One hears a great deal about how much trouble alcohol causes. In Whitewater, I’ve heard more than once that alcohol causes raucous behavior. (There’s much that’s ridiculous about the excuse that alcohol makes people do stupid things. No matter, let’s assume, for now, that alcohol is the root of the problem.)
If it should be true that alcohol causes bad behavior, then one should expect to read more often about allegations like these, from Madison:
A 21-year-old Madison motorist was tentatively charged by three police agencies for an incident after the Badger football game Saturday in which she tried to drive through the crowd near Camp Randall Stadium and ran over the foot of a Wisconsin State Patrol trooper working traffic control.
Nicole Yung Sil Becker, 21, Madison, was eventually found inside an area bar where she reportedly was working as a representative for an alcohol company, Madison police said.
Madison police said two Wisconsin State Patrol troopers were working crowd control at Little and Monroe streets as pedestrians and vehicles were trying to leave the stadium area.
Police said Becker began excessively honking her horn. “She was trying to pull through a red light attempting to weave her Hyundai between pedestrians and vehicles that were blocking her way,” Madison police said.
One of the troopers tried to calm her down, and she made an indecent hand gesture, police said. Becker started arguing
with the other trooper, then accelerated her car, struck one trooper’s knee and ran over the foot of the other trooper, the report said.Becker drove away, but a short time later, a third trooper spotted her car in a parking lot near the UW Police Department.
Madison police arrested Becker for second-degree recklessly endangering safety, disorderly conduct, failure to obey an officer’s signal, hit and run-injury, violating a red traffic signal, and unnecessary blowing of her horn.The State Patrol arrested Becker for resisting arrest, and UW police arrested her for operating while intoxicated causing injury.
These are allegations only, but if she did even half of these things, then I have no sympathy for her. Alcohol didn’t make her risk injury to others, and herself. It takes a particularly revolting sort of person to do these things. (Imagine the alleged scene — vulgar, drunk woman injures others, only to have her getaway car discovered parked nearby.)
The Wisconsin State Journal likely printed the story, though, not because the allegations are common, but rather because they’re uncommon. Most people, including people who drink, don’t do the things that Becker’s accused of doing.
The allegations are outrageous, for a combination of disregard for others’ safety, disregard for one’s own well-being, and the apparent stupidity of the accused. They’re also newsworthy because, fortunately, most people drink moderately without any risk to themselves or others.
Postscript: Whitewater’s Chief Coan, and others, may dislike drinking, but their case is not helped by complaints about ‘raucous’ behavior. The word, itself, sounds too hysterical to ordinary people. It sounds too fearful, too worried, too fussy, etc. Its use is one of the many examples of how Whitewater’s bureaucrats fail at public relations. Almost any term would be more persuasive: risky, irresponsible, destructive … Credit where credit is due, though — I think these gentlemen really do think this way; there’s a candor in their expression of these narrow, pinched views.