The 26-year-old party girl - who is facing 45 days behind bar after being caught behind the wheel despite being banned for drinking driving - is backing an online petition set up by supporters saying she should not be jailed because she "provides beauty and excitement to our otherwise mundane lives".

But we at The Daily Telegraph Online believe the petition is an outrage and have started our own online poll to make sure she serves her time and sets the right example to her impressionable fans.

For years The Daily Telegraph has campaigned on the issue of road safety, demanding - among many positive measures - tougher sentences for offenders... particularly repeat offenders.

Far too many lives are lost and horrific injuries caused as result of reckless driving.

Recording Artists, Actors and Athletes Against Drink Driving also attacked the petition to get her off as a cheap stunt that could negatively influence young drivers who idolised the hotel heiress.

And RADD  Australia director Peter Rubinstein said the petition, which has attracted 7000 signatures, sent a dangerous message.

"The fact they are role models, everything they do is heavily put under the microscope by young people who will look at this and think, 'I'll drink drive and if I get caught I'll just try the Paris Hilton plea','' he said.

"Unfortunately, they may never get to appear in court, they could end up wrapped around a pole, or be taken out completely and that's the end of their life."

For Hilton's flunkies to appeal for her to be let off flies in the face of our stance. What kind of message would it show if the appeal worked - that IT girls can drink-drive then ignore their driving ban?

The petiton, for California Governor and former Hollywood tough guy Arnold Schwarzenegger, is endorsed by Hilton herself, who writes on her website: "My friend Joshua started this petition, please help and sihn (sic) it. i LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!"

Hilton has been sentenced to 45 days. It is hardly life, yet it would be enough to send a message not only to young and impressionable fans but, hopefully, also to Hilton herself - and maybe even inspire her to spread the word about road safety.

A fine would mean nothing to Hilton - she is rich beyond compare - and how hard, honestly, is sweeping streets a la Naomi Campbell or Boy George? Jail is the only answer.

In a message that went up Monday on her MySpace page, the hotel heiress writes (in her own spelling): “My friend Joshua started this petition, please help and sihn it. i LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!”

The petition, directed to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, asks that Hilton be pardoned from her sentence of 45 days in jail for violating the terms of her probation by driving with a suspended license. The punishment was handed down in Los Angeles Superior Court on Friday. An appeal has been filed.

“I urge all fans and supporters and all that are outraged by injustice to sign this petition,” writes Hilton.

 

Paris Hilton has rehired publicist Elliot Mintz - days after she fired him for “misinformation” which led to her jail sentence. After the two had dinner together last night, Mintz says, “I represent Paris and I’m proud to. We had a wonderful evening, we talked, and our media relationship resumes uninterrupted.” Hilton will begin her sentence on 5 June at a California correctional facility.
 

Paris Hilton met her fired publicist for dinner last night (May 07) to see if their relationship could be salvaged. Elliot Mintz confirmed he had parted company with the socialite in a statement on Sunday, but it seems Hilton has had second thoughts about her decision. Yesterday the publicist told internet blogger Marc Malkin he was hoping to patch things up with Hilton over dinner. Mintz told Malkin the split was “probably a bit premature,” adding he’s “very optimistic” that the two will reunite. He said, “We had a telephone conversation on Sunday night. It was a good and healthy exchange… I think the world of her.”

After the shocking announcement from last Friday that Paris Hilton would go to jail for 45 days, it's not too surprising to hear that the man that Paris holds partially responsible for getting her into this mess, her publicist Elliot Mintz, has been fired by the hotel heiress. Without a publicist, Paris Hilton has actually commented on the jail term on her own, describing her punishment as cruel and unwarranted.

On Friday, a visibly shaken and crying Paris Hilton was sentenced to 45 days in jail in a suburban Los Angeles lock up. A judge ruled that Paris Hilton had knowingly violated her probation when she got behind the wheel with a suspended license. At the hearing, Paris Hilton claimed that it was Elliot Mintz who told her that she was allowed to drive for work-related reasons. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Sauer rejected the claim that Paris Hilton thought she was allowed to drive and ordered her to turn herself in by June 5th.

Of course, the press mobbed the home of Paris Hilton over the weekend and, on Saturday, the hotel heiress and celebrity icon took the time to step out and speak to the photographers. Paris Hilton said, as quoted by Reuters, "I told the truth. I feel that I was treated unfairly and that the sentence is both cruel and unwarranted. I don't deserve this."

The Associated Press reports that, at the hearing, Paris Hilton tried to convince the judge that she only followed the orders of her publicist. Paris Hilton told the judge, when asked if she read the mail sent to her about the license suspension, "I have people who do that for me. I just sign what people tell me to sign."

Don't mark your calendars for June 5th yet. The attorney for Paris Hilton, Howard Weitzman, has already filed an appeal to try and get the sentence handed down to his client modified. Elliot Mintz, a legendary publicist who has represented John Lennon and Bob Dylan, took the stand to defend Paris Hilton, but, according to Reuters, his testimony was rejected as worthless by the judge. Mintz told TMZ on Sunday that he was deeply and profoundly sorry for giving Paris Hilton bad advice. He told the site, "Due to this misunderstanding, I am no longer representing Paris. For the record, I have nothing but love and respect for Paris and her family. Paris is a wonderful person and does not deserve the punishment that was handed down by the court. I only wish her my best."

A publicist spoke to the AP and claimed that the jail sentence will only make Paris Hilton more popular. Michael Levine told the news service, "It will actually increase her star appeal in a very sick and demented way. There's a segment of our society that's somehow engaged in the soap opera that is Paris Hilton, and this a very compelling plot line in the soap opera."

Another publicist, David Brokaw, echoed the sentiment that jail might be the best thing that could have happened to the career of Paris Hilton - "The premise of her fame is being naughty. This is a career move for her. It simply fuels the fascination. She can only win with this."

Paris Hilton's mother Kathy has hit out at a judge's decision to send her daughter to jail, branding the ruling "a joke." The 26-year-old socialite was sentenced to 45 days in prison by Judge Michael T. Sauer at Los Angeles County Superior Court on Friday, after she was found guilty of violating her probation on an alcohol-related reckless driving charge.

But Kathy, who joined the hotel heiress in court with her husband Rick, has voiced her anger at the shocking sentence, which was handed down to Paris for driving her Bentley with a suspended license in February.

She fumes, "This is pathetic and disgusting, a waste of taxpayer money with this nonsense. It's a joke."

Hilton's lawyer, Howard Weitzman adds the sentence was "uncalled for, inappropriate and bordered on the ludicrous". He says, "I'm shocked, I'm surprised and disheartened in the system that I've worked in for close to 40 years. I think she's singled out because of who she is."

Hilton will begin her jail stint at the Century Regional Detention Facility in Los Angeles County on June 5.

+17 Paris Leaving Court

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