ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, August 12, 1996 TAG: 9608120084
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: MANASSAS
SOURCE: Associated Press
BETWEEN THEM, the men have 94 arrests for being intoxicated in public. If they're arrested again, they may face jail and a stiff fine.
Two men who were deemed in Prince William Circuit Court last week to be ``habitual drunkards'' represent the revival of a long-dormant procedure intended to help people with drinking problems, officials say.
Neither Gerald Fahrenwald, 49, nor John Dickerson, 48, appeared for their court hearings Thursday.
But they became subject to a possible jail term and $2,500 fine if they're arrested again.
Normally, public drunkenness is a Class 4 misdemeanor that brings a $25 to $30 fine.
But habitual drunkards are charged with a Class 1 misdemeanor and the higher penalties.
``The goal is not to lock them up and throw away the key, but to make sure they get the help they need,'' said Anthony Kostelecky, an attorney for the city.
Repeat offenders can attend alcohol-treatment programs in lieu of jail time, he said.
Fahrenwald, of no fixed address, was charged 43 times with being intoxicated in public in the last two years, according to court records.
Dickerson, who has lived in Falls Church and Stafford County but now has no fixed address, was arrested 51 times for being intoxicated in public and 22 times for offenses including petty larceny, assault and battery and failure to participate in a local offenders program, court records from the last two years show.
Alexandria has been actively enforcing the offense for about two years.
``There's no fear of the law. There's no respect for the law,'' Kostelecky said of habitual drunkenness.
``We're holding the specter of jail out where it wasn't before.''
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