Be the best at what you do (a dubious honor)

Whatever you do, make sure you do it better than anyone else. I’m doubting this is the all-time record, but hey ….

When they got Meagan Harper to the hospital, her blood alcohol level was .55 percent — about seven times greater than Oregon’s legal limit for driving.

“You just don’t see numbers that high,” said Dr. Mohamud Daya, an Oregon Health & Science University associate professor and emergency room physician.

At that level, some people are so drunk they stop breathing, he said.

Harper has drunken driving convictions in Washington and Multnomah counties and was convicted in Wasco County of operating a boat while intoxicated, said Ryan Chiotti, deputy district attorney in Clackamas County. He said she is on probation for driving under the influence and is awaiting trial on another drunken driving charge next month.

A Clackamas deputy found her passed out in a car at a pizza restaurant on Nov. 28.

Judge Gilroy, for the record, did tell Ms. Harper to get help. And we should hope she finds it, because it seems a rather dubious title to be the Most Dangerous Drunk in Three Counties.

A nod, of course, to the Associated Press and Seattle Times.