Actor Mel Gibson was sentenced to three years on probation on Thursday after he pleaded no contest to a drunk-driving charge .
Gibson was pulled over by Los Angeles County sheriffs deputies last month while speeding in the seaside enclave of Malibu.
Gibson's arraignment was originally scheduled for September 28 but was moved up at the request of his lawyer.
The actor's attorney entered the plea on his behalf before Malibu Superior Court Judge Lawrence Mira in an agreement with prosecutors that keeps the star out of jail, said Deputy District Attorney Gina Satriano.
Gibson did not appear in court for the proceedings.
Under terms of the plea deal, Mira ordered the 50-year-old actor to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings five times a week for 4-1/2 months and three AA meetings per week for the remaining 7-1/2 months. Gibson also was ordered to enroll in an alcohol abuse program for three months and was fined $1,300 and his licence was restricted for 90 days. In exchange for his plea, two remaining charges were dismissed.
In addition, the star volunteered to make a public service announcement on the hazards of drinking and driving and volunteered to immediately enter rehab.
"This was an appropriate outcome which addresses all the public safety concerns of drinking and driving," Deputy District Attorney Gina Satriano said.

Pop punk PINK is the latest celebrity to jump to the defence of actor MEL GIBSON, Pink urges people to accept Gibson's judgement was impaired by alcohol She says, "I'm a fan of his work. I think anybody with opinions like that needs well-wishing. And I'm Jewish. Alcohol makes you do crazy things."

EDITORIAL PUBLISHED BY www.roanoke.com

Donald J. Stadler
Stadler lives in Roanoke County and is a semiretired management consultant.
With the spate of psycho-prattle about Mel Gibson's "alcohol abuse," I am compelled to share an experience in his defense.
That experience came through participation in a program developed in the early 1970s in Vermont while I was administrator of the state Department of Health. Our goal was to reduce driving under the influence-related accidents and highway deaths.
Alcohol, at the time, was a contributing factor in more than two-thirds of all highway fatalities in Vermont. We quickly discovered social drinking was not the problem, and our mission became getting "using," hard-core alcoholics off the road. Here's why:

• WE ARE A DIFFERENT PERSON WHEN WE DRINK. ALCOHOL AFFECTS NOT ONLY MOTOR SKILLS, BUT JUDGMENT, PERCEPTION AND ATTITUDES.
  It is not unusual for dark thoughts to come bubbling up out of our brain stem to wreak havoc in the cerebral cortex after a few pops.
  The staggeringly funny comment that occurred to us on sight of the officer's nose is, of course, inappropriate, but as the saying goes, "Well, it was New Year's Eve, and it seemed like a good idea at the time."
  That was Gibson.
  
• ALCOHOL AFFECTS BEHAVIORS AND PERFORMANCE, NOT JUST ATTITUDES.
  Everyone knows alcohol causes physical impairment of the reflexes, depth perception, visual acuity and psychomotor (muscle memory) dexterity.
  Oddly enough, for some people, one drink (BAC blood alcohol content of .01 to .02 percent) actually improves these things. Go figure. However, beyond .02 percent, everybody's skills decline.
  Studies in Vermont in the early 1970s proved conclusively that no one remains unimpaired at .10 percent and above. Gibson's BAC was .12 percent.
  
• Alcoholic attitudes and behaviors take practice to develop. Someone might be an alcoholic from his first drink, but it takes training to build up actual consumption.
  For most of us who drink, a BAC of .03 is about as far as we go, even if we drink daily.
  For most of us, a raucous evening out with the boys (or girls) will put us at .07 percent or .08 percent (think five drinks in two hours), and we get giggly and wake up with a hangover. However:
  Alcoholics are different physically. We begin to tolerate higher and higher BAC levels.
  Face it, alcohol, while not a poison in itself, produces poisons in the liver through chemical change of the alcohol. Most people cannot physically tolerate the chemical transformations of alcohol through the poison stages (as we burn off one drink per hour).
  It is safe to say that without significant physical conditioning to the poisons and by-products of alcohol, we would not be able to tolerate a BAC of .15 percent (think 11 drinks in two hours). We would be physically incapable of reaching .20 percent (16 in four).
  Alcoholics have physiologies different from most of us. The DUI educational classes I gave in Vermont were eye-openers for me.
  The average BAC for the class was always .21 percent to .24 percent. That takes practice.
  These people were no virgins. They were not people who had "just one too many" to drive. They were problem drinkers.
  
• PROBLEM DRINKERS ARE PEOPLE WHO DRINK BECAUSE THEY HAVE A PROBLEM OR HAVE A PROBLEM BECAUSE THEY DRINK.
  People who don't have problems either control their drinking ("My rule is two, and never more"), or they don't have to -- that means their natural body chemistry makes them feel uncomfortable after a drink or two and they automatically stop.
  Alcoholics, through practice, have ratcheted up that point of intolerance to where drinking almost always equals significant impairment. These people, we found, were the problem.
  
• ALCOHOLISM IS NOT A MORAL FAILURE, IT IS A DISEASE.
  It respects no social class, sex, age, income, religion, color, education level, IQ or family status.
  In Vermont, part of the program was the training and education of police and judges to deal with the highway problem at the root. Our answer was to steer convicted DUIs to the one program we knew worked: Alcoholics Anonymous.
  Yes, I feel sorry for Gibson. I can empathize. I am sure he, right now, is going through the "grief cycle" (denial, anger, grief, acceptance) that everyone in my classes went through or partially through.
  This may be a necessary part in dealing with the disease. There is no cure. After all, the alcoholic is learning he will have to put aside the one pal who was at his side through (in some cases) the loss of his family, job, friends and even his own self-respect. After two years of our Vermont program, highway deaths were down 25 percent. A lot of people stayed alive to have Sunday dinner with their families because we took people like Gibson off the road until they got well enough to drive again.
  When Gibson's clean and sober, we'll get a lot more swell movies. Let's just look forward to that and get off his case.
  

Tom Cruise has come last in a poll to find the celebrity people would most like to have as their best mate.
King Kong actor Jack Black topped the poll for Yahoo! Entertainment (UK).
The US star pipped Johnny Depp into second place followed by Will Smith and Samuel L Jackson.
Pirates of the Caribbean star Orlando Bloom, Brad Pitt and Mel Gibson all took joint fifth place.
Jack Nicholson was sixth, followed by Miami Vice stars Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx in joint seventh.
Tom Cruise limped into eighth place in the poll with just 3% of the votes.
Yahoo! Entertainment spokeswoman Jayne Cherrington said: "Good looks and fame may be important in Hollywood, but Jack Black has proved that in the real world people prefer someone who combines a larger-than-life personality with a sensitive side.
"Everyone has heard of Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson but obviously they`re not viewed as ideal `friend material` by people in the UK.
"Jack Black seems to be an all round favourite - someone who fans believe they can have a few beers and a great night out with as well as a guy who would be a good listener and a shoulder to cry on."
A total of 2,373 people were surveyed nationally.
The celebrities people would like as best mates:

• 1. Jack Black (25%)
• 2. Johnny Depp (22%)
• 3. Will Smith (18%)
• 4. Samuel L Jackson (7%)
• 5. Orlando Bloom (6%)
• 5. Mel Gibson (6%)
• 5. Brad Pitt (6%)
• 6. Jack Nicholson (5%)
• 7. Colin Farrell (4%)
• 7. Jamie Foxx (4%)
• 8. Tom Cruise (3%)
  

Rabbi David Baron's announcement this week that Gibson had officially declined an invitation to apologize before his congregation is untrue, said Alan Nierob, Gibson's publicist.
"Mr. Gibson hasn't declined any offers, as I haven't even discussed any offers with him. It's way too soon in his recovery, and frankly he is not interested in anything public or a photo opp.
"I was very clear when I spoke to the kind rabbi yesterday that I cannot even bring any requests to my client at this time, as it is inappropriate and too early in his recovery process. He completely understood my position on this and even offered to meet with my client at a later time if and when appropriate."
Nierob also rebuffed Baron for the manner in which he issued the invitation.
"I told him that the public nature of the request was also inappropriate," he said.

We hear that there are people who HAVE JUST REALIZED that they have finished shooting Apocalypto in Veracruz.
According to www.terra.es, Gustavo Sousa and Icon Productions are part of this absentminded troop Look at the following headline !!!!
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21-08-2006

MEL GIBSON CONCLUYO RODAJE DE APOCALYPTO EN VERACRUZ.
La filmación de la película Apocalypto, producida por el actor australiano Mel Gibson, concluyó su rodaje en el estado mexicano de Veracruz, informaron hoy autoridades locales.
El Secretario de Turismo y Cultura del Gobierno de Veracruz (Golfo de México), Gustavo Sousa, informó en un comunicado de que personal de la casa productora de la cinta notificó la culminación de la cinta tras un año de filmación.
El funcionario dijo que el equipo de producción expresó su agradecimiento por el apoyo dado por las autoridades y por la población.

Click below if you want to read the article.
CLICK HERE

THE POSTMAN

According to a famous British newspaper, Mel Gibson will leave rehab this week. Official confirmation of our recent report: "MEL GIBSON HAS FINISHED SHOOTING APOCALYPTO IN VERACRUZ". The news is spreading like wildfire. Headline in several newspapers !!!. Well, BETTER LATE THAN NEVER

We hear all sorts of rumours about birth of twins, bad omen...Obviously we´re talking about Apocalypto...um...we´ll have to investigate...

Escutter, the tapir that starred in Apocalypto, has a new house.
Mel Gibson has made the necessary arrangements for Escutter´s retirement. Gibson has donated a certain sum of money to a zoo in León (Mexico). From now on, they will look after the famous "star".
We don't know whether Escutter´s mansion will include swimming-pool and cable television.
Escuttter has refused to give MelMegafans an interview. We hear that his agent is negotiating an exclusive report with "Time" magazine.

Escutter´s new house has cost 250,000 pesos.
Escutter, who's an excellent actor, made his debut in Apocalypto last March/April.
The tapir spent fifteen days acting in a complicate scene in which he was the first course (in fact, he was the second course and third course too).
Apparently, the Mayas thought that the meat from a tapir had medicinal properties. By the way, this belief made tapirs lives a hell. Well, one day a certain guy, who wanted desperately to become a father and had heard that Escutter´s private parts were the solution to all his problems, decides to invite his friends to a very special barbecue on the rain forest …and they invent the Maya sushi.!!!
Mel's protégé will share his new mansion with two young married couples from Chiapas and Nicaragua (a bunch of spongers, Escutter´s guests are!!!).

A remake of "Fahrenheit 451" is on the way to be reborn under a new director.
Author Ray Bradbury, who turned 86 on Tuesday, hopes shooting will start within 18 months on a new version of "Fahrenheit 451," which was optioned years ago by Mel Gibson. Bradbury's novel about a futuristic fireman whose job is to burn books was made into a 1966 film directed by Francois Truffaut.