A former Chatham-Kent councillor is accused of driving while impaired.
Police say an officer stopped a car on Chatham St. S in Blenheim just after midnight on Thursday and allegedly detected an odour of alcohol on the driver’s breath. The officer believed the man was driving while under the influence of alcohol. The driver was arrested and taken to the police station for breath tests.
Art Stirling, 55, is charged with having a blood alcohol concentration exceeding the legal limit.
Stirling is currently a committee co-chair of the Friends of the New Animal Shelter and also served as the executive director for a Chatham-Kent children's charity for just over six years until 2015.
He unsuccessfully ran for a third term as a Chatham-Kent councillor in the 2014 municipal election after eight years on council.
Stirling is to appear in court November 29.
Update: April 24, 2019
Arthur Stirling -- who was originally charged with driving with a blood alcohol concentration over 80 milligrams -- pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of careless driving on April 23, 2019 and has been fined $800.
He has 90 days to pay the fine, plus a $125 surcharge.