County attorney charged with DWI
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on April 22, 2016 1:46 PM
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Borden Parker
Wayne County Attorney Edwin Brownrigg Borden Parker -- better known as Borden Parker -- was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated in Wake County on Wednesday.
Parker was allegedly driving drunk when he hit a gate at the Wake County Courthouse. His blood alcohol content level was reportedly 0.2.
Parker's bond was set at $1,000, and he then posted bond and was released.
He was arrested by officer R.A. Copersito with the Raleigh Police Department at the Wake County Courthouse, where the incident occurred.
Parker's first appearance in Wake County court will be on May 27 at 2 p.m.
This is not Parker's first DWI charge. He was charged with a DWI in January 2009, when he was stopped doing 60 miles per hour in a 35 mile per hour zone on George Street in Goldsboro at 1:30 a.m. in the morning.
At the time of the 2009 charge, he blew a 0.16 blood alcohol content level. Parker pleaded guilty to the 2009 DWI charge and was sentenced to 12 months unsupervised probation, 24 hours of community service and paid a $25 fine.
The county attorney serves at the pleasure of the Wayne County Board of Commissioners.
The board will stand by Parker and will hold off on any decision about Parker's future as county attorney until the legal process has run its course, Chairman Joe Daughtery said.
Until then it is premature to speculate as to what action the board might take, he said.
"We are all aware of the story, and the charges that have been made," Daughtery said. "Mr. Parker, in my three and a half years being on the board, I have grown very dependent upon Mr. Parker as well as the rest of the board in regard to advising us legally on matters concerning things with the county.
"He has been our chief legal counsel. He has just done an exceptional job in providing advice and undoubtedly performed his duties very professionally. With that said, in speaking with the other members of the board, we have decided that we are going to allow the legal process to proceed, allow Borden the opportunity to defend himself in court as we would expect that of any of our neighbors, to give him some opportunity to make a legal defense."
Daughtery said he is sure everyone is concerned about anyone who drives under the influence and that commissioners are very cognizant of that.
"But at the same time we feel like that we need to stand by somebody who has stood by this county for all of these years and allow him to defend himself," Daughtery said.
Once the case has moved through the legal process commissioners can make some rational decision going forward, he said.
"I spoke with Borden today (Thursday)," Daughtery said. "He profusely apologized for any embarrassment he has caused to not only Wayne County, but the board of commissioners. We stand behind him and ask that he have his day in court."
But commissioners will continue plans to hire a staff attorney to help handle the county's growing legal issues meaning a need for constant legal advice, Daughtery said.
Commissioners first discussed such a move at the board's planning retreat. It was discussed again this past Tuesday during a review of the goals that grew out of that retreat.
It will be included in the county's budget for fiscal year 2016-17 that begins July 1.
"We may accelerate that some, or we may not," Daughtery said. "We will just have to see how thing move forward over the next few months."
Parker graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1966, and graduated from the university's law school in 1969. He then spent four years in the United States Army Judge Advocate General Corps, and afterward returned to Goldsboro as a solo practitioner of law until 1978 when he joined the law firm currently known as Baddour, Parker, Hine and Hale.
Parker has been the Wayne County attorney since 1975, and is also the attorney for Greene County. He has served on the Salvation Army Advisory Board, the Wayne County Chapter of the American Cancer Society and is an elder in the First Presbyterian Church.
News-Argus Staff Writer Steve Herring contributed to this report.