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Frawley speaks; a tip for the next UMW prez; when the dominatrix is away

Date published: 5/26/2007

By Paul Akers AFTER SERVING as governor of West Virginia, William Marland resurfaced fewer than 10 years later, in 1965, driving cab in Chicago--a descent he ascribed to alcoholism. Marland's fall, however, lacked the dramatic jolt delivered by William Frawley, a sort of human Hindenburg.

Whatever the source of Frawley's plummet--despite his back-to-back arrests on DUI charges, the bottle may have played no role in his woes; some physical conditions can cause disorientation and mimic drunkenness--I wish the former president of the University of Mary Washington a kinder fate than that suffered by poor Marland. It was he, by the way, who peacefully integrated the Mountain State's public schools with the simple announcement "West Virginia will obey the law." What a concept.

Because Frawley has made almost no public statements since the extraordinary occurrences of April 10-11, or even hinted at the circumstances of those self-destructive 48 hours, inquiring minds are left to try to deconstruct his rare published communications. One was a May 16 letter to this newspaper decrying its coverage of an incident 20 years ago in Delaware in which he pulled a knife on a man who, Frawley says, was stalking his wife.

It's hard to picture the tweedy Frawley as a Jet out of "West Side Story," but I accept his account of the altercation. David Niven, the picture of irenic refinement on the Big Screen, had seen World War II service as a British commando. Before his comedic career took off, Bob Hope broke noses as a professional boxer. I worked for an editor who dropped a right hand on the noggin of a nut who, set off by a perceived driving slight, had followed my former boss off the beltway and up his own driveway. (No charges stuck in that one, either.) People are often more than one thing.

My objections to Frawley's letter lie elsewhere. Playing the Lemony Snicket card, he calls the Fairfax County and Fredericksburg pinches "unfortunate events," the Delaware fracas an "unfortunate episode." This is not only mincing tea-party talk; it is the sly language of victimhood, intended, I guess, to change the speaker from actor in the drama to mere prop--as though driving erratically around town on three tires is just bad luck, like being hit by lightning.

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Date published: 5/26/2007

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