Story Archive

Next Time, Take the Train

It’s almost a weird news staple these days: the parent who is too drunk to drive, so he (or she) lets their kid drive instead. This time, Billy Joe Madden, 28, of Hattiesburg, Miss., is the alleged drunk. A motorist called the state police when they spotted his 8-year-old son driving — and not very well. In this case, though, the kid made it all the way to Louisiana: Madden allegedly told the boy to drive from home to Dallas, Texas, about a 600-mile drive. They were pulled over near Holden, La. The boy’s 4-year-old sister was in the back seat. Madden, who troopers say was intoxicated, was charged with allowing a minor to drive, having an open container in the vehicle, driving without a seat belt, two counts of child desertion, and two counts of no child restraint, and held on $1,474 bond. (RC/New Orleans Times-Picayune) ...Boy! Git out and raise $1,500!