In news taken from the logs of Cape Ann’s police and fire departments:
Tag: Alcohol abuse
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Peabody man charged with 6th OUI in motorcycle crash
PEABODY — A Peabody man was arrested on a sixth drunk driving offense earlier this month after crashing a motorcycle into a stone wall while under the influence.
The incident occurred just before 11 p.m. on Oct. 5 at the corner of Franklin and Kosciusko streets.
George Bradley, 55, was allegedly speeding down Franklin Street on a Harley-Davidson motorcycle when he noticed a stop sign too late, tried to break and “left a skid mark for approximately 50 feet before disregarding the stop sign and crashing into the stone wall of 5 Kosciusko St.,” according to a police report.
Bradley was evaluated at the scene for injuries, but refused to be taken to the hospital, police said. While the motorcycle was dented in the crash, the wall was undamaged.
Police said Bradley failed field sobriety tests at the scene and was arrested.
In addition to a sixth drunk driving offense, he was charged with operating an unregistered and uninsured vehicle, negligently operating a vehicle and driving with a suspended license.
Police said the motorcycle was owned by someone other than Bradley.
The Essex County District Attorney’s office confirmed that Bradley did have his driver’s license revoked for life upon his fifth OUI offense, per state law.
He is being held without bail following a dangerousness hearing.
Contact Caroline Enos at CEnos@northofboston.com.
By Caroline Enos | Staff Writer
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College Student Visiting Friend Shocked To Discover Other Schools Have Tradition Where They Drink To Excess
PROVIDENCE, RI—While visiting a hometown friend at Brown University, college sophomore Caleb Martin was reportedly shocked Monday to discover that other schools have traditions where they drink to excess. “It’s as if they stole the idea directly from our own lineage at Tufts, right down to the whole concept of consuming alcoholic beverages to the point of inebriation, and then just claimed it was their own,” said the visibly stunned Martin, shaking his head in disbelief while listing off the eerie similarities to his own school’s cherished rituals of drinking a significant amount of cheap beer and hard liquor over the course of a weekend. “Yes, they drink Hamm’s here, whereas we tend to favor Keystone Light. But the fundamentals are really surprisingly similar. Ultimately, though, it seems like their tradition is just as ingrained as our own, and in fact might date back decades earlier. What an odd coincidence.” Martin added that thankfully his school would always be able to distinguish itself with its unique drinking game, which involved throwing ping-pong balls into red Solo cups.
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Study Finds Daily Marijuana Use Outpaces Alcohol In U.S.
A study based on the National Survey on Drug Use and Health found that more people in the United States use marijuana daily than alcohol, with 17.7 million people reporting using pot daily or nearly every day. What do you think?
“With good time-management, there’s room for both.”
Wyatt Brezinski, Wakeboard Calibrator
“Makes sense. Weed never made me piss my pants on a mechanical bull.”
Yvonne Caughran, Tantric Psychiatrist
“That’s okay. I didn’t get into alcoholism because I thought it was trendy.”
Herschel Pennucci, unemployed
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Edible Gel Promises Hangover-Free Mornings
Just how far would you be willing to go to avoid the dreaded hangover? Researchers in Switzerland have developed an oral gel meant to prevent booze from breaking down into the toxic compounds most responsible for a hangover. In mice, it appeared to work as intended.
Ed Cara
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Jury: NCAA not to blame in ex-USC football player’s death
LOS ANGELES — A Los Angeles jury on Tuesday rejected a claim by the widow of a former USC player who said the NCAA failed to protect him from repeated head trauma that led to his death.
Matthew Gee, a linebacker on the 1990 Rose Bowl-winning squad, endured an estimated 6,000 hits that caused permanent brain damage and led to cocaine and alcohol abuse that eventually killed him at age 49, lawyers for his widow alleged.
The NCAA said it had nothing to do with Gee’s death, which it said was a sudden cardiac arrest brought on by untreated hypertension and acute cocaine toxicity. A lawyer for the governing body of U.S. college sports said Gee suffered from many other health problems not related to , such as liver cirrhosis, that would have eventually killed him.
The verdict could have broad ramifications for college athletes who blame the NCAA for head injuries.
Hundreds of wrongful death and personal injury lawsuits have been brought by college players against the NCAA in the past decade, but Gee’s is the first one to reach a jury alleging that hits to the head led to chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease known by its acronym, CTE.
Alana Gee said the college sweethearts had 20 good years of marriage before her husband’s mental health began to deteriorate and he became angry, depressed and impulsive, and began overeating and abusing drugs and alcohol.
Attorneys for Gee said CTE, which is found in athletes and military veterans who suffered repetitive brain injuries, was an indirect cause of death because head trauma has been shown to promote substance abuse.
The NCAA said the case hinged on what it knew at the time Gee played, from 1988-92, and not about CTE, which was first discovered in the brain of a deceased NFL player in 2005.
Gee never reported having a concussion and said in an application to play with the Raiders after graduating that he had never been knocked unconscious, NCAA attorney Will Stute said.
“You can’t hold the NCAA responsible for something 40 years later that nobody ever reported,” Stute said in his closing argument. “The plaintiffs want you in a time travel machine. We don’t have one … at the NCAA. It’s not fair.”
Attorneys for Gee’s family said there was no doubt that Matt Gee suffered concussions and countless sub-concussive blows.
Mike Salmon, a teammate who went on to play in the NFL, testified that Gee, who was team captain his senior year, once was so dazed from a hit that he couldn’t call the next play.
Gee was one of five linebackers on the 1989 Trojans squad who died before turning 50. All displayed signs of mental deterioration associated with head trauma.
As with teammate and NFL star Junior Seau, who killed himself in 2012, Gee’s brain was examined posthumously at Boston University’s Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy Center and found to have CTE.
Jurors were not allowed to hear testimony about Gee’s deceased teammates.
Gee’s lawyers said the NCAA, which was founded in 1906 for athlete safety, had known about impacts from head injuries since the 1930s but failed to educate players, ban headfirst contact, or implement baseline testing for concussion symptoms.
Attorneys had asked jurors to award Alana Gee $55 million to compensate for her loss.
