Bo Bice

[LAGuy]

Cousin defends 'Idol' contestant Bice
Says drug possessions should not hurt him

By HOLLY LANG
BIRMINGHAM POST-HERALD

Bo Bice's cousin said the drug arrests of Bice, an "American Idol" contestant, did not result in convictions and should not be held against him.
Police and court documents posted on a Web site Thursday showed Bice, 29, was arrested on drug-related charges in 2001 and 2003. The Web site also reported Bice completed a round of treatment at a drug diversion program.

Bice's lawyer and cousin David Worley confirmed the charges but said although the Helena resident was arrested, he has paid his price, and the charges were never convictions.

"It's like getting an annulment," Worley said. "Sure, you were married. But then you get an annulment, and the marriage is gone. By law, you were never married.

"He is not guilty, by law."

Bice has successfully made it through several rounds of the talent competition, garnering praise from the show's judges and votes from viewers.

"American Idol" officials apparently aren't holding Bice's past against him. Officials said they won't disqualify him.

"The information disclosed on various salacious gossip Web sites regarding Bo Bice's past was already well known to Fox and the producers of 'American Idol,' " said "American Idol" spokeswoman Alex Gallespie in a prepared statement. "From the beginning, Bo was honest and forthcoming in revealing his previous indiscretions and their outcome."

Efforts to reach Dennis Leonard, general manager of Fox 6 in Birmingham, were unsuccessful. The station is the local Fox affiliate and airs the show.

According to documents displayed on www.thesmokinggun.com, which were confirmed by a Huntsville police representative, Bice, whose real name is Harold Bice Jr., was arrested for a felony cocaine possession in June 2001.

The arrest came after Bice bought half a gram of cocaine from Bice at Huntsville's Silver Dollar strip club, according to the Web site. A Huntsville investigator didn't show for court and officials were forced to refile the case.

In July 2003, the singer was arrested and charged with possession of marijuana near Birmingham. He also was charged with public intoxication and possession of drug paraphernalia.

The cocaine and marijuana charges were merged, and Bice entered the Columbiana diversion program in 2003. In December 2004, Bice pleaded guilty to charges of public intoxication and possession of paraphernalia. The cocaine charge was dismissed in April 2004, and the marijuana charged was dismissed late 2004.

A drug diversion program is a decision made in drug court, which looks for alternative ways to address drug arrests in an effort to prevent future drug use. A plea agreement is signed, and the rights to a trial are waived. The defendant pleads guilty and agrees to be drug free for at least a year. Once the program is completed, the person is considered innocent, according to Jefferson County Judge Pete Johnson.

In Jefferson County, Johnson determines these types of cases, although it is unclear as to whether he ruled in Bice's case.

Worley said that after the cocaine charges case was dismissed, Bice, 29, moved to Atlanta, where his parents lived. When he returned to Alabama, arrangements were made so he could attend a Columbiana treatment center near his Helena home, Worley said.

Worley said he isn't sure which diversion program Bice attended as he was not representing Bice at the time.

Some diversion programs are intense, while others require a person to go into the program for "a few nights," submit to drug tests, talk to probation officers and counselors and eventually work out a dismissal of the cases, he said.

But regardless, "he did successfully complete it, and he has no criminal record," Worley said.

But will it matter to America?

Using demography and geography as the basis of our analysis, MapInfo selected Bo Bice as the finalist having the best chance to win," said Jon Winslow, a director at MapInfo, a company that evaluated the odds of contestants on "American Idol" by looking at a person's hometown and image and how that would appeal to audiences.

The company released the study Thursday as Bice's past arrests became known.

According to MapInfo: "Bice's neighborhood ... reflects the variety of family arrangements common in today's middle class. This is a mostly suburban area, with a high number of family households, but also a high percentage of divorced and nontraditional families. Folks in these neighborhoods are not poor, nor are they rich; they are not 'settled in,' nor are they migrant. Bice, the nearly 30 rocker, would be a typical neighbor. ..."

http://www.postherald.com/me042905.shtml

[Google]

 

[Grisabella]

Originally Posted by Qbert

...Yes, this will be the perfect role model to parade out in front of thousands of kids. I'll let him slide on the marijuana charge, but a FELONY cocaine bust? At a strip club, no less?

Not that I expect to change your long-held opinions about Bo, Qbert, but posession of .000000001 gm of cocaine is a felony in Alabama. And Bo's band was playing a gig at that club; he wasn't there as a customer.

As for the "role model" question, what's important is who Bo is now. He has been on record for some time now saying how grateful he is to his pastor, Donny Acton, and the members of New Hope Church for helping him turn away from "the rocker life"* and get his life and direction back on track. He's been involved with the church since 2000 or 2001 but was baptized sometime this spring (months before he auditioned for AI), as I recall from articles which have been posted or linked to in this thread.

To paraphrase the Biblical story of the prodigal son: "There is more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 10 righteous men who need no repentance."


*Somehow when I hear the phrase "the rocker life" it doesn't conjure up images of people sipping lemonade or iced tea. Why was I not shocked to learn that Bo may have smoked pot during that phase of his life?

[redsox girl]

Originally Posted by Misty8723

Can you name me somebody who is a current role model to the kids out there who is a good one? I'm just really curious, because it seems all I hear about know are what bad things they're up to, and how cool all that is. That, besides showing the world everything or just about.

Not to say doing coke is okay...but if he is no longer doing coke, paid his debt...whatever...so what? Everybody makes mistakes in their lives, I know I sure made some lulus.

I didn't realize ones past defines who we are in the present. When we choose to judge another person as worthless and bad based on not the history of their life, but a few moments from it, we come dangerously close to shutting ourselves off from the worl as a whole- we become self serving self righteous petty and small, unwilling and unable to embrace other people because we have cast them as worthless, assigned a scarlet letter to them and in the end , we are alone in life save for our own self righteous arrogance for company...

[redsox girl]

Originally Posted by horsnhound

Granted the whole "grandma makes my clothes, big happy close knit family, loves his girlfriend, loves animals, churchgoing good boy" thing was nice, but I like a little dirt in my rock, and this frankly authenticates Bo for me. Please, I've dated my share of musicians, I've yet to meet one who has (sorry Chach) never done drugs. And I didn't get that he had a serious problem with cocaine from the article, only that he went thru rehab as a way of avoiding a felony charge.
To those of you who are horrified by this news, i defie you to go through your music collection and find one band/performer who has NEVER tried drugs.
(Flame retardent suit firmly in place)

Bono of U2. There I have defied you. Oh yeah, and me, I am a singer songwriter-and a damn good one, I don't do drugs. Guess I'm not authentic , though.
as for Bo, it's quite possible for people to be both good and bad- to have genuine qualities in which they love grandma and go to church and are sincere in those beliefs just as sure as they made mistakes.

[DagnyTaggart]

Originally Posted by Warhol

As far as I'm concerned, casual usage is fine. What I am saying is that there's a distinction between casual usage and an arrest for felony drug possession...two things that, in my view, don't reside in the same galaxy.

A casual user - a first time user even - can easily get charged with drug possession if caught. He wasn't dealing drugs - no intent to distribute - he just had a 'casual' amount on him. Because it's cocaine, it's a felony.

Warhol - you said my comments didn't apply to Bo. I think they do. Bo's not black - and he's apparently "middle class" (aka the class this government is doing its damndest to eradicate) - but he does not look like the privileged white yalie that Bush and his kind look like. A black kid caught with drugs is more likely to be arrested than a white kid, a white rocker kid with long hair is more likely to be arrested than a prep. And of course I am speaking in generalities, which are seldom ALWAYS true, but are true over all. Bo didn't do anything worse than someone 'trying' drugs - he just did not win the favor of the cop who decided to arrest him for something that someone luckier (richer, prettier, better connected) would have been slapped on the wrist for. It is still only possession he was charged with. Don't let the word 'felony' give you the impression that it was further along the continuum of drug use/abuse.

It's incredibly naive to think that casual use and a bust for felony possession are not in the same galaxy. They're the same damn latitude and longitude. If you think casual useage is fine, then you have no legitimate gripe against Bo (unless you think the crime is in getting caught). And I don't use the President as a 'two wrongs make a right' example - I used him to show the paralyzing hypocrisy of our system.

[Grisabella]

Originally Posted by Chach

I refuse to believe that anyone in the music industry has ever used drugs.

Yeah, when I read that a "rocker" may have used cocaine and/or pot, I was shocked! SHOCKED, I tell you! Just shocked

[MajiH]

Originally Posted by Chach

OK, I'm going through my music collection right now...Stone Temple Pilots, Jimi Hendrix, Ozzy Osbourne, Courtney Love, Snoop Dogg, Janis Joplin...I'm really sure none of these people have used drugs. I just can't believe these wild accusations you are making.

I've dated a musician, too - a super hot accordion player - and all we did was drink milk and cookies. There was always a lot of smoke in her van, but she said it was because her air conditioner was broken. I have no reason to doubt that.

I think I just peed myself.

[redsox girl]

Originally Posted by deblyn

Much like Scott's past didn't bother me, nor will Bo's. People make mistakes. Each of these men did something wrong, paid the price, and notified the producers of their pasts. Why can't America let dead dogs die?

because then america would have nothing to talk about. we are a country with way too much time on our hands in that entire websites such as the smoking gun exsist so that we can smirk, gawk and chatter on about the pasts of people who frankly aren't all that important in the scheme of things. I mean, come on, do i expect anyone to be perfect, no! how ludicrous for people to be all up in arms over Bo having made mistakes in his life, as if it's the craziest most outlandish thing- to have lived making the oaccasional mistake or two. Did he pay his dues? Yes. It's not as if he is suddenly a morally inferior human being who we must kep away from our children. I'm sure he really is a genuine, sincere, church going grandma loving soul we see on the tv screen- expect now he has a past- and that makes him real.
so now it's time to move along to the next train wreck...

[Blackshade]

Not surprised and not that bothered.

I do however wonder how Donnie Williams feel right about now. I think he definitely got a raw deal given that they kicked him off and kept Bo with his past. I just don't see the consistency in keeping one and booting the other.

[Broadway]

Originally Posted by redsox girl

Bono of U2. There I have defied you. Oh yeah, and me, I am a singer songwriter-and a damn good one, I don't do drugs. Guess I'm not authentic , though.
as for Bo, it's quite possible for people to be both good and bad- to have genuine qualities in which they love grandma and go to church and are sincere in those beliefs just as sure as they made mistakes.

Ahhh... but you're wrong, redsox girl. Bono has done drugs.

http://www.motherjones.com/arts/books/1989/05/bono.html

Q: Do you ever find intoxicants, including psychedelics, creatively useful?

Bono: I am already on drugs. I am the sort of person who needs to take drugs to make me normal. (laughs) I have experimented. No, I don't think that it is something that everybody has to do, one, just to be alive, or two, to write great songs.