Commissioner's mug threatened

A reader alerted me yesterday to a plot to blackmail Clark County Commissioner Steve Stuart. My mind started racing. What could someone have on Big Stu? I mean, something more embarrassing than that beard he grew after the election, when I expected him to start showing up to meetings wearing a plaid shirt and carrying an ax?

Turns out, reporter Marcus Griffith of the bi-weekly Vancouver Voice has a coffee mug of Stuart’s. In his blog, he put the mug next to a hammer and wrote, “This cup is safe… for now. More details will be explained in this week’s issue of The Vancouver Voice.”

As Stuart commented on Griffith’s blog, and explained to me, the mug was painted for him by his wife Heather before they were married. She painted it at what was then Coffee Lounge, 1104 Main St. Suite 111, which has since become Raging Sage Coffee Co.
An assortment of painted mugs had been on display at Coffee Lounge.

So what will the Voice demand in exchange for the coffee mug?

Griffith, who spent the night at the Value Motel and participates in organized nude bicycle rides, obviously knows no fear.

And Stuart obviously has a soft spot for a mug his wife painted.

I will remind Griffith of one thing: Stuart, as a commissioner, controls the budget of the Clark County Sheriff’s Office. You might say he and Sheriff Garry Lucas are friends.

I’m sure this will end peacefully. I know Griffith doesn’t have any plans to blackmail Stuart. I know Big Stu wouldn’t ask Lucas to send in the SWAT team for the mug.

But by writing this blog, I can hopefully guarantee that Stuart’s real mug will be safe … meaning he won’t grow a beard again.