Jasper is a true Piney Woods burg -- it's got a notorious bit of racist history, it's got an isolated, closed-off feeling to it, it's got a mayor arrested for public intoxication when he was found wandering down the road from where he had crashed his car at the local Sonic.

Mike Lout, 54, was arrested and charged with public intoxication yesterday, the Beaumont Enterprise reported, after a 10 p.m. incident.

Lout drove his car over the curb and got it stuck, the police report said. He then walked away and was found about 500 feet away, where he offered this money quote for the report: "Mr. Lout laughed and said he could sure drink some whiskey."



Lout was shirtless at the time, we assume because that's how the carhops at Sonic like it.

Lout refused to blow the breathalyzer, but did just about anything else he could to convict himself, if the report is to be believed.

Lout admitted to drinking hard liquor before the incident. Lout reportedly told officers that a recent foot injury was causing him pain and "he began drinking whiskey to try to cope with the pain." "Mr. Lout stated the doctors gave him pain medication but it caused him to see things that were not there," the report stated.

Because no one had seen him behind the wheel, Lout was not charged with DWI, police said.

Lout was sworn in as mayor in May. He owns a radio station in Jasper, which did report on the arrest.

