Tommy may have been the coward of the county, but Billy was the coward of the state.
Every time they met, it took a team of lawyers to figure out the jurisdiction issues.
A judge worked out a reasonable solution: Tommy was the coward of the county, but Billy could handle anything that crossed the county line.
This worked out well, until George was deemed the coward of the city. And the governor appointed Howard the coward of the state.
Pretty soon, cowards were constantly stumbling over other cowards.
The President wanted to intervene, but he was just too cowardly.