Posted on 06/20/2003 5:29:14 PM PDT by Libloather
Dean Says Son Charged With Burglary
2 hours, 16 minutes ago
By ROSS SNEYD, Associated Press Writer
MONTPELIER, Vt. - Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean said Friday that his 17-year-old son and four other teenagers were cited in a burglary for attempting to steal liquor from a Vermont country club.
Dean, who canceled several campaign appearances, said his son, Paul, and teammates on the high school hockey team apparently were discovered early Friday morning at the Burlington Country Club by a police officer on routine patrol. Dean said it was his understanding that his son would be charged as an accessory.
"Children do stupid things and this is one of them," Dean said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press from a Minnesota airport where he was awaiting a flight back to Vermont.
"I'm cutting short my next two days on the campaign trail to deal with a family problem that I consider to be a serious problem," he said.
Art Cyr, a detective in Burlington, Vt., said the incident occurred between 1:30 a.m. and 2 a.m. Friday, when the police officer spotted Paul Dean seated at the wheel of a car near the country club and questioned him, learning that the burglary was in progress.
Cyr said he believed Dean's role was to be the driver while the teen's four friends went to a storage area at the club to get the liquor. The teenagers were ordered to appear in court to answer charges on Aug. 5. In Paul Dean's case, the charge would be accessory to burglary.
In a statement released later in the day, Dean said, "I understand that this matter is being handled by the state's attorney, and I hope the press and the public will respect the privacy of my family — particularly of my son — during this difficult time."
The Democratic candidate and former Vermont governor had been in St. Paul, Minn., for a Democratic meeting, and had planned to attend a forum in Iowa on Saturday.
Dean said he still would travel to Washington Sunday for an appearance on NBC's "Meet The Press," but he had not decided whether to participate in the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition candidate forum in Chicago and a subsequent fund-raiser there.
The candidate planned to go forward with his formal announcement and campaign kickoff on Monday in Burlington.
Dean said because Paul, whom he described as an "honor student," is captain of his school hockey team, the incident probably would have become public.
"When you're 17 years old, you get to make bad decisions and this was one," Dean said.
Apparently, not in Vermont. The radio report also mentioned something about 17-year-olds being arrested and tried as adults in these types of cases.
Wouldn't his father know something about Vermont law? Heck, he may have written it...
Life in prison for the all of them!
Exactly.
We'll see. Sounds like Vermont has a bad crime problem - no?
Rather than a trial, take 'em out back of the woodshed and whale on their ass. The shame of being switched like a little kid would hurt most 17yr olds a LOT more than community service, etc.
Short, sweet, to the point.
The heroin problem in Burlington is unbelievable, I have a cousin there who is an addict in rehab because liberal cops and politicians won't enforce drug laws.
I guarantee you Deans kid is on Heroin and was stealing stuff with his junkie friends to get drugs.
Sounds like Vermont considers it a real crime. Do you know anything about Vermont law?
An honor student hockey player? Are you sure?
Actually, the kid is just practicing for a life in left politics himself. As an elected Democrat, breaking in and stealing people's stuff will be the substance of his career. If he manages to snag a high-level indictment and gets to know the right people at Allenwood, this boy could end up on the Ways and Means Committee.
I guarantee you this kid has tried Heroin or runs with kids who do.
Burlington is Heroin central, the dealers use it as a staging area to get to NYC, they don't have to worry about the police, who are commanded by hippies.
Sounds to me like a child raised by liberals ratted his friends out at the earliest opportunity. I'm not defending the theft, just pointing out the lack of loyalty......
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