June 13, 2007
Marion Barry Back in Court Later Today
Former mayor and D.C. Council member Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) was back in court yesterday on charges stemming from two traffic stops last year, one of which resulted from what Secret Service officers say was erratic driving under the influence of alcohol. The full list of charges against Barry, 71, include driving while under the influence, operating a vehicle while impaired, operating an unregistered vehicle and misuse of temporary tags. The trial is scheduled to resume at 1:45 p.m. today at D.C. Superior Court.
The specifics of the case against Barry this time are dubious at best. As the Post explains, Marie Wadford, a secret service officer, testified that Barry failed a field sobriety test, smelled of alcohol and had red eyes when he was pulled over around 5 a.m. on Sept. 10 near the White House. The Washington Times reports that Officer Ryan Monteiro said he saw Barry stop his car at a green light, drive through a red light, and put his 1995 Chevrolet Camaro in reverse on a one-way street. Monteiro said he smelled alcohol on Barry and his speech was slurred. But three hours later, Barry's breathalyzer test registered .02, far below the legal limit of .08, and he later refused to submit to a urine test when officers wanted to confirm the results.
The other charges come from a traffic stop in December, when U.S. Park Police pulled Barry over in Southeast for driving too slowly. He was charged with misuse of temporary tags and operating an unregistered vehicle.
This wouldn't be the first time we'd ever expressed doubt at the prospect of Barry managing to get into real trouble for anything, but here we go again. It's also worth noting that Barry's trial is receiving far less attention than the Pearson Pants Proceedings, but it's hard to say whether that's to the credit of Pearson's wackiness or the overall hum-ho feeling one gets from reading about one more Barry trial.
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Somebody give this man a break. He broke his neck for the City, got hooked on the star-maker machinery, and got busted. Take away his wings and he's just a man. A man with faults.
That 1995 Chevrolet Camaro doesn’t seem to belong to Mr. Barry. He says it was a “loaner” while his own car was being repaired.
Can that garage loan me a GTO while they, oh, change my oil?
Mr. Barry’s car must be pretty sick, or the mechanic must be really slow. Mr. B. was driving the Camaro on both Sept. 10 and Dec. 16. Oh yeah, it was unregistered, with expired paper tags. Forget that oil change.
Somebody give this man a break. He broke his neck for the City [...]
Correction: Barry broke the city's neck.
There are people that would love to see this man humiliated. And there are those who simply love this man.
Far more interesting journalism would look at this rather than covering boring court cases.
I'm tired of this blog's fixation on Barry's courtroom life.
"Hum-ho"??? Now you've gone to far! What kind of sick-o switches the order of "ho-hum"? Poetic license doesn't cover that sort of perversion.
Barry is a disgrace to strong, positive african americans. Don't give me that "faults" cop out. Here is a man who could've been a great role model for young african americans and decided to be the exact opposite. He's a disgrace and deserves every bit of negative attention he gets.
"I'm tired of this blog's fixation on Barry's courtroom life."
You blog the life you have, not the life you might later wish you had. Or something like that.
I saw Marion Barry at Lucky Bar on a wednesday night about a month ago; talk abot kicking yourself for not packing a cameria. He was drunk as shit and probably got kicked out of 1223 next door,and had his face glued to this young woman's bossom like a happy little boy suckling. All night long it was "Yo isn't that Mayor Barry?" coming from drunk chipsters, while Barry's entourage - Black southern gentlemen in seersucker suits and straw hats - were trying to pull him away frm the belligerent crowd and the young lady.
I have a lot of friends who got their first jobs thanks to Barry in the late 80s and early 90s. And it seems as far as most black folks in DC are concerned, Barry can do no wrong. Just seems to me, he'll always see and carry himself as a little more than just a man, wingless or not, let alone take note of his faults.
You blog the life you have, not the life you might later wish you had. Or something like that.
That's spot on, actually. I doubt DCist would be as concerned with Barry's follies if DC didn't continuously place him in positions of power and influence.
His failures and the embarrassments that result are an indictment of those who continuously provide him the chance to fail in the public eye (as opposed to the obscurity he deserves).
jeffResistor, what can I say except that I apparently am suffering from late onset dyslexia? I did not purposely intend to bastardize ho-hum. Please accept my apologies.
The city has a serious problem with the abuse of temporary tags, both from DC and from MD. The City Paper ran a story on this a few years ago, its been mentioned on this blog and elsewhere, and I have friends that have been in accidents with uninsured "temp-tag" specials.
I hope they throw the book at Barry on the temp-tags issue if nothing else.
points for saying bastardize!
Sommer, upon further review it seems I used 'to' where 'too' belongs in my criticism above. I am therefore in no position to judge your grammar, so no apology necessary and bastardize away.
SWester: Yes - and the light-yellow "Dealer" tags too!
Mayor-for-Life Barry could care less about what people think about him. Every time he gets out of a jam, his ego grows. Each victory fuels the fire. As long as he's alive his followers will rally behind him and rejoice when he is vindicated. Barry needs his supporters as much as they need him. That's just the way it is ... "get over it.
Was DC more efficiently run before Barry?
"Was DC more efficiently run before Barry?"
The natural follow-up to that question is: "At what cost?"
From what I've read, the Feds (NCPPC etc) seemed efficient, but not quite as... democratic.
marionberry was at his best in his activist days of the 1960s & 70s. After his 1st term as Mayor-For-Life (as City Paper used to call him), he got addicted to the perks & trappings & power of office. He started to become corrupt, gave too many jobs to cronies, etc. Then came the hard drugs & booze, his multi-marriages. Then his pipe-bust in the hotel in 1990 with Rashida - Bitch Done Set Me Up. The footage was grainy, you could barely see the pipe. I thought his groping of the hooker was more embarrassing. I felt bad for his classy wife Effi (who now has cancer) - I wish she had publicly & nastily divorced him at the time. But no - she nobly sat thru trial with him.
He gets hauled off to prison where he gets in trouble from time to time. His fans escort him home with a bus brigade after his jail time. Seeing that he's bankrupt & needs $$ fast, he runs for City Council, the poorest ward in the city, the only one that still loves him (Ward 3 HATED him & still does) His black fans worship him & vote him in. Then after 1 term where he hardly does anything for them, he runs again for Mayor - AND GETS ELECTED. That's the most sickening part - he constantly used race-baiting whenever it benefitted him. Anybody know anybody who was not black who voted for him? I don't.
His final term was quite bad, city went into junk-bond fiscal crisis, Congress attempts to take over the city to save it. I believe after he finally resigned, he wanted to run again, but then there was that pesky cocaine moustache while he was alone in his car late one night on some remote DC street. Ooops! Then his last wife divorces him.
The man is a total embarrassment. He's still addicted to whatever perks & power & positive publicity he can still glean via the City Council. I wish he'd disappear forever - the guy is an arrogant asshole, liar, sex-addicted womanizer, racist, hardcore drug addict & lush, a disgrace to his race.