Posted on 01/15/2010 10:46:09 PM PST by Colofornian
MILLCREEK, Utah, Jan. 15 (UPI) -- Utah Senate Majority Leader Sheldon Killpack was booked into a county jail Friday, suspected of drunken driving, police said.
The 41-year-old Republican was pulled over about 12:15 a.m. by a state highway patrol officer who allegedly noticed "a poor driving pattern," the Deseret News reported. Police said he failed a field sobriety test and then refused to breathe into a portable breath tester, the newspaper said.
"I could smell the odor of alcohol coming from the subject's breath," a trooper wrote in a probable cause statement.
Killpack issued a statement in which he said he is "deeply sorry for the impact this incident will have on those who support and trust me -- my colleagues in the Senate, my constituents and, most importantly, my family."
He added he is "prepared to accept all personal, legal and political consequences for my actions."
After Killpack was arrested, his car was impounded and he was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on suspicion of DUI. Highway patrol officials obtained a warrant to allow them to take his blood. Results could take two to four weeks to obtain.
Senate President Michael Waddoups said Killpack's father was killed by a drunken driver when Killpack was a teenager. He also said he didn't know Killpack, who is a member of the Mormon Church, which frowns on drinking, was a drinker, the newspaper said.
Some folks seem to choose the most ironic screen names.
Me too.
If he is convicted of felony (DUI is a felony in many states), he will be excommunicated as well. [Reaganaut]
It is this type of self-righteous hypocrisy that makes the lawmaker an easy target. 1. He is in a position that requires, not only that he inact laws, but that he follow them. [colorcountry]
On top of all this, the SL Trib article this morning says he is the Utah Senate Chair for their Ethics Committee and the Utah Democratic Party Chairman has said: "We expect that there will be consequences for his leadership position and his position as chair of the Senate Ethics Committee".
So he's combined multiple losses with open hypocrisy and depicted the ironic tragedy that his own father was killed by a drunk driver!
Mr. single issue poster strikes again.
I really doubt that. I'm not LDS, but am a long time observer of LDS culture and Church policy, and I've never heard of someone being excommunicated for a DUI. Now if he compounded this incident with further alcohol use, or with refusal to participate in something like an alcohol therapy group after being directed to do so by his bishop as part of the repentance process, or if he was already in some alcohol-related repentance process at the time of the DUI then he'd likely be facing excommunication, but more on the grounds of refusing to even make an effort to comply with Church teaching and directions from his priesthood leaders, than because the state classified his DUI as a felony and convicted him.
This aspect of the situation makes it seem like he's really an out-of-control alcoholic. The combination of this family tragedy and strong Mormon teaching against alcohol use (and thus major consequences for a politician in a Mormon-heavy state), not being enough to dissuade him from driving while so impaired from alcohol that he obviously couldn't control the car, is pretty striking. Doesn't sound like a case of someone who just enjoys breaking the rules by sneaking out for a forbidden drink with friends now and then.
From today's Salt Lake Tribune article: "There will be those who may be upset enough they want to make a change [in the leadership post]. He may want to make a change," said Senate President Michael Waddoups, whose own wife was badly injured by a drunken driver. "I'll be supportive of whatever decision he comes to and he'll make a good one." I'd say the guy's political career is burnt toast.
He's said to have left the fundraiser event around 9PM, accompanied by an unnamed former lawmaker and lobbyist Mark Walker. When he was stopped, there was a male passenger in his car. Probably a couple of people are having serious chats with their bishops today, even though they avoided getting arrested themselves. It'll be interesting to see if the Utah media manages to pin down and publicize the identities of his drinking buddy or buddies. Walker will certainly be quizzed re his whereabouts between the time he left the fundraiser with Killpack and the time Killpack was stopped.
Rereading the article re who he left with, I realize now that it said he left with just one person, Mark Walker, who is both a former lawmaker and a current lobbist. Walker is definitely on the hot seat, especially if he’s member of the LDS Church.
When my wife gets home for supper, we will toast this a$$ hat with a shot of good Alberta Premium rye whisky. I guess that his magical Masonic grips and passwords didn’t do it for him. Maybe the trooper wasn’t a Mason...
Oh my...do all politicians have this boilerplate BS tattooed on the inside of their forearm so they can read it off when the time comes or do they just have it memorized by heart? Pathetic.
What has Orrin G. Hatch said? This will make it harder to keep UT Republican.
Another failure of UT primary voters, but how could they have known the truth about this gentleman? Or would it have mattered to them?
It keeps skipping, and
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skipping and,
skipping and,
skipping and,
skipping and,
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If he is convicted of felony (DUI is a felony in many states), he will be excommunicated as well. [me]
I really doubt that. [gs]
- - - - - - - - -
It is not that it is about alcohol. It is about if he is convicted of a FELONY (which DUI can be in many states).
The LDS “Church Handbook of Instructions”, which all preisthood leaders requires excommunication for those who have been convicted of a felony and they cannot be re-baptized (come back to the LDS church) UNTIL THEIR CIVIL RIGHTS HAVE BEEN RESTORED.
That is why he will probably be excommunicated.
I’m quite sure it doesn’t require excommunication for any and all “felonies”. The Church is not going to defer to government on the question of who gets excommunicated. In some states, it’s a felony to possess a gun without a valid permit, even if one’s permit just recently expired and would have been renewed if the person had just gone to the right office and filled out the right form and paid a fee by a certain date. No way is the LDS Church going to excommnicate someone for that sort of felony. In the case of Killpack, the issue will almost certainly center on alcohol, and what (if any) prior history he had with alcohol-related Church discipline. If this is, as far as the Church knows, a first time lapse, and he agrees to pursue whatever repentance steps his priesthood leaders prescribe, then at most he’ll get disfellowshipped for a little while, even if he gets convicted of a felony.
Remember the LDS church does not work (on many levels) as Christian churches do. “Repentance” only starts AFTER your jail term is over and your rights have been restored.
Do you have a copy of the Handbook of Instructions? Many LDS do not even know what is in it since it is only available to those in leadership positions.
I have a copy, however I am on a business trip (and away from my library) for the next few months. I have asked a few other freepers if they have copies to provide a source for you.
That being said, it is not the LDS “deferring” to government, it is the idea that if you are convicted of a felony, you must have been involved in behavior against LDS standards and therefore need to be excommunicated.
I worked as a secretary for one of the psychologists in the prison system there. I also personally knew people who were excommunicated for so called “minor” felonies (like DUI).
I stand by my statement, however I will allow that since he is “high profile”, it is possible that the LDS First Presidency will allow only for dis-fellowshipment since they can override the local leadership.
Unauthorized distributionNeither volume of the Church Handbook of Instructions is available for sale to the general public or the general church membership; however, an unauthorized copy is available on the internet. The church asserts copyright over the contents of the Church Handbook and prohibits its duplication.[8] The handbook emphasizes that "Book 1 has been prepared solely for use by general and local Church officers to administer the affairs of the Church."[4] The copyright to the Church Handbook is owned by Intellectual Reserve, Inc., a corporation owned by the LDS Church which owns the church's intellectual property rights.
After Book 1 was published in 1998, Jerald and Sandra Tanner's Utah Lighthouse Ministry published portions of it on the internet without permission from the church and without including the book's copyright notice. The text was also disseminated to other websites which the ULM's website linked to. In the 1999 lawsuit Intellectual Reserve v. Utah Lighthouse Ministry, a United States district court issued an injunction prohibiting the further duplication of the contents of Book 1 and ordered ULM to remove the offending material from its website.[9]
In May 2008, the LDS Church notified the Wikimedia Foundation that it believed the copyright to the Handbook of Instructions had been violated by a link posted in Wikinews.[10] The link directed readers to the text of the handbook that was posted on the Wikileaks website, which is unaffiliated with the Wikimedia Foundation. Shortly after the complaint was made, Wikinews removed the link to the text from the article.
(From WIKI)
Oh?
Ever hear of the end of polygamy in 1890?
That was the GOVERNMENT telling the LDS bunch what to do!
Polygamous fundamentalists baptized by proxy into LDS Church, researcher says
Salt Lake Tribune
Kristen Moulton
June 3, 2009
Prominent fundamentalist Mormons, most of whom were excommunicated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for practicing polygamy while they were alive, have been posthumously re-baptized in LDS temples, a Salt Lake City researcher says.
Helen Radkey said in a new report that she obtained church records on 20 fundamentalists -- from murderer Ervil LeBaron to Joseph Musser to Rulon Jeffs --- showing that they've been baptized and have had their plural marriages "sealed" for time and eternity by proxy LDS members, one as recently as this year.
(Note that they were excommunicated for breaking WORLDLY law - NOT the law of GOD as described in D&C 132.)
My source is the 2006 Church Handbook of Instruction. According to pg 119 of the hand book, in all conditions where a member has been disciplined by a Church Disciplinary council, if there is a crimial/civil sentence it states
If a person who has had Church Discipline has been convicted of a crime or found guilty in a civil action of fraud or other dishonest or immoral conduct, a disciplinary council should not be held to consider changing his Church status until he has fulfilled all terms and conditions of any sentence imposed by legal authorities. These conditions may include imprisonment, probation, parole, and fines or restitution. Exceptions require the approval of the First Presidency
Bottom line, how gravely did Killpack's DUI and his link to mormonism damage the image of the mormon church. Excom may be one of three means of punishment, however, he will lose his temple privilages for all until the full terms of the law are met - with the only exception being granted by the FP.
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