Runners-Up: Travis Armstrong (S.B. News-Press publisher), Mindy McCready, “Survivor” winner Brian Heidik, Actress Lindsay Lohan, Pamplona bull-runners and Pink Floyd’s Syd Barrett
Runners-up for top story of the month:
Acting publisher of the Santa Barbara, California News-Press, Travis Armstrong, for failing to pour on the alcoholic charm required to keep almost a dozen reporters, including seven out of the paper’s top eight editors, from walking out after managing to silence a story on his arrest for driving drunk the wrong way down a one-way street. His Blood Alcohol Level was .23 per cent, which requires the equivalent of 15 shots of 80-proof liquor in a period of four hours for a 200-pound person.
Country singer Mindy McCready, who recently testified she thought that police pulled her over in May 2005 to “give her a hard time,”not because they thought she might be driving under the influence. McCready refused to take a breath test, but according to officers smelled of alcohol, had watery bloodshot eyes and was unsteady. She admitted to having had a “couple of drinks”at a night club, which would have put her at maybe a .04 after an hour or two of drinking. She was convicted in 2004 for fraudulently obtaining prescription painkillers and faces charges of violating probation on the drug charge.
“Survivor”winner Brian Heidik, 38, who won $1 million on the 2002 “Survivor: Thailand”show, jailed on charges of domestic violence and shooting a puppy with a bow and arrow. Heidik’s wife, Charmaine Heidik, 34, who said her husband had been “out with friends,”was awakened at 3:30 a.m. to the sound of the puppy yelping. She found Heidik about a foot away from the dog and saw him shoot the 12- to 16-week-old puppy, after which he commented, “I am tired of stupid dogs on my back porch.”Heidik is a former North Carolina State football player and part-time actor who has done stints on “Doogie Howser, M.D.”the daytime soap “Days of Our Lives”and several adult films including “Chick Street Fighter,”which also featured his wife Charmaine. The couple has a history of discord with indications of alcoholism on both sides, with Charmaine agreeing to undergo counseling in return for the dismissal of a charge that she punched Brian in the nose in late 2002. She says Brian has been “spiraling out of control”since winning “Survivor,”adding, “He thinks he can do anything. He thinks he is invincible.”Indeed. By the way, the puppy survived.
Actress Lindsay Lohan, 20, whose “hard-partying”style is taking its toll on her work. According to The Smoking Gun, a letter from the CEO of her own production company refers to her behaviors as “…discourteous, irresponsible and unprofessional.”He compares her actions to that of a spoiled child, which “has endangered the quality of”the film she is working on, “Georgia Rule,”for which she is frequently showing up late, if at all. Lohan was recently seen partying with model Kate Moss, 32, who was in rehab for her cocaine addiction not too long ago.
The runners of Pamplona, Spain, many of whom were up all night drinking before running with the bulls. The Associated Press described the festivities as “nine days of drinking, drinking, and more drinking. Oh, and a daily dash down the cobblestone streets ahead of the lethal horns of six ¾-ton bulls.”2006 was the least-accident filled year since 1996, with only five runners gored and 22 others treated in hospitals for various injuries, perhaps because police now try to block anyone who looks too inebriated from taking part in the run. Since record keeping began in 1924, 13 people have been killed during the runs, the last in 1995. While the festival dates from the late 16th century, alcoholic author Ernest Hemingway made it famous in 1926 with the publication of his novel, The Sun Also Rises.
Founding frontman of the rock group Pink Floyd, Syd Barrett, reportedly dead of complications from diabetes, to which we will add poly-drug addiction. Barrett was the chief architect of Pink Floyd’s 1967 debut album, “The Piper at the Gates of Dawn,”and was a major inspiration for many well-known rockers including David Bowie. He became increasingly erratic and unreliable due to his “voracious”drug use and, although not fired by the band, was soon “left behind.”By 1970, he was reported to be suffering from “profound mental illness”and, by the mid ‘70s, had become a Howard Hughes-style recluse. The hallucinogenic LSD was widely viewed as Barrett’s drug of choice and immediate downfall. Barrett was 60.