Monday, May 18, 2009

DUI, or Didn't He

There appears to be a publisher in Carmel who believes that driving under the influence is not such a big deal. This same guy has apparently created a policy on behalf of The Herald which, he asserts with frothy indignation, it has violated with its coverage of the Marvin Biasotti situation.

First off, I make the following declaration: If the executive editor of The Herald (me) is ever popped for driving under the influence or for any other crime, the popping will be duly noted in the pages of The Herald. I hope it never happens. But if it does, The Herald has a responsibility to report that the leader of a community institution acted irresponsibly by endangering fellow motorists. And I have a responsibility to own up to it.

I'd like to believe that Biasotti accepts the same responsibility. Biasotti, the superintendent of the Carmel Unified School District, was stopped and arrested for suspicion of driving under the influence several weeks ago after returning from a district function. Biasotti drew attention to the entire matter himself when he sent home a letter of apology to parents and ran the letter on the district's Web site. (Cynics suggest he brought attention to the matter simply because he knew the high school newspaper would be running a story about the arrest, but . . . )

Anyway, the hometown weekly righteously avoided mention of the arrest and the resulting dudgeon within the district, then had the gall to whine indignantly about The Herald in an editorial last Friday. The weekly's publisher believes that our coverage is overblown. He believes DUI arrest is a "relatively minor event." In Biasotti's case, no property was damaged, he argues, no lives were lost. No harm. No foul.

This from the same paper that once invested a major Watergate-style investigation into some poor schlub who left town without paying her hotel bill.

Oddly, in the same issue as the snippy editorial excoriating The Herald and its coverage of Biasotti, the weekly reported that Biasotti was indeed arrested for driving under the influence, that the superintendent takes full responsibility for his lapse in judgment, and that the school board is tripping all over itself trying to figure out what to do with Biasotti.

For the record, The Herald does not run lists of all of the unfortunates who are arrested and cited for driving under the influence. We once did that, printing a big long list in agate type at least once a week, but stopped about two decades ago for a variety of societal and practical reasons.

But that doesn't mean we have a policy of ignoring all drunken driving arrests. Biasotti's case was a no-brainer for us. Biasotti directs a school district with a zero-tolerance policy, a district that sponsors terrific "Don't Drink and Drive" programs around prom, a district that promotes teachable moments. Not only that, Biasotti himself stepped forward, publicly admitted an error of judgment and mea culpaed his way around the district.

If a high-profile community leader doesn't want his reputation or career damaged, he should befriend a sober driver to get him home from the fancy party.

And if a high-profile weekly publisher chooses to ignore legitimate news that captured the attention of the entire community even before it landed in The Herald, he ought to at least avoid the preachy screed.

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  12. It turns out censorship is alive and well at The Herald. I spend a lot of time looking at online blogs and discussion groups and I don't think I've ever heard of a newspaper deleting comments by itself.

    Of course, everybody would agree that what Joe said yesterday was out of line. But that's not the point. This forum is a perfect place to discuss the issues that were raised, and we still want Joe's answer: If Biasotti's DUI was worth a whole bunch of sensational coverage, why aren't your speeding tickets news?

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  13. For the useless cowards who can't summon the courage of their convictions to identify themselves but who are such haters that they are willing to drag my family indiscriminately into the fray, here's the entirety of MY court record:

    TR09-010682 Livernois, Joseph James 3/3/2009 Traffic: Marina
    TR08-072446 Livernois, Joseph James 12/26/2008 Traffic: Marina

    In both cases, I was caught speeding en route to the Lemongrass in Moss Landing. If you've ever dined at the Lemongrass, you would also be in a big hurry to eat there again. This is no excuse. I violated the rules of the road, and for that I am very sorry. I paid the fines, have done traffic school and am now suffering the insurance premium consequences.

    Having been cited, I did not lash out at the law enforcement officers in embarrassing public fashion. Nor did I blame the road signage and the crews responsible for erecting them, like some nitwits I could name. I accepted the blame and now I'm trying to pick up the pieces of my life.

    So that's it. Let the anonymous and sanctimonious responses resume! Have fun, but leave my kids out of it, cowards.

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  14. Joe, you're overreacting. If somebody posts something out of line, just ignore it and delete it. But let this forum function the way it's supposed to. You have a very important position in the community and there's nothing wrong with your being asked to explain your decision-making.

    Go back to the beginning. If Biasotti's DUI is worth repeated front-page coverage in the Herald, why doesn't the Herald assign a reporter to look into your driving record?

    The only possible explanations are (1) Speeding isn't as dangerous as DUI (2) Biasotti is in a responsible position and you aren't (3) The Herald has a double standard for its own employees.

    The first two are obviously untrue. So it must be the third, right?

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  15. The main page says:

    "Journalists make their living communicating, yet we fall ironically short when it comes to explaining ourselves. So it comes as no surprise that misconceptions abound and newspapers are accused of oddball conspiracies. On this page, Herald editors will offer explanations and answer questions from readers about the things we do. Have a question? Post it in the comments, and we'll answer it!But that last sentence should say
    "Post it in the comments, and we'll delete it!

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  16. I deleted the earlier comments because anonymous creeps posted my kids' court records, which have nothing to do with this discussion, but sparked the context for everything that came after.

    I'm fair game, even for anonymous creeps. But not my family.

    So you can start over with the anonymous creeping . . .

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  17. I've been watching the Herald blog off and on and I've just been shaking my head because nobody has been responding... it's been a 1-way conversation.

    Now, people are responding and The Herald has the audacity to delete the comments.

    This is the WEB guys... dialog is good... take your lumps and get over it.

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  18. "The only possible explanations are (1) Speeding isn't as dangerous as DUI (2) Biasotti is in a responsible position and you aren't (3) The Herald has a double standard for its own employees.

    "The first two are obviously untrue. So it must be the third, right?"

    You might take option one up with the state legislature. When I got my speeding tickets, the cops didn't read me my rights, they didn't force me to do stupid human tricks along the side of the road, they didn't handcuff me, they didn't fingerprint me, they didn't provide free transportation to Salinas, they didn't throw me behind bars. Instead, I was given a ticket and allowed to return to the road immediately.

    Speeding is certainly dangerous. So is rolling through a stop sign and failing to indicate lane changes. I was wrong and I accept the punishment.

    But if you think that DUI is an equal crime -- and you're truly committed to that point of view -- you might stop wasting your time lurking around worthless comment sections of the Web and get busy championing the cause with the legislature. That way, miserable speeders like me can further clog up valuable jail space.

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  19. Marvin Biasotti is a person entrusted with a managing a public school district. A DUI arrest of such a person is newsworthy because it involves an arrest and not just a mere citation, and because this person is in a position to influence the youth of a community. The Herald is right, ant the Pine Cone is wrong.

    Joe's speeding tickets are not newsworthy. But if the Herald editor was ARRESTED, as Biasotti was, it no doubt would be front page news, at least at the Pine Cone.

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  20. I really wish those comments haven't been deleted because I would have LOVED to see how the original blog somehow transformed into a debate about Joe Livernois' speeding tickets vs. a DUI.

    Not sure how anybody can argue for the Pine Cone's position on this one. If you're not comfortable reading the local news then perhaps you'd be better off with a subscription to the SF Chronicle.

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  21. BrumBam -
    Nobody was arguing for the Pine Cone's position...

    Rather, they were pointing out the Herald's hypocrisy in covering the Biasotti case but avoiding other cases (that if are even mentioned, the Herald won't print the blog posting).

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