Item: Dennis Drue
Sentenced
23 year old Dennis
Drue was sentenced last week, and will spend his next 5 to 15 years
in prison for his role in the horrific accident which killed
Shenendehowa High School students Chris Stewart and Deanna Rivers
last year.
Drue, had previously
admitted his guilt to all 58 counts with which he was charged, which I found surprising
considering he had uber-lawyer Steve Coffey as his attorney. Then I
started to read about some of the evidence Saratoga County DA Jim Murphy
had ready to use had it gone to trial. Such as a blood alcohol level
in excess of .08, along with with witnesses ready to testify they saw
Drue getting hammered that night, prior to getting into the car. Plus his
speed of 81 mph at impact. Plus evidence of Drue being allegedly
stoned that night. Plus evidence of text messages from Drue while he
was driving, which would indicate he was on his way to score some more pot
when he took the lives of these two teens.
All this from a man
who had manged to have 22 (22!) prior traffic offenses, and have his
driver's license suspended 5 (5!) previous times. So, considering
Drue is 23 years of age, it means he has done all this in about seven
years. Why the hell was he even allowed to drive before the tragedy
last December? Why?
The victims'
survivors, along with Murphy appear to be quite pissed at the term of
Drue's sentence, feeling it should be greater. I can't pretend to
know how the survivors feel; hopefully this gives them a bit of
closure since at least the man is now in jail. I will say the fact
Drue will not be behind the wheel for awhile makes me feel safer.
Item: Furor Over Sound of Music
One never knows what
will cause twitter to explode. Not sure what it says about our
current culture, but this week the inspiration of such an explosion
came courtesy of NBC's live broadcast of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Sound of Music.
Actually the
backlash started long before the broadcast itself. Several, including
descendants of the Von Trapp family expressed outrage over the
casting of Carrie Underwood as Maria. With that bit of advanced
panning, there is no way Underwood would come out ahead.
Why for so many was it just short of blasphemy to have anyone else but Julie
Andrews as Maria? True, Andrews' performance in the 1965 film version
is one of the all-time greats, but she didn't even originate the
role. That distinction goes to Mary Martin, who was in the original
cast when the stage version premiered in 1959.
Which leads to
another thing people were bitching about during Thursday night's
airing, namely how it did not synchronize exactly with the movie.
Memo to you turked-off tweeters, who want to know the reason why "My
Favorite Things" was sung in the abbey, and not in the Von Trapp
house during the storm. It's because that's how it is in the stage
version, that's why. And, this was a stage show.
Final thoughts. Was
Underwood's performance the best Maria ever? No; Julie Andrews does
not have to worry about her place in history. But I don't think Mary
Martin rolled over in her grave, either. This young lady can sing,
and has the guts to give it a go live. Which compared to what
happened in another live NBC event a few years ago, namely Ashlee
Simpson's pathetic lip synching to the wrong damn song on Saturday
Night Live (and even more pathetic excuse for it at the end of the
show), well...
Item: Race Track
Fees To Rise
The New York Racing
Association continues to make news, and alas, once again they don't
look very good in the process. Firstly, they decided to raise the
prices of everything at the Saratoga Race Course, such as grandstand admission,
clubhouse admission, box seats,and parking. They will probably charge
me a fee to rent the air into which I blow my cigar smoke in the
picnic area, too.
Now, NYRA told us
the reason for the fee hike, is to make them more financially sound.
Sounds good on the surface, I guess. But, what they didn't tell us is
they are also giving some pretty hefty salary hikes to its top
executives as well. Oops, that was the part they left out of the press
release.
NYRA has been an
embarrassment for some time now, what with mishandled finances, etc.
But, more locally, they continue to have no idea as to how to run
their best asset, namely the 150 year old track at the Spa. There has
been an ever so gradual decline there over the past few years, and
this is without the threat of casino gambling providing competition in the near future.
No matter, because right now, NYRA is providing plenty of competition
all by their lonesome.
'Til next time, keep
smiling.
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