Gypsy Curse May Be Right On The Marks

I’ve had a bellyful of Jimmy Marks and his so-called Gypsy curse.

The time is long overdue for this bellicose, selfappointed “senator” of Spokane’s Gypsy community to yank the plug on his obnoxious and hateful behavior.

He has disgraced himself enough.

According to Marks, a curse he helped lay on Spokane after a 1986 police raid is the causation and explanation for every episode of human misery we experience.

A woman’s cancer, a madman’s killing frenzy, the rape of a retarded woman - nothing is too sad or sordid for Marks to exploit.

He dialed City Hall last week to suggest that Stephen Novak’s death was curse-related.

Novak, 28, died while exploring an abandoned Idaho mine. He was the son of former Spokane administrator Terry Novak, who is high on Marks’ hate list.

“Remember Brockett’s daughter?” a city official quoted Marks as telling a receptionist. “Maybe this is part of the same thing.”

He was referring to another tragedy. Former county Prosecutor Don Brockett’s daughter died in a plane crash.

Marks then had the gall to attend the Novak funeral.

He told me he went there only because some of his enemies would be there, too. He knew his presence would get under their skin.

Is this guy such a monumental numbskull that he actually thinks a crowd of mourners is an appropriate place for political posturing?

Afraid so. Consider his treatment of former County Commissioner Pat Mummey.

Last year he stormed into her office. In front of several county workers and a reporter, he told Mummey the curse caused her cancer. “And I’m going to dance on your grave,” he added with a sneer!

I don’t have enough space to list all the horrors this shameless opportunist has tried to capitalize on, but here are a few of the worst:

Dean Mellberg’s shooting rampage and the B-52 crash last summer at Fairchild.

The forest fire that ravaged Riverside State Park.

Police Sgt. William Gentry’s rape of a retarded, deaf woman he met on the job …

Responsible Gypsies must be repulsed and shamed by Marks’ crass insensitivity.

It’s been eight years since I broke the news about the Gypsy curse. Back then it was a colorful way for Marks to draw attention to his claim that the city abused his people.

The 1986 police and IRS seizure of $2 million in Gypsy jewelry and cash was a royal screw-up. Courts ruled the search invalid. The cops were arrogant and rude.

Claiming their human rights were violated, Gypsies filed a $40 million lawsuit that is still meandering through the legal system.

But that’s where the grievance between the Gypsies and the city belongs: in the courts.

Marks’ continual public ranting, his callow viciousness, does nothing but hurt the Gypsies’ credibility.

It’s time somebody laid a curse on Jimmy Marks.

I therefore call on the mighty gods of journalism - Paine, Hearst, Mencken, Pyle … - to smite Marks with anonymity.

May his boorish temper tantrums never again receive ink or air time.

May Marks be overcome by a sudden, unexplainable urge to be courteous and polite.

The next time he roars into a City Council meeting to scream his fool head off, the only words out of his mouth will be “Have a nice day.”

May he apologize to the legions he has offended. May his blood pressure drop to normal levels. May he live a long, quiet and happy life out of the limelight.

And may he realize in time that this new even-tempered and compassionate Jimmy Marks is no curse at all.

It’s a blessing and a relief to everyone.

, DataTimes