After a brief moment of source code populating my Digg RSS feed window in my iGoogle gadget one of the best looking RSS feeds I’ve ever seen appeared. I Digg it.
Back to the court house…
So far I’ve got no report that my license has been suspended or that a warrant has been issued for my arrest for a failure to appear. The Wake County Clerk of Courts office told me that I would have to fill out a form to appear in “VL Court” on a Monday or Thursday. I have no idea what that is. At the same time I received an email from the Clerks office which specified that I can go to court room 1A any day between 2:00 and 3:30PM to dispose of the case. I think I will try that recommendation first.
This is what I pay taxes for? More fines, fees and inconvenience?
Okay, in this post I’m going to disclose a mistake I made, the ramifications and most importantly the extreme annoyance that is the NCDMV and Wake County Courts.
In October I was pulled over for an expired vehicle registration. I didn’t realize it had expired. I got a ticket requiring me to appear in court on Nov. 17th. Within the week I had my valid registration via the Internet. I completely forgot about the court date and did not appear. Within two days I went to the Wake County court house and filled out a motion for continuance as instructed by the clerk of courts office. I was given a new court date of Dec. 20th.
On the morning of Dec. 20th I told Amy “I have to go to disposition court today” where the standard procedure is you show the District Attorney a copy of the valid registration and he in basically says “thanks, dismissed, go home”. Well the 20th was a busy day at work. As a result I completely forgot to go down to the court house again. So on January 2nd, when the courts opened back up after the holidays, I went down and filed another motion for another court date. Yes, it is my fault that I missed both dates and I was trying to make it right. So I filled out the paper work and handed it to the clerk.
This time instead of giving me a new court date the clerk said “You’ll be mailed a new court date within 2 weeks”. Okay, whatever. It will probably be moved out of disposition court to district where I’ll have to pay fines and all kinds of court costs. Not cool but that’s the price to pay for missing two set dates.
Tonight I got home and as usual I went to check the mail. I had a letter with a return address from the Wake County Clerk of Courts. I opened to find out my new court date. Instead what I got was a piece of paper that said only “Case Number 07CR### – Motion Denied. No new court date”. – That’s it. Absolutely nothing else.
So a little while ago I went to the Wake County Clerk of Courts website to see if I could tell what this means. The only information they have is this:
“If you have missed your court date by more than twenty (20) days, a late fee of $50.00 will be added to the fine and court costs. Additionally, the Division of Motor Vehicles will start the process to suspend your driver’s license.
If your personal court appearance was required and you failed to appear on your court date, the court will issue an Order for Arrest. You may also be required to post a bond to insure your appearance in court at a later date.
You may get more information regarding missed court dates by visiting the Clerk’s Office Criminal Division, located on the 1st floor of the Wake County Courthouse. Please see Directions for our location and directions.”
So let me see if I’ve got this right. Instead of assigning another court date they have decided that my license should be suspended, I should be arrested for a failure to appear (because the sheriff’s department has nothing better to do, like find criminals), post bond, appear at a later date in another court, pay fines and court costs and then fight with DMV to get my drivers license re-instated? All for a registration that was expired for 43 days total.
Tomorrow morning I’m going back to the Clerks office as early as possible to see what I have to do. Am I a wanted fugitive who needs to turn myself in before they arrest me at home or work? Why did they wait until exactly 20 days after the court date to “deny” my request for another court date? I’m not certain I’ll get any straight answers to these questions from the clerks office. They’re just low paid state employees who don’t care about anyone or their jobs. It’s all a system to them. My next post will be a follow up on what I learn tomorrow.
As far as I’m concerned this type of thing is nothing more than another revenue generator engineered by the County and State (DOT). This kind of annoyance, in combination with property tax re-evaluations right at a time when property values are decreasing, really bad schools and school boards are just some of the reasons why a move to Amherst county Virginia is looking more and more like a reality. I rarely, if ever, experienced or heard of this kind of garbage while living up there. It seems like in Wake County and NC the theme of each day is fines, fees and taxes in a cycle. Which wouldn’t sting quite as much if the municipal systems in the area didn’t suck beyond comprehension. For example, since Wendell now buys it’s water from Raleigh I pay about 20% more for water than anyone inside Raleigh and don’t get the garbage collection those in the city limits do.
In closing I would like to wish the Raleigh City Council good luck with their pretty new convention center, planned auditorium and one million dollar high class restaurant, suitably called “The Mint”, as we head straight into a recession. Pretty smart people you folks in Raleigh elected. They have very shiny silver spoons and real high opinions of themselves. I’m just glad I can’t vote in Raleigh city elections so I can’t be blamed for their self serving decisions. Anyone thinking of relocating to the Raleigh area, do yourself a big favor and don’t. Even the newly renovated, 8.9 million dollar, Fayetteville Street Mall is a huge flop just like your children’s educations will be. It’s hard to concentrate on academics in a trailer. Ya, no lie, a trailer. That’s what our new schools are and the Wake County school board is proud of this “innovative” solution to accommodate growth.
The State of NJ apologizes for slavery.
By god this must have been the most pressing piece of legislation decided in the US this week.
Seriously, the fact that a single tax payer dollar went into the passage of this “feel good” bill presented by Assemblyman William Payne, The Deputy Majority Conference Leader (who’s black) should be embarrassing to blacks and New Jersey. There is not a person alive today directly responsible for the slavery of any black man or his ancestors so get over it. Do you feel better now Mr. Payne? Got that out of your system? Good. Sit down and shut up.
Oh and by the way, the guilt is killing me so I apologize for the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII. I wasn’t alive at the time but I’m sorry.
1st Annual Forecast
My Predictions for 2008:
Financial: A major US recession is coming due to the massive credit bubble bursting, an inability of the central banks to continue using credit to create a false sense of prosperity, and continued stagflation. Look for expanded government backed plans like the sub-prime mortgage rate freeze to combat the falling value of the dollar.
Health: Health care costs will continue to rise during a long period of stagflation as health corporations attempt to increase profits or reduce profit loss for their shareholders. When was the last time you heard of a hospital corporation posting a quarterly profit loss? Based upon direct influence of the insurance industry lobby more “mandatory health insurance” laws will be passed at the state and federal level. This will further reduce access to health care for millions and provide fuel for the aforementioned recession. No end to this cycle is in sight based upon public opinion that health care costs should not be influenced by the government (the aging free market argument).
Politics: This is a hard one. My hope is that the Christian Coalition, Southern Baptists, and Evangelical Church don’t win any elections (i.e. Huckabee). By now anyone that knows me should understand that I don’t interfere with the worship practices of anyone but I have strong disdain for anyone supporting pulpit politicians. Remember, we’re fighting to keep terrorism at bay, not Muslims. This includes stopping domestic terrorists in the form of abortion clinic bombers and other extreme activists. The United States is not Jesus Camp. Nor was it founded as a “Christian Nation” under any written doctrine.
My prediction is that the race will be tight. It will be a race between those who support Holy Wars against Muslims and legislating morality verses those who know that if we keep this up “Fascism will come to America wrapped in a flag carrying a cross”. – Sinclair Lewis
Also, Ron Paul will not be your next President. Sorry Internet.
Music: Look for me at any nearby shows performed by KT Tunstall or The National. I may finally start my review of local shows on this blog and if I don’t get in trouble for it I might join a blues band to start playing dive bars.
Technology: Microsoft will continue to take a beating for creating Vista and if the new 2008 Server is released it will not be embraced at any influential rate. For this reason the number Mac sales and Ubuntu installations will continue to rise while XP will continue to be the dominantly installed OS (boy I hope I got that one right huh?).
Look for more touch screen cell phones to flood the market in response to the iPhone rage. Don’t expect better service though.
Flat panel LCD and plasma TV’s will fall below $750 for a quality 42″ 1080p model.
Playstation 3’s will fall to a steady $299 this year and Wii’s will be more widely available as Nintendo increases production.
IBM Network Services Division contractors should be wary of the coming acquisition by AT&T. This could mean more layoffs in Research Triangle Park and more IT workers on the market in NC. Unix Admin’s will all be moving to Lenoir where the new Google data center is located.