Are We Home Yet? Asks Lawyer

Lawyer Found Lying in Trash Can Resigns Lucrative City Job

Jun 24, 2009
By Martha Neil

Larry Wilder did the right thing by taking a limo home after celebrating a friend's good news about passing a real estate licensing exam with a few drinks.

However, he didn't make it the final few feet to his door. Finding him lying headfirst, seemingly asleep, in a trash can at 7 a.m. on June 17, an elderly neighbor called authorities. The police walked Wilder home, filing no charges against him because he was cooperative, reports the Louisville, Ky., Courier-Journal.

However, the incident—which is documented in a photograph apparently taken by one of the officers on his cell phone and distributed via the Internet--has made the news because of the 48-year-old Wilder's $107,000-a-year contract position as municipal attorney for Jefferson City, Ind., according to the newspaper.

The city council was planning to hold a special meeting to discuss Wilder's future in the job, but he has forestalled any possible adverse job action by resigning, the Courier-Journal reports in another article.

"I was not driving," Wilder tells the newspaper, apologizing for the embarrassment he has caused his children, in particular. "It's a private matter, made public because I am a public person."

The 80-year-old who called police is also regretful, telling the Courier-Journal he didn't realize it was Larry Wilder who was lying in the trash can when he called police. Conrad Embry describes Wilder as a wonderful neighbor. "He musta just had one too many last night. Shame he had to sleep in all that crap," said the neighbor.

Kibitzers speculated the photo might be used as advertising for Wilder's law firm, if they represent DUI's. "You can't see his face so it could be any old drunk," said a man who refused to give his name because he might be deported to Hawaii or Tahiti.