Red-Light Special! Lou Hamilton's SUV Stolen!

Five-finger discount leaves lobbyist red -- like his siren.

The local daily's diva of dish, Deb Peterson, served up a huge piece of dookie this morning on local lobbyist Lou Hamilton.

As Peterson recounts, some punks made off with Hamilton's 2004 GMC Yukon Denali earlier this week. Pilfered it right from his mansion on Westminster Place.

The cops later found the Denali, with the help of OnStar, up on Natural Bridge Avenue. According to Peterson, Hamilton's wife, Tricia Roland-Hamilton, penned an e-mail to neighbors with some particulars about the theft, and that precious hunk of SUV. Specifically:

"'Lou's vehicle is equipped with red lights and a siren' which the thieves used 'to try and pull people over north on Union,' Hamilton said in her e-mail."

Red lights and a siren?

Lou Hamilton told Peterson that he needs the lights for "parades" and "security-related functions."

That's funny... Unreal suddenly has deja vu...

Three years ago, the RFT's Kristen Hinman checked out Hamilton's and his friend Patrick McCarthy's use of flashing lights before and after the Mayor's Mardi Gras Ball.

As Hinman reported, cars carrying aldermen in that "special event" were "whizzing through stoplights" -- against the law, which says that nobody may use flashing lights for anything other than an emergency, or a pre-authorized motorcade carrying a governor or president.

After the Mayor's Ball, as Hinman reported, Hamilton and his wife -- who are, obviously, neither the governor nor the president, nor even elected officials -- left in a dark SUV with blue flashing lights...and there was no apparent emergency.

As Unreal rereads Hinman's story now, we find some wonderfully choice quotes from various elected officials about the incident. Richard Wilkes, former spokesman for the city police department, also had a winner: When Hinman called him to explain the situation, he thought she was joking. "Is this make-believe, or is this true?" Wilkes asked. He later told the RFT that the police department's private security department would definitely look into the incident.

Three years later, Hamilton is still driving around with flashing lights and a siren.

Guess it's just another something-normal-all-fucked-up-kind-of-day in the 'Lou.