Arlington, Vt. ? Journalist Bill Moyers was charged with drunken driving after he left a friend’s birthday party, but has denied the accusation and vows to fight it.

“I intend to contest the charges,” Moyers said in a statement faxed Thursday to the Bennington Banner, which first reported the arrest.

“Not only was I observing the speed limit, but my companions my wife and two friends testified they had detected no signs of any problem with my driving, and that I appeared to be in full control of my faculties, as indeed I was.”

Moyers, 68, of Bernardsville, N.J., who served as special assistant to President Johnson and publisher of Newsday before turning to public television in the 1970s, was stopped by state police Saturday in the southern Vermont town of Arlington.

Moyers said he had just left a friend’s birthday party about 10 p.m., and admitted to the arresting officer he had drunk a glass of champagne and “a small amount of wine.”

According to Trooper Travis Kline, Moyers, who said he was staying at a hotel in Manchester, was stopped after he swerved repeatedly across the centerline of the road and had trouble negotiating a curve.

A roadside breath test showed Moyers’ blood-alcohol level at .10. The legal limit is .08. A follow-up test 90 minutes later showed Moyers’ blood-alcohol level had dropped to .079, which is within the legal limit.

Moyers, who is host of a weekly program on PBS called “NOW with Bill Moyers,” was ordered to appear in court Aug. 12 and released from the police barracks. Police did not immediately return a call for comment Friday.

In 1998, Moyers was host of a five-part PBS series on substance abuse called “Moyers on Addiction: Close to Home.”