While readers are left to wonder where the grown-ups were on the night of a graduation bonfire held on the property of Mille Lacs County Attorney Jan Jude, two friends of Bailey Hamilton emerge as common sense heroes.
In 'Sober cab' heroes may have saved their friend's life, Mille Lacs Messenger editor Brett Larson reports:
Charles Skogman, Mike Iler and Bailey Hamilton weren’t planning to attend Megan Kolb’s graduation party on May 26. Two days earlier they had graduated with Megan, who is the 18-year-old daughter of Mille Lacs County Attorney Jan Jude.
Charles heard another friend was having a bonfire with four or five people, and he asked if he could come.
At around 10 p.m., Mike Iler showed up after work.
When the host of the party told them about Megan’s bonfire, they decided to head over. Mike and Charles drove separate vehicles. Bailey Hamilton rode with Mike. . . .
Bailey brought along a bottle of vodka, Larson reports, and after awhile, started showing signs of intoxication:
At one point other kids were encouraging him to drink. “I don’t know who it was, but somebody was like ‘Chug! Chug! Chug!’ Then Bailey took a couple big swigs."
Before long, Bailey was drunk. “He was just stumbling,” Charles said. “He can’t stand up straight. He goes to the side, has to catch himself. He has to hold onto a truck. He couldn’t really talk that good.”
Since neither Skogman nor Iler had been drinking, they decided to drive their friend home. Hamilton passed out and vomited on the ride back. After Skogman woke Hamilton's parents, they decided to call 911 because of their son's dire condition.
Skogman's own father is proud of his son, Larson reports:
Charles heard that some kids were still partying when the cop showed up. They ran into the woods.
“People always run at parties,” he said. “I don’t drink at the parties, so I don’t have to run.”
Dean Skogman is proud of his boy. “We raised them all to do right,” he said. “He did the right thing. Me growing up, I’d leave that kid behind. He goes above and beyond to help people out. Today, that’s a good quality.”
Hamilton's father, a recovering alcoholic, is grateful:
“The doctor said he had literally minutes. I’m just thankful that his two buddies came in my house. If they would’ve left him on the lawn, we probably would’ve walked out in the morning and found him dead.”
Where were the grown-ups who own the property that night? Mille Lacs County Attorney Jan Jude told City Pages that she "had no knowledge of any of these events occurring on my property".
As Bluestem noted in After parent's 2010 acquittal, Mille Lacs County attorney urged adults to take precautions against underage drinking at graduation parties, it's possible that Jude forgot her own advice when it came to a party on her own property.
Editor Larson suggests on twitter that more news is coming out in tomorrow's edition of the weekly Mille Lacs Messenger. Major props again to a small town paper that has the fortitude to pursue a public safety issue involving a powerful county official--and to the parents and kids blowing the whistle on this one.
Photo: Charles Skogman, one of two thoughtful friends whose sober thinking may have saved Bailey Hamilton's life. Via the Mille Lacs Messenger.
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