Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Clarksville

Weird people I’ve encountered downtown

"Once again, St. Paddy himself materialized inside O’Doherty’s Irish Pub & Grille on St. Patrick’s Day in downtown Spokane.

He blessed the crowd. He posed for snapshots with the foxy Guinness Girls.

Even better, St. Paddy bought me a corned beef sandwich.

But then he did something about as un-Irish as it gets.

He participated in a group sing-along of the theme to “Gilligan’s Island,” which seemed as out of place as a leprechaun at a bar mitzvah.

"Danny Boy" I could see. But Gilligan?

It made me wonder…

“Who the hell is this imposter?”

Then he sealed the deal on his St. Phoniness.

If he were really the beloved St. Paddy, he would surely perform a minor miracle and drive the snakes out of City Hall, not go around posing for photographs and singing some moldy old TV theme song.

This wasn’t St. Paddy at all.

It was Tom Keefe, local instigator, lawyer and teller of the tallest tales.

My faith is gone. But the sandwich was great.



Thoughts and ruminations from S-R columnist Doug Clark