Man Sentenced to 18 Months in State Prison for Peeing on the Alamo
The state of Texas might take its history a little too seriously: On Monday, a Texas man was sentenced to 18 months in state prison for pissing on the Alamo.
As reported in The Smoking Gun, an Alamo Ranger found 23-year-old Daniel Athens standing in a "chained off area [of the Alamo] not open to the public" in April 2012. A clearly drunk Athens made "the motions of putting his penis back in his pants"; later, "a puddle on the original mortar of the Shrine" was spotted near where Athens had been standing.
Athens pleaded guilty to a criminal mischief charge in February; in doing so, he avoided the maximum sentence of two years in custody, hough he's ineligible for parole and will serve the full 18-month sentence. He was also ordered to pay $4,000 in restitution.
Urinating on the Alamo is a serious offense, in part because of the building's limestone base. From the Smoking Gun:
Urinating on the 250-year-old "Shrine of Texas Liberty" can cause damage to the landmark since the Alamo's "limestone absorbs the salt and then pushes the salt out. When the salt gets pushed out so does the face of the limestone and through this process the urine contributes to the eroding of the limestone," police reported.
