Report on attorney, DUI arrest was a hatchet job

In response to the recent article by Ms. Wendy Victora on The Destin Log’s Web site about my attorney and his drunk driving arrest:

It is a worthy news item, sort of a man bites dog thing where an attorney who defends drunk drivers is himself arrested for the same. I would like to comment though that the item seems considerably overblown in both the various quotes and text.

For instance, it is made much of that this was involving a “head-on” crash, yet there were no injuries except for a noted “abrasion” on Robert Scott Whitehead. A good deal of ink was used up making mention of the condition of Whitehead, ie: how drunk he was supposed to have been, even repeating the same quoted info from the police report.

I thought the article as written, 1,068 words, which printed out two full pages and a bit of a third on my computer, was entirely overblown for a DUI with two fender benders.

I am not at all in favor of DUIs and in fact I grew up with a drunk for a stepfather. He subsequently died of a ruined liver, probably the reason I do not drink at all — never have, never will.

The reporting was overblown, repetitious and probably done as a favor to the sheriff’s office to take down a peg or two a well-known local attorney, who has an active criminal defense practice and who has defended high-profile DUI cases in the past.

Bill Harris
Kennesaw, Ga., and Panama City Beach