Mistake Allows Man To Drive After 15 DUIs
BOSTON -- A glaring mistake is being blamed for a repeat drunken driver keeping a valid license.
That mistake surfaced this week when the man was arrested for a 15th DUI charge.
NewsCenter 5's Gail Huff reported that Robert Scheller, 57, was arrested just minutes after leaving a liquor store on Tuesday. He was arrested for drunken driving several years ago, but the hearing officer for the Registry of Motor Vehicles did not notice at the time that he had 13 previous convictions for drunken driving, according to registry officials.
This week, he was arrested for a 15th DUI in Marshfield, and when police checked his record they were surprised by what they found.
"We were shocked. And the fact that he was driving through a school zone -- an elementary school zone -- at the time that school was getting out, just makes it that much more disturbing," Marshfield police Lt. Phil Tavares said.
The owner of Marshfield Liquor store said Scheller bought a bottle of vodka in the morning and returned a few hours later to buy more. That's when Keith Whitaker called police.
"Without question he had been drinking and the way he was walking and slurring his words, there was no way I was going to serve him," Whitaker said.
Under the new Melanie's Law, which was named after the victim of a drunken driver, Scheller could now lose his license for the rest of his life. Melanie's grandfather is an advocate for tougher penalties.
"I'm just baffled as to how it could conceivably have happened. I think this one slipped through the cracks. I mean, I really think that this one should have been caught way before this," Ron Bersani said.
It may have been caught before had Scheller's name been added to the national driver's registry of repeat offenders. Scheller had been convicted of drunken driving in Florida, West Virginia, Virginia and Colorado before he moved to Massachusetts and obtained a license.
Photo & material: thebostonchannel.com
Boozy farmer drunk at the reins
A farmer in Knebworth, England who downed 20 pints of Guinness in one boozy afternoon pleaded guilty last week to being drunk in charge of a horse and cart.
Adrian Whitaker, who had also drunk five alcopops, was reported to police after holding up a stream of traffic on a narrow country lane. When the 36-year-old was finally pulled over, he fell off the cart and landed at the feet of a police officer.
Prosecuting counsel Roseanne Smith told Central Hertfordshire Magistrates Court that Mr Whitaker already has a drink-driving ban for cars. He is due to be sentenced this week.
Material: news.com.au
World's first beer health spa opens in Czech
A family brewery in the Czech Republic has opened the world's first beer health centre in its cellar. The Chodovar Family brewery in Chodova Plana offers beer baths, beer massages and beer cosmetics.
The cellar has seven huge Victorian style baths where visitors can swim in beer while enjoying a pint poured at a bathside bar.
"Beer can treat a range of conditions, particularly skin conditions, and the health centre should appeal to men who are put off by 'posh' traditional spas. I have heard of some places in other countries where people can swim in beer but it's just a gimmick. We believe in the healing properties of beer and we offer the full range of treatments. We are a fully-fledged beer spa," Ananova quoted Jiri Plevka, the owner as saying.
The guests are charged 80 pounds for weekend packages, and can indulge in a range of health treatments including beer wraps, starting at 12 pounds per session.
Material: zeenews.com
Driver finishes beer after ramming Queens man, 62
Some people just don't know when to say when. After slamming his van into a 62-year-old man early yesterday, Antonio Rosas greeted cops by finishing his can of Coors Light, authorities said.
Rosas, 33, had a .272 blood alcohol level - more than three times the legal limit - when he hit Edgardo Pizarro at 1 a.m. on Roosevelt Ave. in Corona, Queens, sending him flying over his Chevrolet van. "The nerve of this guy, I would have just smacked that beer out of his hand," said Pizzaro's daughter, Audra Cabarcas.
Pizzaro, a Manhattan doorman who retired 10 years ago to care for his elderly mother, was taken to Elmhurst Hospital Center with a fractured back, pelvis, forearm and severe head injuries. "My dad said he didn't see him coming...He just crossed the street and all he remembers is a boom and he was on the floor," said Cabarcas. "How could he [Rosas] even do that? Unbelievable."
Cops saw Rosas weaving over a double yellow line just before he hit Pizzaro. Rosas was pulled over minutes later, law enforcement sources said.
After downing his beer, he was asked for a driver's license but didn't have one, prosecutors said. He also stunk of alcohol, had bloodshot eyes and slurred speech, and was unsteady on his feet.
Rosas, a construction worker, is facing up to 25 years if convicted of drunken driving and numerous other charges.
Photo: Albert Le
Material: Scott Shifrel via nydailynews.com
Perfect Bacon Martini
Lightly mist martini glass with vermouth, and rim the edge with bacon grease. In a cocktail shaker, mix 3oz vodka, one dash tabasco, and one dash olive juice. Shake well and strain into cocktail glass. Skim excess bacon grease from surface of cocktail. Garnish with one slice of bacon.
Photo and material courtesy: Andy Smull via flicker.com
Man shows up drunk to DUI hearing, has to sober up in cell
BELLEFONTE, PA -- James Kassab arrived bright and early -- 9:45 a.m. -- at the Centre County Courthouse Annex on Thursday, where he was scheduled to plead guilty to drunken driving.
The problem was that he was drunk when he got there.
A portable breathalyzer test found his blood alcohol level to be about .15 percent, or almost double the legal limit to drive in Pennsylvania.
Centre County Judge Bradley P. Lunsford was not amused and ordered Kassab, 24, of 622 Galen Drive, State College, handcuffed, led from the courtroom and put in a holding cell for the rest of the day to sober up. Kassab did not even receive a lunch.
"We're going to try it again here at 3:45 p.m.," Lunsford said, donning his judicial robes. "If he is sober, we'll take his plea. And, if not, well, we'll see him tomorrow."
Later, with Lunsford seated on his bench, two sheriff's deputies led the bleary-eyed and still-handcuffed Kassab to a seat nearby.
"How do you feel?" Lunsford asked without looking up.
"Pretty embarrassed," Kassab answered.
"I bet," the judge said, still not looking up.
This time, a breath test reported no alcohol in Kassab's system, and as Kassab was now clearly coherent, Lunsford accepted his plea to drunken driving.
As Kassab repeatedly apologized, Lunsford told him that until his sentencing, he is not allowed to drink any alcohol, to be inside any establishment that serves or sells alcoholic beverages, or to even be near someone who is drinking alcohol.
Material: centredaily.com
Trashed: An Essay
We all like a laugh. And you can't have a laugh on a night out without having a bit of a drink, can you?
After all, what's the point of going out if you're not going to have a drink or several to keep up with your mates?
But what's such a laugh about throwing your guts up and speaking to the porcelain telephone all night? Drinking's alright as far as it goes, but there comes a point when falling over, getting into fights and getting off with Mr. or Miss Personality Bypass loses its appeal.
Getting so wrecked you can barely walk, never mind walk straight, means you're putting yourself at risk of more than a sore head the next day.
If you've had too many, you're much more likely to have an accident on the way home. Or when you get there.
Around half of all pedestrians aged 16-60 who are killed in road accidents have more booze in their blood stream than the legal drink-drive limit.
Still feeling good about getting trashed?
Think about it.
Nearly half of household fires are linked with people who have been drinking.
Alcohol is a factor in at least seven per cent of drownings.
People who have sex after drinking are much less likely to use condoms - increasing the risk of getting a sexually transmitted disease or getting pregnant.
Have another one...
About 1,000 children aged under 15 are admitted to hospital each year with acute alcohol poisoning. All need emergency treatment.
You can also get a criminal record. In 1994, 57,900 people were found guilty or cautioned for offences of drunkenness. The peak age of offenders was 18. Hundreds of thousands of other offences, including criminal damage and violence, are drink related.
If you get completely wasted by bingeing on alcohol, you put a great strain on your liver and other parts of your body. It also makes you dehydrated.
If you're into sport, heavy bouts of boozing damages the red muscle fibres you need for endurance, so you'll find it hard to keep it up in more ways than one. Regularly drinking too much increases the risk of damaging the white muscle fibres that are needed for sprinting and jumping. More of a step, stagger and fall than hop, step and jump.
If you do get really drunk, it's best to lay off alcohol altogether for the next two days to give your body tissues time to recover. Forget the myths of coffee, more coffee and a fry-up. The only cure for a heavy session is time.
If you get drunk on a regular basis, it may be worth asking your GP for help.
If you carry on drinking too much over the years, there are all sorts of long term risks to your health - to say nothing of your bank balance.
So what might happen if I don't take your advice?
You'll probably put on weight - if your idea of attractive is a spare tyre around your belly, then keep it up. Alcohol is high on calories with no real food value. Your blood pressure will also go up, increasing the chance of having a heart attack and some kinds of stroke. You'll also risk liver damage.
Other risks faced by long term, heavy drinkers are cancer, especially cancers of the mouth and throat. If you drink heavily and smoke, you're 150 times more likely to develop throat cancer than people who don't.
Women also risk having problems if they want to become pregnant.
Men and women can develop psychological and emotional problems, including depression and an inability to relate to people properly.
And that's nothing to laugh about.
Photo: The Waist High Collection
Trashed courtesy: wrecked.co.uk
Man tries to pay with bartender's checks
STATESBORO, Ga., (AP) -- A 21-year-old Georgia man was arrested after trying to buy drinks with a checkbook he found at a bar. Unfortunately for Jody Brian Minor of McRae, the checkbook's owner was the bartender serving him.
Minor was arrested on theft and forgery charges early Saturday morning, Statesboro Police Detective Terry Briley said. He was "extraordinarily intoxicated," Briley said. Minor is out on bond, and his case will go before a grand jury in August, Briley said.
Minor was at Dingus Magee's bar when he found a checkbook and began paying his tab with it, Briley said. One of the bar's employees realized the checks belonged to a fellow bartender Hubble Beasley, who called police. Briley said Minor's father has paid the delinquent $129 bar tab.
Material: billingsgazette.com
Quarantined Man Says He Was Only Hung Over
SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - A man who was quarantined along with 59 other passengers who fell ill on an Australian cruise ship says he deserves a refund because he wasn't sick, just hung over.
A cruise ship owned by P&O Cruises Australia docked in Sydney on Friday after an outbreak of gastroenteritis sickened dozens of passengers during a 10-night cruise along the Queensland state coast.
Sick passengers were quarantined to prevent the gastroenteritis, which causes vomiting and diarrhea, from spreading.
But passenger Michael Wanless said he was wrongly quarantined after doctors confused his hangover for the illness.
"Quarantine me, that's fair enough, but I think that I'm entitled to be reimbursed for that part of the trip," he told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. on Friday.
The ship "Pacific Sun" was to be sanitized in Sydney, and P&O was providing free medical treatment to all infected passengers, the ABC said.
Material: wtopnews.com
Attention Men: Beer Could Prevent Prostate Cancer
CORVALLIS, Ore. -- One of the main ingredients in beer may help prevent prostate cancer, according to a new study by Oregon State University researchers.
But they say do not rush out to stock the refrigerator. That main ingredient is present in such small amounts that a person would have to drink more than 17 beers to gain any protection.
Researchers say the compound xanthohumol, found in hops, helps guard against cancer cells that can develop in the prostate gland. They hope they can concentrate the compound in a food supplement or increase its concentration in beer.
But more research is needed to see whether it is actually effective in preventing cancer.
Photo: portlandbeer.org
Material: koin.com
Is your Lovely Teenaged Daughter graduating from high school this evening?
"I personally don't think that an all-night graduation party will lower the number of people drinking that night. People won't be drinking at the party either way, but the risk lies in people leaving and getting drunk elsewhere. The motivation to do this is theoretically raised by the fact that there is an official graduation. I personally don't see the connection. If people really want to drink on grad night, they'll do that instead of the party. If they want to get drunk to celebrate graduating and also want to go to grad night, they can have their own drinking party at another time (like, for example, the day they actually graduate). In the end, most high school seniors are 18 when they graduate. We're legally adults and have the right to make our own choices and, quite frankly, I'm thoroughly disgusted with the individuals who can't seem to wrap their minds around the fact that we're not children anymore."
(William Hutchison)
Photo of Waist High on her graduation night courtesy: The Waist High Collection
Material: newsreview.info
TOP 5 WORST TASTING BEER COCKTAILS
Michelada
Pour beer into a glass filled with ice and add the juice of one small lemon. Add a dash of soy, Tabasco and Worcestershire. Add a pinch of salt and pepper. For some, a true Mexican Michelada is not complete without a shot of Tequila mixed in.
Beer Margarita
1 (6 ounce) can frozen lemonade concentrate
8 fluid ounces vodka
3 (12 fluid ounce) cans or bottles beer
Empty lemonade concentrate into pitcher, do not add water. Pour in vodka and beer. Serve over ice.
Spicy Red Beer
(12 fluid ounce) can or bottle beer
1 (5.5 ounce) can tomato-vegetable juice cocktail
1 dash Louisiana-style hot sauce
1 dash Worcestershire sauce
1 pinch seasoning salt
In a frozen beer mug combine tomato-vegetable juice, hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce and seasoning salt. Pour in cold beer.
The Read-Headed Step Child
1 pint beer
1 (1.5 fluid ounce) jigger whiskey
1/2 (1.5 fluid ounce) jigger grenadine syrup
Pour one pint glass of beer. Measure a shot of whiskey, and pour in. Top with 1/2 shot of grenadine.
Zima Plus
1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle of clear malt liquor
1 (1.5 fluid ounce) jigger of blackberry brandy
Pour the malt liquor over ice in a tall glass. Stir in a shot of blackberry brandy.
Material: drunknewsblog.blogspot.com
3 Survive Rapids Attempt With Wal-Mart Raft
VAIL, Colo. -- Two 12-packs and a raft bought at Wal-Mart by three 19 and 20-year friends were no match for Class III rapids on the upper Colorado River between Radium and Rancho Del Rio.
One man, Thomas Williams, nearly drowned when the raft overturned last Sunday. He was rescued by a nearby rafting guide.
"I was under for so long I just blacked out," Williams told the Vail Daily. "I didn't realize I was being dragged along by the river."
Class III rapids, on a scale of 1 to 6, include a large continuous set of waves with small drops, ledges or waterfalls. Scouting is suggested for all but the most experienced rafter.
Williams described the trio's attempt without proper equipment or lifejackets as simple "stupidity."
His two friends managed to swim to shore, but not before they suffered scrapes from the knees down and were stripped of most of their clothes.
Williams suffered a hairline fracture on his ankle.
The adventure is nothing new to Williams, who said he also seeks thrills skateboarding, snowboarding and bungee jumping. "If I didn't do that stuff I'd be a lazy couch potato," he said.
Material: thedenverchannel.com
According to sky.com, too many people self medicate with alcohol to make themselves feel better.A new study by the Mental Health Foundation (MHF) found that 88% of people would find it difficult to give up alcohol completely. At least 77% said it made them feel relaxed. Almost two thirds (63%) of more than 1,000 people questioned said alcohol made them feel happy, 51% felt less inhibited and 41% felt more confident while drinking. Almost half (44%) felt booze made them "able to fit in socially," 40% felt less anxious and 31% felt they could make friends more easily.Dr. Andrew McCulloch, chief executive of the foundation, said: "The research confirms our worries that people are drinking to cope with emotions and situations they can't otherwise manage. Drinking alcohol is a very common and accepted way of coping - our culture allows us to use alcohol for 'medicinal purposes' or 'dutch courage' from an early age. But using alcohol to deal with anxiety and depression doesn't work."American Woman recipe
1 1/2 oz Old Grand Dad Bourbon Whiskey
1/2 oz Creme de Noyaux
1/2 oz Cherry Liqueur
1 oz Southern Comfort Peach Liqueur
Shake everything with ice, strain into a cocktail glass.HAVE A HAPPY AND SAFE MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND!Photo: A devoted Waist High reader
DRINK UP TO BEAT HANGOVERSIt's the dream of everybody who likes a drink but hates themselves the morning after.Experts are working on hangover-free drinks that will get you merry, but with no regrets. Psycho-pharmacologist David Nutt, from the University of Bristol in Britain, says the cocktails would be designed to mimic the pleasurable effects of alcohol without the downsides.They would allow people to get merry but not legless, wake without a hangover, and avoid effects such as nausea, memory loss, depression and aggression. Nor would they damage the liver, as alcohol does.The idea is only on the drawing board, but there is no reason why such drinks could not be made now using existing know-how, according to Professor Nutt.Material that included references to a gentleman called PROFESSOR NUTT courtesy: news.com.au
MAN ACCUSED OF DRIVING LAWNMOWER WHILE DRUNKVERMILION, Ohio -- A drunk man who drove a lawnmower to a store about a mile from his house was arrested on his way home, according to police.Dondi Bowles, 50, was arrested Friday night as he drove the mower on a sidewalk.Police said a breath test showed that Bowles' blood alcohol level was 0.144 percent, nearly twice the legal limit of 0.08 percent.It was his third DUI arrest in six months, they said.The lawnmower was towed. Vermilion is on Lake Erie, about 40 miles west of Cleveland.Photo & material: local6.com
SCIENTISTS WORKING ON BEER FOR MENOPAUSEPrague - Women struggling with the discomforts of menopause may soon find relief in a cold glass of beer. Experts in the Czech Republic are working on a beer specifically brewed for women experiencing hot flashes, troubling sleeping and other woes during this phase.The low-kilojoule, low-alcohol beer being developed by the Prague-based Research Institute of Brewing and Malting contains heightened levels of phytoestrogen, a plant form of the hormone estrogen often lacking in menopausal women, said the institute's director Karel Kosar.Phytoestrogen is found in the hops and barley malt used in many types of beer. Kosar said breweries could produce the special beer by increasing the levels of these ingredients.A gynaecologist working with the institute reported good results from clinical tests with the beer on 20 women. The volunteers who drank three decilitres nightly for two months reported fewer menopausal symptoms.The gynaecologist, Dr Milan Anton of Masaryk University in Brno, plans to expand the research.Material: int.iol.co.zaPhoto of a Widmer Hefeweizen at the VQ in Portland Oregon, courtesy of: The Waist High Collection
MILWAUKIE, Ore. -- The head of the Oregon Liquor Control Commission has resigned after a weekend drunken-driving arrest. Teresa Kaiser (pictured) was arrested Saturday night near the Ross Island Bridge.
The OLCC executive director e-mailed her staff Wednesday night to announce her departure:
Dear OLCC Staff,
As you may know, I am off for the next two weeks on family medical leave and want to tell you about a very personal matter. Due to circumstances that I deeply regret, I am resigning as the Executive Director of the Commission. I'll return on May 15, 2006 to tie up some loose ends and will say my goodbyes at that time.
Although my departure is abrupt, I am confident that the extraordinary work of the outstanding employees of the Commission will move forward. You are some of the finest people I have ever worked with. I know you will continue to soar long after I have moved on.
Sincerely,
Teresa
An emergency meeting is planned for Friday to appoint an interim director.
Kaiser has held the position since 2003. She graduated from Portland's Lewis and Clark Law School and worked as an attorney for seven years as well as in liquor enforcement in Colorado and Washington.
Material: koin.com
Photo: kptv.com
(katu.com) IS DAYTIME DRINKING BECOMING A BIG PROBLEM?
"About half of our arrests for driving under the influence of drugs are occurring during the daytime hours," says Lt. Gregg Hastings with the Oregon State Police.
Photo: moderndrunkardmagazine.com
