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Whitewater assistant principal arrested for golf cart DUITue, 06/12/2007 - 10:57am
By: John Munford
An assistant principal at Whitewater High School was arrested early Sunday morning and charged with DUI while driving a golf cart, police said. According to an incident report from the Peachtree City Police Department, Mary A. Pina, 50, of Tangley Trail was initially stopped on Stevens Entry near Morgans Turn for driving the golf cart on the road instead of an nearby path, which would be a violation of city ordinance. The report indicated that the officer smelled alcohol coming from Pina, who admitted to having been drinking. A portable breath test on Pina registered at .135 blood alcohol content, but she refused to take a breath test on the department’s desktop machine, which is specially calibrated for more accurate results than the portable testers. The legal limit in Georgia for DUI is .08 BAC. Any motorist whose test shows a result at or above that mark can be charged with driving under the influence. In addition to being arrested and jailed on the DUI charge, Pina was also cited for violating the city ordinance for driving on the street instead of the cart path. The Fayette County School System is aware of the incident and will wait to see what happens in court before making any decisions in the matter, said spokesperson Melinda Berry Dreisbach. There has been no change in Pina’s employment status, Berry Dreisbach said Tuesday morning. ---------- [Editor's note; The following email was received Tuesday afternoon following the posting of the story above:] Dear Editor, I am writing this letter in response to the front page article regarding the incident involving the assistant principal at Whitewater. I understand the paper has a responsibility to publish the news but it is also responsible for gathering ALL the facts. No matter how small the pancake, there are always two sides and I want the public to hear ours. My wife is a beautiful person! She is extremely smart. As a matter of fact, she has carried a 4.0 her entire academic career, has her masters and is currently working on her specialist and doctorate degree. She has done a remarkable job as an administrator. She has the respect and admiration of the students and faculty at Whitewater. I bet if you stopped and ask any person associated with the school, they will tell you she is a hard worker, extremely fair and has done wonderful things for the school. As smart as she is, we all sometimes make mistakes. My wife decided to go see some friends at a local restaurant. We always take the golf cart when we go out to conserve gas. We go to restaurants, grocery store, ice cream place, etc. From 8:15-12:30 she consumed three glasses of wine. To some that may be three too many and I understand your position but over 4 hours, I personally did not think it was too much. At the end of the evening, my wife started home and she stopped by Kroger. Well, this Kroger was closed so she decided to go under the tunnel to the convenience store. Well, my wife is really not good on the golf cart paths on the other side of town and she could not find the path which is located between the offices on Stevens Entry. The only way she knew how to get back to the tunnel was to follow the golf cart path until she reached Bridle Path. My wife WAS on the golf cart path but she crossed over the residential street because she thought Bridle Path was the next street. The officer coming towards her thought she was driving on the street the entire time and that was not the case. The officer turned around and pulled her over. My wife explained to the officer that she was trying to get back to the tunnel and the only way she knew how was to go all the way down to Bridle Path. The officer asked my wife where she was coming from and being the honest person she told her from “—- ——- restaurant” (I think it is only fair to leave the restaurant’s name out). The officer proceeded to ask if she has been drinking. My wife responded by telling the officer that she had 3 glasses of wine. The officer asked her to get out of the golf cart and perform the sobriety tests. My wife did EVERYTHING the officer asked her to do. One test in particular was quit challenging. She had to hold her leg up and and count to 25 via one thousand and one one thousand and two, etc. I try that now and I make it to 17 before I lose my balance. Anyway my wife made it to 13 and she put her foot down and the officer told her not to put her foot on the ground. She followed instructions and completed the task. My wife NEVER refused to take the breathalyzer test at any time. She asked the officer could she call me because she was very upset and did not know what to do. The officer took that as a no. I will not sit here and bad-mouth the police because they have a job to do and for the most part I think they do a very good job. Could it have been handled better? I think so. Because of my wife’s honesty this makes the front page. I wish The Citizen would have contacted us and heard our version. After hearing both sides I believe the article would have at least been fair. My wife is heartbroken, ashamed and embarrassed. I feel for her and I tell her that this could have happened to anybody. WE DO NOT condone drinking and driving at all and the lesson here is one drink is too many if you decide to drive. It does not matter if you are driving a car or a golf cart. Please do not throw stones because we all live in glass houses and this could have happened to anybody. We will ride out the storm but I truly hope that The Citizen will publish the outcome of this case on the front page like you publish this incident on the front page. I love my wife dearly and she truly is a remarkable woman! Respectfully yours, 
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