Back in 2006, Laura and I were going to Stratford, Oklahoma, a sleepy little town in Garvin County. We were going to look at a paint quarter horse that she thought was worth the money. We went to the farm and saw the horse, but the owners weren't home like they said they would be, so we had to leave. A storm was coming, and we thought it would be best not to be 80 miles from home when it hit.
As I drove over a bridge to turn back toward I-35, a police officer on the other side of the bridge caught my eye. We nodded at each other, and I crossed the bridge, stopping at the stop sign before turning left onto the road that led to the highway. The cop turned on his lights and pulled me over. I knew I wasn't speeding; I hadn't gotten up to 15 mph, even; there was no reason to pull me over. In my head, I went over the usual reasons a person is stopped. I had brake lights. My license was current. There really was no reason to stop me. When he approached my car, he asked me to give him my license and insurance card, which I did. He came back with my license but said my insurance had lapsed. It had not. I was fully insured. His holding onto the card made it difficult for me to prove it, but I had full coverage on my car, and I knew it. It was a Sunday, and the insurance company was closed.
The cop then tried to get me to give him my telephone number, which I refused. I gave him my work number instead, and he said it didn't matter; he had my address!! The man said, "I know where you live," as if threatening me. He refused to let me drive the car, stating I wasn't insured, but he let Laura drive! She didn't even have a license or a permit! He didn't know that, but he didn't ask either. He gave me a ticket, telling me I had to appear in court to defend myself. That didn't happen.
The next day, I called Garvin County and spoke with the court clerk. The judge was a rotation judge, roving from one city in the county to the next, and due to the weather, he hadn't come into the office yet. When he did (and no, I didn't get his name), he told me not to worry about showing up for court and that I didn't have to pay for the fine either because that cop had a history of harassment and he usually threw out more cases than not; or just charged people for court costs if they really had missed the stop sign, which is what the cop tried to say on the ticket.
In hindsight, OF COURSE, I should have gotten the man's name. OF COURSE, I should have done more, but nothing came of it - not for sixteen long years. SIXTEEN YEARS went by, and I got a phone call from the City of Stratford, asking me to pay the debt that took place in 2006 - and it wasn't $138, it was $718! Those corrupt pieces of crap added fines, fees, and who knows what else, and they were saying there was a warrant out for me! ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME? Sixteen years? Not one word, not a single attempt to reach me, not a letter, a text, a call, nothing!
Since the time of the ticket and the apparent warrant, I've bought houses, bought cars, renewed my various insurance licenses, and I was stopped by the police at a routine traffic stop and subjected to having my license run. No one came back and said I had a warrant out - Stratford is just a tiny little no-nothing town with hopes of making money stealing from people who don't come through their streets very often. THAT IS MY OPINION, and I will reiterate the story as often and as loudly as possible if I am forced to pay a penny of this trumped-up charge!
They've turned the matter over to a collection agency now. Maybe I'll call them and give a settlement offer so I can get out from under the mess - - but when I do, I will take a full-page ad out in the Stratford Times. I'll blast the city, the history of the office, the records, and anything the FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT can supply me because I will NOT let this rest. I will expose them to every corrupt antic they ever did - and hopefully, we'll gather enough folks to put a class-action suit against the city and bankrupt them to the point that they have to change their ways. If not, they'll know they've been put on notice.
I hope NO ONE goes to Stratford, Oklahoma, to do business. I hope they have fired that asshat, and if they have, I hope they don't continue to do the type of things they are known to have done, at least to me - - because it happened to me, it happened to a lot more folks. I wonder how many I can find! I wonder if my next novel will take place in Stratford, Oklahoma and if the murder isn't a little....detailed. There has to be a murder, I'm a murder author -- there will be a murder, and she just may get away with it, too. After all, the judge didn't like the guy much anyway -- look at me, I'm already writing this thing!
Damn, good thing I'm a fiction writer -- hate for anyone to think I meant anything by it - the man is probably retired by now - - or maybe someone beat me to the punch! My keyboard hasn't done its damage yet. They picked the wrong woman to railroad -- the pen is mighty when it needs to be, and Scorpio women...well, we're exactly what you think we can be.
Photo Credit: PatchGallery.com
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