Runners-up for Sept ’05: the media’s unawareness of alcoholism in sexual predators; plus sports stars (Milton Bradley) and animal abusers
Runners-up for top story of the month: Reporting on the tragedy in New Orleans while failing to identify the role that alcohol and other drug addiction may have played is hardly unique. The media completely ignored addiction in the reports of the Joseph Edward Duncan lll kidnapping of Shasta Groene and the murder of her brothers Dylan and Slade, the children’s mother Brenda, and Brenda’s boyfriend, Mark McKenzie, which occurred in June. An article in the August 5 Los Angeles Times may have been the first to disclose the fact that in 1994, after serving over 14 years for a 1980 rape of a 14-year-old boy, Duncan was released with the proviso that he abstain from alcohol and other drugs.
I’ve remarked on other occasions that media stories either completely fail to mention alcohol or other drug “problems”or do so in the 27th paragraph. Another recent case involved a swindler con-man, Rodney Visser, outed in a story by Nora Donoher in the June 2005 issue of Good Housekeeping (“Sweet Revengeâ€). She tells us, “Rod…was not only married but also an alcoholic who bragged relentlessly about his sexual exploits with a number of women.”This was the only mention in the story”and was in the 27th paragraph out of 38 total. Even though she was the victim and lived with the perpetrator, she failed to link cause and effect.
Other runners-up: Former LAPD officer Todd Natow, 42, who was arrested for releasing a pet alligator into Machado Lake in Harbor City, south of Los Angeles. Police seized three alligators, four piranha, one rattlesnake, three desert tortoises, six tortoise eggs, one scorpion and about 10 pounds of marijuana at Natow’s home. Natow, who resigned from the police department in 2001, was charged in May 2000 with possession and being under the influence of a controlled substance, and convicted in 2001 of reckless driving. One official speculates that “some owners may prefer abandonment to potential euthanasia,”but we know better: abuse is almost always rooted in addiction. I also suspect most instances of keeping dangerous, exotic and illegal pets involve alcoholism, which is predictable from the alcoholic mantra, “rules don’t apply to me.””Cool mom”Silvia Ann Johnson, 40, who pled guilty to sexually assaulting teenage boys and contributing to the delinquency of minors. According to her attorney, she regretted that she might have harmed students by throwing 15 to 20 parties at her home in which she freely offered alcohol and methamphetamine. One teenager reported that Johnson poured him ten shots of tequila in ten minutes at one of the parties. She has a teenage daughter, whose behaviors and whereabouts were not mentioned in reports. In yet another school teacher story, Sandra “Beth”Geisel, a 42-year-old English teacher, mother of four and wife of a prominent Albany, N.Y. banker, who was charged with statutory rape and endangering the welfare of a child. She allegedly had sex with a 16-year-old at her home while her children slept downstairs. The boy said, “She was drunk.”No kidding. Geisel is now in treatment for alcoholism. Janet Arvizo, whose son accused Michael Jackson of molestation in the recent trial, charged with fraud and perjury in connection with receiving more than $18,000 in welfare benefits after failing to disclose a payment of $70,000 in a civil lawsuit against J.C. Penney (see the January TAR for more details). Her attorney, William Dickerman, said, “It’s unfortunate that the rich and famous can buy attorneys to twist and obfuscate the facts and that the less fortunate of us can’t.”Do read that line again.
Dodger outfielder Milton Bradley, who was the subject of police responses to reports of domestic violence three times in the 33-day period June 28 to July 30. His wife, who was four months pregnant at the time, has refused to press charges. Talk about a tragedy waiting to happen: in 2004 he pled guilty to disorderly conduct and, in a separate incident, to obstructing official business, both involving confrontations with police over traffic violations. In 2002, he was taken to a hospital after refusing to leave a restaurant and was, according to the medical report, “severely intoxicated.”He was forced into anger management counseling at least once, but has, apparently, never been required to stop drinking. Former National Football League running back Lawrence Phillips, who was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder. Phillips, who has a decade-long history of arrests, couldn’t find his belongings after a game of pickup football and accused the boys with whom he had been playing of stealing the items. He allegedly did what any able-bodied man would do: drive a stolen car into the boys. It’s a classic story of unimpeded alcoholism: he has been arrested at least five times for allegedly assaulting women, was cut from several teams for insubordination and “other”disciplinary problems and has pled guilty to battery and no contest to beating a woman and making a terrorist threat. While on parole, he was arrested for attacking another woman and for DUI. He has been ordered to take anger management classes at least twice, but there are no reports he was ever required to stop drinking.
Country singer Mindy McCready and former fiancee Billy McKnight, the latter of whom overdosed at a Florida Hotel in July, three months after allegedly beating up McCready two days after she was apprehended for DUI. (The lives of addicts do get confusing, don’t they?) Although the two walked out of the hospital arm-in-arm (“I love Billy very muchâ€), he faces charges of attempted criminal homicide for the alleged beating. Meanwhile, Mindy faces charges of fraud and identity theft for her part in bilking performers out of $500,000. The gorgeous Big Brother 6 contestant Janelle Pierzina, who admitted to “getting drunk”in the Big Brother house, was already exhibiting subtle behavioral indications of alcoholism when reports of prior legal problems surfaced. She pleaded guilty in 2002 to DUI and was arrested in 2001 for stealing almost $400 in merchandise from a Macy’s department store. After ignoring three bench warrants, she finally appeared in court in June 2005 and admitted to petty theft. And finally, Robin Cook, former leader of the British House of Commons and foreign secretary, dead after suffering a heart attack at age 59. While foreign secretary, British tabloids broke news of an affair with his secretary, Gaynor Regan. He left his wife, Margaret, and married Regan, after Tony Blair pressured him to choose between the two. Margaret responded by airing stories of more mistresses and a “whiskey problem.â€