He was a lawyer, and he was my friend, but I knew he was lying. Talking about a lawyer lying is almost cliche. However, the last few years, I’ve spent way more time than I would like sitting in a court room full of lawyers. And fortunately, in all of those interactions, I don’t think any of them lied, or even skirted the truth.
But, sitting in a the Orem Public Library last night, I knew that Dale Boam was lying. He wasn’t even trying to hide it. In fact, he was being somewhat brazen about it.
In fairness, the five people who spoke before Dale were also liars. They just weren’t as good at it as Dale. Of course, none of them were lawyers either. At the end of the evening, we all agreed that Dale was the biggest liar. We even gave him an award for it: Utah’s Biggest Liar.
Every spring as we shake off the winter, I look forward to the Utah’s Biggest Liar competition. I was reminded that the competition has been going on for 9 years and I’ve been involved for seven of them. I’ve missed a competition here or there due to work, but I put this on the calendar early and look forward to it all year. I’ve been the MC, but the last few years, I’ve been a judge.
Next year will be different. Next year will be the tenth anniversary. The world famous Bil Lepp, an award winning story teller will be a guest judge. And I’m giving up my judging spot.
Next year, I’ll put my money where my mouth is and actually compete. This isn’t some annual angst-post of “Maybe, next year. . .” I’ve been content to sit and enjoy the stories. (Although the judging is horrifically difficult because the winners are so good, it’s hard to pick one.)
So, I’m officially declaring myself in the race for Utah’s Biggest Liar. (If I win, maybe I’ll apply to law school.)
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren.
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