What a mess Dave Smith has got himself into. I've been reading both papers and the comments on ORL. Again a lot of the comments range from one end of the spectrum to the other. There are folks that want to drag him out to the nearest tree & lynch him and at the other end there are people who think DUI is no big deal. Excrement happens.
The Sheriff lawyered up pretty quick and has got a continuation on his preliminary court appearance until the end of the month. I'm guessing they are praying fervently that the urine test results will give them a break. I've been told you can blow positive on as little as one beer if the barley and hops are still embedded on you taste buds. It's the blood alcohol level that is the best bet in cases like this. It takes longer for the alcohol to get into the blood stream.
At this point I'm kind of feeling a little sorry for the man. Tom Giambroni wrote the piece about the Sheriff driving a county vehicle when he got busted. To me that is a gray area. Networking is part of doing business and attending a state association meeting to learn the latest on the command communication vans made it a business meeting. I'm not familiar with what the county rules and regulations are about using county vehicles. The Commissioners are either not available or are "no commenting". If you're familiar with the I-70 route from Columbus you know that the Easton Mall is along the way. Having made that trip myself, once you start seeing the signs for Cambridge you know you don't have that much farther to go and all you want to do is get home.
The Buckeye State Sheriff's Association is back pedaling and distancing themselves from Smith as is folks around these parts. I imagine there is a lot of gruff going on with the trooper that busted a fellow lawman. It happens. However, that trooper's job is to look out for the safety of all of us. If Smith nearly hit a truck he needed to be taken off the highway. The trooper did cut him a break on the breathalyzer. My feeling is Smith knew exactly what he was doing when he inhaled.
My sort of feeling sorry for the guy stems from the fact that here is a man that probably put an end to his sheriff's career due to some bad judgement. He's being hung out in the media for all to see and is probably very despondent over what the future will hold. Lord knows if it wasn't for luck, my guardian angel or the grace of the Good Lord I could have been in his position more than once on the DUI charge. I'm still not the brightest star in the sky but back a few years ago I was stubborn about my ability to drink & drive. The Irish have a saying that the Lord takes care of old drunks and young children. Maybe my survival of those days was in my DNA. I'm not exonerating Dave Smith. I just feel a little sorry for him.
ole nib
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4 comments:
Sheriff Smith is a nice guy, and it's unfortunate when bad things happen to nice guys. Still, you've got to wonder how many times he's driven under the influence and not gotten popped. Or how many times he's been let go under similar circumstances.
Now that he's pleaded not guilty, I'm feeling a little less sympathetic. If indeed it was the sheriff on the videotape (and I don't think anyone is disputing that), he didn't act or talk like someone who was not guilty. The way I see it, if you're guilty, fess up and take it like a man. It's when you've been falsely accused that you fight it.
According to this morning's MJ the Sheriff has now got himself a high powered Columbus attorney who specializes in such cases. Also interesting to note is that Smith could face an additional charge of "driving over the legal limit for alcohol consumption" if his urine test comes back positive. Tom Giambroni didn't report if this additonal charge is a felony, a first-degree misdeameanor or what. At any rate the future looks gloom for Mr. Smith and he is obviously fighting for survival. I still say his only chance is the results of that urine test and that is, in my opinion, slim at best.
Alcoholism is a really bad sickness. Many people can attest to that. If the man honestly tries to recover and seeks help, I would have no problem with him keeping his job. It's not like he got caught with child pornography or killed someone. He needs to take resonsibility for his drinking problem and if he can't then he should go.
I get tired of people calling alcoholism, drug addiction, gambling, spousal or child abuse, obesity etc. a "sickness."
We all need to start taking responsibility for our actions.
You want to talk about sickness, go to the chemo room at any hospital or any pediatric floor where innocent kids are fighting cancer.
THOSE are sicknesses, things these people did not invite into their lives by being weak and taking up a habit like drinking, overeating, smoking (well, this could account for SOME cancers, of course), gambling, reading porn, etc.
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