HA! Stickin' it to The Man!

Curly and I had to go to traffic court today to deal with a ticket that was wrongly given him.

Back in April, DH and I were awaken by a frantic call from Curly.  It seems that a local county mountie had pulled Curly over while he was riding his scooter home, ticketed him for not having a drivers license, then demanded that a parent come and pick up Curly and his scooter.  What a pain.  Curly didn't (and still doesn't) have a driver's license, but he had a legitimate learner's permit, which is kosher for driving a 50cc scooter.  I tried to explain this to to the cop, but he would hear nothing of it.  So DH went to retrieve Curly and the scooter.

Fast forward to today.  I realized to my horror that Curly had to go to traffic court today (I thought the date was this coming Monday), and so I had to scramble to make arrangements to miss work.  I wasn't going to let Curly be fed to the wolves alone.

So before I went, I did my research.  I'm not an attorney, but I'm not afraid of digging through the codes and finding what I need.  What I found was O.C.G.A. § 40-6-351, which you can look up here.  It a subsection of the state of Georgia code, deep into the Motor Vehicles section.  Basically it states what I knew - that Curly could legally ride his scooter.  I printed it out.

So we appeared at court armed with our copy of the code.  We made our way through security, Curly filled out some forms, we waited for while in a crowded (but air conditioned and pleasant) courtroom, and finally he got to talk to the prosecutor. The prosecutor was a grumpy guy who didn't believe Curly when he showed the law printed out.  Then the grumpy guy grabbed his bulky copy of the current GA code and started thumbing through it.  And he thumbed through it.  And he looked some more.

After about 10 minutes of digging through the law, said grumpy guy scribbled something on a piece of paper, spoke to Curly, and Curly walked out of the courtroom.  I caught up with Curly, and he said that the prosecutor had dismissed the charge.  We were free to go.

So - HA!!!!  We fought the law - and we won!  Victory! Curly is free of anything that might hinder him legally.  Now if he can get his head on straight, we'll really be making progress.

FYI - Curly is living inside for a few days, just on a trail basis.  In this heat, he's motivated to do whatever it takes to live in air conditioning and not be in the hot tent.  He's scheduled for a full psychological evaluation late next week, which will help in his treatment.

On another subject, two weeks from today, Moe starts 8th grade.  I've been needling him about this.  And today I bought the first school supplies - a big new binder for Moe.

Mr Kitten is enjoying the cool of the guest room...

Oh - I almost forgot!  I have registered for Palmetto Tat Days.  I'm taking classes with Shraren, and Martha, and Wally and Nina.  I'm excited about it - Tat Days is a blast!  If you can, GO.  You won't be sorry.  And if you can't go, look at this great thing you can win and help someone attend - a gorgeous quilt with tatting all over it!

Stay out of the heat!