a very good day, or, palette cleanser

Remember the speeding ticket?

Here's the rest...

There's an area on the ticket where the cop checks the box next to the court you're supposed to contact to pay the ticket no fewer than 5, but no more than 14, days from the date the ticket is issued. My special cop checked two different boxes: Salt Lake County Justice Court, and Sandy City (written in and checked).

Figuring that the day I got pulled over was Day 1, I called the Sandy City Court on Day 7 - they said that it wasn't on file. So I called the Salt Lake County Court - they didn't have it either, but they asked the location of the incident (my being pulled over) and said that it belongs in the South Jordan Court, who I called, and who also, didn't have my ticket on file.

On Day 14 I made more calls: to South Jordan, who said it belonged in Sandy; to Sandy, who said it belonged in South Jordan (and also that the 5-14 day thing actually refers to the date the citation number is filed, not the day the citation is issued, like it says on the ticket); and then to Salt Lake County who, again, told me that it belongs in South Jordan.

Are you getting my drift? I made so many, many calls - about twice a week or so...I think my favorite was on Day 28 (yes, that's 4 weeks from when I received the ticket) when South Jordan told me to call the city's police department which issued the ticket, which was Cottonwood Heights (what? I know...I didn't understand that either). They told me that the ticket had been filed and that I-15 is under Salt Lake County's jurisdiction (the entire interstate? I wondered), and that I should call Salt Lake County and it would be on file under 'Records'. I called Salt Lake County, asked if it could be in 'Records', and they said no, and when I told them that I was told that I-15 was their jurisdiction, they told me to never listen to anything that Cottonwood Heights tells me.

I think it all ended on Day 43, when South Jordan told me that they had it and I had until 3/23 to pay or else I would be charged extra - a delinquency fee. You know...because I'd been delinquent.

I had had it up to HERE and told Darin that I was just going to pay it over the phone, and he reminded me of how diligent I had been, and how I was given the run-around, and encouraged me to make the effort to speak with the judge. I was still hesitant, until Darin told me that he had arranged to take the morning off from work so that I could go. So last night, I wrote out my proceedings (phone calls), then proofread it all this morning before Darin printed it out for me. I got ready, and drove to South Jordan, where the City Hall is located smack dab in the middle of a bunch of strip malls (hard to believe, I know).

I took my seat in the courtroom. The judge called my name and said I should take my place at the podium. He said, "Jennifer, you've been charged with speeding. Do you plead Guilty or Not Guilty?" I proudly proclaimed, "Guilty." He then told me that I otherwise had a clean driving record and could take an online traffic course to erase this charge - I asked what it entailed, and he said just 2 hours online. I asked if I had to do this at the court, and he said No, that I could do it at home, print out the certificate when I was finished, and then mail in the certificate to get the charge dropped and maintain my sparkly clean driving record. I agreed.

**SIDE NOTE: My sister, who is more experienced in traffic citations and such, told me that after I take this course, I can fax a copy of the certificate (proof of defensive driving instruction) to my car insurance company for a discount. I'm going to look into that. Thanks, Beans.**

Judge then said, "Now, since you were going 20 miles per hour over the limit, I have to charge you the fee of $167." I said, "Okay," and then he motioned for me to 'approach the bench' (SO AWESOME!) to sign a paper. When I got there - you know, the bench - I said, "Could I give you something?" I then, oh so professionally, produced a copy of my phone call proceedings (2 pages, stapled), a written statement about the crap the cop pulled when I encountered him, and a photocopy of my ticket, all paperclipped together. "I had a really difficult time trying to find out where this ticket was, and I was sent all over the valley, courts telling me it belonged elsewhere" --Judge takes off his glasses for a closer look at what I had just given him-- "and it took a really long time to finally track it down. The officer actually checked two different courts on the ticket, and neither was this court." Judge called the Baliff over to have a look at the ticket.

Judge looked at Baliff. "How the hell is she supposed to know where to even take this ticket?! This is the second one of these I've gotten this morning!" He was pretty ticked.

After a few more explatives, he told me that to compensate for all my trouble, I had the court's apology and he was reducing my ticket to only 15 mph over, which meant $117 instead of $167.

GOOD ENOUGH!!

I thanked him and then asked, "Am I finished?" He said, "Yes. Have a nice day."

And a nice day I had.