-old man also told the Arlington Heights Daily Herald that he's worried that atheists may succeed in removing the phrase "In God We Trust" from U.S. currency.
He recalls that the phrase "God Reigns" was removed from the Zion city seal in 1992 after courts deemed it unconstitutional. Zion was founded as a theocracy - by a sect that believed the Earth was flat.
The school bus driver and amateur artist in the northern Chicago suburb says he has filed a petition to change his name in Lake County Circuit Court.
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Alien invasion plan
DENVER - A Denver man who wants the city to be prepared for space aliens is proposing a commission to deal with the matter.
The assistant city attorney says he doesn't know what officials will ask about Jeff Peckman's proposal during next week's "review and comment" meeting.
Peckman says an
18-member commission would form a strategy "dealing with issues related to the presence of extraterrestrial beings on Earth."
The 54-year-old Peckman also needs 4,000 signatures to get his proposal on the November ballot.
Today's best bet
Writing workshop
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For all writers of all types looking to share advice, gather information and offer inspiration; bring writing samples for discussion.
7 p.m.
Moorhead Public Libarary
118 5th St. S.,
Free
(218) 233-7594
If there's something you want to see in The Rail, e-mail Features Editor Robert Morast at rmorast@forumcomm.com
