THE former president of the Albury Rotary Club has handed control of his bank accounts to his wife and daughter to control his drinking problem and confined himself to “boot camp” at his Walla property, a court was told yesterday.
Police stopped John Stanley Newton, 61, in Lavington in October with a blood alcohol level more than four times the legal limit.
The family of the former senior executive had called police “for his wellbeing” before he was pulled over.
He was on his way home from The Albury Club after a Rotary function on Friday, October 26 when pulled over on Union Road.
He was yesterday sentenced in Albury Local Court to a 12-month suspended jail term and had his licence disqualified for 15 months.
A pre-sentence report said Mr Newton had been a heavy drinker for 12 years but was showing signs of recovery and had not drunk alcohol in recent weeks.
Mr Newton resigned as president of the Rotary Club after the charge and said he deeply regretted the embarrassment he had caused his family.
Police said there was an open long-neck beer bottle in the centre console of his blue Holden Rodeo when he was pulled over. He had a blood alcohol reading of 0.210.
Magistrate Megan Greenwood said the offence was aggravated by the fact his reading was so high, he had been convicted of drink-driving before and he intended to drive 40 kilometres.
She said despite heavy spending on drink-driving campaigns, there were still those who hadn’t got the message.
She said if Mr Newton was convicted again there would be no lenience.
“Should you offend in any way in the coming 12 months no-one will stop you going through that door to jail,” she said.
Mr Newton said he was now confined him to home, his own boot camp.
