I once owned a Ford Mustang with a hopped-up engine, headers and loud exhaust.
Every Son of the South should own one in his youth.
Yes, that car had a habit of going over the speed limit. Yes, I got my share of traffic tickets.
My Daddy paid my first traffic ticket. When I told him I had “gotten caught,” he turned it into a teaching moment.
We walked into the West Point Police Station and he handed the clerk my ticket. They said it was $78. Daddy wrote them a check and then turned to me.
“This is how you do it,” he said in a firm, father voice. “Pay them and go on. Oh, and this is the last one I’ll take care of. You’re responsible for your problems.”
Justice for all
Most of us have probably “run afoul of the law” and been given a citation that we were required to pay or hauled into court and justice served with a more hefty fine.
The good folks of this world, admit their blunder, promise the judge they will be more careful and pay their fine.
But there are some people in Coahoma County who admit their infraction, promise the judge anything and then pay the court nothing.
That is not right and that is not justice. Lawbreakers owe a debt to all of us.
$1.5 million dollars!
That is a tidy sum for a county our size.
If all those fine were paid, Supervisors could quickly finish the Justice Center that serves the county and city. They could employ more sheriff’s deputies, be ready to help a factory locate here, provide more funding for our animal shelter and youth center and probably find a pothole or two that needs patching.
The U.S. Transportation Department estimates it cost roughly $190,000 to build one mile of new road and about $65,000 to properly resurface a one mile with asphalt.
Do the math! That’s almost eight miles of smooth and safe new roads for all of us to ride on.
But where taxpayers see dollars, supervisors, judges and constables see voters.
Hauling those deadbeats into court costs them votes.
Questions to ask
So ask your Supervisors, Judges and Constables these questions:
• Do I really have to pay fines if I am convicted?
• What happens to me if I don’t pay?
• Do you just collect fines from those who can pay?
• Can a judge issue a bench warrant for someone who fails to follow the verdict of the court on a previous conviction and have them arrested and put in jail?
• Aren’t constables and not sheriff’s deputies, the ones who are supposed to act on a Justice Court bench warrant?
• Don’t supervisors set the salaries, pay for the trips, buy supplies and equipment for judges and constables?
• Can they reduce taxpayer costs for judges and constables if they don’t collect those fines?
• Do only certain people – the honest, hardworking and good people – have to pay their fines in Coahoma County?
Find a solution
I urge supervisors to bring our justice court judges and constables to the table and develop a plan to collect some of this money.
Supervisor Derrell Washington is correct that someone needs to be made responsible for collecting fines.
We would like to point out no one is writing more tickets to generate revenue. These fines are being collected from people who have already been convicted, sentenced and fined by the court.
Yes, this will need to be a concerted effort, fairly applied to all.
Supervisors need to push this. They can figure this out. County leaders need to urge judges to issue bench warrants for those who won’t pay. Law enforcement will need to serve those warrants and haul the offender back into court.
We hope smart people will just pay the debt they owe society.
We hope that revenue will be used to make Coahoma County a better place to live.
Floyd Ingram is the Editor of your Clarksdale Press Register. He pays his traffic tickets and fine and urges you to call him at 627-2201 if you do, too. He’ll give you the number to your justice court judge, constable and supervisor.
