Chronic drunk cost SF taxpayers at least $150,000 per year

"I do get caught for drinking out here every day," admits Kenny Walters. "I wish I had another beer right now." (San Francisco Chronicle)

Comments

[sometimesilie]

Snorghghh- I've had acquaintances who've said the same thing. The most notorious of which is now addicted to Jesus and lists himself as a "Republican" on FB. A less likely (R) I've seldom met...

[sometimesilie]

"He's off the Sauce and on the Jesus", we say

[ThePresidentOfTwelvepackistan]

This guy would be the perfect spokesman for Olde English 800.

[twerp]

Just reading that article left me feeling tipsy.

[MidtownCoog]

Hey, even us fancy guys drink 40 ouncers! Big, not always cheap, bottles of beer.

THIS IS WHAT I DO!

[MONKEY JERK]

LIVING HIS LIFE TO THE FULLEST

[NitroPress]

I can't figure how anyone habituated to alcohol could get passing-out tanked on just beer, even 5-8% malt liquor. Someone this rummy would have to drink it from a firehose to get unconscious.

I suggest he has organic problems other than alcoholism, or (as most of the SF street people seem to) mental illness exacerbated by small amounts of ethanol. Which means they should be doing something other than cycling him through the drunk tank.

Maybe next time he leaves Emergency without some valuable body part. Few trips like that and he either cleans up his act or ends it.

[jeez]

And he`s probably a helluva nice guy to boot. But lets face it, He`s a drunk. And will always be a drunk. Wonder what would happen to him if all alcoholic stuff dissapeared entirely. Die of the dilerium tremens? Or get a seat on the supreme court? And the answer is none of the above, just take him out back and put him to sleep. We can no longer afford to be altruistic.

[buddy]

misplaced compassion

[buddy]

misplaced compassion

[nellagain]

Pretty decent research regarding resource use--usu. I'm quite critical of such studies but Martinez clearly know what to count and why.

Nitro, the guy in the story is very likely closing in on liver failure. Although heavy drinking does result in a increased tolerance; over time (and not too long) the liver becomes really damaged and is unable to process the alcohol.

*Decreased* tolerance to alcohol is actually a signal that you have taken your liver behind the barn and hit with an axe.

The last paragraph is telling
"These guys show up in somewhat good health and then deteriorate," said Andrews. "Eventually we find them under one of the bushes in Golden Gate Park - dead."

[RockyMtnMac]

Ever notice these type of people say "That's how I am" as if that statement excuses all future behavior?
"I'm an Asshole. That's how I am"

[Torgo]

American's don't know how to be drunk properly. In other parts of the world there are fine traditions in alcoholism.

[NitroPress]

RMM: "A - SS - HO - LE, I'm an asshole!" (Gablessya, Denis Leary!)

Nellagain: You're probably right re liver failure. I hadn't thought of that. As someone with well above average tolerance of alcohol, I've always been amused by lightweights who can get sloppy stupid on a Bud or two. I'd never figured out how it works at the other end of the scale. Clearly, if your body doesn't process the ethanol very quickly, a small amount can stay in your bloodstream to keep raising hell.

[sometimesilie]

Monkeys at foreign oriented resort-hotels in what used to be called the 3rd world have been studied. The findings, those little bastards love to drink. BUT, they love to drink in roughly the same proportions as a similarly sized human population. Some are teetotalers, some are casual drinkers, and some are pass out on a picnic table drunks, complete with baby-monkey neglect and abuse of their peers. Seriously, it's true. Do monkeys have souls? I don't know!

Seriously, youtube drunk monkeys and sooner or later the program I watched will come up.

[NitroPress]

I do know that, despite it being the nearest city with an active, living culture, I pretty much refuse to visit SF any more. We had a subscription to Best of Broadway and took each of our kids in turn to some great shows, but having to walk through fields of passed-out drunks between the BART station and the theaters - and then explain the situation to young 'uns - pretty much turned us off the city. They need to grow the kind of brass balls that NYC grew a few decades ago.

[RockyMtnMac]

Nitro: Why don't you go drive your gas guzzler, with the baby seal fur covered headlights and whaleskin seat covers, solo in the commuter lane, tossing non-biodegradable Big Mac containers out your window while you're singing that song?

[twerp]

Damn STIL, I youtubed it and came up with 3750 hits.

[Charles Brobst]

So maybe they could do something to get him off the stuff permanently?
Jail would cost more than 150,000.
And Death Panels are so Republican.

[sometimesilie]

Sorry twerp. We found it on my last job when we got tired of playing wiffle ball. Now that I think about it we may have started with drunk + animals...

...ahhhhh, "Alcoholic Vervet Monkeys", A BBC production.

[sometimesilie]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSm7BcQHWXk

[sometimesilie]

RMM, care to join me for donuts in my Hummer after work?

(the driving kind, not the tasty kind, but you can bring those too if you agree to chuck the trash out the window, preferably into a watershed full of diabetic river otters. Damn their cuteness!)

Plan on dumping out an entire case of motor oil this time too.

[RockyMtnMac]

Cool! STIL and Nitro are Leary fans! I knew you guys were okay!
Yes STIL, I will join you. Naked and covered in lime jello 'cuz I might feel the need!

[stopeatingmysesamecake]

How about a Hummer in my donuts?

[sometimesilie]

RMM, I thought you were married!

[Dave]

If he a hotel room, then why doesn't the stupid twat drink in his room? Surely he can do whatever he wants in his own room? And then he wouldn't be bothering anybody. Has anybody suggested this to him? Or does this douche just enjoy making a spectacle of himself?

[RockyMtnMac]

I've been a Denis Leary fan longer than I've been married.
LOL

[sometimesilie]

Fair enough. =)

[Sigh]

I wonder if the city-subsidized hotel room has rules against possessing intoxicants on premises. That might explain his public drunkeness. More likely, this guy is just a douche.

[Phranqlin]

He's on the road to drinking himself to death. Sad. I'm also not sure why he doesn't just do it in his room watching the boob tube. It would reduce his chances of probable death #2: getting killed by a street thug or vehicle.

[David]

Most city properties have rules against drinking in them. I think it would be less of a problem if they just let them pass out in their rooms; less mess and less money cost overall.

[Farmer Bob and the City]

Sterilize him anyway.