Would You Believe

Would You Believe is a reader (and Times Herald Staff) favorite, so here is an extended selection of Associated Press stories that will sometimes make you stare, think, question or freak out.


Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Ohio man stalls long enough to get new outhouse

BATAVIA, Ohio (AP) — An ailing, retired farmer who refused to give up his outhouse after authorities declared it to be a public nuisance finally got a new one.
Elbert ”Lew“ Preston, 79, stood his ground long enough for a nonprofit group to come to his aid and build him a sturdy new outhouse with a waste tank underneath.
”There she is,“ Preston said as he showed off the new outbuilding. ”She’s a lifesaver.“
The wooden outhouse, complete with a crescent moon on its door, replaces a 1960s-built version that had run afoul of public health officials in Clermont County, east of Cincinnati. While the old one was over a hole in the ground, this one sits atop a concrete base and a 1,000-gallon tank.
”It’s too nice and complicated to be an outhouse,“ Preston said. ”I call it a privy.“
Preston, a former trustee for Washington Township, challenged the board of health for months before seeking help from People Working Cooperatively, a nonprofit that has done thousands of projects for low-income, elderly and disabled residents in southern Ohio and northern Kentucky.
Past jobs have included replacing roofs and building wheelchair ramps, but this was its first outhouse.
Preston lives near a busy shopping area and has 175 acres of potentially lucrative real estate but didn’t want to go to the expense and complications of installing a septic system.
Preston, who is slowed by diabetes and has colon problems and pacemaker, said he never saw the need to replace the old outhouse — which once was picked up and carried into his garden by a tornado without major damage.
He said he has used an outside toilet since settling in Washington Township 40 years ago and likes the privacy of a privy.
”When you’re in a house, sounds carry,“ Preston said. ”Everybody knows your business.“

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