I'm Out of Jail, pt. 2or;How I Got *Into* Jailor;The Tale of the Hall County Driver's License Massacree, in Five-Part Harmony, pt. 1
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Track:Alice's Restaurant
Apologies to all i may have actually scared. I figured that it ought to be fairly obvious that if i posted something on Monday and then agaon on Tuesday, i couldnt have been in jail long, nor for anything too serious.To be honest, i sorta felt like rattling some cages; got to get your amusement from such things where you can.The upshot is that, due to the fact that, when i paid a speeding fine in North Carolina something like eight years ago, the county sheriif's office where i paid it failed to mention that, in North Carolina, the State Government has mandated that it, also, shalle benefit from the revenue-enhancing eforts of its tributary satrapies, and i was supposed to pay $50 to the state, as well.I've renewed my driver's license once since then, and no problem - NC didn't report such things to GA, necessarily, and/or they didn't have a very high priority in GA.Things has changed, though, since 9/11 and the Current Ruling Junta In Washington's founding of the Department of -Security Theatre- Homeland Security and maybe NC needs my fifty bucks more these days, too).So, when came time to renew my driver's license a couple months ago, i was told it couldn't be done till i cleared that with NC.What with one thing and another, $50 to send to NC has been rather like finding a sample of the magical element unobtainium, so i've been driving very carefully to avoid getting stopped.Well, Monday, almost at Kate's office to pick her up, i passed a sharp-eyed Georgia State Patrol officer.Did i mention that the driver-seat seatbelt in the van is busted?Not wearing your seatbelt is now a primary offense in Georgia - they can stop you for it if they notice.
I warned him my license was expired, he thanked me for the warning. I figured that it would be something like happened when i first met Kate, when she had missed the notice that he license had been suspended/revoked for not paying a speeding ticket that she was sure she *had* paid, and that he'd confiscate my license, and Kate would have to come to drive us home, as i had had to drive Helen to school that day and then had had to drive Kate to clear up the fine and get her license back.Apparently, things has changed, though, since 9/11 and yadda yadda, and he had to take me to the nearest county sheriff's ofice to either post bond or sit in stir till someone else did so.The bond (for the heinous offences of not wearing a seat belt and driving on a cancelled lecense) turned out to be $1100. Which required a bit over $150 cash to get a bondsman to front.Which we didn't have.So, until my mother could wire Kate $200, i went to jail.I was there overnight, and Stories Do I Have To Recount, but not right now.About 2PM yesterday, they let me out...(The sad part is that, looking at it in the light of experience - both of people we know and of the {literally} jailhouse lawyers i was incarcerated with, if she had been about an hour or two later and i had been taken to court, i likely could have gotten out on my own recognizance, with no cash bond required...(OTOH, owing my mother $200 to avoid another two or three hours in That Place doesn't seem all that inequitable...)
I warned him my license was expired, he thanked me for the warning. I figured that it would be something like happened when i first met Kate, when she had missed the notice that he license had been suspended/revoked for not paying a speeding ticket that she was sure she *had* paid, and that he'd confiscate my license, and Kate would have to come to drive us home, as i had had to drive Helen to school that day and then had had to drive Kate to clear up the fine and get her license back.Apparently, things has changed, though, since 9/11 and yadda yadda, and he had to take me to the nearest county sheriff's ofice to either post bond or sit in stir till someone else did so.The bond (for the heinous offences of not wearing a seat belt and driving on a cancelled lecense) turned out to be $1100. Which required a bit over $150 cash to get a bondsman to front.Which we didn't have.So, until my mother could wire Kate $200, i went to jail.I was there overnight, and Stories Do I Have To Recount, but not right now.About 2PM yesterday, they let me out...(The sad part is that, looking at it in the light of experience - both of people we know and of the {literally} jailhouse lawyers i was incarcerated with, if she had been about an hour or two later and i had been taken to court, i likely could have gotten out on my own recognizance, with no cash bond required...(OTOH, owing my mother $200 to avoid another two or three hours in That Place doesn't seem all that inequitable...)
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