Yes, there is clearly a double standard if indeed Judge White would choose to expel a student with pot in his locker or who has been drinking in school, for example. However, I think the moral of the story is that that pot-smoking kid just needs to hire Judge White to defend him against the school board's expulsion proceedings. Problem solved.

Ans I realize that this is a tangent, but we are not nearly punitve enough towards drunk drivers. Far too many innocent people are killed by drunk drivers, and we seem to defend these people by merely saying - 'we all do it', 'it happens'. I'd rather spend money locking up a habitual drunk driver than a crack dealer. At least I can avoid the part of Chicago where drug deals are happening. You never know when a drunk is going to lose control of his car. I was hit by a drunk at 4:00 in the afternoon.

LW has many problems. A board member who happens to be a lawyer is not one of them.

For any non paid position elected or not; the person's paid position should not have any impact on their volunteerism unless of course there is an issue with criminal behavior. We should be thankful that we have people in the community who give their time back to their community on a non-paid basis.

When is 210 going to take a stand in the ever growing herion problem. Mike is right LW has a ton of problems. Coming up a drug problem that is killing their students is in of their bigger problems. 210 need to step up and take responsibility instead of sweeping things under the rug. Lincoln way has always had the policy if you have money or are on the football team you won't get in trouble. It's been that way for a long time, truely dist. 210 Is making all the right moves. Seems to me to be a little hypocritical.

When an attorney is hired he/she is legally bound to provide the best legal defense possible. Mr. White did that. He was not the judge. The court gave the year suspension, fines, etc. levied. As a Board member he is required to back the rules as set by the Board and printed in the Student/Parent Handbook. It appears he has done that. The Lincoln Way area has a substance abuse problem. Every day there are stories of DUI or illegal substance arrests. Yes, Chauncy, drunk drivers are a problem. Schools should be safe and children who commit illegal acts within the boundaries of the school should be disciplined according to the rules of that school. In my personal opinion, they should be turned over to the police department, taken to court, and then maybe their parents could cough up enough money to pay for Mr. White to defend them.

There is different definitions of 'justice' in the ole' US of A. Top-dollar fees will get you inside-track results.

Did you see how many fields drunken pudge drove through?

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If I read correctly, Carlton Fisk pleaded guilty and has to meet with families who lost loved ones to drunk drivers. I commend Carlton for stepping up and pleading guilty and accepting his sentence. Doesn't sound like Stephen White took big bucks to get him off!

Although Mr. Fisk pleaded guilty, I don't doubt that Mr. White would have done his job and represented him to the best of his ability if Mr. Fisk had decided to fight the charges. This is what lawyers do. They MUST represent their clients regardless of their personal beliefs. I don't see what this has to do with Mr. White being on the school board. I assume that he is performing his duties on the school board as well. If he's not, then by all means he should be asked to step down.

Now if it were Mr. Fisk that was on the school board or Mr. White that had been convicted of a DUI, that would be a different story.

Lastly, good for Mr. Fisk for taking responsibility for his actions, as he should.

What's the alternative? Would you give SD 210 the right to approve any prospective client of an attorney on their board? This is silly. Would a doctor on the board be precluded from treating a bad dude checked into his hospital? You can't expect to draw qualified people to these posts if their trade is restricted.

Are any of you running for the open seats on the school board?

Look, it's simple. Lawyers don't have to take every prospective case that is shopped to them.

Surely we would all be disappointed if a school board member-lawyer made his living defending child molesters. That goes against what our schools, ideally, are all about.

So, should board members be defending drunk drivers? This is more of a grey area, but, again, I say no. Steve White showed poor judgment in taking this case. Steve has to live with himself, but if he doesn't understand, as a former judge and as a school board member, that he should be avoiding cases whose thrust appears to be contrary to the mission of our schools, then he really is nothing more than a well connected hack--not a leader. (It's common knowledge that Steve is one of the worst members on the D210 board and is nothing more than a reliable rubberstamp for Larry Wyllie).

Mr. Madison, sir, I see your point, but that's still where I would draw the line.

Plus, though I don't work in the legal field, if someone is a "superstar lawyer," as Steve claims (even though I believe he got his law degree from Lewis University, which doesn't even have a law school anymore because it was literally the bottom of the barrel) he should be able to make a buck without taking DUIs.

And I repeat that Steve is one of the worst board members on D210.

I think part of the reason the judge is not called on this is because of the general acceptance of drunk driving in our society. I have had several neighbors announce that they drive drunk on a regular basis. If a neighbor said 'I shop lift all the time', we would think of them completely differently - they would be chastised and ostracized. Drive drunk and you're part of the gang. Everyone does it. This is sad, because driving drunk obviously kills innocent people every day, and it's completely avoidable.

Bottom-line is if his hypocritical behavior bothers you, don't vote for him again.

Pat: Let me be clear: The problem with board members like Steve White is not that they back the superintendent--the board and the superintendent should be on the same page most of the time. It's the complete lack of oversight or critical analysis by Steve White that gets me. He never participates in the meetings. I never hear him say, "I really like this and want more of it," or "I don't like this and I want less of it." He just reads off the sheet and votes yes time and time again.

In the business world, a CEO and a board disagree from time to time on some things. That's healthy. Board members like Steve White are just potted plants who add nothing to the mix.

Steve White was handpicked by the board to replace Ron Kokal when Ron died. Why did the board handpick him? Because Wyllie wanted him on there. In the business world, as you recognize, the board hires the CEO. In D210, the superintendent dominates the board, picks the board members, and they just fall in line out of obedience. It looks nice to have "school board member" on their resume. So they don't rock the boat. The checks and balances in the business world don't exist.