The larger photo is Laura Goodearly's DUI mug shot from Duval County Jail in Jacksonville before her hire as deputy city clerk and eventual promotion to Acting Oak Hill city clerk/administrator. 

OAK HILL -- When a Jacksonville Beach cop pulled over Laura Goodearly for suspicion of DUI, he "immediately detected a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from her breath which she became stronger as she spoke."

It was early Sunday morning, just after midnight on May 16, 2004, in the 1700 block of 3rd St. in Jacksonville Beach that police officer David Keen observed Goodearly weaving in the driving lane and inside the parking line  in her 1997 Chevy Monte Carlo.

In pulling her over, the police officer also "observed the suspect's bloodshot/watery eyes and flushed facial tone. The suspect was immediately agitated and was extremely talkative."

Her state of agitation and talking too much have become her trademarks since being named acting clerk/administrator for the city of Oak Hill over the past seven months. Her tenure has rocked with controversy, from being combative with elected officials, the media and staff; to poor writing and speaking skills, to excessive gossipping and playing sides against each other. It's well established that she has used the dumpster at city hall to get rid of her trash -- beer cans and wine bottles. Her chemical dependency has followed her from that dark night when the night sky was lit up by the flashing lights of a police car and the stench of her breath causing the officer to take away her freedom -- at least for a night. 

Goodearly failed the field sobriety test and was arrested on a charge of driving under the influence of alcohol. Her car was towed and she was booked into the Duval County Jail and spent the rest of the night behind bars. She was later adjudicated guilty in court.

Goodearly's agitation reached a boiling point at last Tuesday's special City Commission meeting where she sparred with her perceived rival for power, embattled Police Chief Diane Young. She got into a shouting match with normally quiet City Commissioner Kathy Bittle, accused the online media of slandering her and drew the ire of Commissioner Doug Gibson for trying to justify interfering with police department operations by demanding to know who had given the media the dirty little secret on her DUI arrest and conviction. 

OIn Goodearly's insistence, Young was forced to have one of her sergeants check the driver's license computer system known as DAVID, because she believed the chief or one of her cops was the media snitch.

"That's the stuff that really gots to stop" Goodearly said, in her typical slang verbiage. Even her agenda posting on the city's website for the meeting was riddled with typos and improper phraseology: Here is butchered line she wrote on the April 18 agenda: "DISCUSSION AND DECISION OF THE PERSONNEL BOARDS RECOMMENDITION  REGARDING SARGENT MANUEL PREZE."

The word "boards" was missing an apostrophe; "recomenditon" should have been written as "recommendation;" the word "sargent" should have been written as "Sergeant" and "Preze" should have been written out as "Perez."