"All Rise..."

"All rise. The Honorable Judge Ken Fairly presiding. Be seated, come to order."

I had a court date today. I don't think I'll ever forget it. I left my house at 11AM on the dot and headed North to the Flowood Police Department for my ticket. I had gotten a ticket about a month ago in the Flowood area when I was on my way to see my father in the hospital. My court date was set. March 22, 2007 at 12:00PM. I pulled up, left my purse in my car (as asked by the police officer who met me at the door), and met a woman who was from my town. Her and I sat together when we came in the court room. We got into a good conversation about her and her grandchildren, then about my school and what I was majoring in, and then we talked a bit about my nephew Will. Then, the two clerks came in. I was told, when she called my name and I came up to the counter thingy, that I could either be tried as an adult or student. She told me that since I was enrolled in school and I still live with my parents, the judge would allow me to be tried as a juvenile. Juvenile. That just sounds so...I dunno. So, I told her that I wanted to be tried as a student. She told me to come back at 1 to go before the judge.

So, I walk out to my car and call my parents and told them about the first half of what was going on. They told me to call them when I got out of the second one. So, at about 12:30ish, I go back in and sit in the waiting room until the officer told us we could go in again. So, I went in and sat down. By the time 1 came around, the room was filled and some were even standing. The bailiff ordered everyone to stand. We did and the judge came in. The judge explained a lot of what the clerk explained to us who were in there at 12. He introduced himself, his colleagues, and the clerks. Then, he told us that he would see the students first. We all lined up in front of him. Most were high school. I was the only college age student. He still tried me as a student. He lowered his glasses and asked us one by one what is our plea. I said guilty because I was speeding when I shouldn't have been speeding. True, I had a legitimate reason but that's no excuse for 15 miles over the speed limit.

Once we gave him our plea, he told us a story about a girl who was killed in a car wreck to show us the dangers of having a license and everything. He informed us that we were to write him a 3 page essay on the dangers of driving. But here was the best part. He lowered his glasses again and grinned slightly. His words were, "Now, I bet all of you are wonderin' about your tickets." All of us nodded. He grinned a bit bigger and said, "Well, I ain't gonna make y'all pay the entire fine because I know how much it's gonna cost your parents." All of the parents in that room started applauding. Then, he said, "Instead, I'm gonna take your licenses away for 14 days. The law says I can do it up to 90 days but I think two weeks of grounding is big enough for you guys."

So, after that, I got what I needed for driving school and because my parents weren't with me, I got to keep my license. So, later on that day, me and my dad go back up to the court. We get in the room and he's like, "I'm gonna talk to them about your license." I nodded and we walked in there. He leaned over the counter and looked at the clerk and said, "I know the judge said that he was going to take away licenses to learn a lesson but really and truthfully, this is more punishment to the parents because now we have to carry her around for the next two weeks. Can I just pay the fine of the ticket and her license not get taken away?" The lady was like, "Oh, yeah. That's completely fine. The two week thing was just an alternative. But if you want to pay the ticket, then you can and she won't get her license taken away. But she will still need to come to driving school."

I hope I never have to go through all of that again. I don't speed. I know that. And I will be paying my dad back for the next gajillion years lol. Oh, and even though I have my license, I'm still grounded haha. My dad said I can only drive to and from church, school, and work. I can't do anything all willy nilly. I am grounded until I pay back my dad.