School Board Trustee Joe Enge resigns after 2nd alcohol related arrest in CC

Frequently embattled school board trustee Joe Enge has submitted his letter of resignation to the Carson City School Board saying he’s let himself and the community down by failing to honor a promise he made that he would give up drinking…this after his being arrested for violating his probation conditions stemming from a DUI he committed last January. Enge blew a .174 blood alcohol test early this morning outside a residence on Muldoon.
Sheriff’s deputies were called to Enge’s home on Ridgeway after he’d gotten into a verbal dispute with a family member. As deputies arrived they were told that Enge had driven off with his 9 year old son in the car.

The car was located at an address on Muldoon. Enge was tested for alcohol and a breatholizer test showed him to be over twice the legal limit for presumed intoxication. Enge denied he drank prior to his arrival at the Muldoon address. However, a quick check with court records indicated that as a condition of his probation, he must not drink any alcoholic beverages and obey all laws or he’d be re-arrested and brought back before the judge. Final disposition in court is pending. Enge may be required to serve jail time for violating his alternative sentencing requirements.
After his DUI conviction stemming from being pulled over January 31 on Highway 50 East near Empire Ranch Road, his fellow School Board members voted unanimously to urge him to quit the board out of honor to Carson City school children and to the community. An obviously irritated Enge denied there were any grounds for his quitting, saying his DUI was a personal matter and that he would take care of it through quitting drinking and seeking alcohol abuse counseling.
Enge was also suspected of driving drunk two years ago when his car took out a fence while trying to negotiate a roundabout on Northridge Drive. Enge admitted to the accident several hours later but denied he was driving drunk at the time. Enge was cited for leaving the scene of an accident. Enge said he paid the neighbor to repair the fence. Deputies could not determine Enge’s condition at the time of the accident and so could not charge him.
Enge had two other DUI convictions before 1997, and was arrested on suspicion of of DUI in Lyon County. The Lyon County case was dismissed after Enge told the judge the breatholizer test was faulty because it failed to account for his wearing dentures.
Upon official receipt of Enge’s resignation, the School Board will announce a vacancy to the public and will interview those interested in filling the rest of Enge’s term which ends December 31, 2010. Anyone being appointed by the School Board would have to run for re-election in their own right by putting their name on the November, 2010 general election ballot.