Mes relieved of duties pending outcome of trial

Prime Minister Said Musa has suspended Toledo West representative Marcial Mes from his duties as Minister of State in the Ministry of National Development. Mes, allegedly under the influence of alcohol, knocked down two pedestrians Sunday night as he drove through Forest Home Village on the Southern Highway. According to a government press release, “the decision was taken in order that his functions as a minister would not in any way impede the legal process.”

At two-thirty this afternoon Mes, in the company of his attorney Dickie Bradley, made an appearance at Punta Gorda Magistrate’s Court where he was arraigned on charges of Driving Without Due Care and Attention, two counts of Negligent Harm, and Failure to Provide a Specimen for Testing. Mes was offered and made bail in the amount of two thousand five hundred dollars plus one surety of the same amount. He is scheduled to reappear on February the twenty-seventh.

Meanwhile, doctors at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital are encouraged by the signs of improvement being shown by fifteen year old Samantha Romero and two year old Denver Gomez. Today, Gomez’s condition has been downgraded from critical to very serious, while Romero is now conscious and alert. Gomez, who suffered head injuries, is now responding to stimuli like touching and they are hoping that the young patient’s condition will continue to improve over the next twenty-four hours.

Romero broke her arm and leg and sustained injuries to the knee. Doctors are now awaiting the results of an examination to see if she can undergo surgery to repair the fractured lower limb.