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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

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Marriage proposal on the rocks

Michael Banks is rescued after being stranded on a ledge some 80 off the ground on Morro Rock, a landmark in Morro Bay, Calif., on Thursday. He had scaled the rock to make an Internet proposal to his girlfriend - who said yes - but then got stuck on a ledge and couldn't get down. A helicopter had to be called, and Morro Bay Fire Department Capt. Todd Gailey was lowered by cable to pluck Banks and take him to safety.(Bob Isenberg via AP)
Michael Banks is rescued after being stranded on a ledge some 80 off the ground on Morro Rock, a landmark in Morro Bay, Calif., on Thursday. He had scaled the rock to make an Internet proposal to his girlfriend - who said yes - but then got stuck on a ledge and couldn't get down. A helicopter had to be called, and Morro Bay Fire Department Capt. Todd Gailey was lowered by cable to pluck Banks and take him to safety.(Bob Isenberg via AP)

MORRO BAY, Calif. -- A man who had to be rescued when he climbed a California cliff to propose to his girlfriend via cellphone video later was acting erratically and was found to be high on methamphetamine, authorities said Friday. Morro Bay Fire Chief Steve Knuckles said that 27-year-old Michael Banks was arrested on suspicion of possessing methamphetamine. Knuckles said Banks climbed to the top of the cliff early Thursday to propose. Banks got stuck on the way down. No one has spoken to the girlfriend/AP. More here.

  • This incident is of special interest to HucksOnline because former commenter Sam Taylor is now deputy manager of Morro Bay. On his Facebook page, Sam said: "Spent my day dealing with national news media because this guy climbed Morro Rock (illegal) to propose to his girlfriend via FaceTime (she said no!) and then got stuck on his descent. Just shipped the video of his rescue to ABC News's National Desk in New York."

Question: Ah, did you propose in a special way to your one and only?



D.F. Oliveria
D.F. (Dave) Oliveria joined The Spokesman-Review in 1984. He currently is a columnist and compiles the Huckleberries Online blog and writes about North Idaho in his Huckleberries column.

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