Tony Dodero -- From the Newsroom

OK, let’s review.

A school trustee is arrested on suspicion of drunk driving after

crashing into a car. He admits publicly to making a mistake. Yet, we’re

being taken to task in phone calls, letters and e-mails for even

reporting it.

Though I’ve met Jim Ferryman a couple times, I don’t really know him.

I have no doubt that, as his friends and school board members are

pointing out, he is a good man, dedicated to his community and to his

role as a school trustee.

But how does that matter?

Ferryman, elected to represent the interest of impressionable

schoolchildren and teens, is not accused of a minor offense here, folks.

He’s accused of getting in his car and driving while under the influence

of alcohol.

Reckless actions like these costs thousands of lives each year in this

state and this nation.

Indeed, the epidemic of drunk driving has resulted in stricter

enforcement by authorities and the lowering of permissible blood alcohol

levels to .08%.

Just ask members of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, a group made up of

parents who have lost their children in alcohol-related accidents that

support anti-drinking programs in Newport-Mesa schools, if they consider

this a minor offense.

So far, the only member of the school board brave enough to point this

out has been Wendy Leece, who has publicly said that if convicted of

driving drunk, Ferryman should step down as a school board trustee.

That action, of course, has left her once again the lone vote on the

board, but that, it seems, is incredible.

As a public official, a man whom voters have entrusted to make

decisions for them, the press would not be doing its job if it didn’t

report this news of Ferryman, as painful as it is.

Further, his colleagues on the board are not doing their job if they

aren’t able to separate their admiration for the man from his actions.

The question needs to be asked, how can Ferryman continue as a school

board member if he is convicted?

How can he look a group of teens in the eye at a grad night festivity

and tell them not to drive while drunk?

I guess those are questions that really Ferryman has to ask himself. I

hope he resists the temptation to blame others and thinks hard about it.

I also hope his supporters do the same thing.

Because no matter how many times Ferryman has won awards or how good

of a friend he is, as an elected official he took a pledge to his

constituents to be an upstanding citizen.

He is a man in position of responsibility who has serious questions

being raised about how responsible he is.

It’s a tough choice he’s faced with.

But remember, it was Ferryman, not the press or anyone else, who

brought himself to this crossroad.

* TONY DODERO is the editor. His column appears on Mondays. If you

have story ideas or concerns about news coverage, please send messages

either via e-mail to o7 [email protected] or by phone at

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