70-Year-Old Man Fights Off Home Intruder and National Shrimp Day

70-Year-Old Man Fights Off Home Intruder - Fighting back stories such as this are easily my favorite news stories! The concept of someone displaying great courage when confronted with danger evokes scenes from Charles Bronson's "Death Wish" movies. When the courageous man who is fighting back is seemingly at a great disadvantage because of age or health, in my mind he is all the more a hero!

Seventy-year-old Michael Salame has eight heart stents, nerve damage, and apparently quite a right hook, as an alleged home invader found out.

It was about 3 AM Saturday when Salame was at home with his girlfriend and heard something outside. He did not realize that the intruder—identified as 24-year-old Timothy Adams—had already shattered a window, climbed inside, then gone back outside.

When Salame spotted the man outside stumbling over his trash barrels, he called 911. By then, Adams was back in the house and the two were face-to-face in the foyer.

"I went to the other side of the house to call the police department and didn’t want to spook him so I didn't turn any lights on," Salame said. "I turned around and there he was; he was inside my house." Salame said he was in no mood for visitors.

"He came in, and that's when I grabbed him by the throat and slammed him down on the floor and told him to stay on the floor and not to put his hands in his pockets. I didn't know if he had a knife or a gun on him," Salame said.


"He managed to get up again and he tried to get up the staircase and I decked him three times with a right and he went down again," he said. "I give him three good rights — I caught him right in the face. He went down and he never got up again."

It is not as if Salame is a retired boxer, and he has several limiting medical conditions. Due to nerve damage, Salame has to wear bracelets with metals straps on his arms at night. "That kind of worked as a weapon," Salame said. "It worked like a boxing glove."

When the intruder went down, Salame said the would-be thief offered him thousands of dollars to let him go. "He offered me $100,000," said Salame. Salame told the man the only place he would be going is the police station.

Adams is charged with breaking and entering and destruction of property.

National Shrimp Day - Most of the shrimp consumed in the United States comes from the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and the Gulf Coast. Generally speaking, the colder the water the smaller and more succulent the shrimp. Shrimp change color when one cooks them due to a heat induced chemical change in their shells. Jumbo and colossal shrimp are referred to as prawns—although the prawn is actually a different species.

Shrimp are available year round: shelled or unshelled, raw or cooked, fresh or frozen. Smell raw shrimp when purchasing and look for an ocean-side fragrance. Choose plump, juicy shrimp and rinse under cold water before tightly covering and refrigerating. Shrimp can be used in a variety of dishes but classic shrimp cocktail is one of the best recipes to highlight the pure taste of fresh shrimp.

Shrimp Cocktail
5 large uncooked shrimp
1/2 cup chili sauce
1 Tbsp lemon or lime juice
1/2 cup ketchup
1/2 cup parsley, finely chopped
1/2 cup horseradish
1 drop hot sauce
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp salt

Clean shrimp by deveining and discarding heads and shell if present. Leave shrimp tails intact. Boil shrimp for about 3-4 minutes. Do not overcook, as shrimp will become tough. Shrimp are done as soon as they become opaque. Combine all other ingredients to make sauce. Place 3-4 shrimp in individual serving dishes with greens and lemon garnish. Pour cocktail sauce over shrimp, or dip the shrimp in the sauce.