Mister Pants has covered the ground far better than I could, but check out his post on Jay J. Armes, Texas’ premier private investigator with hooks for hands. And, as this photo proves, he could shoot you whenever he feels like it.
One thing Mister Pants didn’t notice was that Mr. Armes is also a former El Paso city councilman. Here’s the start of a 1993 story we wrote on him:
EL PASO — In his four years on the El Paso City Council, Jay J. Armes has been the target of epithets that would make many politicians cringe.
The El Paso council member is a “blight on government and the community’ and “an embarrassment,’ local newspapers say.
The usually eloquent Mayor Bill Tilney has called Mr. Armes a “pea-brain.’ The police chief has accused Mr. Armes of grandstanding for headlines; the sheriff has said that Mr. Armes is “only interested in making himself look like a big hero, which he is not.’ Former Mayor Suzie Azar called him “a liar.’
…As for his penchant to anger the local news media and politicians, the quick explanation is that Mr. Armes usually fires the first salvo. He told one local newspaper reporter, a Mexican citizen on a workers’ visa, that he would look into having her deported. He called a former city council member a “cockroach.’ He said the local sheriff “couldn’t find someone in a phone booth.’ Of a lawyer on the council, Mr. Armes said he “got his law degree out of a Cracker Jack box.’
But other than that, he’s a nice guy!
