Here we go again. Deputy Mayor of St. Cloud, Mike Wetzel was arrested Wednesday evening after driving through a police barricade at the intersection of Cypress and New York Ave. After the officer smelled the alcohol on Wetzel's breath, a field sobriety test was conducted, which he failed. He was then taken to the county jail. This is the second time in less than two years Mr. Wetzel has been arrested for DUI. In March of 2006, Mr. Wetzel was pulled over for speeding and charged with marijuana possession, possession of drug paraphernalia and DUI on the night of his re-election. The marijuana and paraphernalia possession charges were later dropped. Mr. Wetzel pleaded guilty and was sentenced to a one year-long probation which included DUI school. He appealed for and won an early termination of that probation in December of 2006.
St. Cloud's charter states that any council member should step down from office if he is 'convicted of any crime involving moral turpitudes or if a plea of guilty is entered.' The council could have Wetzel removed from office after a public meeting is held and a vote. The issue is being placed on the July 12 council agenda.
Mr. Wetzel has an obvious personal problem. What a person does in their home is a private matter. However, as an elected official, Mr. Wetzel has a responsibility to his constituents to take the high road at all times. He has, in fact, chosen the path of a public life. Mr. Wetzel, this means that you are always under the microscope. It just comes with the territory. We believe that people do in fact make mistakes; it's in our human nature. However, the practice that we teach our children is to learn from those mistakes so that they will not repeat them. The irresponsibility and negligent actions of Mr. Wetzel have not only demonstrated that he has not learned from past mistakes, but those same mistakes have also placed the lives of his constituents and the lives of children at great risk. We are thankful that it was a police barricade that was run over and not an Independence Day celebrator. We believe that it is in the best interest of the city of St. Cloud, its residents and even Mr. Wetzel to have him removed from his city council seat as soon as possible. There is an old saying that states 'If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything.'
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4 comments:
What a personal shame for Mike Wetzel as well as a public shame for the city of St. Cloud. The best possible thing for the Mayor and the rest of the coucil to due is to act in the best interest of Mike Wetzel and the city. They need to remove him before he injures or possibly kills somebody as an sitting council member. It is time for him to learn that the things he does are indeed wrong.
It has always been interesting to me that when these public officials get in trouble legally, they seem to never spend any time in jail, or at least not enough.(ie:Scooter Libby) I feel that these "leaders of our community" should be held to a higher standard, therefore making their punishment more harsh than the average citizen or at least similar. Oh well, I guess that would be in an Utopian county.
Gett'em Taxes!!!
I see a few things wrong here.
1) On the March 2006 arrest, The marijuana and paraphernalia possession charges were dropped.
2) He appealed for and won an early termination of probation in December of 2006.
3) With this recent arrest, a neighbor of his was quoted saying the power had gone off in their neighborhood & Mike just made a phone call & *poof* power was restored (can you say favoritism??)
You can bet if it were me or you in any of these situations, we'd not be given any special favors.
The boy is an embarassment to St Cloud! Time to call him out & let him get help.
The whole situation draws into doubt the decision making process of Mr. Wetzel. Twice in one year, and now we are supposed to believe that he can make responsible decions on behalf of the citizens. We have a big vote coming up that could rip our city to shreds thanks to the School Board and the development interest of the Education Foundation, and we are supposed to trust this guy's vote. What if Mr. Wetzel resigns? How will the outcome of the vote for this project be taken by either the winners or losers of the vote? This is just absurd.
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