DUI On AA Co-Founder's Lawn: Man Arrested For Driving Onto Bill W's Vermont Home
How’s this for irony. A man was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol after he allegedly drove his car onto the front lawn of the onetime home of Alcoholics Anonymous co-founder Bill Wilson, thinking the historical site in East Dorset, Vt., was a parking lot.
The man, 55-year-old Donald Blood III of Marlboro, Mass., is scheduled to appear in Bennington criminal court Jan. 14 because of the Christmas Eve incident, the Rutland (Vt.) Herald reported.
The AA co-founder’s property, known as The Wilson House, was the site of a police investigation after Blood allegedly drove his car onto the front lawn, Vermont State Police said. Authorities said their investigation determined that Blood thought the site was a parking lot.
Blood was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol, Vermont State Police Trooper Christopher Burnett told the Herald.
Wilson, aka Bill W., was born in the East Dorset home in 1895. He co-founded AA with Bob Smith in the 1930s and abstained from alcohol for 37 years until his death in 1971 at age 75.
Wilson’s home, located a mile from the cemetery where he is buried, was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995.
“The Wilson House has been lovingly restored and is being maintained as a living memorial to Bill W., as a place of sanctuary where people can come to give thanks to God for their new lives,” according to the Wilson House website.
The home still holds AA meetings, the Associated Press reported.
The Wilson House includes 14 guest rooms and a small apartment for overnight guests, according to its website: “The peaceful, quiet spirit of the Wilson House is conducive to prayer, meditation, reading or just ‘being.’ In the spring, summer and fall months -- sitting on Bill’s front porch is a real treat. Relax and enjoy yourself with old friends and make new friends.”
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