BRENTWOOD, Tenn. -- Singer George Jones, a half-empty bourbon bottle beside him, was weaving down an interstate highway in a silver Cadillac bearing the cardboard license plate 'Possum 3' when he was arrested on drunken driving charges, police said Wednesday.
'I'm drunk. Take me to jail,' Jones told Brentwood Policeman Tommy Campsey after trying -- and failing -- to touch his nose with his finger in a sobriety test.
Jones, who goes by the nickname 'Possum,' got his wish and was hauled off to the Williamson County Jail after reportedly attempting to kick a television news cameraman who arrived at the scene to tape the incident. Jones was released early Wednesday after posting $500 cash bond.
The Tuesday night arrest was the latest in a series of Jones' problems with police. Jones, the Country Music Association's male vocalist of the year for the past two years, was recently arrested in Mississippi for driving under the influence and cocaine possession. He wrecked his car on the way to his Muscle Shoals, Ala., home the next day.
Jones, considered by country superstar Johnny Cash and others to have the best voice in the business, finished recording an album with Merle Haggard in Nashville last week.
Investigators said Jones, who burst on the national scene in 1955 with the hit 'Why Baby Why' and has since recorded more than 150 albums, was southbound on Interstate 65 south of Nashville about 7 p.m. CDT Tuesday when a state trooper spotted Jones' car and radioed Brentwood police for assistance.
Campsey said he fell in behind the Cadillac and the car was 'riding the center lane' at about 50 mph. In the rear window of the car was a hand-lettered sign reading, 'Possum 3' in large letters and 'plate stolen' in smaller letters.
The officer said he turned on his siren and flashing lights and followed for about two miles as the Jones car weaved across the road three times before pulling to the side of the interstate.
Campsey said Jones produced a driver's license but he was swaying, his speech was slurred, his eyes were bloodshot, he smelled of alcohol when he stepped out of the car, and a half-empty fifth of Jack Daniels bourbon was lying on the front seat.
'He told me he was drunk and he was glad I pulled him over before he killed somebody,' Campsey said.
A preliminary hearing for Jones was scheduled Wednesday morning but was postponed until June 16 because his lawyer was out of town.
Jones' stormy marriage to singer Tammy Wynette ended in 1975, and he underwent treatment for alcoholism and declared bankruptcy three years later. But he came back to win a grammy with 'He Stopped Loving Her Today' and said he made more money in 1980 than in all his 30 previous years as an entertainer.
