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Sometimes you find heroes in unexpected places.  Like Amarillo.  On a skateboard.

It seems that some other goofy minister decided he wasn’t getting enough attention so he bought himself a barbeque pit, some lighter fluid, one of those long lighter things and a copy of the Quran.  Then he called a press conference.

Oh jeeezzzzzzzzz …. that is sooooo last week.  “Is that the best he could come up with?” Juanita wants to know.  “Heck, even I could give it a new twist – how about freeze a Quran?  Or maybe read it and pretend to go blind.  Or paint a Quran.  Or wrap it it Saran Wrap and cook it in the microwave?   Come on, men of crazy cloth, you gotta do better than this to keep reporters’ attention.”

So, some folks went to watch and some went to protest.  And one went to be an accidental  hero.

A planned Quran burning Saturday in Amarillo was thwarted by a 23-year-old carrying a skateboard and wearing a T-shirt with “I’m in Repent Amarillo No Joke” scrawled by hand on the back.

Jacob Isom, 23, grabbed David Grisham’s Quran when he became distracted while arguing with several residents at Sam Houston Park about the merits of burning the Islamic holy book.

“You’re just trying to start Holy Wars,” Isom said of Grisham after he gave the book to a religious leader from the Islamic Center of Amarillo.

“Dude, that was very kewl,” Juanita bows in respect.

And then the story says —

Protesters threw their hands on the grill Grisham planned to use to burn the Quran, someone took his lighter and Isom stole the Quran, leaving him with just lighter fluid.

“I kind of expected the reaction,” Grisham said of the turnout.

As the crowd jeered, Grisham got into a car and left peacefully without burning any copies of the holy book.

“Oh crap,” Juanita hollered, “he was going to grill the Quran?  That has just got to be a violation of Texas cooking laws and several health codes.  You cannot grill a book in Texas.  You just cannot.  I am certain that abusive grilling is not protected by the First Amendment.  If it is, we should fix that.”

“Goodness sake,” she mumbles.  “What a waste of perfectly good mesquite wood.”

Juanita thanks Amarillo for handling this the easiest way – leaving a man standing in a city park with only lighter fluid to cover his dumbness.

Way to go, Amarillo!