The bad news is that Vince Marinello has been arrested and charged with murdering his wife.

A week or so ago, 45-year-old Mary Elizabeth Marinello was gunned down in front of her counselor’s office from which she had just emerged. Witnesses said a scruffy-looking bearded guy on a bike shot her twice in the face in what seemed to be a botched attempt at robbery and sped away. Not so quick, said the investigators.

Vince–a grade B local celebrity from his decades on New Orleans’ radio and TV as a sportscaster–claimed to have been in Jackson, Mississippi, viewing the Saints’ preseason game. Witnesses attest to that.

They were going through a messy divorce. Vince is 69 years old and they were married just two years ago after a quick and torrid romance. Later, Mary Elizabeth found out his divorce from wife number two was not final when they married and she was seeking an annulment. They were fighting over the big house in Harahan. Sheriff’s deputies had been out recently.

In arresting Vince, the sheriff’s office says all sorts of helpful people have come forward. A French Quarter guy who runs a costume shop says Vince bought a mustache from him recently. A gun shop dealer says Vince brought in a gun of the kind that killed his wife to be test fired, then bought the kind of ammo that the medical examiner says did the foul deed. Parking lot cameras record the murderer pacing the lot waiting for Mary Elizabeth to come out of the building, and witnesses saw the culprit ride off on a bike for two blocks, then stow it in the trunk of a white car and speed away. Marinello owns a white Taurus. Then, Vince’s Jackson friends came forward to admit he was late arriving at the Saints’ game that same evening. Finally, in raiding his FEMA trailer–yes, he had one too–the sheriff’s investigators found a list. A list of all the things he would have to do in order to kill his wife and get by with it.

I suppose, like Congressman Jefferson and O. J. Simpson and Whatsisname Peterson, he can provide a good explanation for all these coincidences.

The latest Reader’s Digest has a little article on dumb crooks. We enjoy reading those sometimes to remind ourselves that the bad guys in this world are not all rocket scientists. It would appear that Vince Marinello will make the dumb crooks hall of fame when this is all over. The sheriff’s office has him locked up and under suicide watch.

The Fairmont Hotel downtown is still undecided about reopening at all. Most people will remember this as the wonderful, historic old Roosevelt Hotel, the grand dame of hospitality where kings and presidents have lodged. As an Alabama teenager in the ’50s, I would tune in to WWL radio late at night and hear “Leon Keltner and his orchestra coming to you from the Blue Room of the Roosevelt Hotel just off Canal Street in New Orleans.” It sounded so exotic. A couple of years ago, the mayor had a breakfast for ministers there, my first and only visit to the Blue Room.

The Fairmont took more hurricane damage than originally thought, it was announced, and the renovation will be extensive. A reopening cannot take place before 2008. This raises the question whether the hotel will reopen at all. Reservations through 2007 have been canceled.

The New Orleans Saints’ people are scratching their heads. After the storm, a furor erupted when it became obvious that owner Tom Benson wanted to move the team to San Antonio permanently, not just for the duration of that season. He was sure this city could not support an NFL team. To his credit, Commissioner Paul Tagliabue refused to let him walk away from his commitment to his obligations and announced that New Orleans would be the Saints’ home, period. The season begins this week, but as far as locals are concerned, the real opener will be September 25–I think it is–when the Saints and the Falcons play in the renovated and improved Superdome, for national TV. What’s shocking the Saints’ owners is that they are very close to selling out the entire season before it ever starts. This would be a first in the 40 year history of the New Orleans Saints. We understand that two-thirds of these tickets are being bought by first-time customers.

One little comment about our wonderful Mayor Nagin. As you know, after he made the truly horrenduous gaffe about New York being unable to fill a hole in the ground after five years, he then journeyed to that city looking for investors to bring their businesses to New Orleans. I mean, this guy is his (and our) own worst enemy. Those who turned out for his sales pitch were mostly media guys looking for more sound bites to reflect on New Orleans. Anyway…

Kenneth Holditch of New Orleans writes in a letter for Friday’s Times-Picayune: “In his article on Ray Nagin’s travels (September 3, 2006), Gordon Russell quotes the peripatetic mayor as explaining his absence from his duties at home by saying, ‘It’s Labor Day weekend. There’s not a lot going on in New Orleans.’ Not a lot going on here? I wonder why. Clearly the nominal leader of this city is as clueless in New York as he is at home.”

Some of the best news I know in this city is that Global Maritime Ministries, serving the port workers and ships’ crews coming here from all over the world, has received a temporary occupancy license for its new ministry center on Tchoupitoulas Street a block from the river. They can now use the first floor of their lovely new building, and are nearly ready to bring in the seafarers. Director Philip Vandercook pays tribute to the wonderful folks from Gate City Baptist Church in Greensboro, NC, Calvary BC in Shreveport, Dearing BC in Georgia, Metairie BC here, Zion Hill BC in Dry Prong, LA, FBC of Tequesta, FL, and so many other church groups who have been here knocking themselves out to get this building in service.

Philip says they still need a lot of help in finishing the second floor–sheetrock, plumbing, electrical, ceiling, and floors. Friends from FBC Jackson, Mississippi (my beloved church home of the early 70’s), have provided the desks and installed phones, internet, and cable connections. But they still need a few items for this mostly bare building…

In the main room: new couches and chairs, coffee and end tables, large screen television, DVD player/recorder, stereo, pool table, and ping pong table. They need computers for internet access so the seafarers can contact the folks back home. They need cafe’ tables and chairs and an area rug. In the conference room, they need a large table and chairs and bookshelves. In the chapel, a lectern and plasma television. In the offices, they need three new computers, bookshelves, lateral filing cabinets, and desk chairs. In the kitchen, they could use pots, pans, bowls, baking sheets, measuring cups and spoons, dish towels, and garbage disposal. Then, generally, they need a commercial ice machine, phone system with 8 to 10 extensions, storage shelves, landscaping or deck for patio, a weed eater/edger, mulch, fence with electric gates, indoor plants, and a large aquarium.

This ministry has not had a building before. They’re not like a church moving its old equipment into the new building. They’ve operated out of Philip Vandercook’s home. So, even though this incredible work is 40 years old, this will be their first “real” building, other than the one 25 miles upriver at Reserve.

I want you to know that, in urging my friends to support this work, I put my money where my mouth is. I mailed a check to Global Maritime yesterday to assist with buying these furnishings. I believe in these good people and this work of “world missions at our doorstep.”

Their contact information is: Global Maritime Ministries, Inc. P. O. Box 750787, New Orleans, LA 70175. Their website is www.PortMinistry.com and their e-mail is Info@PortMinistry.com. The phone is 504/433-0915.

I believe with all my heart that when we give to such a ministry as this, the Lord takes it personally. Check out Matthew 10:42 as well as Matthew 25:40.

Dumb crooks are one thing. Christians who fail to support some of the greatest ministries the Lord has going and plow their money into cars and boats and other pleasures, well, there are all kinds of dumbness, I suppose.