Last updated on 2013.09.19
Well, Ron Volesky won't be joining the primary against Kristi Noem... or running for any other office again, ever:
A Huron defense lawyer and politician will spend three days in jail for assaulting an elderly woman with a belt last summer.
Ron Volesky is a former state legislator who ran three times for attorney general and sought an appointment to the South Dakota Supreme Court this year. He pleaded guilty Friday morning at the Beadle County Courthouse in Huron to one count of simple assault.
Judge Rodney Steele, a retired Brookings judge, sentenced Volesky to 33 days in jail with 30 suspended on the condition he pay a $500 fine and participate in the 24/7 sobriety program for one year [John Hult, "Volesky Gets Jail Time for Elder Assault," that Sioux Falls paper, 2011.12.02].
Getting drunk and beating an old lady: that just doesn't come off one's political résumé. That doesn't mean Volesky Law Office in Huron will be closing: lawyers automatically lose their license for felonies, but simple assault is a misdemeanor. So Volesky can keep his day job. But it does suggest that you better think twice next time Ron invites you over for a drink.
First Schmidtke, now Volesky... I wonder: does my inclination to back underdogs put me at greater risk of picking guys who commit crimes against old folks?
The Republican spin machine must have a sprocket loose, noting Volesky's crime with mere question marks about his political viability. Perhaps the three-time candidate for attorney general simply doesn't warrant much assault from the propaganda machine. But I'll knock those question marks off. Volesky's done.
Perhaps Dakota War College holds fire because, arguably, Volesky was done in as much by booze and temper as by the hyper-regulatory nanny-state. The fact that Volesky belted this old woman in July came to the attention of the courts thanks to a new regulation (Senate Bill 14, passed unanimously last winter) requiring doctors, nurses, long-term care providers, counselors, cops, and many others to report suspected instances of elder abuse to their local state's attorney. Failure to report is a Class 1 misdemeanor, just like whacking an old woman with your belt.
Keeping Mr. Volesky, and his family, in my prayers.
"Old Lady"? Year younger than me and same age as my wife. She isn't thrilled with hearing "Old Lady".
Oh, the ageism of it all.
Sorry to hear about this anyway. Another example of what alcohol does to ruin brains as well as livers..and lives. Liquor taxes should be about 10 times what they are now and that might repay some of the unnecessary social costs produced by an unnecessary business and influence group. While our extremely honorable legislature is at it, they should increase the booze taxes to cover about 50% of our vehicle insurance to partially cover those unnecessary social costs we all incur to make it possible for a few conscienceless people to make a living on other's addictions.
My regrets to your wife, Doug... but over 65 is old! My folks are in that same category, and I recognize they are both codgers now. :-)
But I'm right with you on booze tax. Stiffen the fines for intoxication as well.
CH,
Once you get to 50, have been married 25 years, and can remember being 35 like it is yesterday, 65 is just a tomorrow away.
Erin and I are heading for ten years married next May. That still feels like yesterday.
"Once you get to 50 . . . and can remember being 35 like it is yesterday, 65 is just a tomorrow away."
I haven't been married 25 years, but I fit the above criteria and I'll consider myself old at 65.
I'm probably committing philosophy without a licence, but it does strike me that Americans' refusal to accept aging and being old involves a rejection of the value of the wisdom that comes with age.
I firmly believe old age and treachery defeats youth and skill every time.