[TerryBPP]

I final update on this whole mess:

7-11-07

I called the clerk of courts after the tickets had entered the system. I asked if I was able to take care of this administratively. The clerk said she didn't know and would have to ask her supervisor (WTF!). So I sit on hold for 20 mins and she comes back on and says "yes you can sir but its $240". Pretty sporty if you ask me so I declined and decided to go to court and fight it.

7-24-07

I show up at court nice and early (8:00am) and go through the whole rigmarole of find the court room. I go to one court room, they say its been moved. I finally figure that all out and get a nice front seat.

I have to mention the bailiff. He was every bit of 75 years old. Surly as it gets. A young black kid walked in and had forgotten his ticket and the old man proceed to beraid him in front of 100 plus people. He actually said the words "I'll never understand YOU PEOPLE". I was pretty shocked.

They divide the court room into spanish speaking and english speaking persons. So its like a prison cafeteria with one race on one side and one on the other.

Anyway, 8 am rolls around and the bailiff starts to complain to the translator that the clerks & judge are late. One clerk shows up about 5 mins later and says the other 2 aren't coming and they will have to find replacements. The replacements show up 10 mins after that and are obliviously not happy to be there. Oh yeah, and the judge isn't coming at all!!!!

Luckily its 1st come 1st serve so they line us up at the podium and tell us to plead no guilty or no contest. A not guilty plea will get you another court date and a no contest will get you a sweet $240 fine (Now I'm pissed that I should have just paid the clerk downstairs). I'm thinking I will plead not guilty until the young woman in front of me ask the clerk what might happen at the later court date. The clerk states that 99% of the time you will still have to pay $240 + $150 court fees. So I bail on that idea considering how *****ty this whole show has run so far.

Its my turn and I plead no contest. The replacement clerk is about to have a breakdown due to the 1 page form he has to fill out. He's not sure whether to charge me $217 or $240. Its a joke. If my office ran like this I would fire everyone. Anyway, as I sign the no contest plea and agree to pay $240. Purely out of revenge I ask another clerk if I could have paid this administratively and she says OF COURSE. I knew the other 90 people behind me would hear it. And they did. They start yelling at the clerks as I'm walking out the. Good stuff.

To sum up, complete waste of time and money. I'm really considering moving to Italy so at least I could have paid the cops off at the stop. This is a good inside indication of how the state and government is run.