Tag Archives: drunken driving

education news

Is this how a school trustee should behave?

I’ll get right to the point on this blog post.

John Betancourt should resign his seat on the Amarillo Independent School District Board of Trustees.

I say this without knowing this fellow personally. But when I read that he’s had two alcohol-related infractions, including a drunken driving citation issued just recently, I believe it is time for someone who is elected to an important public office to call it quits.

Betancourt helps set education policy for a public school district comprising 30,000-plus students. As an AISD “trustee,” moreover, he is entrusted with setting a good example for the students — and their parents — who are affected by the policies he sets.

Call me a prude if you wish. I don’t mind. I find it unacceptable that someone who holds an elected public office can serve in such a capacity when he or she breaks the law. Driving a motor vehicle while impaired by consuming too much alcohol is a serious matter, to my way of thinking.

Betancourt told the Amarillo Globe-News that the DWI arrest in 2015 is “old news.” Uh, no. It isn’t. It reflects badly on the individual who commits the infraction. More importantly, it also reflects badly on the publicly funded institution he was elected to serve.

State news

Rich kid on the run … who knew?

affluenza

How could the authorities have not seen this coming?

Ethan Couch, a son of a wealthy couple in Fort Worth, avoided prison time after killing four people in a horrific drunk-driving-inducedĀ motor vehicleĀ wreck, is now on the run after allegedly violating terms of his parole.

Tarrant County officials have launched a manhunt to find Couch, who’s now 18, after he failed to report to his probation officer as required under the terms of his all-too-light “sentence.”

Couch’s defense hinged on testimony from a psychologist who said the youngster’s wealthy parents enabled his hideous behavior, coining the term “affluenza.”

All the teenager did was get plastered, climb behind the wheel of a motor vehicle and then plow into another vehicle that was disabled on the side of the roadway. Several individuals were injured along with the four who died; two of them were hurt critically and one reportedly remains paralyzed as a result of the injury sustained in the wreck.

Couch’s blood-alcohol content registered three times greater than the legal limit to determine drunken-driving.

Now we hear that Couch might have fled the country … with his mother, no less.

Someone is going to be in deep trouble. If all this is true, I see some serious prison time for both mother and son.

 

legal news, State news

‘Affluenza’ teen may be in trouble again

beer pong

The case of Ethan Couch introduced America to a new term: affluenza.

It was coined by a psychologist who testified in Couch’s defense after the then-16-year-old Fort Worth teenager got roaring drunk, climbed into a motor vehicle and then killed four people and injured several others, at least two of them critically.

Couch dodged some serious prison time and received a probated sentence and was ordered to participate in a drug rehab program.

The psychologist had argued that Couch’s wealthy parents had enabled the boy’s behavior and, therefore, the youngster wasn’t totally responsible for what he did that night.

The state had sought to put the boy behind bars for a long time.

Now it turns out that the cops are looking for Couch, who’s now 18, after a video surfaced that seems to reveal he is participating in a game of “beer pong,” which is a game involving participants hitting a ball into a cup and then drinking the contents of whatever cup the ball lands.

Sound like fun? Uhh, not really.

The issue, though, is whether Couch has violated the terms of his probation, which was for 10 years and which prohibits him from drinking alcohol.

Did I mention that Couch’s blood-alcohol content was three times the legal limit for an adult at the time of his horrific accident?

The nation was shocked by the stunningly lax sentence handed down in that Tarrant County courtroom in 2013.

Something tells me that when the police catch up with Evan Couch that the young man will get the justice he deserved when he killed those people in the first place.

 

political news, State news

This DUI doesn't get under Perry's skin

Texas Gov. Rick Perry must have gotten over his anger at a public official’s arrest for drunken driving.

What got him all worked up when Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg got busted doesn’t seem to phase him when it involves Jack Stick, the top lawyer for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission.

Oh, I know now what it is.

Lehmberg is a Democrat; Stick is a Republican — like Perry.

http://www.texastribune.org/2014/09/28/top-republicans-dwi-case-being-seen-softer-light/

Stick got popped for DUI and faces a pre-trial hearing. We’ve heard nary a peep from Perry’s office over this one. Compare that to what happened when Lehmberg got arrested, pleaded guilty and then served jail time. Perry threatened to veto money for her public integrity office, which he did. A Travis County grand jury looked into that and indicted him on abuse of official power.

Perry just couldn’t stand it when a Democrat got busted for drunken driving. When it’s a Republican, though, well that’s different.

OK, the cases aren’t identical. Lehmberg behaved boorishly when she was booked into jail. Stick apparently has minded his manners.

It still interests me that the lame-duck governor would get so worked up over one case but clam up on another one.

Aren’t they both worthy of the governor’s righteous anger?

Uncategorized

Lawsuit names alcohol vendors

This could get interesting if it goes to trial, which is far from a sure thing.

A Canyon resident is suing a man she says caused a wreck that killed her husband. What’s more, she’s suing two business establishments that served the co-defendant in the suit alcohol the day of the fatal wreck.

The plaintiff is Kristi Powell, whose husband — Kendrick — died in a Jan. 19, 2012 accident on Interstate 40. The defendants are Christopher Easterday, the driver of the other vehicle, Buffalo Wild Wings franchise owner Kendall Howard and The Jungle owner Chandra Brown. Powell filed suit in 181st District Court.

http://amarillo.com/news/latest-news/2013-12-07/wife-man-killed-drunken-driving-wreck-sues-jungle-buffalo-wild-wings

You hear about lawsuits such as this from time to time. States have laws that establish liability for business establishments that serve alcohol. Is it their responsibility to ensure that patrons are alert enough to drive? Does the lion’s share of responsibility rest with the customer who is consuming the alcohol? Should the customer realize when he or she has had too much to drive safely? Does the bartender have a responsibility if he or she believes the customer has had enough?

I’m not going to pass judgment. I’m only going to suggest that this case could be worth our attention if it goes to trial.

I won’t bet that it will. Indeed, a pre-trial settlement is likely to reveal plenty about whether the business owners believe they had a hand in this tragic death.