* PTC manager pleads guilty to golf cart DUI

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Coweta | News | Peachtree City

PTC manager pleads guilty to golf cart DUI

Thu, 08/10/2006 - 3:30pm

By: John Munford

Gets 24 hours in jail, $800 fine, license suspension; can seek work permit to drive

Peachtree City Manager Bernie McMullen pled guilty Thursday morning to charges stemming from his DUI arrest June 2 while operating a golf cart in the parking lot of the city’s amphitheater.

McMullen pled guilty to DUI and possession of an open container of alcohol. He was sentenced to spend 24 hours in jail as required by Georgia law, an $800 fine, a year’s probation, 40 hours of community service and several other conditions such as a ban on alcohol consumption with random drug and alcohol screening.

Fayette County State Court Judge Fletcher Sams said McMullen could apply for a special permit to drive to and from work only while his regular driver’s license is suspended for one year.

After the hearing, McMullen said he was hopeful that the city especially could move forward.

“I made a mistake,” McMullen said in a brief statement after the court hearing. He added that he hoped the guilty plea would allow the city to move forward from the incident.

McMullen was arrested June 2 after two of the police department’s top-ranking officers noticed that he was driving a golf cart after the Temptations concert with a glass of wine in his hand. The officers noticed that McMullen’s eyes were glassy and bloodshot and his speech was slurred, indicating that he was too impaired to drive.

The incident so caught the officers off guard that they briefly considered calling a cab for McMullen instead of arresting him.

McMullen refused to submit to a blood alcohol test. But his attorney, Clay Collins, indicated that he thought McMullen could have mounted a credible defense to the charges.

Instead, McMullen decided to do what he thought was best for the city and all involved by pleading guilty, Collins said.

“He is accepting full responsibility,” Collins told the court. “He has owned up to do the right thing as he has from the very beginning.”

Since McMullen’s arrest, Mayor Harold Logsdon has assumed the supervisory role over the police department. That arrangement will continue until Oct. 1 which is the time frame for the annual performance review of Police Chief James Murray; that review will be written by Logsdon instead of McMullen to keep everything above board, Logsdon said.

Judge Sams gave McMullen 20 days to work out with jail staff when he will serve the remainder of his jail sentence. He will be credited for the small amount of time he spent in jail immediately after the arrest while awaiting bond.

Fayette County Solicitor Jamie Inagawa, who agreed to the negotiated plea deal, said he wanted to make sure McMullen was treated just as any other citizen would have been under the same circumstances.

Cart Laws

Submitted by kimberlyinptc on Fri, 08/11/2006 - 10:31pm.

OK, first off, I don't drink, ever. But in my opinion (which is all any of this blog stuff is anyway) DUI in a golf cart shouldn't carry the same penalty as in an automobile. The reason a 12 yr old can drive a cart with a parent and 15 yr old alone, presumably, is that there aren't the same dangers possible as with automobile accidents. The penalty for underage cart driving is about $300, a DUI (even first offense) is thousands, plus possible jail time and license suspension. I don't believe (again, opinion) a guy that's had a few beers is any more dangerous on a golf cart than a 12 yr old kid with no driving experience going as fast as a cart can go.

Kimberly drunken cart operator

Submitted by dopplerobserver on Sat, 08/12/2006 - 8:09am.

OK, don't stop drunken cart operators, if you do fine them an ice-cream cone. How about solving the problem instead: NO ALCOOHOL AT THE AMPHITHEATER OR IN PUBLIC. No driving away from bars.

DUI; Just another step to a higher political office?

Submitted by ExExPatriot on Fri, 08/11/2006 - 6:49pm.

He wouldn't be the first "successful" politician with a DUI on record.

Write-vote McMullen for President. Maybe McKinny could be running mate?

(Did I really just post this??? Dang! sorry!)

Alcoholics and massive gun toters

Submitted by dopplerobserver on Sat, 08/12/2006 - 7:20am.

We seem to have approved alcoholics as good risks for any office or position whether reformed or not as long as they say they are ok. Those who drink always think they can handle the amount THEY drink, it is only others who can not, according to them. Bad part: we accept this as normal-it is not. Sets a bad example. Anyway, just drunk in public and refusing a test is illegal! But it is alright to get drunk and have fun--I work SO HARD.
Also, the defenders of the teenager who had a ton of dangerous guns in his car on school property (or otherwise for that matter) only needed one more element to do something with them: get angry one day. No one is saying hang him because he might have done it, he didn't, but prior avoidance by the school, the police, and the parents might have avoided ruining this kid. There must have been maybe hundreds who knew about his carrying that much weaponary.

The punishment has just started...

Submitted by mapleleaf on Fri, 08/11/2006 - 1:41pm.

The punishment has just started…

"McMullen pled guilty to DUI and possession of an open container of alcohol. He was sentenced to spend 24 hours in jail as required by Georgia law, an $800 fine, a year’s probation, 40 hours of community service and several other conditions such as a ban on alcohol consumption with random drug and alcohol screening."

The price of the PTC city manager’s lapse in judgment will be even higher than shown in this report. It will include a serious increase in car insurance premiums, for many years, and a criminal record that will follow him in every job he gets.

It so happens that I think his punishment is excessive. I sense that we unfortunately live in a community of harsh people, ready to condemn and prone to extreme measures, with little regard for others.

Do notice that Southerners are prone to condemn William Tecumseh Sherman for all the burning and looting he did in his March through Georgia. He’s denounced as having been unnecessarily harsh and cruel. You won’t find any monument to him here. Yet we still have Shermans among us who’d do the same thing or worse.

The PTC manager was simply driving a golf cart. The potential for harm from his conduct was much less than with a car or truck. Had we had a state law more attuned to the circumstances, that would have been taken into account. Had we had a prosecutor or a judge more attuned to the circumstances, that could have been taken into account in the charge or the punishment. But it wasn’t.

Actually what happens is that people who appear in our State Court are told that the people of Fayette County are quite mean, the judges included, and that they had better plead guilty because the jury will convict them in a New York minute and the judge will then make their sentence worse.

There’s some truth in that, but I think people should put more faith in juries, because we do have a few reasonable people in the county who won’t knuckle under. I don’t know that the PTC manager might have done better in the long run by insisting on the trial by jury he was entitled to, but it seems to me a jury might have convicted him of simply being intoxicated in public, which would have been a much more reasonable charge for a man on a golf cart, and the consequences would have been much less drastic.

I cannot agree that his pleading guilty to the charges brought against him was the honorable thing to do. He invited more punishment that he deserved (and he got it too). He also set a bad precedent for the next guy who’s found tipsy on a golf cart.

Of course, if our state representatives had an ounce of sense, they’d change the Georgia law so it does not treat driving a golf cart the same as driving a car. That’s probably too much to ask of people busy renaming every stretch of road in Georgia after one another.

Seems excessive to me too.

Submitted by McDonoughDawg on Fri, 08/11/2006 - 4:04pm.

But hey, you know how many people are killed every year by wild drunken golf cart drivers in PTC.....

That's because you're STUPID!

Submitted by bad_ptc on Fri, 08/11/2006 - 4:17pm.

How many people are killed every year by wild drunken airline pilots in PTC.....

We must stop the carnage

Submitted by McDonoughDawg on Fri, 08/11/2006 - 4:41pm.

on the cart paths. It's total mayhem... Smiling

You're too funny

Submitted by Nice1 on Fri, 08/11/2006 - 4:55pm.

The golf carts should carry less penalties than an actual car. I've never been hit by one, but I assume I would survive being hit by one going about 5mph. Don't know what the fatality rate is on people that have been run over by golf carts. I may sound silly, but I am sincere. These things are not cars, and should not be treated the same. A person driving an eighteen wheeler is treated more harshly than a person on four wheels. A golf cart should not carry the same punishment as a car.

Ensure Domestic Tranquility

You may sound silly?

Submitted by ExExPatriot on Fri, 08/11/2006 - 7:00pm.

Yes, you may, and you do it well.

Statsitics: One death on all the years of golf carts in PTC (Someone correct me if I'm wrong) so I guess it's ok to lower the standards for alcohol and carts.

The problem with 18 wheelers is that they are mostly in traffic with less protected people: people in cars.

In Peachtree City, golf carts are also in traffic with less protected people; other carts and pedestrians. Kids in strollers. Dogs on leashes.

And should you decide to take up Bad_PTCs crash test offer, don't plan on walking ever again - if you survive it. Once put in motion, lead tends to stay in motion through other less dens objects like bone and muscle and tendon. Lotsa lead in them carts.

Nice1, I don't think your ideas will be appreciated except by those who drive drunk.

Do you know what cause of death was exactly?

Submitted by Nice1 on Fri, 08/11/2006 - 11:01pm.

Just curious.

Ensure Domestic Tranquility

Not Drunk

Submitted by skyspy on Sat, 08/12/2006 - 7:21am.

The woman who died had not been drinking as far as anyone knows. That just happened last year didn't it? I don't think she was speeding either, she was on her way to school to pick up her kid, and fell off her cart.
Several years ago another woman was paralyized from the waist down after being hit by a speeding cart driven by a teen. Not sure if that kid was underaged or had been drinking.
The carts don't have seatbelts so even if you are only going twenty miles an hour you will probably get hurt.

So quick to insult

Submitted by Nice1 on Fri, 08/11/2006 - 11:00pm.

The golf cart is not as dangerous as the car. That's my final answer. Toss all the crap around you want, but that's the fact jack! No BAD, I would not like to be hit by your golf cart, but if I had to make the choice between your golf cart and my truck, I would take the golf cart over my truck any day. I am not saying just squash all law regarding golf cart drinking. My point is the punishment for this crime does not fit because those little things are not cars.

Ensure Domestic Tranquility

Those little things can KILL!

Submitted by bad_ptc on Sat, 08/12/2006 - 8:17am.

You were close
Short of having a valid drivers license, teens are ‘supposed’ to have a licensed driver in the cart with them, in the front seat and it must be a relative or guardian.

One of the reasons that 12 year olds can drive golf carts is so that young children can learn to drive so that when they get their drivers licenses they might be better drivers. At least that’s the theory.

If I’m understanding you correctly we should raise the BAC limit for golf cart operators because there is less likelihood of having a serious accident on a golf cart.

The flaw in your logic it that there are considerably more “pedestrians” on the cart paths than there are on the highways.

I’m sure you would be able to sleep well after a night of drinking at the Fred and then running over some little kid that was walking with his mon and dad on the cart path that you decided to take on the way back home. I’m sure the kids parents would think it was okay too.

What’s wrong with: If you’ve been drinking don’t drive anything. Get someone else to drive the golf cart. Better yet, get your kid to drive you around if you want to get smashed. That should set a good example. As long as he or she hasn’t been drinking it should be okay.

By the way, you’re not one of those homeowners that thought it was okay to cut down the trees that separates your house from lake Kedron are you?

If you insist on allowing drunks to drive, please remove the "Ensure Domestic Tranquility" from the bottom of your posts. It's a contradiction in terms.

Nice 1

Submitted by dopplerobserver on Sat, 08/12/2006 - 8:14am.

Until I got decrepid, I played golf most of my life. I rode carts a lot. I saw and felt many, many people hurt and killed on golf carts over the years. Some of it mainly due to drinking and driving. Don't justify drinking!

I aim to please

Submitted by bad_ptc on Fri, 08/11/2006 - 7:04pm.

Thanks.

Tell you what

Submitted by bad_ptc on Fri, 08/11/2006 - 5:14pm.

You stand on the cart path and I'll hit you with my golf cart that does about 20 mph, (the legal limit) and we'll see how you do.

If it's ok with you, it's ok with me?

P.S. Bring one or two of your kids with you.

He was driving a VEHICLE intoxicated

Submitted by ptcgv on Fri, 08/11/2006 - 2:20pm.

You don't think a golf cart could maim, paralyze, or kill someone? I bet he has shuttered many times just thinking about what COULD have happened. He pleaded guilty, recieved that status quo for DUI and open container.

Let's not even entertain the thought changing the law.

Are you for real?

Submitted by bad_ptc on Fri, 08/11/2006 - 2:09pm.

A golfcart is defined by the state of GA as a “motor vehicle”, end of subject!

”Of course, if our state representatives had an ounce of sense, they’d change the Georgia law so it does not treat driving a golf cart the same as driving a car.”

Are you on drugs or something?

You can KILL a child with a golfcart just as easily as with a car. Probably easier because of all of the blind turns on the paths.

The punishment that was handed down fit the circumstances exactly.

The moral of the story is DON’T DRINK AND DRIVE ANYTHING!

At least Mr McMullen had the good sense to plead guilty.

Thank You

Submitted by skyspy on Thu, 08/10/2006 - 6:42pm.

Mr McMullen thank you for accepting the consequences for your bad choice. By doing this you have set a good example for all of the young people in this city.
I hope the judge grants your request to drive too and from work.
I'm not sure how they work out your community service, or if you have a choice of what to do. I have one suggestion, maybe because of your status in this town you could talk to the teens at our schools. They would probably listen to you more than their parents. A few of them would gain from an honest discussion on how to accept responsibility
for your choices, and how to keep yourself from making bad choices.

I have been very critical of you on this site, and I apologize. Your behaviour in court has proved me very very wrong.

Now that is classy - way to go, Bernie

Submitted by Robert W. Morgan on Thu, 08/10/2006 - 6:29pm.

Notice that Bernie didn't blame a police conspiricy or the blacks or the jews or the democrats or a previous mayor or even al-quida. He accepted blame for what he did and will serve the time. Good man, Bernie.

There Was Only One Choice

Submitted by Spear Road Guy on Fri, 08/11/2006 - 12:49am.

Actually, the reason he didn't blame anyone is due to the fact that there was no one else to blame. Mr. McMullen purchased the wine, he drank it and he proceeded to drive.

Vote Republican

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PTC manager pleads guilty to golf cart DUI

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