Saginaw Shakedown

OK... My wife sets her alarm at least half an hour earlier than it needs to be
and gets up and turns on the radio (NPR) and I often have these bizarre semi-dreams
related to the stories I hear in my half-awake state.(recently I awoke to the sound my friend Bill Crawford talking about the valuable curative properties of goat glands...but thats another story). This morning, even though I went to bed quite late, I sat bolt upright to hear this small news clip about the Mayor of Saginaw. Ordinarily I would have ignored another Mayor political scandal,But I have a little inside track on this baby!
The Honorable Wilmer Jones Ham McZee
(I couldn't make that up if I tried) is the first woman mayor of Saginaw and she
officiated over my friends' wedding a couple of years ago. Here's the currant story.
On march 9 of 2007 the 20 year old Mercedes and personal ride of the Honorable
Mayor McZee (Evidently the McZee is a new handle as until recently she was simply
known as Wilmer Jones Ham ) caught fire in her driveway. Police ruled it as arson
and soon after a local handyman spoke up claiming that he accidentally set fire to the vehicle
while smoking in the back seat too close to an open container of gas. Mayor Ham... was content
that he admitted to the accident and is unwilling to press charges. She has filed an insurance claim against this accident and thats where the trouble lay. You see, it is against the law to set fire to your beat up 20 year old Mercedes and collect insurance money for it, even if you are the mayor, and have the word of your local handyman to fall back on.
Ordinarily I give people many chances to prove my first impression wrong. After all, we're only
human and we all make mistakes. My first impression of Mayor Wilmer Jones Ham however was that she was a head-strong politician who would do whatever she thought she could get away with in any given situation. Case in point... My friends' wedding. They got married in downtown Saginaw in a theater and had spent a lot of time making sure that things would go as planned and that everyone would have a lot of fun. One of the big points they tried to stress to their officiant, Mayor Wilmer Jones Ham, was that they did not want any religious affiliation
attached to their service. Came time for the dress rehearsal and everything is peachy and no problems with anything that is said ceremony-wise that anyone has any problem with. Next day and ceremony time comes a different story entirely. Mayor Ham turned into the Reverend Wilmer Jones Ham and when she was done you would have thought the bride and groom had been baptized. Those of us who were standing up with the couple thought... this is a joke, they set this up and they will be laughing about this for years to come. I mean, we wouldn't have been more surprised if a fully robed choir appeared and turned the whole event into a revival. (actually, that would have been cool! I loves me my gospel choirs!) It turns out that Mayor McZee had been paid in advance and had decided that being a good Christian she could not marry this couple without invoking the blessings of the good lord above. This really upset the Bride but, what are you gonna do? Stop the wedding in the middle of it?People have traveled from all over, and you certainly aren't gonna find someone else to step up to the plate in the middle of the ceremony! And besides... she was paid in advance!
So as far as trusting the Honorable Mayor-Pro Tem Wilmer Jones Ham McZee, One should look squarely at the evidence. And I'm betting the evidence says ARSON for a reason.
Trial starts today. I'll look forward to following this one!
p-didn