McVee dumped
Town fires highway worker



NEW SCOTLAND – Gary McVee, a town highway worker for 18 years, was fired after losing his commercial driver’s license following a December 2005 drunk-driving arrest, the last in a series of arrests.

The town board voted unanimously to dismiss him after meeting in executive session last Wednesday.
McVee, 58, of Voorheesville, "stupidly, immaturely, and ignorantly" got into his Chevy Camaro on Dec. 10, 2005 after drinking, he told The Enterprise.

Court records indicate that McVee was pulled over by the Albany County Sheriff’s Department after his vehicle crossed the double yellow line on Route 85 A in New Scotland.
The arresting officer testified in New Scotland Town Court on Jan. 21, 2006, that, when he asked McVee if he had been drinking, McVee responded, that he had had "three whiskies." The officer also testified that McVee failed field sobriety tests, and registered a positive reading on an alcohol pre-screening device, according to the records.

A blood alcohol test administered at the patrol station following McVee’s arrest recorded a .22 percent blood alcohol content, more than twice the legal limit, the records show.
McVee testified that he crossed the double-yellow line because "the normal travel lane was partially blocked by two, possibly three police cars which were in the process of conducting a routine traffic stop of another vehicle," court records say. The officer pulled out from the side of the road, in front of McVee, and then made a U-turn, passing McVee heading in the opposite direction as McVee passed the other stopped vehicle. The officer then made another U-turn, and was then following McVee, and "immediately turned on his lights," according to McVee’s testimony.
McVee’s position, the documents say, is that the officer "never followed him for a distance," and wouldn’t have seen him cross the yellow line.
"The court accepts the Arresting Officer’s version of how this arrest took place," the records say.
On Feb. 21, 2007, McVee’s commercial driver’s license was suspended "for at least one year," court documents say.

Town’s role

The town board, after multiple executive sessions on the matter, decided unanimously following its Feb. 21 meeting that McVee should not continue in his position as an Operator 1 with the highway department, Supervisor Ed Clark told The Enterprise.

The town’s employee policy manual states that all highway-department employees, with the exception of clerical staff, must have a valid commercial driver’s license, Clark said.
"I am in no way carrying any personal animosity toward any board members," McVee told The Enterprise this week.
"I don’t think the punishment fit the crime," he said. "I made a stupid mistake."
"I can drive all town vehicles except dump trucks," he said. His conditional license allows him to drive vehicles that don’t require a CDL to operate.

McVee was suspended without pay by the town on Jan. 29, he told The Enterprise. "I was, of course, very concerned," he said of the prospect of losing his job.
"When you lose a $37,000-per-year job, that hurts," McVee said. "It hurts more than just me" I have three children."

McVee is going to apply for the Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP), and for food stamps, he told The Enterprise.

Highway Superintendent Darrell Duncan was McVee’s direct supervisor. He told The Enterprise that he was uncomfortable commenting on McVee. "Anything that has to do with him is a personnel issue, and a matter of privacy," Duncan said.

Previous arrests

McVee had been arrested on numerous other occasions, according to court documents on file at the New Scotland Town Court.
He was first arrested in December, 1970 by the New York State Police for burglary: illegal night entry with criminal intent, a Class C felony. The April, 1971 disposition was "dismissed or acquitted," the papers say.

McVee said that the morning of that arrest, he had attended the funeral of a 17-year-old friend who had died of an inoperable brain tumor. He and a friend went to the Catholic church to light a candle in his memory. The church was locked, and they knocked on the door of the priest, who called the police on them.
"We weren’t breaking and entering or anything, we were saying a prayer for a dead friend," McVee said.

He was then arrested in July, 1974 for reckless driving, a misdemeanor. The charges were withdrawn in Berne Town Court.

He was arrested in January of 1985 by the Albany County Sheriff’s Department for assault with intent to cause physical injury, a misdemeanor; driving while intoxicated, first offense; and driving with a blood-alcohol content of .10 percent or greater, first offense. He was convicted in New Scotland Town Court in May of 1985 after pleading guilty, and his license was revoked.
He enrolled in a drinking and driving class, "passed with flying colors, and got my license back," McVee said.

Court papers also show arrests in 1999 and 2001, but there were no records for those dates.

In the state of New York, after 10 years, the slate is wiped clean of drunk-driving charges, McVee said, so his 2005 arrest was treated as if it were his first offense.
He said he is currently taking a drunk-driving class, and admits that it was "stupid" to drive while intoxicated.

McVee is unsure where he will go from here, but he hopes to apply for a job in the town parks department, which does not require a CDL license, he said. That job will be open in April.
"He would be eligible to re-apply" for a job within the highway department when he gets his license back, Clark said of McVee. He said he is unsure of what sort of recommendation the town would give McVee for any jobs he may apply for outside of the town. That would be a decision for his supervisor, Clark said, referring to Duncan.
"I feel that Mr. Duncan was discriminatory against me for the length of time that he has been the department head," McVee said of his supervisor. "We did not see eye to eye on a lot of things related to the highway department."

Duncan did not return a call to The Enterprise late yesterday to respond to the allegation.
Everyone working for the town "should be subjected to the same punishment as me if they are in violation of town policy," McVee said.