Good Morning world! This weekend was an eventful weekend here in Southwestern Lower Michigan. It started out with the Annual Coloma Glad / Peach Fest. That begun Friday at 6:00 PM with the kiddies’ parade and live music thanks to The Easy Street and their beer tent. The Music was Al and Lou which if you are not from these parts could not tell them from Roy Rogers and Dale Evans with the exception these guys do not ride horses and I was pretty sure they were not packing six shooters. However they could sing and play very well I might add. Many local bands choose this venue to send a body or two from their own band to play along. Friday Night there were 4 different band members who joined Al and Lou and Saturday there were 7. It made for some great music and marvelous entertainment. Mandy did her stint in the arts and crafts area helping small children make you name it and also did various things to promote art for these youngsters. Bonnie was helping in the CCPO booth. (Coloma Community Pageant Organization) selling water bottles and various other things associated with the Coloma Queen Contest. I played in a bean bag tournament with my golf partner and was humbly knocked out in round two. Saturday day two of the fest found much of the same so no need to go into that. But, another event that is really quite cool was Whirlpool’s Steelhead Triathlon. It started five years ago this weekend and not has more then 39 countries participating in it and I believe was just shy of 3000 entrants. It started out with a small swim from the North pier in St. Joseph to Jean clock park in Benton Harbor from there they rode their bicycle’s 56 miles north and back to finish with a 12 mile run to the finish. Overall the 70.3 mile competition was won by a German man residing in Ontario Canada and uses this to train for the Olympics. That was about it for Southwestern Lower Michigan but as fun was being had here Northern Michigan the UP was on fire. 10,000 acres to be exact and it is still burning out of control, so let’s just hope that it somehow gets under containment. There is an old air force base in the area and hopefully they use some of those huge scooper planes to help douse it. That was my weekend in Michigan I can’t speak much about any other state except Florida…and this is almost too funny to believe, but believe me it is true. I wonder if the dash cam caught that. NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. - A man with no arms and one leg who wouldn't stop driving despite a long list of traffic violations was sentenced to five years in prison Friday on felony driving and drug charges. Michael Francis Wiley, 40, also was sentenced to 15 years of drug offender probation. He pleaded no contest in June to the charges. "I'd just like to say I know what I did was wrong," Wiley said in court Friday. "I am truly sorry, your honor. I am." Wiley taught himself to drive after losing both arms and a leg in an electrical accident when he was 13. He has already spent more than three years in prison for habitually driving without a license, kicking a state trooper and other charges. (I am not making this up!) He once had a valid license, but it has been suspended several times since 1985, according to his attorney. He starts the car with his toes, shifts with his knee and steers with the stump of his left arm. He turns on the lights with his teeth. In his most recent brush with the law last May, Wiley sped off in a Ford Explorer when police approached him at a convenience store, officials said. Officers pursued but called off the chase after eight minutes because they did not want to put others in danger, police said. Defense attorney John Hooker pleaded for leniency and the minimum sentence of 2 1/2 years. He cited his client's need for treatment for his many physical and mental health problems, including anxiety, panic attacks, depression and a pain disorder related to his amputations.
In a recent interview with the Associated Press, Wiley said he's done driving. "I'm beat. The white flag is up," he said. "You can only bang your head against the wall so long before it hurts." I can just hear the jokes coming now…shall I start?
He pleaded guilty after his lawyer told him he didn't have a leg to stand on. The police has no trouble fingering the suspect.
What do you call a man with no arms and one leg in a pile of leaves?.... Russell… Ok, that was bad I know. I can’t help myself. Other then that, I have no more and am about ready to unlock the doors here at work so in what ever you do today may it be wonderful for you.
A huge hug and assorted pats.
Marrtay
