Comments on: “You have a broken headlight, you get stopped….”

By: A Bradford

A Bradford — Sun, 20 Apr 2014 05:09:58 +0000

I remember when I was that poor and the state of Virginia stole my car. It went down like this: my water pump went out. I needed to wait until my next payday to buy a replacement. So two weeks go by and that Friday , paycheck in hand, I buy the pump. Meanwhile, the state tows my car for being “inoperable on a city street” while it was in fact parked in my marked parking spot in my apartment complex and not on a street at all. The office I need to call is closed by this time and won’t be open again until Monday. When I call them Monday, they say sure they’ll release it, as long as I pay the storage fee. So next payday I show up to get my car (carrying the water pump which I figure I will install there so I can drive it home). Turns out the storage fee is $100 a day and my car has been “stored” (parked in THEIR parking lot) 18 days. There was absolutely no way I could come up with nearly two grand if I could barely manage to scrape enough wiggle room in my budget to buy a water pump in the first place.The car itself was not worth $1800, so there was no way I could get even a crappy high interest loan to pay the fees. I told them to keep it.

By: Mannie

Mannie — Sat, 19 Apr 2014 14:41:23 +0000

If you rob from the rich, and give to the poor, you are Robin Hood.

If you rob from the poor, and give to the rich, you are government.

By: Walter Olson

Walter Olson — Sat, 19 Apr 2014 11:31:59 +0000

Thanks, updated.

By: Doug

Doug — Sat, 19 Apr 2014 08:04:20 +0000

he got off with a warning.

http://hamptonroads.com/2014/04/man-avoids-525-fine-drink-refill-hospital

By: Dwight Brown

Dwight Brown — Fri, 18 Apr 2014 18:51:25 +0000

Another good example of this is the Texas "Driver Responsibility Program": Scott Henson has done some really good work covering this issue over at his Grits For Breakfast blog.

By: Jim Sweet

Jim Sweet — Fri, 18 Apr 2014 18:02:20 +0000

This web of governement greed toward the poor is much broader than the odd fine. Minor offenses often carry fines, court costs, probation costs, costs for required classes, mandated tracking equipment or ignition breathalyzer interlocks and on and on and on. Once in the system, it’s nearly impossible for poorer offenders to climb out from under the state’s financial thumb. How do they cope? Often by progressing to property crime and robbery.