**Update: 1/3/08 - The Winston-Salem Journal is reporting that Blair Carr has been suspended pending termination due to the DWI investigation. They are also reporting that her blood alcohol level was .28 or more than three times the legal limit and she had an open container of alcohol in her car. She has five days to appeal before she's terminated. I'm still not sure why the paper or WXII didn't run with this story before the city's announcement, especially after The Troublemaker broke it. Maybe they couldn't get the confirmations they needed in order to run the details like the blood alcohol level, but since arrests are public record and her court date was even listed online I would imagine that they could have run a story about Mary Blair Carr being charged with DUI. Maybe my idea of a local story is skewed.**
According to Ben "The Troublemaker" Holder an assistant city attorney for Winston-Salem was arrested for DUI on Reynolda Road on December 22 21. Mary Blair Carr's court date is set for January 22, 2008. According to Ben's post she blew a .27 on the breathalyzer, which if true means she was virtually swimming home.
Ben has done a lot of work looking into the ongoing issues with the Greensboro Police Department (a story so complex I couldn't begin to summarize it here) and before coming to Winston-Salem in March, 07 Ms. Carr was a city attorney in Greensboro who worked on that investigation. Apparently she worked directly with RMA Associates on its investigation of the Greensboro PD and it's interesting that RMA was recently chosen by Winston-Salem for its investigation of its own police department's criminal investigation unit.
According to the article announcing Ms. Carr's move to Winston she was to work on issues related to storm water, solid waste and the coliseum which means that her job description wouldn't cause one to think she'd be involved in Winston-Salem's police investigation. Yet according to the article there are only three assistant attorney's in the city attorney's office so it wouldn't be hard to imagine a scenario where the attorneys collaborate each other, and it definitely wouldn't be hard to imagine that she had a hand in the hiring of RMA.
Am I alluding to some sort of conspiracy? Nah. Ms. Carr's connection to the Greensboro thing has the bloggers over that way who have been covering the story are wondering if she's a drunk and if that impacted the Greensboro investigation. They also find it curious that the Greensboro News & Record hasn't covered the story given her background. I find it equally interesting that it hasn't been covered in the Winston-Salem Journal or on WXII. (If I missed it please let me know). This would seem to be a local interest story for them.
So no conspiracy theory here, but lots of interesting coincidences and a bit of wonder that this story hasn't hit the local media.
