Media Report Round-up: Ted Triebel's Drunk Driving Conviction

For those of you with much better things to do - like working and raising a family - than to try and keep up with the criminal dealings of your elected officials - no easy task in North Carolina, here is a round-up of the reporting on Ted Triebel's criminal conviction on DWI:

The News of Orange County - Cudos to The News for being the only media outlet with a quote from the convict himself.

The Durham Herald-Sun - Am I the only person who is uncomfortable with a judge who "almost apologized" for convicting a drunk driver when the evidence is clear that he is guilty? I hope not.

The Daily Tar Heel - The DTH was the only outlet with a quote from one of Ted's fellow board members. Hopefully, Eddie Eubanks is correct and the Board will "meet and talk" openly about the convicted criminal in their ranks.

The Raleigh News & Observer

It's a long and winding road

"And still they lead me back

To the long, winding road

You left me standing here

A long, long time ago

Don't leave me standing here."

- The Beatles, "The long and winding road"

I have been in a Beatles frame of mind lately so the lyrics to "The long and winding road" immediately occurred to me when a long, winding journey finally came to an end on Tuesday afternoon.

Over one year ago, Orange County Board of Education member Ted Triebel was involved in an auto accident in rural Orange County. What few knew at the time was that Ted was charged with DWI at the scene. It was not until over three months later, as his court date drew closer, that his charges became public and he was forced to acknowledge the charges against him.

After repeated delays and postponements that pushed his hearing back for over a year, Ted Triebel has finally joined his former "partner in crime" on the Orange County Board of Education, Dennis Whitling, as an actual convicted criminal.

After testimony from two members of the State Bureau of Investigation and the State Trooper who responded to his accident last November, Ted Triebel was found guilty of DWI on Tuesday afternoon. He was sentenced to 10 days in prison, 24 hours of community service and must pay a community service fee. The prison sentence was suspended to unsupervised probation in return for payment of a fine and court costs.

According to The News of Orange County, Ted emailed his "regret" for the "mistake" he made and said that he has "since moved forward." Good for him, and now that there is no mistaking the fact that they have a convicted criminal in their midst, it is time for the Board to move forward - and remove Ted from office.

Over six months ago, I wrote:

"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?"

The only thing that has changed since then is that we now know for a fact that Ted was drunk when he made the personal choice to get behind the wheel of his car. It is only by blind luck that he was the only person hurt by his choice.

The long and winding road has finally reached its long overdue destination and it is time for the Orange County Board of Education to take a stand for credibility and accountability by expelling the criminal among them.