HE COULD HAVE DROWNED WHILE SLEEPING!

      I have told about a restaurant and bar in West Des Moines called Jimmie's American Cafe that was a going place especially in the 1980's and the  1990's. The owner's name was Jimmy Lynch and as far as I know still has several restaurants in the mid-west including the 801 Chop House in downtown Des Moines.

     The story was told by my old friend Bob Merritt who lived next door to Lynch in the same condo complex called West Park in West Des Moines. Jimmy, among other things was  known as a big drinker to say the least. On this particular ocassion it was raining fairly hard and Jimmy had come home late one evening from his restaurant and bar to his condo. Instead of parking  inside of his attached garage he just parked  outside in the drive way.

       The car was a Mercedes convertible and the top was down. For some reason Jimmy fell asleep or possibly passed out in the car parked outside. It was a little unclear, but, somehow Bob Merritt saw Jimmy parked out front and saw that his head was tipped back and his mouth was wide open with it raining! Bob's punch line to the story was "I had to get him inside or he might have drowned!"