More City stuff to be proud of...

Our wonderful City Council President decides to drive home drunk, with a .24 BAC.

"City Council president says what he did was "dumb"


Michigan City Common Council President Chuck Lungren was arrested early Tuesday on a charge of operating a vehicle while intoxicated.

Shortly before 2 a.m. Tuesday, Michigan City police said they stopped Lungren on Ninth Street after the car he was driving was spotted moving erratically.

After Lungren failed three field sobriety tests, Officer Robert Grant took Lungren, 54, who listed his address as 505 E. Ninth St., to the city lockup, where he spent the night.

During the traffic stop, Lungren cooperated fully with police. He agreed to take a portable breath test, which measured his blood-alcohol level at .24 percent, three times Indiana's legal limit of .08 percent, according to police.

Grant said he read Lungren the implied consent law, and Lungren responded that he understood it and agreed to take a chemical test to get a more accurate reading of his blood-alcohol level.

The test results measured .22 percent at the Michigan City Police Department.

According to police, Lungren was advised at the station that he was being arrested for operating a vehicle while intoxicated. He was also issued a warning ticket for improper lane usage.

Lungren stated later Tuesday morning that he knows what he did was "dumb."

"I have just moved into a new home and had been painting and working around the house most of the weekend," Lungren told The News-Dispatch. "It was late and I decided to stop. Then I went out to meet some friends and we had a few drinks."

According to Grant's report, he observed a white 2000 Lincoln at about 1:45 a.m. after it left Matey's Restaurant and Bar, headed south on Washington Street.

Grant said the car was swerving from one lane to another and that at one point was driving down the middle of the lane markers painted on the street.

After following the car for several blocks, Grant said, the Lincoln turned east onto Seventh Street, then to Spring Street, where it turned south. For a time on Spring Street, Grant said, the Lincoln drove in the oncoming lane of traffic.

The Lincoln then turned east onto Ninth Street, where Grant stopped it half a block from Lungren's home.

"I know I was not using the signals for the lane changes," Lungren said. "I know no one is above the law."

Lungren added that he would have his day in court and will face what is due him for acting irresponsibly.

Recently, Lungren has spearhead the campaign against the proposed waste transfer station planned for County Line Road.

In January 2004, his former wife, Cindy Rose Lungren, was arrested when Lungren filed a domestic battery charge against her.

In September 2004, shortly before the Lungrens' divorce was final, the councilman was involved in an investigation of a prowler around his wife's home and with making harassing telephone calls to her residence.

No charges were filed, and later all charges were dropped against his wife in the domestic violence incident."