Cruise ship drunks can cause greater harm, whether captains or passengers
Story from “This is True” by Randy Cassingham, with his “tagline:”
“OBLIVIOT OF THE WEEK #896: ‘I guess he thought it was a big joke,’ said attorney Daniel L. Castillo about his client, Rick Ehlert, 45. Ehlert is ‘not denying he did it,’ Castillo says, but what he did shouldn’t be considered a crime. He says Ehlert was drunk on a cruise ship headed for Tampa, Fla., when he broke into the control room and dropped the moving ship’s anchor, and then tossed a life buoy overboard — at 5:25 a.m. The captain stopped the ship and assembled all passengers and crew on deck for a head count. No one was missing. ‘Everybody was mad at him,’ Castillo said, but ‘where’s the crime?’ The crime, federal prosecutors say, is attempting to damage the ship — a statute that was strengthened after transportation-related terrorist attacks. Dropping anchor on a moving ship could damage it enough to cause it to sink. The 719-foot MS Ryndam holds 1,260 passengers and 580 crew, and all were put in grave danger. Prosecutors are only calling for probation, but Castillo is trying to get him off anyway, noting ‘an alcohol-induced reckless act does not necessarily equate to a violation of federal criminal statutes.’ Also, Castillo added, ‘He’s got a lot of money.’ (RC/Tampa Tribune)…Oh, well, if he’s got money, then by all means: let him commit ‘alcohol-induced reckless acts’ with impunity.”
Overachievement and the wealth that often results is one of the great problems of alcoholism. Money is the biggest enabler because it increases the odds of protection in many ways, all of which revolve around the fact that enablers enhance their own income, status and power by ensuring the addict doesn’t experience consequences for poor behaviors. These enablers range from spouses who share in the booty, employees who are paid so long as the secret isn’t outed and attorneys who enable by defending the addicted from the legal consequences of criminal misbehaviors.
Rick Ehlert almost assuredly has been involved in dozens if not hundreds of incidents for which close people or the law could have intervened but either didn’t or did so reluctantly and poorly without long-term effect. This time, tragedy was averted. Next time he, along with who knows how many victims, might not be so lucky. Even the prosecutors are going way too easy on him—especially if they are doing nothing to coerce abstinence. Ehlert has proven to society he cannot safely use psychotropic drugs, including alcohol. Society has a right to proscribe use by Mr. Ehlert and should do so, without shame, guilt or hesitation.
(Story and tagline from “This is True,” copyright 2011 by Randy Cassingham, used with permission. If you haven”t already subscribed to his newsletter—the free one at least, or the paid one I get, with more than twice the stories—I highly recommend it: www.ThisIsTrue.com.)