Keene, New Hampshire Democrat NH House Rep. Jodi Newell (Cheshire District 4) was arrested on July 1st after police responded to a call about a motor vehicle accident involving a tree.
State Rep. Jodi Newell was arrested Monday evening on a charge of driving under the influence following a single-vehicle crash on Base Hill Road, according to Keene police.
Police responded to the area around 7 p.m. for a report of a car that had struck a tree. The driver, identified as Newell, was taken into custody at the scene and charged with DUI. No injuries were reported.
So the tree is fine, then? I know a few tree huggers with inquiring minds. And it’s Jodi’s good fortune that she walked away unscathed physically. Road departures in New Hampshire frequently end at trees. They are memorialized all across the state with white wooden crosses, indicating the common end of such “relationships.”
Many are not as lucky as Newell.
As for Newell’s DUI arrest, I can’t find any reporting outside of Keene. The Keene Sentinel and My Keene Now.com have stories. Barely extrapolated from the police blotter. Newell did not respond to requests for comment from the Sentinel. And I couldn’t find any other media in the state that covered the story, which is interesting.
Newell sits on the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee, and in her Bio, she mentions expanding health care access that includes substance abuse services. She’s also openly far left (emphasis mine).
Jodi is running as a progressive Democrat to represent all her neighbors, even & especially those who find themselves in difficult situations.
Progressive Democrat. Is there any other kind? Well, maybe. In Vermont, they have Democrats, progressive Democrats, and socialists, and based on her CV, I’d say she’s at least that far left.
But how bad of a look is it to be driving buzzed enough between 6 and 7 pm on a weeknight to hit a tree, and Jodi’s past substance abuse issues are reportedly what inform her advocacy.
Are we not allowed to talk about that either?
Both my parents were recovering alcoholics. I grew up around substance abusers in search of recovery. I also attended more wakes by the age of twelve than most people will experience in a lifetime.
I hope Jodi is okay, but that doesn’t explain the lack of media interest.
She is a Democrat, so I’m wondering if that explains the lack of interest in her drunken encounter with a tree on Base Hill Road in Keene. When Pajama Boy Chris ‘ Chris ‘Pappas’ restaurant was the source of a Norovirus outbreak that killed a customer, the local media forgot to tell us where it started for weeks. New Media broke that detail to the public and had to pry them out of their hidey hole, not that they would admit knowing all along. Say it with us. The Puritan Backroom.
Given the scale of partisan political bias already evident over many years, Newell’s tree intervention may not rise to the level of outrage-worthy, and I’m glad Jodi didn’t get injured. But seriously. A Criminal Justice and Public Safety committee member drove into a tree while intoxicated, and almost no one could find the column inches to cover it.
Update: We have been informed that the original Keene Sentinel article didn’t mention Jodi’s party affiliation until after an observant Grok reader contacted them for a correction. The Sentinel did not put that detail in their headline, as they are reported to do when it is a Republican.
