Gilligan's Mary Ann: drug convict

I can't make this up. Dawn Wells, who played the plain-jane Mary Ann as a wholesome counterpoint to Tina Louise's Ginger Grant starlet in the old Gilligan's Island television series, has been convicted of marijuana possession after two half-smoked joints were found in her car last October.

Kinda funny on the surface. But I lost my smile as I continued reading. Seems she failed a sobriety test after she was pulled over. This snippet, blatantly stolen from an article in the New York Times, speaks volumes about how regular folks continue to pooh-pooh drunk driving:

[Wells' lawyer, Ron] Swafford also said several witnesses were prepared to testify that Wells had very little to drink at the party and was not intoxicated when she left. He said she was swerving on the road because she was trying to find the heater controls in her new car.

Yup, because we should all be surrounded by friends willing to lie on our behalf so we can get off when we're hauled in for driving under the influence (DUI). I guess celebs really do have a different legal standard, as the DUI charge was ultimately dropped. I think I need a shower.

Your turn: Let's talk about DUI, shall we? Does her friends' behavior scare you? More importantly, perhaps, does this swing the young-male-lustometer back into Ginger's favor? Has the bloom finally worn off the Mary Ann rose?

One more thing: The National Post is running this story, Investigation threatens RIM's India market (alternative link here.) Someone you know has been quoted in it. Even cooler: the writer, David George-Cosh, has a blog of his own, Strangehold. Great reading, and a must-have in your RSS feeds list.

CBC Radio in Montreal interviewed me yesterday morning on this topic as well. Very cool stuff!

Oh, almost forgot. Here's what I said in the National Post piece:

"It's dicey at the best of times, but that's the cost of doing business in a place like India where [there is] government intervention and telecommunication dwarves our own market," said Carmi Levy, senior vice-president of strategic consulting for AR Communications Inc. "It makes Canadian government intervention look like child's play."

[Snip]

"Companies like RIM can't assume that governments outside of North America will take a hands off approach to allowing their technology to be used in the market," said Mr. Levy.