Mayor Jim Fouts (Facebook photo)
With all the controversy in Washington these days, it may be a little more challenging for a local politician to grab headlines. But Warren Mayor Jim Fouts is up to the challenge and doing quite well.
The latest: Royal Oak Police Chief Corrigan O’Donohue criticizes Fouts for commenting on a March 11, fatal house fire in Royal Oak and claiming the female owner was murdered, reports Mike McConnell of The Daily Tribune.
The body of Royal Oak attorney Marsha Baliff, 72, was found in a hallway after a fire swept through her house in the 300 block of South Minvera. The cause of her death and fire are under investigation and Warren Police have assisted with the probe
On WJR last Friday, O’Donohue said it was irresponsible of Fouts to make a public statement on the case he has no direct knowledge of, and he should refrain from commenting about it on social media.
“We have no indication at this point it was a homicide,” O’Donohue said Tuesday, according to the Trib. “But the investigation is ongoing and we won’t know (definitively) until the investigation is completed.”
Fouts commented on the fatal fire last week on his Facebook page, and the comment now is removed, the paper says.
“I’m hopeful that a person (allegedly a gypsy) that killed an elderly woman last week will be charged with her murder,” Fouts said in the post said. “This was a clear gypsy crime that was covered up by setting her house on fire in Royal Oak last week. A very tragic situation for a lonely woman.”
O’Donohue tells the Trib: “We did have some help from Warren police and somehow that information was relayed to (Fouts) and that was improper.”
Fouts this week told the suburban daily that his fire comment was an opinion. “I don’t have any direct knowledge” of the case, he said, “other than what I heard on the news and I had heard from some other people.”
