Actor Rip Torn, some sheriff deputies, a federal judge, an unknown kills a publicist and a student dies.
Runners-up for top story of the month:
Actor Rip Torn, pleading guilty to breaking into a bank and carrying a loaded weapon while so drunk that prosecutors stipulated he believed he was at home and had left his hat and boots by the door. Torn, who has repeatedly been bailed out of his alcoholism-fueled misadventures by fame and money, was given a two-and-a-half year suspended sentence, three years of probation and is required to undergo random alcohol and other-drug testing. Who knows, at 79 maybe, just maybe, Rip Torn will finally get clean and sober. As many older alcoholics have said near death, they were very happy to have the opportunity to die sober.
Seven Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies relieved of duty (with pay) pending an investigation into a brawl at a Christmas party for employees of Men’s Central Jail. An argument led to violence among the roughly 100 guests gathered at the Quiet Cannon banquet hall in Montebello, CA. At least two people were injured. While relatives were in attendance, only deputies were involved in the violence. Sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore admitted that while it was unclear if alcohol was involved, “it was a Christmas party, [so] one could assume there was.” You think?
U.S. District Court Judge G. Thomas Porteous, Jr., 64, found guilty on four articles of impeachment and removed from the bench for accepting cash and other favors from attorneys and bail bondsmen with business before his court. Prosecutors said gambling and drinking problems led Porteous, only the 8th federal judge to be removed from office and the first ousted in more than two decades, to engage in such egregious behavior. Correction: the drinking likely came first, so prosecutors would have better served the unknowing public so desperately in need of education on alcoholism instead by stating: “Alcoholism led Porteous to think he was Godlike, which in turn made him think he could beat the House, creating a desperate need to raise cash to pay his gambling debts, which he attempted to do by engaging in criminal behaviors.”
Harold Smith, killing himself in the lobby of his apartment building after Beverly Hills detectives attempted to serve a search warrant at his home in the investigation of the murder of Hollywood publicist Ronni Chasen. Some residents of Harvey Apartments, a weathered building on Santa Monica Blvd., said Smith was a “disconcerting” presence who often told conflicting stories about his past and, despite two stints in state prison, claimed he owned a gun and vowed he’d never go back to prison. One neighbor said Smith was “very strange;” another heard him brag that he had killed Chasen but ignored the comment because he so often told tall tales. Another mentioned he “frequently” saw Smith carrying a tall can of malt liquor, but I can’t imagine that might be important.
The report in the June 2010 issue of TAR (http://www.preventragedy.com/pages/TAR/055.jun10.html) of University of Virginia lacrosse player Yeardley Love, 22, having died at the hands of fellow student and men’s lacrosse player George Huguely, which put the entire blame on Huguely, may have been premature. Love’s friends said Huguely had a temper and “may” have “abused” alcohol, and the arresting officer testified during his 2009 trial for public intoxication and resisting arrest that she felt so threatened she used a stun gun on Huguely. However, it turns out that Love may have died from cardiac arrhythmia caused by—guess what?—drugs. If the only drug found in her system had been the amphetamine Adderall we might figure she was using it for attention deficit disorder. However, it turns out her blood alcohol level was .14 percent, which is the equivalent of seven shots of 80-proof liquor over a four-hour time span for a 120-pound person. Since a single dose of two or more different drugs packs a far more powerful punch than a double dose of any one drug, addicts frequently use multiple drugs. In addition, addicts often hang out with other addicts, which may well be the case here. In June 2010 I wrote, “Because [Huguely’s] friends and family didn’t grasp the meaning of his drinking—that this was a completely different and potentially lethal person when using—no one intervened and tragedy happened.” We can add that because Love’s friends and family didn’t grasp the probable meaning of her drinking and using, no one intervened and, well, tragedy happened.