Warren firefighters and other city workers are seeing a lot less of Fire Commissioner Wilburt “Skip” McAdams these days.

He's melting! He's melting!

And that’s a good thing for the city’s 51-year-old top fire administrator, who has lost 85 pounds since January.

Under doctor’s orders to shed weight, he has extinguished fast food and his entire daily diet and exercise regimen consists of only two Slim-Fast shakes, two pieces of fruit, a Lean Cuisine meal and five miles of walking. 

Currently at 295 pounds, McAdams said he hopes to drop to between 200 and 220 pounds.

“I never believed that stuff, ‘When you lose weight, you feel better,’” he said. “I do feel better.”

Mayor James Fouts, who jogs five to six miles a day, called his Fire Department appointee “the increasingly disappearing fire commissioner.”

Moments after County Executive Mark Hackel safely hit the ground from his sky dive at Selfridge Air National Guard Base, he was on the telephone to his top deputy, Mark Deldin.

“He said, ‘You must be OK. I was praying your chute would open,’” Hackel laughed.

But Hackel was suspicious about Deldin’s intent. Deldin was sitting in his Hackel’s office, apparently ready to take over Macomb County government if Hackel’s dive failed.

“I said, ‘Yeah, now get out of my office,’” the executive smirked.

Hackel was among several notables to participate in a tandem parachute jump with members of the of the U.S. Army’s Golden Knights, which operates out of Fort Bragg, N.C. Others include Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard and Ron English, the Eastern Michigan University football coach.

A video of Hackel’s jump can be found on youtube.com. In the video, Hackel seems about as stressed as the Insider gets while heading to a favorite watering hole. That's to say he was relaxed.

“Everyone kept asking me, ‘Are you nervous,’” he said. “I said, ‘no,’ but then I started wondering, ‘Should I be nervous?’

“I’ve never had a fear of heights or anything like that. The only thing like that that bothers me is needles and shots. I hate getting a shot.”

Regarding the dive itself, Hackel called it “incredible” and “loud.”

“You could see for miles.”

With a good view of the Lake St. Clair shores, the Insider speculates that he sure went extremes to scout potential new locations for a lake shore casino or hotel.

The Insider has to take his hat off to Warren Mayor Jim Fouts after the old guy, er, young guy, beat a political opponent's attempt to force him to release his birth date.
Macomb Daily staffer Jamie Cook followed the news when the state Court of Appeals ruled in favor of  Fouts, unanimously upholding most of a local judge’s ruling. It means Fouts and candidate Kathleen Schneeberger’s names will remain on the ballot for the Aug. 2 primary, unless there is a successful state Supreme Court appeal.
Fouts said Thursday he was pleased with the ruling because it blocked an attempt to “hijack the election” and supports his “fight against ageism.”
“This was an attempt to hijack the election of 2011 and prevent the voters from having a choice in the 2011 election,” Fouts told Macomb Daily. “The ruling means that age can never be used as a weapon, a weapon of mass destruction, against a candidate. Whatever my age is, is irrelevant. I meet the qualifications to run as a candidate.”
So you go, Mr. Fouts for fending off that weapon of mass destruction with the skill of a young champion.