On April 7, in the wee hours of a Saturday morning, Birmingham City Councilor Joel Montgomery tripped over a retaining wall in Five Points South, busting his face and fracturing a vertebra, according to his attorney. Birmingham police arrested Montgomery for public intoxication. The details of that night from the police report are familiar to many of our readers by now, but if you want to refresh your memory, you can find all that here. Since the embarrassing fall, Montgomery has not returned to City Hall and has not performed his duties as a city councilor.

Now let’s put this in perspective. On April 12, slightly less than a week after Montgomery’s tumble-bungle, New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine was nearly killed in a high-speed car crash without his seat belt. Corzine broke 11 ribs, collarbone, sternum and leg. For more than a week, he depended on a ventilator to breathe for him.

Corzine has since said that he couldn’t remember the accident. Montgomery, according to the police report, couldn’t remember where he had parked his truck.
But as of today, one of these public officials will resume his elected duties. Can you guess which one? Read the answer after the jump.

According to press reports from New Jersey, Corzine will resume his duties as governor today, although it will be some time before he makes public appearances at public events.

Meanwhile, the Birmingham City Council will hold a town hall meeting tonight in Montgomery’s District 1. Residents there have complained that they have no representation during the crucial budget cycle at City Hall, in addition to the $140 million bond issue now before the council and mayor.

At least some councilors will attend the meeting tonight at 7 p.m. at Parkway Christian Fellowship church in District 1, but there’s no word yet whether the District 1 councilor will attend.

— Kyle Whitmire

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