Shortly before 2 a.m. on April 7, a consistent banging awoke Park Avenue resident Nikki Norton. Looking cautiously outside, she saw a coatless, confused, sleepy man attempting to enter her next-door neighbor’s home with a plastic shovel.

The perpetrator, a white male in his mid 20’s, alternated between English and German, although Norton said he made little sense in either language when she attempted to speak to him. Covered in snow, he showed the beginning signs of hypothermia, shaking and leaning wearily against the door in between shovel hits. Norton called the police, and the man left willingly with the cops. Norton did not recognize the man, although he appeared to think he lived in the unit.

The owners of the targeted condo live full-time in Arizona and were not home when the incident occurred.

Park City become one of just three Utah cities to adopt gay rights legislation in a historic initiative led by Salt Lake City mayor Ralph Becker. The law will offer legal protection against discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity in housing and employment.

“To us, we sort of looked at this as the Tao of duh,” Park City mayor Dana Williams said at the law’s implementation ceremony Friday afternoon at City Hall. “If you are going to have nondiscrimination ordinances for protection, it includes everybody.”

Salt Lake City and West Valley City have also adopted the law, while nonprofit citizens’ group Equality Utah has launched the campaign, “Ten in 2010,” to urge 10 more cities to follow suit before 2011.

Park City, which will adopt the law within two weeks, has considered taking the movement a step further by removing exemptions for landlords with fewer than four units to cover all housing discrimination. The law also currently exempts businesses with fewer than 15 employees and religious organizations.

Senate President Michael Waddoups warned, however, that such action may result in interference from the Legislature. Go figure.

Maxwell’s will host a campaign kick-off party on Wednesday for Peter Corroon, a Democratic candidate for governor. Corroon notes on the invitation that six of the last 17 Utah governors have been Democrats, a number he hopes to increase come fall. Corroon’s platform centers on “small, honest and effective” government, an approach to blue politics even Utah’s majority can appreciate. To attend the kick-off rally, RSVP to campaign@votecorroon.com by Monday, March 15. The party will begin at 2:30 p.m.

Peter Corroon

Jeret “Speedy” Peterson will bring an Olympic silver medal home to Park City next week after climbing to second place in the men’s aerial competition last night from sixth going into the finals. After the semis on Monday, Speedy promised NBC broadcasters that he’d try his signature Hurricane, the most difficult maneuver in the sport. (Speedy is the only athlete ever to attempt the jump in competition.) Although he hadn’t stuck the landing during practice, Speedy nailed it under the spotlight, vaulting himself into the lead. Only after Alexei Grishin of Belarus completed the jump of his life was Speedy edged for gold by less than two points.

Speedy’s influence has spread to rising aerial stars on the international scene, including the young Chinese jumpers who have picked up his rallying cry at the top of the hill: “Come on, b***!”

“A lot of the other athletes have started saying it, and they don’t even know what it means,” Speedy told reports after his jump. “It’s kind of flattering.”

China’s Zhongqing Liu took bronze, while Utah’s Ryan St. Onge finished in fourth.

Speedy Wins Silver! Photo by Robert Beck

Arrested? Don’t call Dana Williams.

After bar patrons attempted to sidestep a donation to the Red Cross for Haiti victims during Thursday night’s fundraiser at The Sidecar by saying they knew Dana Williams, the mayor lamented in good humor the number of people who call for his assistance in any number of tight spots, including the back of a police car.

Just don’t count on special attention. Williams has a ready response when cops call in the wee hours with a “good friend of Dana” in their backseat:

“Tase ‘em!” He jokes. “What do they expect?”

The same goes for anyone trying to weasel out of a DUI by having him work some felony-inspiring magic with a judge.

Dana Williams at the Barking Ball

ParkCityVoyeur.com is proud to help Park City LOCALS, Readhead Marketing & PR, and Mountain Town Music present Locals Rock for Haiti, a fundraiser to benefit the American Red Cross relief efforts in Haiti, following the devastating January 12 earthquake. The event will take place on Thursday, Feb. 18 at The Sidecar, 333 Main Street, at 7 p.m. The admission charge is just a $5 donation to the Red Cross, and guests must be 21 and over.

Salt Lake City singer/songwriter Kole will perform a solo acoustic set at 8 p.m. “Rise from the Ashes,” one of her newest songs, was inspired by the earthquake in Haiti. Kole has been donating proceeds of her recent music sales to Haiti relief efforts.

Following Kole’s performance will be the high-energy Motherlode Canyon Band. A long-time staple of the local live music scene, the band features Park City Mayor Dana Williams. Both Kole and Motherlode Canyon Band are donating their time and talent to the event.

The evening will include a silent auction with gift certificates and items donated from area merchants. Bidding begins and 7 p.m. and will continue until 9 p.m.

All proceeds from the admission fee and silent auction, as well as a percentage of The Sidecar’s pizza sales, will be donated to the American Red Cross.

Kole is a singer/songwriter from Salt Lake City who has penned songs for Haiti relief

Bode Miller took bronze in today’s downhill race with a time of 1:54.40. Switzerland’s Didier Defago narrowly won the race in 1:54.31, while Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal took silver with 1:54.38. Although the downhill was considered Miller’s best chance for gold, he will compete in each of the four remaining races.

The Eccles Center will host the Park City Performing Arts’ sixth annual Vagina Monologues on Sunday, Feb. 28. Although the venue has posted no formal announcement, the ticket office confirmed the famous monologues will take place on that date. The lineup is still a surprise, although the event will again feature local female talent. The monologues, one of more than 2,700 V-Day events across the country to educate about violence against women and girls, will benefit the Peace House. Tickets, ranging from $15 to $30, are available through the Eccles Center.

Lindsey Van at the Czech Republic Nordic Worlds (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

With the first Olympic event completed, champion ski jumper Simon Ammann of Switzerland won extra accolades for breaking the record of 105.5 meters with his own 108-meter effort. What many news reports have failed to mention, however, is that the previous record belonged to 25-year-old Park City athlete, Lindsey Van.

Based solely on distance, the 5-foot-3-inch Van would have posted the third-best effort of the Games, behind Ammann and bronze medalist Gregor Schlierenzauer of Austria, who jumped 106 meters. The more consistent Adam Malysz of Poland won silver, but failed to best Van’s record with his own 105-meter jump.

The U.S. Women’s Ski Jumping Team has fought since the Salt Lake City Games for inclusion in the Olympics. The IOC has denied their request despite several appeals and even a lawsuit, claiming the women have failed to meet participation requirements.

“I don’t think there’s any discrimination going on,” Joe Lamb, the U.S. ski team representative for the International Ski Federation’s (FIS) ski jumping committee, told Yahoo Sports. “It may seem like that, but there are hundreds of other issues at play.” Vancouver can accommodate only so many athletes, he pointed out, and whenever a new event is introduced it limits the number of people able to participate in others. Perhaps team USA would have had better luck sending its women to the men’s competition. They would have certainly have fared better on the medal stand.

Park City’s own Anna Bloom, now a graduate student at UC-Berkeley, has brought growing attention to the women’s cause with this documentary on MSNBC:

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