Traffic Court, Usury, Bham News and Dekalb County Alabama
Back in late March I contracted pneumonia. I toyed with it for three weeks and didn't get any better. My sister showed some hospitality and I went to Upstate South Carolina for three weeks till I turned the corner on my ordeal, watched the Tsarnaev Brothers and the Boston Marathon and came back to Alabama on or around May 5.
For about six weeks it did not dawn on me my car tag had expired. Make that a couple months as I met Governor Bentley in July in Ft Payne and I think the authorities reminded me in Ft Payne between the Library and 2nd Baptist church. I thought I was getting a warning but it turned out to be a 200 dollar fine. I went to the registrar as instructed thinking some sensible person would show some mercy and understanding re pneumonia and near flawless record as a citizen in Alabama for 25 years. As soon as I could make the trip to Ft Payne to get my tag renewed I did so and paid the customary 15 dollar fine in addition to renewal fee.
About three weeks ago I went to traffic court where the judge refused to hear my plea about pneumonia and solid citizenship. The fine was discarded but in a catch 22 I was hit to three dollars less in court fee or about 197 dollars. Penalty for paying on time was thirty five dollars, an amount I think the Old Testament of the Bible would call usury.
This morning I heard a conversation by John Archibald of the Bham News of how the court system is operating in Alabama now under our Deacon Southern Baptist Governor Tea Party Apologist Bentley, a former parishioner of Rick Lance at FBC Tuscaloosa.
Here is a link to Archibald's conversation this morn on WBHM and following a testimony from Rome Georgia in the Tribune Letters yesterday:
http://www.al.com/opinion/index.ssf/2013/10/dirty_money_fuels_cities_and_h.html
http://www.wbhm.org/News/john_archibald/2013-10-10
In the chat above Archiblad segueways from Joe Reed into how the court system now penalizes the poor.
I recently had the unique and rare (for me) opportunity to attend our traffic court to plead my traffic citation. Now, it’s been quite a while since I’ve had any instruction in civics and the traffic “court” sure was an eye-opening experience.
The police officer was not present in “court” for me to be heard. The judge appeared to have no authority to reduce or dismiss any citations without, in his words, hearing the officers’ version or viewing the tape of the incident.
In order for that to occur, a not-guilty plea had to be recorded and your case went to a higher court which, after sitting in TC for two hours, would have required another reassigned date and more time off work. For me, that $100 fine was not worth the aggravation of sitting through another court session.
If a higher court is required in order to face your accuser, why not skip TC and go straight to a higher court, or realign TC to where the accuser must also be present?
But that, they will say, will take too many officers off the street. A couple solutions: 1) grant the TC judge the authority to dismiss or downgrade a citation at his discretion or 2) allow a citizen to plead not guilty and go directly to a higher court.
The way TC is currently being conducted in the Rome-Floyd court system is, in my opinion, a gross violation of our constitutional and personal rights.
Read more: RN-T.com - LETTER TO THE EDITOR Local traffic court system a gross violation
For about six weeks it did not dawn on me my car tag had expired. Make that a couple months as I met Governor Bentley in July in Ft Payne and I think the authorities reminded me in Ft Payne between the Library and 2nd Baptist church. I thought I was getting a warning but it turned out to be a 200 dollar fine. I went to the registrar as instructed thinking some sensible person would show some mercy and understanding re pneumonia and near flawless record as a citizen in Alabama for 25 years. As soon as I could make the trip to Ft Payne to get my tag renewed I did so and paid the customary 15 dollar fine in addition to renewal fee.
About three weeks ago I went to traffic court where the judge refused to hear my plea about pneumonia and solid citizenship. The fine was discarded but in a catch 22 I was hit to three dollars less in court fee or about 197 dollars. Penalty for paying on time was thirty five dollars, an amount I think the Old Testament of the Bible would call usury.
This morning I heard a conversation by John Archibald of the Bham News of how the court system is operating in Alabama now under our Deacon Southern Baptist Governor Tea Party Apologist Bentley, a former parishioner of Rick Lance at FBC Tuscaloosa.
Here is a link to Archibald's conversation this morn on WBHM and following a testimony from Rome Georgia in the Tribune Letters yesterday:
http://www.al.com/opinion/index.ssf/2013/10/dirty_money_fuels_cities_and_h.html
http://www.wbhm.org/News/john_archibald/2013-10-10
In the chat above Archiblad segueways from Joe Reed into how the court system now penalizes the poor.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Local traffic court system a gross violation
a day ago | 395 views | 0 
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| 7 | | The police officer was not present in “court” for me to be heard. The judge appeared to have no authority to reduce or dismiss any citations without, in his words, hearing the officers’ version or viewing the tape of the incident.
In order for that to occur, a not-guilty plea had to be recorded and your case went to a higher court which, after sitting in TC for two hours, would have required another reassigned date and more time off work. For me, that $100 fine was not worth the aggravation of sitting through another court session.
If a higher court is required in order to face your accuser, why not skip TC and go straight to a higher court, or realign TC to where the accuser must also be present?
But that, they will say, will take too many officers off the street. A couple solutions: 1) grant the TC judge the authority to dismiss or downgrade a citation at his discretion or 2) allow a citizen to plead not guilty and go directly to a higher court.
The way TC is currently being conducted in the Rome-Floyd court system is, in my opinion, a gross violation of our constitutional and personal rights.
Read more: RN-T.com - LETTER TO THE EDITOR Local traffic court system a gross violation
posted by foxofbama | 1:39 PM
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