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Shocking: TV anchor tests Taser for broadcast

By Siobhan McAndrew

There are some pretty crazy things I’ll do for a column. I’ve worked a shift as the Easter Bunny, let myself be auctioned off for a date for charity, braved Burning Man and plunged repeatedly into cold water in a celebrity dunk tank to help raise money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. But my limit is definitely electro-shock therapy. This week I went to a Taser party. It’s like what Tupperware was to our mothers. A group of women who don’t think they need 72 plastic bowls with matching lids are given a sales pitch on how it’s not safe to live without a weapon that can stun and subdue. And just like Tupperware, it comes in colors. In wake of the Brianna Denison case, the 19 year-old-college student who was murdered, women are educating themselves on self-defense. The party was held at a home not far from where Denison’s body was found last month, so the subject matter is a lot more serious than bowls that keep vegetables fresh. But the same way women sit around a living room and buy Tupperware, CAbi clothes or Avon, would-be buyers listened to a sales pitch from a former cop. Before the presentation started, the mostly 30-something crowd chatted about cute shoes, work and children while nibbling from plates of cold cuts and cookies. And much like these types of parties let you try out a new pedicure scrub or a potato peeler, we found out the Taser would be demonstrated on a reporter. I shook my head emphatically, so no one would think I had volunteered. Neda Iranpour, from KTVN Channel 2 asked to be Tasered. Iranpour insisted on it, saying it would educate people. Sometimes newspaper people think of our TV colleagues as being a bit fluffy. We roll our eyes at their camera crews, perfect hair, makeup and ironed clothes and think somehow they are less Pulitzer worthy. I thought I was daring sitting in a dunk tank in a bathing suit for charity. Iranpour has me beat and has the Taser burns to prove it. Iranpour, 27, was shocked for five seconds. “Are you sure I’m not going to get shocked through her body?” asked one of the over 6-foot-tall, 250-pound men who volunteered to hold up the petite 5’1″ anchor during her electrocution. The squealing sounds she made haunt me. It was like a scene from “One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” “It felt like the most painful pressure and all my muscles were twitching,” she said. “But it was fun and besides a little burn I don’t have any other side effects.” I told her she was my new hero. “How could you?” I asked. “Whenever I cover a fire I feel like I have to be as close as I can for the story,” she said. For this story, Iranpour was certainly the closest. Watch her Taser broadcast at 6:30 and 11 p.m. tonight on the KTVN Channel 2 news.

Dancing with Reno’s stars

Reno personalities prove ballroom dancing is a real workout as they get ready to take a spin for charity

By Siobhan McAndrew

Forget step class, jogging or weight lifting. Local personalities have found a new way to slim down by dancing for a good cause. Nine local celebrities will strut their ballroom moves Sunday at Dancing With the Stars of Reno, an event to raise money for the local chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. The event, similar to ABC’s hit TV show “Dancing with the Stars,” pairs personalities from TV, radio and business with professional dance instructors. Neda Iranpour from KTVN-TV Channel 2 has been training four days a week for the last five weeks. “It’s two hours of hard cardio each time,” said Iranpour, who has lost 20 pounds training for the competition. Iranpour will dance the Samba. “The health aspect of this has been great,” she said. “You are getting such a great workout, but you don’t think about it because you are trying to remember your steps.” Bill Schulz of radio station Alice 96.5, agreed. “It’s a great fitness routine,” said Schulz, who said his dance, the Waltz, will feature lots of lifts and twirls. His partner is professional dance instructor Suzette Feilen of Never Enough Ballroom in Reno. “Dance is a great workout physically, mentally and socially,” Feilen said. “It keeps your brain active, too, by having to remember the routine.” She said dance is a form of exercise you don’t do alone, which helps weight-loss efforts. “Because other people are encouraging you as you dance, it makes it easier to stick with, ” Feilen said.