TAKE A PEEK before you pee in a portable toilet this weekend. Chances of seeing someone peeking back at you are slim, but some people can be persistent.
On Sunday, a 45-year-old Maine convenience-store owner was found knee-deep in excrement in a holding tank below an outhouse near a popular swimming hole in Ossipee, N.H.
"We had to decontaminate him," Captain Jon Hebert, of the Carroll County sheriff's office, told the Associated Press. "We treated him as if he were a hazardous material."
The local fire department hosed down Gary Moody, who was wearing hip-waders, after he was found by a 14-year-old girl. The teenager had heard a noise, looked into the toilet and saw Moody's face staring up at her.
Moody entered the tank by crawling through the toilet seat, fire officials said.
It is not clear how long he was in the tank or how many people may have used the women's facility before Moody was discovered. The area, which has a large natural waterfall, serves up to 2,000 people per day during good weather.
With an estimated one million people expected to crowd the Benjamin Franklin Parkway on Saturday for the Live 8 concert, you will be lucky if you get anywhere near one of the 440 portable toilets that will be on site.
But if you do, you should feel safe.
Area owners of portable-toilet companies said they have almost never heard of people being found in their rentals.
"At industry conventions, I've heard stories about somebody who dropped his keys in the toilet," said Pam DeForest, owner of A Royal Flush, Inc., of Delran, N.J. "He didn't want to tell his wife so he jumped in looking for them."
DeForest said she has heard stories of construction workers being accidentally raised onto high rise buildings while they were using the loos. She said kids have set fire to units, people have tipped them over and last year, one of their toilets was seen floating down the Neshaminy Creek after flooding in the area.
"Pickpockets will empty a wallet and toss it in our johns," warned Bill Reynolds, owner of the 50-year-old company A Johnny on the Spot, Inc. "One guy lost his dentures in the john. He was so happy to get them back."
Reynolds, whose company supplied toilets to the original Woodstock Festival, said eyeglasses are another object they find frequently when cleaning out their units.
But Reynolds and DeForest said no one has ever been caught in one of their toilets.
"I can't believe someone was actually doing that, waiting down there," DeForest said. "He probably stunk."
Moody was charged with criminal trespass and released on $250 bail. He will have a hearing on July 19.
Moody did not respond to numerous calls.
Distributed by the Associated Press
