I remember when President Gerald R. Ford pardoned President Richard Nixon.

I remember being pretty bothered by that. Seemed like Nixon was getting a pass for something that should have been adjudicated.

Over the years I - and most other people who think about these things - have come to realize that Ford's was the right decision.

The last thing the country needed at that time - we were embroiled in the scandal of Watergate and the quagmire of Vietnam - was a protracted trial and a series of appeals with regard to Nixon's alleged crimes.

At the time of the pardon, on Sept. 8, 1974, there already had been eight months of impeachment investigations by the Congress, forcing Nixon's resignation.

Here's what Ford said in Presidential Proclamation 4311, in granting a pardon to Nixon.

It is believed that a trial of Richard Nixon, if it became necessary, could not fairly begin until a year or more has elapsed. In the meantime, the tranquility to which this nation has been restored by the events of recent weeks could be irreparably lost by the prospects of bringing to trial a former President of the United States. The prospects of such trial will cause prolonged and divisive debate over the propriety of exposing to further punishment and degradation a man who has already paid the unprecedented penalty of relinquishing the highest elective office of the United States.

Honestly, can you imagine the list of subpoenas and witnesses for that trial? With all the inevitable motions, delays and legal wrangling, the Nixon legal proceedings would have taken years.

And it would have been years of front-page news coverage that would have further divided an already polarized America.

Ford knew this. He was wise in that regard. I - in high school at the time - was not nearly so wise.

There was something else Ford knew. He knew the Nixon pardon was political suicide.

He knew the Nixon pardon likely would preclude his winning re-election in 1976.

In fact, the pardon, I believe, weakened his political standing to the point that Ronald Reagan felt comfortable mounting a primary election challenge.

Ford won the primary and lost narrowly to Jimmy Carter in the general election.

So, basically, Ford - knowing his own political fortunes were at stake - made the decision he thought was right for America.

He was more of a statesman than I gave him credit for.

*****

While we're on the topic of adjudication, there is a local case that has me a bit puzzled.

On Dec. 13 a reportedly intoxicated man broke the glass out of the front door of Mad Anthony's Lake City Tap House in downtown Warsaw.

Witnesses say the man became belligerent inside the restaurant/bar and was asked to leave.

On the way out, he confronted another patron and was forcibly removed from the restaurant.

Once outside, with the door locked behind him, the man began beating on the front door, shattering the glass.

Shards of glass flew inside, cutting a bartender's tongue, face, mouth and neck. The bartender needed three stitches in his tongue.

After breaking the glass, the unruly patron reached inside and tried to unlock the door. None of the witnesses accounts are in dispute.

Our story on Dec. 14 noted that police were seeking warrants for his arrest.

The warrants would come from the Kosciusko County Prosecutor's Office, where the suspect in the case happens to work as an assistant.

A couple days after the incident, noticing the suspect hadn't been arrested, I called and spoke to a deputy prosecutor.

He explained that in cases where there is an injury - the suspect cut his hand - the police take the suspect to the hospital for treatment instead of to the jail.

There are forms to be filled out and charges are filed later.

That's to keep the county from incurring medical costs because the county becomes liable for people who are housed in its jail.

That sounded routine and fair to me.

But we still haven't seen a booking on this guy. I called the prosecutor's office this week. The deputy I spoke to had the week off and the prosecutor was in court so I didn't get an update.

Now, I'm not alleging any impropriety here, and maybe this kind of delay is normal. (Although I've seen plenty of cases where injured drunks are nabbed the minute they walk out of the hospital.)

But it just seems odd to me - and, apparently, to a number of readers who have called in - that more than two weeks have passed and this guy still has not been charged.

Frankly, if I was running the prosecutor's office, I would have pinched him as soon as possible. [[In-content Ad]]