Thursday, September 13, 2007

Get a load of the punishment for this "father". Parenting classes and 15 days in jail. Parenting classes???? No substance abuse treatment program, no license suspension...
This blogger wonders, where is the child's mother?

Alaska judges in custody cases involving drinking dads often put in clauses in custody decrees stating that "father shall not consume alcohol within X hours of parenting time". Yeah, that's gonna stop em. Are these judges really about protecting the children's right to safety or protecting father's rights? Attorneys anectodally report that alcoholics having children drive isn't all that uncommon.

http://newsminer.com/2007/08/30/8651

Drunk dad puts 11-year-old boy in driver’s seat

By Amanda Bohman
abohman@newsminer.com
Published August 30, 2007

Fairbanks police stopped an 11-year-old boy after he was seen driving the wrong way on a one-way street in his father’s 1992 Chevy pick-up truck late Tuesday.

Authorities say the boy’s father, 35-year-old Frank Neff of Fairbanks, was too drunk to drive and had told the child to drive them home.

Neff pleaded no contest to charges of reckless endangerment and contributing to the delinquency of a minor in connection with the incident. He was ordered to spend 15 days in jail and to take parenting classes.

Prosecutor Joe Dallaire said an 11-year-old is not an appropriate designated driver.

“When you’ve got your 11-year-old son who is driving you around who is unlicensed, that creates a hazard not only for the child but for the public,” Dallaire said.

The jail term is 12 days longer than if Neff had been convicted as a first-time drunken driver.

The incident took place after Neff had been drinking beer and shots with a friend in the Northward Building.

“He was really drunk,” said Ron Schumann, who saw Neff in the hallway.

Schumann and his friend left the building at the same time Neff left with his son.

“My friend said, ‘Man, do you know what he is going to do? He’s going to have his little son drive the truck,’” Schumann said.

Concerned, Schumann and the friend followed the Chevy.

The boy squealed the tires as he turned from Second Avenue to Noble Street, Schumann said.

“He was going over the curbs,” Schumann said. “He didn’t know how to drive.”

The boy turned onto First Avenue and then headed southbound on Cushman Street, which is a one-way street going north.

“We called the police,” Schumann said. “We just wanted to get him stopped right away so that he wouldn’t go any further.”

The boy passed the Fairbanks Police Department, where surveillance cameras reportedly caught him on tape.

The boy turned right onto 10th Avenue and left onto Barnette Street, where a police officer stopped him, according to court records.

The officer saw Neff lean over and place a seat belt over the boy, the prosecutor said.

Neff told authorities that he had been teaching his son how to drive since the child was 8 years old.

Neff registered 0.193 on a preliminary chemical breath test, so a DUI charge would have been likely had Neff been caught driving, Dallaire said.

“The only good thing that can be said about your conduct is that you didn’t drive drunk,” said Mary Greene, a retired Superior Court Judge and temporary magistrate who sentenced Neff on Wednesday.

Greene dismissed charges of disorderly conduct and permitting an unlicensed driver to drive after Neff accepted a plea deal at his arraignment.

Neff’s punishment includes 110 days of suspended jail time, which is time Neff could be ordered to serve if he gets into more trouble.

The prosecutor said he deliberately asked for a harsher jail sentence than is imposed on first-time drunken drivers.

Pete Eagan, president of local chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, called the incident frightening.

“I think it points out just how impaired one’s judgment can be when you’re drinking,” Eagan said. “It could very easily have been yet another tragedy here.”

Contact staff writer Amanda Bohman at 459-7544.