What did you do today?

[JPfloor]

they won't let you bring video footage or cellphones in to the courthouse even if its for your defense.

Unless you friend lives in Hazzard county and his last name is Duke they would have to. Might have to plead not guilty and schedule a trial. Your friend had a lot more evidence than most. His mom did the right thing. So did the DA. Most people, even if they’re innocent, can’t prove it or don’t want to be bothered and just pay the fine…

Judge has 100% conviction rate bc he gets paid extra for convictions.

Judge gets a cut? I can’t think of a more crooked set up than that… Right to a fair trial and all.

 

[zannej]

JPfloor, I've been to this courthouse. The judge is as crooked as they come. All the public defenders do is negotiate plea deals and refuse to launch a defense because they know the judge will convict. Not only does the judge convict everyone, but now even minor traffic violations get you 3 months probation if you don't take a plea or pay the fine ahead of time. There was a woman in there when I was there with my brother over some BS and the judge would not listen to her at all. I recognized the woman because I saw what happened on the news the day she got her ticket. She was accused of trying to cross the tracks while the train was coming. The judge said she must have ignored the barrier thingies and just blazed through. She tried to tell him that wasn't what happened and that there were no barriers. Judge cut her off. What happened was she was trying to cross the tracks when there was no sign of a train. The road was crappy and there was a pot hole in just the wrong spot. Her tire got stuck in the pot hole (it wedged her tire between it and the tracks) and she was over the tracks. She was trying to get the vehicle unstuck and people were yelling at her to get out of her vehicle and run. Got hit by the train but she survived. All her attorney did was negotiate down a plea deal. Did I mention that if you get probation they charge $50 a month for it? Minimum that judge gives is 3 months. One guy he sentenced to jail for 7 days for speeding. I wholeheartedly agree that it is a crooked setup. Here you are presumed guilty and have to try to prove your innocence but it doesn't matter at that courthouse bc they only want to get $$ from fines & court fees. But then, this state ranks as having the absolute worst "justice" system in the entire country. Highest incarceration rate per capita, public schools are run like prisons, & they don't give a damn about people's rights.

So today I got up and put a new 25lb bag of cat food in the storage bin so I could give the kitties breakfast. Unloaded mail from the truck that we forgot to bring in last night. Checked and one of my orders says it arrived at the post office but it wasn't among the packages they gave us so they must have misplaced it somewhere. I'm going to doublecheck to make sure its not in the truck, but the day they said it was picked up was not a day I went to the post office. They have been known to give my packages to the wrong person by mistake. I hope that isn't the case.

I decided I wanted to keep and re-use my taping knife that I used for the floor leveling mix. It had a bunch of the stuff still stuck to it but I realized I have chisels and wanted to see if I could scrape it off. It took awhile but it worked. Got it all cleaned up. Then I cleaned up some of the wood debris out of my bathtub. My back started going out so I had to stop. I'll have to come back with a broom and get the larger chunks and then vacuum the debris up.

I couldn't find some things in Walmart that they said were in stock when I looked online but I couldn't locate them in store, so I did curbside pickup order so they can find it for me. LOL. I've done that a few times now where I do curbside if I simply can't find stuff. Also for things that are in locked cases so I don't spend 20min trying to find an employee who can unlock the case.

I plan to do more cleaning when my back is cooperating.

 

[Floorist]

Last ticket I got was a scam. Pulled me over and said I had a turn signal out. Had to take my seat belt off to get my license out. Got a seat belt ticket. We don't have a primary seat belt law. Checked my turn signals before I moved the car, they all worked. He wrote 9 tickets in about an hour. And when my brother was a cop here, he said they had a quota. He said he also had a list of "certain people" he was not to stop. I heard on my scanner one night where the supt. of schools was stopped for drunk driving. Instead of arresting him, they called a family member to come get him.

 

[havasu]

I refuse to believe all the nonsense above. What is the incentive for a quota on citations? A free toaster after 50 tickets?

 

[Floorist]

I refuse to believe all the nonsense above. What is the incentive for a quota on citations? A free toaster after 50 tickets?

My brother was a city cop here for about 25 years. He said they had a ticket quota. He should know. Don't write enough tickets, you don't get a promotion, no promotion, no raises.

 

[havasu]

Big difference. Work ethics and work performance is way different than a quota. Any police department that tries a mandatory quota system and is caught, would be sued for $ millions of dollars. If you layed 1 yard of carpet a day, how long do you think you'd have the job?
As said, job performance, yes, quota, nope.

 

[havasu]

In simpler terms, as a traffic officer, I would maybe write 1 ticket a day. Instead, I might arrest 2 DUI's, 1 grand theft auto suspect, and a few Hypes for being under ihe influence of meth or heroin. I stayed busy, but you bet you butt, if I wrote you a ticket, you damn well deserved it.

 

[JPfloor]

By me there’s no shortage of bad drivers who are in desperate need of some authority. If there is such a thing as a quota I’d like them to raise it… Plenty of maniac law breakers endangering mine and my family’s life. I can’t see the need to bother the law abiding citizens?

Even though I regularly do 65 in a 55 zone on the highway I haven’t been pulled over in over 30 years… I did get a ticket mailed to me from a red light camera… They got me by about 2 seconds…Now I brake sooner.

 

[havasu]

In California, you can go 9mph over the speed limit and never get pulled over. Get caught doing 10 over, you're gunna get stopped but your attitude will determine a cite or not. Get stopped going 15 over, guaranteed cite. A pretty simple concept actually. Traffic tickets cost the cities money. The state gets all the money.

 

[JPfloor]

In California, you can go 9mph over the speed limit and never get pulled over.

Oh… I heard it was 10….Hence the 65 in a 55… lol

 

[Floorist]

In California, you can go 9mph over the speed limit and never get pulled over. Get caught doing 10 over, you're gunna get stopped but your attitude will determine a cite or not. Get stopped going 15 over, guaranteed cite. A pretty simple concept actually. Traffic tickets cost the cities money. The state gets all the money.

Got one here years back for doing 56 in a 55, MHP. $80. I paid it because it would have cost me at least $300. to take a day off for court. I was booked 6 weeks ahead, no way to reschedule.

 

[highup]

Oh… I heard it was 10….Hence the 65 in a 55… lol

In California, 55 is the speed limit in the parking lane.

 

[JPfloor]

Got one here years back for doing 56 in a 55, MHP. $80. I paid it because it would have cost me at least $300. to take a day off for court. I was booked 6 weeks ahead, no way to reschedule.

Wow…That’s one mean cop! Musta been an awful slow day for crime.

Our police wouldn’t do that…But we do have toll booths all over the city on bridges and tunnels and on the state thruway that just charges everyone who drives…Every day…

 

[havasu]

What many don't understand is what is truly said at the time of the citation. I would catch folks going 80 in a 65 MPH zone, but they were kind people. I too would write them at 66 in a 65, but my notes explain the true speed, so if they went to court, I can tell the judge that I was just giving a break, trying to save the citizen some hard earned money, since you pay a fee per MPH over the speed limit. I'm sure once they got the ticket, they would show everyone my speeding ticket, call me an a a-hole, idiot, etc, even though I saved them lots of money and they know in their heart that they were in fact speeding enough to get a ticket.

By the way, NHTSA, and the car manufacturers have determined that all speedometers must be calibrated to within 2 MPH, excluding custom tire modifications. If your car is stock, and a cop writes a true 2 MPH violation, the judge must throw it out.

 

[Floorist]

What many don't understand is what is truly say at the time of the citation. I would catch folks going 80 in a 65 MPH zone, but they were kind people. I too would write them at 66 in a 65, but my notes explain the true speed, so if they went to court, I can tell the judge that I was just giving a break, trying to save the citizen some hard earned money, since you pay a fee per MPH over the speed limit. I'm sure once they got the ticket, they would show everyone my speeding ticket, call me an a a-hole, idiot, etc, even though I saved them lots of money and they know in their heart that they were in fact speeding enough to get a ticket.

By the way, NHTSA, and the car manufacturers have determined that all speedometers must be calibrated to within 2 MPH, excluding custom tire modifications. If your car is stock, and a cop writes a true 2 MPH violation, the judge must throw it out.

I knew I could have beat it, but like I said, I was booked for 6 weeks. It was a young cop, probably just out of the academy.

 

[DarisMulkin]

The last ticket I got was just before the Kentucky border in Indiana. I had been in a construction zone and believe me I do not speed in them especially out of state. When I exited the zone there was a sign that said end work zone. So I kicked t back up to my usal 70 and a little bit. Bam here is a officer in the mediam and he is jumping into his car. Told the wife somebody is going to get a ticket. Somebody was me. It ended up it had dumped from 55 in the zone to 55 where exiting it. Never saw any signs. So he wrote me up and we got a half dozen things from lawyers to represent my case. Like Rusty I figured pay the fine and good to go. Insurance went through the roof over $2000. We went to change insurance companies and was told they could do nothing because of a "RECKLESS" driving ticket. I said it was a speeding ticket not reckless driving. It ended up I was 1 mile over the limit for a speeding ticket.. We were on our way to Nashville for a convention. I called and warned friends who were coming down the following day about the trap. Sure enough that cop was sitting in the same spot. Oh, and he was not nice about telling me the limit was 55 for the next 7 miles to the Kentucky line.
Another one that irks me is when they say there is a toll booth ahead and there isn't and you get a ticket in the mail along with a picture of your car showing you behind the wheel and license number for x amount of dollars because you didn't pay the toll. Oh and the state people even admitted there was no booth there. My wife argued that big time but still lost.

 

[JPfloor]

Man it sounds like you guys need a lawyer…

We have about 1/2 a million more than we need here in New York. .. I’ll try and send a few hundred thousand of um out your way! LOL

 

[Incognito]

Oh… I heard it was 10….Hence the 65 in a 55… lol

Fact is you can basically go whatever speed everyone else is going..................just 1 MPH slower than the fastest guy out there. It's really solid advice. Cops will occasionally pick off the tail gunner in a gang of speeders but for the most part they want that lead horse.

You'll see a lot of vehicles doing 84. See, as Daris points out above 20 MPH over the speed limit is reckless driving and turns your life upside-down as far as insurance. So you don't want to get caught going 85 but 84 and under is just the normal speeding ticket. Which you can go to Traffic SCHOOL and wipe off your DMV report. I think I paid $50 and spend an hour online doing the last one about 5 or 6 years ago. (plus the fine of course and I think there's some marginal court fees to boot)

I would be leaving my house at 4:45AM typically getting on site by 5:30-5:45PM to avoid the GRIDLOCK BS that happens once the Little Old Ladies wake up and clog the nations arteries-----------freeway system. Starting work anytime after 6AM has been really my worst nightmare because then I'm driving on the same freeway with the Little Old Lady From Pasadena both ways. Adds essentially an hour onto an already ridiculous, unpaid, miserable, expensive commute.

 

[zannej]

The only ticket I ever got was when I was going slightly slower than the person ahead of me. Cop lied about my speed. This is in a town where they regularly give tickets for going 1mph over the limit and they will randomly pull people over to ticket them for nonsense because most of the town's revenue comes from tickets. This is the town where the cops were warned there was a federal emergency and that federal agents in civilian vehicles would be driving through at high rates of speed to respond to an emergency and to not delay them. So they called in every cop on the force and had them out stopping and ticketing them. Knowing that bc some of them were out of state, there would be no way to fight the ticket. Even if you do go to court, there is no actual judge to fight the ticket. It's a real racket.

Havasu, I don't know what to tell you, but I think things work differently where you live. They have ticket quotas here. Cops must write x number of tickets by x date. They have the same thing where they aren't supposed to pull over or ticket certain people. Then they have others they specifically target and harass. Bc this is a very racist area, they pull people over just for their skin being darker (and there have been cops who have admitted that). They just make up an excuse. Meanwhile the cops drive like absolute maniacs in town. Change lanes without turn signals, tailgate people in the slow lane, make turns from non-turn-lanes, blow through stop signs and red lights-- all without having lights or sirens on. They actually get into a LOT of accidents. I'd wager that a lot of the budget goes toward repairing their vehicles bc they bust them up all the time. They got a bunch of brand new SUVs and ended up crashing most of them-- and not in high speed chases. But, I live in a particularly backwater corrupt area and my state has the worst justice system in the country.

As for speeds, for the most part you can go 7 miles over without getting busted-- except Woodworth-- which is the town that gives tickets for 1mph over.

Its been too hot in the house and AC isn't working. Kept calling AC people. There were only 3 and one is in jail. One of the two I called finally called back and will be out tomorrow morning.

Took my truck to have the wheels looked at. Back passenger tire was toast-- belt on it broke & had to get a new tire. Front passenger got patched. Tire on the front driver side is ok BUT, the monkeys at the Honda dealership broke my CV axle when they installed the wheelbearing AND they didn't install the wheelbearing properly so it's broken again. Have to replace both parts now. Dealership has on their paperwork that they have no implied warranty unless otherwise stated so complaining to them would do no good. They didn't even give me a full refund for when they charged me for my own oil that I provided. My friend said he can install the CV axle but the wheelbearing needs a special tool (that the dealership apparently doesn't have) and that the local tire place does not have. It's $300 for the tool kit. Have to discuss it with my mother to see if she wants us to get it so the stuff will be installed properly.

Friend also suggested getting a new sway bar link.

At least the lumber I need is under $20. I'll have to pick that up tomorrow.

 

[C.J.]

Trying to plug the leaks where sawdust can escape from my table saw. I used some 1/4” ply to cover up some of the openings. I can’t cover them 100% because that prevents me from tilting the blade so that’s where the mustache on the underside of my ZCI comes into play. I glued a small piece of 1/4” ply in front of the blade as well. That was the latest hole to be covered. Prolly won’t be long until I invest in an over arm dust collecting blade guard.

Then as I was laying in bed this morning I ordered an anemometer. I pushed the buy now button and I’ll be damned if it wasn’t delivered by 9:30 this morning. Figured I would get some readings of what my dust collector actually sucks in CFM. Says it’s rated for 600 CFM. I know I’m not getting 600 but it would sure be nice to know what I am actually getting.

I have a 30 micron bag and a 5 micron bag. The 5 micron bag is twice the size of the 30 micron bag. My thinking was the increased load from the finer mesh would even out by having more surface area for the air to escape through. We’ll see. There’s a Jet dust collector at work with a canister filter on it, I think I’ll test that one too just to see where things really stand vs what they are rated at.

I prolly shoulda just brought my dust collector home cus I could be playing with it right now.