Comments on: Fire Chief Arrested For DUI

By: Sweetie

Sweetie — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 16:46:55 +0000

Afraid I have to disagree with the comment that it takes a lot more than two or three beers to be over the limit. One will do it just fine. Until it works its way out, in about an hour.

By: Just An Old Soldier

Just An Old Soldier — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 14:11:12 +0000

Takes more than “two or three beers” for a husky lad to be over .15 – a LOT more, this is clearly a young man that shouldn’t have been driving.

Using the Lemmings Argument (gee, everyone does it so blah, blah, blah) that rationalizes away every bad behavior and relieves anyone and everyone of all personal responsibility, why, he should have just been let go right on the spot! “There, there laddy, let’s not be letting that happen again!” (with a fatherly pat on the shoulder)

It’s sad that he is a volunteer fire chief, a position of responsibility, a family man. What’s more sad about this is a person that is in a position of responsibility and respect made a poor decision, as have many others before him. Instead of deciding to drive his vehicle, he should have called a friend, or a CAB.

What’s still more sad is that someone at the place where he had “two or three” (yeah, right!) didn’t see that he was impaired and suggest a different way, a different choice, and insist on it.

A good thing would be that he take his licks, learns from it, and overcomes the circumstances in it to be the man he ought to be, but isn’t yet.

God help him, his family, and help us all.

By: Mark

Mark — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 21:54:59 +0000

At David Green – Thanks for the levity. Really enjoy your PNJ articles.

By: David Huie Green

David Huie Green — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 13:58:28 +0000

■tax payer for 65 years on September 26th,

so today’s your birthday? if so, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, and even if not, Thanks for the taxes; somebody’s gotta pay for all of this.

By: tax payer for 65 years

tax payer for 65 years — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 07:49:09 +0000

Come on people, what is your IQ? I am fed up with the words Volunteer Fire Fighters…..they all get paid and they live in the tax payers new fire departments,eat better meals than we do in those wonderful kitchens and get free transportation to drive to pick up their children from school and buy their groceries. Take a look when no one thinks you are looking! Surely if they are driving while drinking they should NEVER be able to come near our tax paid fire trucks again. I know for a fact they have been told if they get a call after drinking they can ride the trucks on the call. It is time to do some house cleaning. Some people wear a uniform and think they can get by with breaking the law, most of the time they do.

By: Carl

Carl — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 19:22:51 +0000

I say this story matters to me because volunteer or not if he is the chief then he has a truck that I help pay for with my mandatory fire tax. Has the truck been taken away also?

By: Sinner saved by grace

Sinner saved by grace — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 23:01:25 +0000

So many people here act like they have never had 2-3 beers with meal, at an event, out with friends! Getting a DUI doesnt mean your plastered, it means you are legally over the limit designated by law! On any given Friday or Saturday night, at least half the population goes out for the evening and has a couple drinks and gets home safely! Don’t judge people, the cost for getting a DUI is unbelieveable, attorney fees, loss of license, DUI school, counseling or AA meetings even if you are not a drunk/or alcoholic, fines, record, loss of respect, embarrassment! Being over the legal limit does not = killing someone with a car! If you have ever had a drink and driven, you are just lucky you did not get arrested! Anyone from a grandma to a teenager and everyone in between can be arrested if you speed, get hit by someone else, have a flat tire, change lanes without signal, and on and on! If you judge-you will be judged! DUI happens to very very good people all the time! Could be you tonight, or next Saturday night! Bad things happen to good people daily!!! Don’t judge!

By: D.Willis II

D.Willis II — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 21:58:36 +0000

My point earlier is that John Levins is a volunteer fire fighter in Escambia County. A DUI is a DUI and just that, does it make a difference that he was a volunteer? Yes because if he wasn’t a volunteer our local media would have one less not so important story to report on. I feel that North Escambia only reported the story because the basis Channel 3 covered it or pushed by someone else. How many other taxpaying residents went to jail the same night for DUI as John? Did any of the others arrested for DUI volunteer for a not for profit organization? I will agree with the others that the ending was fantastic because no one was injured or killed. I will also agree that deputies, police officers (only because they are suppose to up hold the law), and elected officials should be held to a higher standard than then general public. John was an everyday normal law abiding father, husband, and friend that made a very bad mistake.

In an earlier post someone tried to compare John’s DUI to the volunteer that dropped the dogs off. Are you lacking reading comprehension? The firefighter in the dog incident, was acting as a public servant at the time the incident took place. He was called to assist a motorist then later he possibly committed the crime that he was charged with. There is a paid crew and a volunteer crew that responds to the emergency calls in the Ensley Fire district, John was not involved in either of these crews at the time of his arrest.
It irks me when the media attaches an irrelevant title to a story at whatever cost to have a news story. This incident is not a story worth the space it was written in. Take the time to look around, does it really matter that he volunteered his free time to help you in a time of need.

By: oh hush

oh hush — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 21:05:40 +0000

I know John and his wife, I have known them for years. He made a mistake, bad judgement. I am sure that several of the people who have replied in this thread are just squeaky-clean saints…ahem. I don’t agree with drinking and driving at all, but you know what? It’s done, stop hurling the “holier-than-thou-I-am-such-a-perfect-person” attitudes around and get off of your proverbial soap-boxes already.

By: David Huie Green

David Huie Green — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 16:20:58 +0000

REGARDING:
“All drunk drivers are no different no matter who you are. Your neighbors kid. a friends husband a firechief. a mother a grandmother a football coach they all get behind the wheel of a machine that will kill and drive”

Picturing the officer knocking on the door and saying, “You’ll be pleased to know your son was killed this evening by an upstanding citizen who was DUI. We are sorry for your loss but know you will be comforted by the knowledge of how fine his killer was.”

Ain’t gonna happen but sometimes folks act like it would.

David for not having to knock