One more week

Now that May is nearly half over, most spring flowers have come and gone, and the cold and gloom of November is a distant memory for most, the time has nearly come for Orange County Board of Education member Ted Triebel to finally answer his long-delayed drunk driving charges.

Over six months ago, Ted caused an accident in Orange County that both sent him to the hospital and got him charged with Driving While Impaired. According to the State Trooper on the scene, both Ted and his wife admitted he had been drinking before getting behind the wheel and proceeding to endanger the people he was sworn to serve. Luckily, no one else was hurt.

For the first three months, Ted said nothing publicly about the incident. It only came to light when a member of the community noticed his original February court date listed on the North Carolina Court System's online court calendar and decided to spread the word.

It wasn't until asked by the local media to respond to this anonymous tip that Ted decided to acknowledge his pending charges. And even then, he had only a "terse" response for the press that appeared to arrogantly show regret that the State Trooper dared to charge him rather than regret for callously risking the safety of his community.

Not exactly the "openness" or "integrity" he claimed to possess when running for the Board or the "transparency" he frequently professed while seated.

To this day, I can't help but wonder if Ted was hoping the matter would quietly pass unnoticed so that his deception could continue undeterred - maybe that's just my cynicism peeking through. Or, maybe it's just Ted's history of these kinds of intentionally deceptive actions that makes him suspect.

Let's not forget his decision to withhold announcing Dennis Whitling's resignation until after the press left a Board meeting, his suppression of community comment when pushing through plans to reorganize two of the district's elementary schools, and his scheduling of a meeting on the future of those schools at a time when most parents were unable to attend.

With his history assembled in one place like this, it becomes clear that this latest incident is simply par for the course in Ted's World.

The parents of Orange County deserve better from someone tasked with providing leadership for their children's schools. It is a shame that they are being represented by someone most wouldn't trust to babysit their kids.

Ted is scheduled to be in court (again) in Chapel Hill next Tuesday morning. Hopefully, this six-month farce will come to a close and he will be held accountable for his actions.

If he is found guilty of DWI (or pleads guilty to a lesser charge to avoid prosecution for DWI), the Board must move immediately to sanction him and remove him from his seat based on a violation of the Code of Ethics he swore to uphold. According to the Board's Code of Ethics (Policy 2120):

"Members of the Board may be removed by the remaining members of the Board if sufficient evidence warrants such action. Causes for action are:

• the member is guilty of immoral or disreputable conduct"

If a conviction for drunk driving in the community you have sworn to serve isn't disreputable, what is?