Posted on 02/16/2005 4:40:50 AM PST by Dan from Michigan
Lenox liquor inspector faces fifth drunken driving offense
Constable also suspected of posing as sheriff's deputy
PUBLISHED: February 15, 2005
By Jameson Cook
Macomb Daily Staff Writer
A Lenox Township constable whose job is to inspect liquor establishments has been accused of felony drunken driving and is also being investigated for falsely using his constable badge to pose as a sheriff's deputy.
Mark J. Ureel, 38, who has been a Lenox constable since the 1980s and works for the Macomb County Road Commission, was arrested about 7 p.m. Saturday on 25 Mile Road near Schoenherr Road. He was charged in district court with his fifth alcohol-related offense.
Ureel, who was re-elected to a 4-year term last fall, may be fired from his post in which he or the second elected constable, his father, Eugene Ureel, is paid $137 for each monthly inspection of the township's two establishments that sell liquor.
The Lenox Township Board of Trustees scheduled a special meeting for 4 p.m. today to discuss Ureel's employment status.
"Even though it's an elected position, it's within our powers to take administrative action," including termination or placed on leave, Lenox Township Supervisor John Gardner said.
Ureel was freed from custody Sunday after posting a $25,000 cash bond. Felony drunken driving carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
A Macomb County sheriff's deputy suspected he was drunk while driving a grey Ford F-150 pickup truck Saturday and administered a Breathalyzer test in which his blood-alcohol content was .16 percent. The truck was not a township or county vehicle.
Gardner said he had heard rumors in past years about Ureel having convictions related to drinking and driving but never had been informed of them by a law enforcement agency.
Ureel was not supposed to be driving in the first place because his driver's license was revoked in 2002 because his driving record, officials said, and it hadn't been reinstated. However, last Tuesday, Ureel had been referred to the license appeal division of the Michigan Secretary of State's Office.
Ureel works as a highway maintenance laborer for the road commission but currently doesn't drive a vehicle, although he has had a driving position and drove a county vehicle in the past, said Bo Kerk, a personnel director with the commission.
"He's basically one of those guys you see on the road filling potholes in the winter and doing maintenance like weed cutting in the summer," Kerk said.
He has been in his current post for more than two years, although Kerk would not say when Ureel held a position in which he drove.
Ureel was convicted twice in 42nd District Court in Romeo for drunken driving in April 2002 and June 2002, drunken driving in 41A District Court in Shelby Township in 1994, and impaired driving in 42nd District Court in New Baltimore in 1989, state records show.
Sheriff Mark Hackel said he is concerned about allegations that Ureel may have impersonated a sheriff's deputy when he showed his constable badge to a group of four young male teens and told them that he was a deputy. The incident occurred about a half-hour earlier and near the same area where he was arrested for drunken driving.
"You don't know what his intentions were," Hackel said. "It's scary."
Hackel commended the youngsters and noted that it is fortunate that two of them are familiar with a sheriff's deputy badge because their father and uncle is a sheriff's deputy.
"We're thankful that they knew what the badge looks like," Hackel said.
In fact, their father is the deputy who arrested Ureel.
After the interaction with Ureel, the boys went to their home and told their mother, who called 911. Her husband, who patrols in north Macomb County, was in the area at the time and the first officer to respond, the sheriff said.
Shelby police detectives are investigating the incident and likely will present evidence to the Macomb County Prosecutor's Office today or Wednesday.
Gardner said this incident may provide the impetus to eliminate the constable position in the township. Ureel was unopposed in his re-election last fall.
The posts were created in this and other townships many years ago to perform duties such as inspecting properties for blight. But those duties in most townships have been transferred to code enforcement officers, and many townships have eliminated the posts.
"This may be the first step in doing that," Gardner said. "But we can't eliminate them until 2008 when their next term is up."
The only two liquor licenses in Lenox are at the Richmond Forest Golf Course and Oak Ridge Golf Club.
The inspections include making sure the establishment follows the law, such as displaying proper signage and securing liquor. The wage is paid with state funds.
If Ureel is fired or placed on leave, the inspections likely will be given to the township existing code officer, Gardner said. The other constable, Eugene Ureel, likely cannot perform the duties because of health issues, Gardner said.
Well, if it was prior to 1988, he was inspecting liquor establishments before he was allowed to be in one.
I've been inspected Beer Joints and Topless Bars most of my adult life. I never got paid a penny.
sounds like he's been working too hard
LOL. You were on the wrong side of the bar, I guess. As far as the topless thing, though, stay where you are.
I wanted to be a lawyer but I can't pass a bar.
The dude removed his own exemption!
Is Ureel a fake naem for Scott Ritter.
Stop that.
whaddidido other than mispell name
Ureel, I stagger.
sorry, I was having a senior momment. Thought you were talking about something else.
hic...this bottle's OK...hand me the next one!
No problem. I don't understand myself half the time.
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