Fallen idol Fallen idol (March 05, 2004)

Show drops local contestant after DUI
by Teresa C. Brown

Liquor and a speeding car added up to dashed hopes for American Idol participant Donnie Williams, featured in last week's Pleasanton Weekly. Williams was ticketed for speeding and for driving under the influence of alcohol Feb. 23 by police as he was driving on I-680 after leaving a celebration held in his honor.

By that Thursday, the Fox television program "American Idol" had changed its sweet tune and dropped Williams from its talent show competition, promptly removing his photograph and biography from its Web site. Williams, a Safeway employee, had been scheduled to appear on the March 2 broadcast of the nationally televised program.

Winning the "American Idol" contest is out of reach for now for Williams, a 20-year-old Livermore resident, but he said on Tuesday, "I'm OK. I'm doing better."

"Police said I was doing 100, but the car I was driving could only go 85," he said, explaining that he was driving his sister's 1995 Ford Taurus.

In addition to speeding, Williams said he was ticketed for a 0.08 percent blood alcohol concentration. In California, the legal limit for adults over 21 years is 0.08 percent.

The DUI was sobering for Williams. In the days before the incident, Williams had visited many local schools, including Amador Valley High, Alisal Elementary and Granada High. To those students, he said, "I'm sorry that it happened and for their feelings that I let them down." He added, "I'm not a bad person."

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