After being charged with DUI for the second time in as many years, WLKY-TV news anchor John Boel has been fired from the station. According to a statement sent to colleagues, he plans to enter an addiction treatment center.
Last Saturday, police in Bullitt County pulled Boel over for allegedly operating a motor vehicle while under the influence and possessing an open alcohol container. He had a blood alcohol level of .207, more than double Kentucky’s legal limit. The was also a half full 24 ounce can of beer found inside the car, according to the police citation.
He is scheduled to appear in court on Nov. 19.
In 2008, Boel was arrested for driving drunk and possessing an open container in Shelby County, which resulted in his brief suspension from the station. Boel returned to the news channel where he co-hosted the morning and noon broadcasts.
In a telephone interview, WKLY president and general manager Glenn Haygood’s office confirmed that Boel is no longer with the station, but would provide no further comment.
After clearing out his desk, the award-winning investigative reporter expressed sorrow and apologized to his colleagues. On Tuesday, Boel told the newsroom — via a memo obtained by LEO Weekly — that he was entering a drug and alcohol rehab facility out of state for counseling and in-patient treatment.
From Boel’s statement:
By now you probably know I’ve been terminated. I have a serious illness that I clearly can’t control the way I’ve been trying. I was doing a lot better, but I blew up Saturday. So I’m heading up tomorrow … for in-patient treatment.
(SNIP)
Please don’t remember me by my bad decisions. When you’re in the conference room, look around at the mark I tried to leave. Have passion for what you do. Help each other get better. Question authority, and make a difference in viewers’ lives thru great storytelling like I tried to do.
I think the thing I enjoyed most at WLKY was watching colleagues on every level blossom in the craft of journalism. I am so lucky to have gotten to know each and every one of you, because you all have gifts. Keep using them. And finally, thank you for being kind to me, even when I didn’t deserve it.
11 Comments
As classy in defeat as he is in victory. There are many more victories ahead for this man.
Putting people’s lives in danger because you don’t know when to quit is hardly the definition of classy.
If any of you text and drive, you are just as bad. If not worse.
bad things happen to good people who use poor judgement, that does not make you a bad person.
I have always looked foward to watching John Boel both on the morning and evening news. It saddens me to know that i will no longer get to see him on the air again. I can’t imagine what this ordeal has been for his wife and kids. I know how cruel people can be sometimes when something a ordeal like this happens to people they know. I can only hope and pray that his family will be able to weather the storm that awaits them. I also hope and pray that John Boel will be able to come thru this storm with a new purpose in his life by letting others learn from poor choices that led him to the current status in his life now.
you reap what you sow
I always enjoyed watching John do the news. I hate what he did but I also know that so many others have done MUCH worse and never lost their job or suffered the public humility he has been forced to endure. Hopefully he will be given another chance to turn his life around. Him not being in Louisville is a LOSS for a city that can’t afford many more?
We all fall down and at some point in all our lives, we do things, that if we are not proud. Thank God, John did not physically harm anyone, (as far the public is aware.) The mental damage and anguish he has caused
for himself and family will always haunt him. I pray that he eventually can forgive himself. As for those that sit in judgement, be careul that no one throws a stone at your glass house. Think about it, if your “closet “was open to the public, what would we see? I wish John and his family a full recovery and hope the public is kind to his childen.
He’s a dramatic FAG.
Well he was good for the number 1 tv station in Louisville we all fall down sometimes but we get back up an go agen the one that called hem a fag was probley the one he cought in the park win he was doing a story on Guys crousing in the parks.well get this i mite be gay but i dont crouse the parks.He was the best news reporter in louisville.
Did not watch often. Obvious a very qualified news person.
Believe I see him now on WAVE. So we all fall down.
But, it is not a disease. Most of us just cannot handle alcohol.