- Jan 21, 2005
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Received a call from a friend this morning at 5:00 AM. He was calling from nearby jail.
I hopped on the jails website and checked his name, sure enough, he's in there. Reason? A warrant was put out for him due to an unpaid violation: Recreational fishing in the 2nd degree.
I type in my name - yep, one for me there too.
Six months ago we were on a buddies boat and put a single pole out while we hung out. Within a few minutes, a police boat came up and asked for licenses. He didn't have one and mine was expired. We apologized profusely as all three officers acted like we were wanted for murder. When it was all said and done, we were informed that we "may get a ticket in the mail" because they "had to think about it".
We never received any ticket.
I called the court this morning. The receptionist sees that warrants were issued, but no tickets were ever sent to anyone. She was literally laughing the entire time because this whole thing is such a joke.
I just wrote a letter that I will be faxing in the judge. If he likes the letter, I will hopefully just have to pay a fine. If not, I will have to go to court mid-week.
Either way this is just ridiculous. :|
UPDATE 5-18-08:
I called into the District Court again first thing this morning to verify that they received my fax. Of course, there was no record of my fax, and to make things worse, the woman I spoke with last time didn't even schedule me for court. I asked what the best possible thing to do at this moment was, and she said that my only option was to either fax in another letter or get a new court date scheduled, with NEXT Thursday being the soonest. I was irate (but acted calm).
I Googled the courthouse and it turns out that my office is very close. I printed out another letter and cruised over. When speaking with the court clerks they were unbelievably cold and indifferent to the whole thing. They got me signed up for court on the 28th, but said there was nothing else to be done. I asked why I never received a ticket, and they said I would have to take that up with the prosecutor's office, although it wouldn't do any good now. I decided to go, anyway (same building).
Once I got there the prosecutors clerk was a bit more understanding and willing to help. I asked if there was any way to just pay and get it over with, and she said no, but she would contact the prosecutor anyway. About 10 minutes later, he just showed up in front of me.
This was honestly the first person that I have spoken to that genuinely seemed to care and was willing to help. He acknowledged that the whole thing was BS, and we shared fishing stories on our walk up to the first clerk's office. He re-explained what I had said to them and asked what he needed to do to get this done with for me. (As a side note, I found it interesting that even the prosecutor didn't fully understand how the situation was to be handled, although he was fairly young probably 28-30ish). After talking to several people, we spoke with the main clerk lady. She said that she could try to talk to the judge directly, and he agreed that doing so would make my life much easier, so he scribbled up a motion to have me pay immediately and drop everything.
The judge was AFK at the time, so I left $109 (the original fee), thanked everyone, and left. I called in 5 minutes ago, and my warrant has been recalled and my fine has been paid in full. I'm DONE!
I hopped on the jails website and checked his name, sure enough, he's in there. Reason? A warrant was put out for him due to an unpaid violation: Recreational fishing in the 2nd degree.
I type in my name - yep, one for me there too.
Six months ago we were on a buddies boat and put a single pole out while we hung out. Within a few minutes, a police boat came up and asked for licenses. He didn't have one and mine was expired. We apologized profusely as all three officers acted like we were wanted for murder. When it was all said and done, we were informed that we "may get a ticket in the mail" because they "had to think about it".
We never received any ticket.
I called the court this morning. The receptionist sees that warrants were issued, but no tickets were ever sent to anyone. She was literally laughing the entire time because this whole thing is such a joke.
I just wrote a letter that I will be faxing in the judge. If he likes the letter, I will hopefully just have to pay a fine. If not, I will have to go to court mid-week.
Either way this is just ridiculous. :|
UPDATE 5-18-08:
I called into the District Court again first thing this morning to verify that they received my fax. Of course, there was no record of my fax, and to make things worse, the woman I spoke with last time didn't even schedule me for court. I asked what the best possible thing to do at this moment was, and she said that my only option was to either fax in another letter or get a new court date scheduled, with NEXT Thursday being the soonest. I was irate (but acted calm).
I Googled the courthouse and it turns out that my office is very close. I printed out another letter and cruised over. When speaking with the court clerks they were unbelievably cold and indifferent to the whole thing. They got me signed up for court on the 28th, but said there was nothing else to be done. I asked why I never received a ticket, and they said I would have to take that up with the prosecutor's office, although it wouldn't do any good now. I decided to go, anyway (same building).
Once I got there the prosecutors clerk was a bit more understanding and willing to help. I asked if there was any way to just pay and get it over with, and she said no, but she would contact the prosecutor anyway. About 10 minutes later, he just showed up in front of me.
This was honestly the first person that I have spoken to that genuinely seemed to care and was willing to help. He acknowledged that the whole thing was BS, and we shared fishing stories on our walk up to the first clerk's office. He re-explained what I had said to them and asked what he needed to do to get this done with for me. (As a side note, I found it interesting that even the prosecutor didn't fully understand how the situation was to be handled, although he was fairly young probably 28-30ish). After talking to several people, we spoke with the main clerk lady. She said that she could try to talk to the judge directly, and he agreed that doing so would make my life much easier, so he scribbled up a motion to have me pay immediately and drop everything.
The judge was AFK at the time, so I left $109 (the original fee), thanked everyone, and left. I called in 5 minutes ago, and my warrant has been recalled and my fine has been paid in full. I'm DONE!
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