You could describe him the way that every reporter assigned to a story about "Super Dell" Schanze eventually does: Schanze is "in your face." Or "hyperactive." Also "reckless." And "goofy."
But how do you size up Schanze in his latest public outburst - a showdown with some residents of Draper's east bench that bordered on OK Corral proportions?
Is Schanze the Point of the Mountain's own Wyatt Earp? The Errol Flynn of South Mountain?
Each of those would lend some romantic, swashbuckling air to the guy who started his Totally Awesome Computer empire from a small packing and shipping store in 1997. But the spiky-coiffed entrepreneur just grows weirder by the second.
"Freakin' nut" about covers it.
On May 21 Schanze allegedly blasted his black Jaguar through a neighborhood of Draper starter mansions at speeds reaching 75 mph. Three residents jumped into their cars and gave chase. At the end of the trail, which was Point of the Mountain Paragliding Park, one of the pursuers grabbed a rock and threatened to smash the taillights of Schanze's car.
Then, according to charging documents filed in this case, the real action began. Schanze, who owns a concealed weapons permit, pulled a handgun from his pants pocket and pointed it at one of his accusers. The guy with the rock called 911. When Draper police arrived, Schanze was surrounded by residents. Police recovered a Glock 10 mm from Schanze's pants pocket and found another handgun strapped to his leg.
A Glock always trumps a rock. Thankfully, it didn't get that far. But then there is Schanze's 8-year-old daughter, who was in the car with him and witnessed the whole debacle. A vocal gun rights activist and owner of a gun store and shooting range, Schanze can always encourage his little girl to share the story at school show & tell, right?
Like I said, the guy's a freakin' nut.
Schanze told Salt Lake Tribune reporter Michael Westley that once he brandished the Glock, the mob "decided to be really nice to me . . .. Their whole personalities changed. It was amazing."
Yes, and an armed thug in a 7-Eleven heist will tell you the same thing. He'll get a perfectly nice reaction from the clerk behind the counter - as in, "You want the contents of the till? Sure, take it. And help yourself to a case of beer on the way out!"
Schanze has been charged in 3rd District Court with a class A misdemeanor count of threatening with, or using a dangerous weapon in a quarrel, and a class B misdemeanor count of reckless driving.
If convicted, he could lose his conceal and carry permit.
When will we get enough of Super Dell Schanze? He rose fast to become one of Utah's icons, and always a welcome event in this go-along to get-along state. Schanze was pushy, screechy, gauche. The Cheez Whiz of local TV advertising.
And he parlayed that persona into wealth. Legends abound of Schanze's vast generosity. He speaks at summer camps for children with kidney disease. He's been known to spend all day digging drivers out of snowbanks. He once showed up at Centro Civico Mexicano and showered cash donations on kids who had beaten the odds to graduate from high school.
It's no longer enough. Schanze has tipped too far toward the dark side. He's scary. He may see himself as "The Equalizer" of the 'burbs but the rest of us have had a belly full.
The guy's a freakin' bore.
hmullen@sltrib.com
