There were no plans to arrest Sheehy

 There were no plans to arrest Sheehy!!!





    This sentence at the end of a news item in 1991 always tickled Greg and irritated his last nerve about his Dad staying in South Gate. Greg groused about John not getting out of the Gate when others bailed like BC in the 70's. John loved the small arena and as mayor he was big fish in a little pond. He loved this stuff, even Rotary meetings and council meetings with hollering dopes finding fault. One of his long-time nemeses was a real phony jerk named Joe Moore who thought he was a big mover and shaker. Moore was worse than a horses ass and would have been MAGA before that stupidity was invented. He was always trying to  push his weight around and John had no respect for the damn fool. The city was losing it's factories and the revenue stream was drying up just as it did all over the Southeast. Plans were discussed and sometimes the discussions got heated. John was dealing with a lot of drugstore cowboys and he was quick to take issue if he disagreed. The shady plan was put forth by Moore to bring in a casino to fatten up the tax base of the Gate and many citizens were against such a plan. John had already been haunted by a bogus conflict of interest accusation and had been voted off the council. Yet, the old zip and driver still followed city politics closely in his retirement. He was at a meeting about Measure A that the dumbass was pushing when the blowhard Moore got overheated and John let him know he was wrong. Moore stuck his finger in John's face and he pushed it away with a small shove of his forearm. Moore cried big wounded tears, claiming he had been assaulted. Local papers grabbed the story and blew it up as some kind of brawl between political opponents. I believe the Long Beach Press blared a story that ended with the sentence "there were no plans to arrest Sheehy!!!" Jack had picked up the paper that morning and called Greg breathless with anxiety thinking his father was headeed for the clink. Greg, knowing the scene was aware it was pure bullcrap and laughed it off as he should have. It took the younger brother a few minutes to calm older bro down and life went on for the ex-mayor sadly for just one more year. His delightful quote in the LAT was :"I am 78 years old. You think I go around picking fights? I don't think I could hold my own even with most children, the shape I am in." As a 77 year old, I hear you Mister Sheehy.



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