Drunk Driving Costs an Ohio Legislator His Job?

Idaho Sen. McGee



I read, or scan anywhere from 100-150 local news websites everyday, thus I see certain patterns in the stories and specific trends emerge.  For a while, there were tons of child porn prosecutions, child abuse and neglect stories, police misconduct, Ponzi schemes, in the spring and summer bicycle fatalities--right now there is a remarkable predominance of stories of public officials and drunk driving.  Yesterday, I featured the story of the Texas Assistant District Attorney who resigned after a drunk boating arrest.  The beleaguered Bronx assistant prosecutor, Jennifer Troiano was back in the news as the poster girl for favoritism in the NYC tabloids.  An Idaho republican senator, John McGee (pic) who stole a neighbors' Ford SUV and crashed it into a immovable object after a bizarre night of drinking got a misdemeanor plea deal and looks like he's getting a second chance at his political career with a misdemeanor plea deal and kind words from the sentencing judge.





Jennifer Troiano

But Ohio Rep. Robert Mecklenborg (pic, below right), a right wing and right to life zealot is being kicked to the curb for a DUI according to an article at the Columbus Dispatch.  As a commentator said yesterday, in each case there is more.  There is always more.  Let's see if we can figure out why Mecklenborg is losing his seat.  This is an excerpt from the Columbus Dispatch article:

The House speaker says a Cincinnati Republican who went through an embarrassing drunken-driving arrest and did not tell leadership about the incident until it became public should resign from his seat soon.

Speaker William G. Batchelder, R-Medina, has said he holds Rep. Robert Mecklenborg in high regard for his legislative work, but he added yesterday: "I don't think he'll come back to the capitol building."

Mecklenborg, 59, was arrested in April in Indiana on a DUI charge by an Indiana state trooper. The three-term lawmaker refused to blow into an alcohol-detection machine, and a dashboard camera video shows him repeatedly telling the trooper that he had not had anything to drink, even as he failed three sobriety tests.  A blood test later registered his blood-alcohol content at 0.097 percent, above the 0.08 percent level at which a driver in Indiana is considered to be drunk - the same as in Ohio. Mecklenborg, who is married, also had a younger female passenger [ a stripper that he took to a local Burger King] in the car, and his blood contained Viagra.



Rep. Robert Mecklenborg

Mike Dittoe, spokesman for Batchelder, said the speaker will continue to work with Mecklenborg on a timeline for his resignation [. . . ] Batchelder said Mecklenborg is getting treatment, but he didn't specify for what purpose.

Earlier yesterday, Ohio Democratic Chairman Chris Redfern called on Mecklenborg to resign, saying he endangered the lives of his female passenger and the public when he drove intoxicated.

"I believe Rep. Mecklenborg showed a disregard for his family and the constituents he is supposed to represent. He failed them. It is time for him to go," Redfern said in a statement.
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Robert Mecklenborg, a trial lawyer (which he tells the arresting officer in the video at the link) in addition to being a legislator, climbed out on that whole family values limb.  He was an outspoken advocate of recent (probably unconstitutional) restrictive Ohio abortion legislation.  It's hypocrisy, not alcoholism or drunk driving claiming Mecklenborg's public service career.  One local blogger titles a recent post about Mecklenborg abortion posturing and DUI arrest, "If Fetuses Were Able to Take Strippers to Burger King..." Politically, all sorts of shenanigans can be survived.  Hell, in Louisiana, the 4-term ex-governor and felon, Edwin Edwards is being feted all over Louisiana media.  But you politically can't survive hypocrisy.

Young Woman/Drunk Driver Sentenced to 6 Years for Killing a Cyclist

From the San Juan Capistrano Patch: 

A 30-year-old San Juan Capistrano woman was sentenced to six years in state prison today for running her car off the road in Dana Point and killing a bicyclist  In March, Michelle Nicole Stearns pleaded guilty to gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated for the October 2007 incident.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Craig Robison could have granted Stearns probation or sentenced her up to 10 years. Robison said he struck a middle ground because she had no criminal history and family and friends wrote letters to the judge on her behalf.

"I do believe her expressions of remorse are genuine,'' Robison said.  Stearns formed a nonprofit organization called Safe Cruz that
provides rides home for impaired drivers, Deputy District Attorney Nancy Hayashida said.
"Not a second goes by that I'm not in agony over this,'' Stearns told  the judge. "I would do anything to make this not real ... That's the torture. I can't change this.''

Stearns was driving her BMW north on Del Obispo Street near Quail Run at 2 a.m. when she lost control of the car, jumped the curb, hit a traffic sign and crashed into Jose Umberto Barranco-Patino, 32, as he pedaled home from his job as a busboy, prosecutors said.

She also hit a utility box, triggering a power outage in the area for about 600 customers. Stearns' blood-alcohol level was almost three times the legal limit, according to prosecutors. Barranco-Patino was pronounced dead at the scene.

"I am so sorry,'' she tearfully said in court.

Barranco-Patino's brother, Cesar Barranco, and his wife, Martha Pliego, said after the hearing they were satisfied with the sentence. With help from a translator, they told reporters the victim was a "great father'' who was happy and concerned with his family's welfare.
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In the blink of your eye, your whole life changes when you get behind the wheel of a car drunk.  You take the drink, the drink takes the drink, the drink takes you and innocent others.

Judge Sentencing Man on 11th DUI: You are a Highway Terrorist

Allegheny Judge David R. Cashman (small pic, right)  has been known to go over the top in his colloquies with defendants when handing down sentences or taking pleas.  But he seems to have nailed the situation recently while accepting a guilty plea from Richard Caporal on his 11th DUI.  This is the local news account from WPIX.com:

A Pittsburgh man pleaded guilty to his 1[5]th driving under the influence charge on Monday.

Channel 11's Alan Jennings was in court when a judge called him a "highway terrorist."

Judge David Cashman asked Richard Caporal, 58, why he was pleading guilty. Caporal responded, "Because I am, your honor."

Police records show that Caporal's 11th DUI charge came during a snowstorm in February 2010. Police reports stated that Caporal crashed into a parked car at 2 a.m. on Mount Joseph Street.

Neighbors said they heard the crash and watched as Caporal fell down repeatedly. One neighbor told police that, "It was like watching the Three Stooges." Police said Caporal's blood alcohol level at the time of the crash was 0.25 percent.

During the court hearing, the judge told Caporal that, "You are like a highway terrorist, driving drunk for decades. Well, you won't kill anyone on my watch."

Cashman reviewed Caporal's arrest record, noting that his driver's license has been suspended since 1977.Caporal is not eligible to get his license back until 2043, when he'll be 93 years old.

[H]e [received 15 years.]

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Get him off the road.  He's a terrorist and a menace to other drivers, pedestrians, and other living things. Keep him off the road.  Caporal is a sick man.  Good job, Judge Cashman.

Anchorage Driver Charged With 10th DUI!

The Anchorage Daily News reports on the local man who was arrested following a hit-skip accident that sent three local residents to the hospital.  That's right, friends, the "at fault" drive has 9 prior DUI convictions.  Here's the ADN account:

"A man who has been convicted of driving under the influence nine times faces new felony charges after a collision Monday that sent three people to hospitals, Anchorage police said today.

Donald Benedix, 46, was charged with felony DUI, driving with his license revoked, and second degree assault and his bail was set at $25,000, said police spokesman Dave Parker.  The accident took place about 7 p.m. on Duben Avenue at its intersection with Muldoon Road in East Anchorage.

Three vehicles were stopped at a red light on Duben facing west.  Benedix, in a blue Ford Expedition, came up behind them and ran into the back vehicle, causing a chain reaction of collisions, with each vehicle ramming into the one in front of it, according to police.

Because the impact was severe, three people in the vehicles that were struck were taken to hospitals, police said. Benedix and a passenger in his vehicle were unhurt.  Police said both Benedix and his passenger tried to flee the scene."
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What's it going to take to take this menace off the roads?

Alcohol is cunning, baffling and powerful.  Mr. Bendix is an alcoholic, or as we say a "real alcoholic."  The disease tells this guy that he doesn't have the disease, and that he's OK to drink and drive, and he'll continue to do it until the day he dies.  No excuse. 

But for the sake of all other living and breathing citizens of Alaska and elsewhere, the authorities need to lock this guy up.  Absolutely no human power can cure Mr. Bendix of his alcoholism, but he should not be permitted to continue to present a peril to others.  There is a definition of "insantity" that Mr. Bendix satisfies with his various DUI(s) and I'm sure endless drunk driving--doing the same thing expecting a different result. 

I should know.  While I don't have the DUI's are my tax woes anything other than a manifestation of the same disease with different details?  Probably not. 

There is a solution.  You must recover and there is a demonstrable way to recover.