America has a definite contender for the title of Moron of the Century: Andrew Speaker of Atlanta, Georgia.
Speaker, yet another lawyer competing for the honor, is the idiot who recently trotted around the globe on his honeymoon after learning in January that he had a dangerous strain of infectious tuberculosis.
Also vying for the honor is his new father-in-law, Robert Cooksey, a Center for Disease Control microbiologist specializing in TB and other bacteria.
Dr. Cooksey knew Speaker had the deadly disease and gave him only “fatherly advice,” which did not include the admonitions: “Stay away from my daughter and don't mingle.”
Speaker, under lock and key in a Denver, Colo. hospital since May 25, is the first person to be federally quarantined since 1963.
Speaker, a personal-injury lawyer, and his bride returned to America after a mid-May marriage and honeymoon that included two trans-Atlantic flights and four shorter hops in Europe.
Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of persons may have been exposed to the infectious bacteria in the United States, Canada, Greece, Italy and other European countries.
The delicious irony: Speaker could be sued for negligently transmitting an infectious disease. He’ll need a good attorney. (10 JUNE 2007)
