# RO: I'll just have a few drinks, smoke a few joints, then go the wrong way on a major highway. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 5, 2009, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-ill-just-have-a-few-drinks-smoke-a-few-joints-then-go-the-wrong-way-on-a-major-highway/505410 "2009-08-05T13:25:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![fuzzypickles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9d8465/32.png) [@fuzzypickles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fuzzypickles)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2009, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-ill-just-have-a-few-drinks-smoke-a-few-joints-then-go-the-wrong-way-on-a-major-highway/505410/61 "2009-08-07T08:10:58Z")
> [@nyctea scandiaca](#): > > The husband’s denial is almost comedic: From [the article here:](http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local-beat/Grave-Accusations-in-Taconic-Crash-Case-52574122.html) He suggested she had a tooth abscess that caused a brain infection; that she “had a ‘lump’ on her leg that was ‘moving’;” that she had a stroke or a diabetic attack. The attorney said, “Something happened to her brain.” Yeah - 10 shots of vodka happened to her brain! A-ha! NOW it makes sense! There’s a lump in my armpit that I swear just moved two centimeters. Guess I’d better hide my keys tomorrow. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Dripping](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d2c977/32.png) [@Dripping](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dripping)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2009, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-ill-just-have-a-few-drinks-smoke-a-few-joints-then-go-the-wrong-way-on-a-major-highway/505410/62 "2009-08-07T15:30:38Z")
From this article: [http://www.newsday.com/long-island/nassau/diane-schuler-defended-on-today-show-1.1354626](http://www.newsday.com/long-island/nassau/diane-schuler-defended-on-today-show-1.1354626) \*\*\*"A 1.75-liter bottle of vodka was found at the crash site, police said. On the “Today Show” Friday, an investigator hired by the Schuler family said it had not been proven that the bottle had been in the Ford Windstar minivan being driven by Diane when she caused the crash. The investigator, Thomas Ruskin, told host Meredith Vieira that the family was “known to carry the same bottle of vodka for the entire season” of camping."\*\*\* Wait, what? :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2009, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-ill-just-have-a-few-drinks-smoke-a-few-joints-then-go-the-wrong-way-on-a-major-highway/505410/63 "2009-08-07T17:20:20Z")
You get a bottle at the beginning of the summer. You go camping once a month, you go through 1/3 of the bottle per trip. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2009, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-ill-just-have-a-few-drinks-smoke-a-few-joints-then-go-the-wrong-way-on-a-major-highway/505410/64 "2009-08-07T18:10:26Z")
> [@fuzzypickles](#): > > I’m intimately familiar with how families of alcoholics work, okay? Sure, she probably hid her drinking problem from her co-workers, casual friends, and possibly most of her family. But her closest family – esp. her husband – _had_ to know. They knew, but chose to ignore it. Even now, they are denying everything, and they will likely deny everything until their dying breath. That’s how these dysfunctional families operate – it’s all about DENIAL. > > We’re not talking about some baseless, unsupported allegation – the authorities have _confirmed_ she was drunk, twice the legal limit, AND had been smoking pot, AND had a vodka bottle in the car. Nobody contests those _facts_, despite what their celebrity lawyer claims…am I correct? Was she talking on a cell phone too? ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2009, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-ill-just-have-a-few-drinks-smoke-a-few-joints-then-go-the-wrong-way-on-a-major-highway/505410/65 "2009-08-07T19:09:46Z")
> [@fuzzypickles](#): > > I’m intimately familiar with how families of alcoholics work, okay? Sure, she probably hid her drinking problem from her co-workers, casual friends, and possibly most of her family. But her closest family – esp. her husband – _had_ to know. They knew, but chose to ignore it. Even now, they are denying everything, and they will likely deny everything until their dying breath. That’s how these dysfunctional families operate – it’s all about DENIAL. > > We’re not talking about some baseless, unsupported allegation – the authorities have _confirmed_ she was drunk, twice the legal limit, AND had been smoking pot, AND had a vodka bottle in the car. Nobody contests those _facts_, despite what their celebrity lawyer claims…am I correct? I can see scenarios in which the family might legitimately miss it. One tidbit than I gleaned from that bizzarro world press conference yesterday was that she worked days and her husband worked nights and it sounds like there was a babysitter that filled in for a few hours in the late afternoon and early evening. He could’ve missed a lot. And it might not take that long…a few months not a few years…for someone to fall into full blown alcoholism, especially if that genetic predisposition is there. My brother and his wife never drank,mostly because of her awareness of the alcoholic predisposition in both families. Then-- after 20 years or so------he got a job that meant he had to work out of town a few days a week and he stayed with the friend that hired him. He and his wife drank wine with dinner and a cocktail here and there and my brother started joining them. Less than 3 months later my SIL (now ex-SIL) came home and found him in a full alcoholic blackout…apparently he had developed the habit of picking up a bottle each night and knocking off most of it in the garage before he came into the house. It came as a total suprise to me and I guess my sister in law didn’t notice…in her case it’s because she’s just very self-centered but if they had worked opposite shifts she might have legitimately never noticed. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2009, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-ill-just-have-a-few-drinks-smoke-a-few-joints-then-go-the-wrong-way-on-a-major-highway/505410/66 "2009-08-07T20:22:42Z")
> [@Cattitude](#): > > Ya have to wonder what else the family could possibly say though, “oh yes we knew all about her lush ways but girls will be girls _wink wink_” They have to say they were blindsided by the information she was drunk and high or they look like complete shits. I think this is pretty much it. ---
**Author:** ![R.P.McMurphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@R.P.McMurphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R.P.McMurphy)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-ill-just-have-a-few-drinks-smoke-a-few-joints-then-go-the-wrong-way-on-a-major-highway/505410/67 "2009-08-08T05:15:41Z")
If you find this thread interesting you might find this interesting: From the NY Times; [http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/08/nyregion/08bigcity.html?exprod=myyahoo](http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/08/nyregion/08bigcity.html?exprod=myyahoo) It doesn’t answer the question but it provides some insights that are in line with some of the posts on this thread. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-ill-just-have-a-few-drinks-smoke-a-few-joints-then-go-the-wrong-way-on-a-major-highway/505410.md?page=3)