my two cents on Billy W. Welch

The DEA agents were lying about why they stopped Marco Thomas' car. I assume they had a tip and didn't want to give up the identity of their informant.

DEA agents stopping a car for "erratic" driving? One that just happens to have half a pound of crack cocaine? Puh-leaze.

I have some Fourth Amendment sympathies with Billy Welch and Thomas. Although Thomas is somewhat more sympathetic a figure since he's the one the feds are still prosecuting.

But back to Billy Welch.

I'm not arguing the guy should be in prison, but I will argue that he should not be hired in a school district that has trouble with hoodlum behavior up to and including shootings.

If Billy Welch's only legal problems were when he was 24 years old and younger, I could see excusing them as "youthful indiscretions".

But it hasn't been a full twenty-four months since his crack cocaine bust when he was 29 years old.

Billy Welch's advocates will argue he wasn't convicted. They may even believe that he was in the car and ignorant of the drugs, gun and money. But the arrest tells us a couple things about Billy Welch.

1. His hoodlum days aren't behind him. Or at least they weren't as of September, 2003.
2. Even if his relationship with Marco Thomas was social and not business, we know that Billy Welch hangs with drug dealers.

Here's the choice. Who do you hire to be a custodian at Proviso?

a. the guy you know hangs with drug dealers
b. somebody that doesn't hang with drug dealers to the best of your knowledge

Chris Welch can argue that Billy Welch wasn't convicted. But the threshold for getting a job should be higher than "did you beat the rap last time you were arrested?"

As a number of people have observed, the $46,000+ starting salary suggests this position isn't going to be hard to fill with someone who isn't a hoodlum and doesn't hang with drug dealers.