Cothran

Whether by design or default, the attack has had a political effect. "I've had some of my people tell me that they will not go to another City Hall hearing," Hestor says.

O'Donoghue was good enough to take my call on his cell phone as he was vacationing, free from prosecution, in Ireland last week. From sunny Limerick, he addressed the charges that the RBA has been devolving into thuggery. "That comes from a cadre of goddamn people whose way of life is lying," he said.

He urged me to review the record of public meetings and see if his members had misbehaved. I was able to find one videotape, of the supervisors' June 22 Transportation and Land Use Committee meeting. That's when I saw Mack Burton go all scary and openly threaten Hestor.

While he said the RBA is a disciplined political group, O'Donoghue was quick to add that he and his followers know how to put the boot in when they need to. "I've been at demonstrations where we have broken the windows and we've been arrested," he said. "We know how to do the militancy when we need to do. But right now we don't need to."

O'Donoghue said he grabbed, choked, and tackled Hanes to keep Hanes from attacking Burton. He said his sole motive was to incapacitate Hanes so the fight would end. But, O'Donoghue was quick to add, if he and Burton had wanted to, they were perfectly willing and capable of beating Hanes, or any of the other anti-live-work activists, to a pulp.

"I could beat any of those dumbshits up with one hand tied behind my back. And Mack Burton could have them for sushi and spit them out in little pieces."

As for Ben Hanes, "The guy's lucky he was on the stairs; if he was on a flat level I would have belted this guy in the mouth. He is lucky we didn't throw him down the steps."

The tenor of the fight did not require such extreme measures, according to O'Donoghue. But again, he wanted to be clear that he is capable of violence, and is more than willing to employ it in the future if the situation warrants it.

"None of this is to say we [the RBA] can't become mad dogs. We can and I have." And, O'Donoghue said, Ben Hanes had better mind his P's and Q's around the RBA in the future.

"He came up looking for trouble," O'Donoghue said. "He didn't get it that time, but that's not to say next time he will get away so lightly."

I don't doubt O'Donoghue at all. I'm sure if he crosses paths with Hanes or anyone else who opposes him or the mayor, myself included, he will be perfectly willing and able, even inside City Hall, to beat him bloody like the mad dog he says he is.

Yes, indeed, O'Donoghue's enemies had better watch out. Hanes had better watch out; surely, he won't get off so lightly next time. Just like O'Donoghue says.

But as long as Willie Brown is mayor, it seems, O'Donoghue and the RBA will get off as lightly as they please -- every time.

Welcome to Shinbone. Welcome to the Wild Willie West.