Lame duck Jasper County Presiding Commissioner Chuck Surface will spend two days in the Jasper County Jail, beginning Monday, Nov. 27, after pleading guilty today to a misdemeanor charge of driving while intoxicated.
Surface received a suspended sentence and was placed on unsupervised probation for two years. A second charge, failure to drive on the right half of the roadway was dismissed as part of a plea agreement.
The judge ordered Surface to pay court costs, but the presiding commissioner did not receive the $300 fine recommended by the special prosecutor, Lawrence County Prosecuting Attorney Robert George.
Surface was arrested July 28 by the Jasper County Sheriff's Department after he left the Elks Lodge in Joplin. He finished third in a three-way race for the Republican nomination for presiding commissioner, losing to eventual winner John Bartosh and James R. Spradling.
Why should any individual receive special treatment just because they are or have been a public official. No one is above the law and everyone should be treated equal. What if he had been involved in a traffic accident and took someone's life while operating a motor vehicle under the influence would he have been cleared of manslaughter because of who he is or was.
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