Don't Drink & Drive; Don't Drink & Write; Don't Drink & Edit

Over the years, I've worked with many an editor and writer who drank too much. They made me angry and I don't remember ever speaking up. Now I am, if only for a moment.

Follow this link -- East Valley Tribune Columnist Will Plead Guilty To DUI -- and you will learn what can happen. You can be shamed before your audience and your readers. This happens infrequently. What happens far more frequently is that newsroom alcoholics create quiet havoc among their colleagues.  When you are not yourself,  not at your best -- the kind of person you were when the boss entrusted you with tremendous responsibilities -- you are violating a trust.

If this sounds anything like you. If you show up at work hung over; if you down more than one drink at lunch; if you're drawing the line only after the third martini at happy hour, you owe it to your colleagues, your readers and your families to get some help. Please do.

To publishers and editors. You have been hiring and promoting people with drinking problems for a long, long time. They have inflicted wounds. Find a way to put an end to this.

-- Dick Weiss