Archive for May, 2008
Evidence offered in "Drunks, Drugs & Debits: How to Recognize Addicts and Avoid Financial Abuse" suggests that roughly 80% of serially erratic misbehaviors can be explained by alcohol or other-drug addiction. Unfortunately, since addictive use is often hidden from pubic view by enablers, in ratcheting up or down the likelihood that addiction explains poor conduct, we are often stuck at 80%. This is particularly true among CEOs, doctors, lawyers, other professionals--and politicians.
Most celebrities and professional athletes who misbehave are almost always "outed" by journalists. The fact that such behaviors in celebrities who are known alcoholics are similar to those of politicians, etc., in whom heavy drinking is never reported--and for whom enablers abound--is damning evidence that alcoholism is the driving ...
A couple of actors, thousands of embittered homeowners, and an addict who paid his amends.
Runners-up for top story of the month:
Actor Wesley Snipes, convicted of three counts of willfully failing to file tax returns and sentenced to three years in prison in the IRS's highest-profile criminal tax case in decades. Insight into Snipes' convoluted thinking, likely rooted in long-term psychotropic drug addiction, can be found in the January 2007 edition of the Thorburn Addiction Report (http://preventragedy.com/pages/TAR/027.jan07.html). There's more, below, under "enabler of the month."
Actor Gary Busey, evicted from his rented Malibu home on which he allegedly owes more than $50,000 in back rent. Busey was last seen in court in 2004 when refusing to pay $52,000 in past-due rents, according to his attorney because of mold in the house. Friends admit that while Busey ...
The best explanation for Eliot Spitzer’s behaviors is alcoholism.
Under watch:
Former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer is one of the many top law enforcers in whom we have no definitive proof of alcoholism but whose behaviors indicate this disease. The key hallmark of hidden early-stage alcoholism, egomania, has been evident in Spitzer for years. Proving alcoholism in an influential politician in whom no one suspected it could break the budding field of addiction identification based on behavior patterns wide open. It is in the hope that Mr. Spitzer might be that "someone" that previous observations are recounted.
From the May 2005 issue of the Thorburn Addiction Report:
"New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, publicly airing charges of fraud by former AIG CEO Maurice 'Hank' Greenberg, not only before charges have ...
Not-so-harmless little old ladies: old arsenic and lace, perhaps.
Helen Golay, 77 and Olga Rutterschmidt, 75, convicted of murdering two homeless men for $2.8 million in life insurance. In a carefully plotted scheme, the women picked the men off the streets, purchased numerous small insurance policies on them (keeping off insurers' radar), paid for apartments for the two years--the period after which insurers generally cannot contest a policy--and either ran them over or had them run over in dark alleys. The women were allegedly partners in a number of bogus lawsuits before trading up to murder in the late '90s. Let us assume alcohol or pharmaceutical drug addiction explains their horrific behaviors. Instead of being given the opportunity to get clean and sober a few decades ago and living ...
Orange County sheriffs, an inmate and a cat. There’s lots of alcoholics protecting each other. The sheriff’s live; the inmate and cat die.
Under watch:
Orange County, California Deputy Sheriffs, who allegedly lied, fabricated stories and even compared notes after being ordered not to discuss the case by a grand jury investigating a deadly beating at Theo Lacy Jail. During 45 days of questioning, members of the Sheriff's Department hindered the probe to a degree the likes of which have rarely become so publicly obvious, with then-Sheriff Michael S. Carona leading the fray. Carona, who qualified for Top Story in TAR's November 2007 issue, refused to answer a single question, including whether he was the county's sheriff on the day John Derek Chamberlain, a computer technician held on suspicion of possessing child pornography, was beaten by fellow inmates over a 50 minute period. According ...
Jamie Spears, Britney’s dad, just doesn’t get it.
Co-Dependent of the Month:
Jamie Spears, pop star Britney Spears' dad, giving in to her tirades by letting her drink wine with dinner "as a way to relax" and because the young, tragic alcoholic convinced Jamie that "a steak dinner isn't complete" without a glass of red wine. Reportedly, when her mother Lynne asked Britney if she was drinking, she responded, "Daddy said I could. It's just wine." Message to Jamie: while a glass of wine can be a "way to relax" to a non-addict, it is an open invitation to begin a full-blown relapse to an addict.
Friends of Snipes and the St. Louis Cardinals (Scott Spiezio may be enabled to his grave).
Enablers of the Month:
Family members, friends and fellow actors Woody Harrelson and Denzel Washington, who attested to actor Wesley Snipes' "compassion, intelligence and value as a mentor" in letters to the court asking for leniency at Snipes' sentencing, where he was given three years in prison on three counts of misdemeanor failure to file tax returns (incredibly, he was acquitted on felony charges of tax evasion). Such comments stand in stark contrast to those made by journalist Chris Parry, who recounts a day on the set of "Blade: Trinity" in a piece entitled, "Drugs, Stand-Ins, Mood Swings and Legal Action: The Real Wesley Snipes," describing Snipes as a "drug-affected, moody, uncooperative piece of garbage, masquerading as an actor while all ...
Security guard disenables and gets canned for it.
Disenabler of the Month
Dean Babcock, who after a 30-year stint as a police officer with a lot of drunk-driving crashes in his memory banks, became a security guard for Target. When he saw a teen-age girl shoplift a $45 bottle of Patron tequila, he confronted the girl, took the bottle and called her father, who was thankful to learn what his 16-year-old was up to. Because Babcock wasn't authorized to stop shoplifters, even though no "authorized" person was on duty store officials canned him. Although he said he understood Target's policy, Babcock explained, "I am not going to let a 16-year-old girl walk out of here with alcohol." Let's hope another store recognizes the value of having a Dean Babcock ...
“Crazy/Beautiful” is a classic story of an addict–until the end.
Review: Crazy/Beautiful
I recently stumbled onto a 2001 movie about an addict and her enablers, "Crazy/Beautiful," starring Kirsten Dunst. I hesitate to litter this Report with a review of what in the end turns into a terribly misleading story that serves only to perpetuate the seemingly endless myths of addiction, but it does offer a decent portrayal of alcoholism and enabling. And by the way, you can click here to view a number of my movie reviews.
Kirsten Dunst's portrayal of an out-of-control early-stage alcohol/other-drug addict is decent in terms of behaviors. In classic fashion, she blames everyone else for all her problems, is completely irresponsible and turns on a dime against those who are out of favor (her doting dad, for ...
Clue to alcoholism: unreasonable resentments. The mother-in-law from hell is likely an alcoholic.
Mommy Dearest
Dear Doug:
After being married two years, my husband and I are awaiting the birth of our first child. My mother-in-law and I have spoken only once since the wedding, when she ended a vicious harangue by saying, "I hope God never blesses you with the gift of a child." My husband claims he supports me, but I'm concerned about our child. I live in dread over the idea that as soon as his mother throws a fake crying fit about seeing the baby, he will give in despite my concern over the idea that if she cannot accept me she couldn't possibly accept my child. Do you think I should cave in with him when the time comes (and ...
Pastor ends up in strip club. Could he be lying when he says he didn’t know how he got there?
"No way would a pastor end up in a strip club. No way could he not know how he got there!"
This summed up the country's reaction when upstate New York pastor Craig Rhodenizer went missing, only to be discovered 36 hours later at a strip club in Northern Ohio two states and 400 miles west. Most people were "scratching their heads...trying to figure out what happened" and couldn't believe he was "playing dumb" in not remembering. Yet, the events are perfectly comprehensible when viewed through the lens of alcoholism.
A bottle of rum was found in his car. Strippers at the club said that Rhodenizer spent two hours downing three or four drinks (anyone doubt he was already plastered?), soliciting dances ...
Trashed guy ends up trashed–and almost dead.
A trash collector had just emptied a commercial trash bin into his truck and was about to activate its compactor.
That's when William M. Bowen woke up and began screaming.
The driver investigated and found Bowen standing on top of the load. You'd never guess, but the driver said that Bowen was "extremely intoxicated."
Bowen admitted to police he'd been drinking with buddies at a Muncie, Indiana bar until 3 a.m. and didn't recall how he ended up inside the trash bin. He also wouldn't tell police who his "friends" were.
My friend Randy Cassingham, who writes the column from which these antics are often taken, tells me that ending up in a trash bin after a night of heavy drinking is an all-too-common ...