Enabling kills Bowman; let’s hope Dolly learns a lesson.
Enablers of the Month:
Country-western goddess Dolly Parton, 61, for defending her drunk brother, and Roanoke Rapids, N.C. , for allowing a drunk to help destroy the financial fortunes of a theatre. Dolly said Randy Parton, 54, who lost his job after allegedly showing up drunk before a scheduled performance at the $21.5 million city-owned Randy Parton Theatre, was a scapegoat for its failure. Yet, he was reportedly intoxicated at a number of recent performances and had been using profanity on-stage (“regularly uses foul language” is clue # 2 in the chapter, “A ‘Supreme Being’ Complex” in How to Spot Hidden Alcoholics). He is also accused of using theatre money to buy booze and, we might surmise, lots of perks. The theatre had been paying him $750,000 per year.
Michael Rosenberg, friend and former agent of U.S. figure skating champion Christopher Bowman, who reportedly spent years bailing Bowman out of jail and cleaning up his messes, admitting that he always feared his life would end tragically. “He had tattoos, he drank, he used cocaine, he had affairs with almost every top female figure skater at the time. He was like a rock star,” Rosenberg said. And his eyes bulged at the success and the babes and the money, so in bailing out Bowman he maintained his position of power, prestige and fame. As reported in “Sometimes it takes an addict,” below, it also enabled Bowman to an early demise. No doubt it’s not solely Rosenberg’s fault, but others might learn a lesson or two: enabling kills.
Disgraced political donor and con-man Norman Hsu’s lawyers, who asked Judge Stephen Hall to dismiss the 1992 no contest plea by Hsu, arguing that Hsu’s right to a speedy trial was violated because authorities were not “actively pursuing” him while he was a fugitive. Let’s get this straight: Hsu pled guilty to defrauding investors out of millions, was out on bail awaiting sentencing, jumps bail–and the case to which he had already pled guilty should be dismissed because authorities didn’t find him fast enough? Just what are the lawyers smoking?