[Mishmash] Fw: My First Protest Sign

Mon Sep 7 15:28:28 CDT 2009

    Have you ever heard of the magistrate system in South Carolina?  A number of states have them (North Carolina does, I'm not sure yet if New Mexico does).  

    They are basically little country judges that try traffic tickets and minor cases.  At one time in South Carolina you did not even have to have a high school diploma to be a magistrate.  

    At the time I was a teenager in South Carolina, you could get a 'restricted' driver's license at age fifteen.  My brother was driving on a restricted drivers' license one day (a restricted driver's license entitled you to drive alone during the day but be accompanied by a parent or guardian at night) when a panel truck turned across the road in front of him.  It tore the right front fender off of our family car.  

    The driver got out and tried to scare my brother into not calling the highway patrol by telling him that they'd both be charged with reckless driving.  

    But my father had warned both of us if we dared leave an accident without having it investigated that we would never drive his car again.  So John called the highway patrol and my father.  

    They both arrived about the same time.  The officer (Ben Strickland, who I believe I spoke of before) charged the man with failure to yield the right of way.  My brother was not charged.  

    The man said he was going to court and the officer asked my brother to come and testify.  My brother said he would.  

    On the day of the trial, a phony witness turned up and said that everything had happened differently than my brother and Office Strickland said it did.  He saw everything up the road, down the road and from the intersecting road while he was pumping gas in the rain.  

    He said that our vehicle had left the road, struck the panel truck off the road, and returned to the road.  

    Officer Strickland cross examined him and said that in all of his years on the highway patrol that he had never had a single witness to see as much as 'Moose' claimed he did.  He contended that the witness saw nothing.  

    The magistrate laughed and roared.  He was cracking insulting jokes about the governor's office all during the trial.  

    At the end, he said he had known the defendant all of his life and didn't believe a word he was saying.  Then he said he also knew the defendant all of his life and couldn't bring himself to convict him.  

    He refered to us as 'one of those people that Mungo brought in here' (Mike Mungo was a very unpopular developer in the area.  We had bought our house from him).  

    So he dismissed the case.  Because the man beat the ticket, his insurance company refused to pay.  So we had to draw against our collision insurance to repair the vehicle.  

    At renewal time, our insurance rates went sky high.  Dad could no longer afford the premium.  So we switched to GEICO (that was before GEICO got into financial trouble and was a good company at that time).  They did not hold the accident against us.  

    Our next door neighbor was a lawyer.  He told me that he once had a magistrate tell him that he was going to 'choose a jury at ransom' (no, I didn't mispell what the magistrate said).  

    Our lawyer neighbor also told us about another magistrate convicting a man of violating an ordinance that had been repealed by the state legislature [because his law book had not been updated].  He said that the book he had was what he was supposed to enforce and he didn't care what the legislature had done.  

    I read about yet another magistrate in the news a few years later.  He was tired of the cops coming to him to sign warrants so he told them not to bother him and to just sign his name to the warrants and serve them.  Fortunately, the cops and the magistrate got caught and into a bunch of trouble over it.  

    The magistrate system has been an embarrassment to the state of South Carolina over the years.  They should replace it but they don't.  

    The magistrates are listed on the voters ballots for elections.  But the governor appoints them.  The governor does (or did) not have to abide by the election results.  I support an alternative candidate to try to get rid of that jerk.  But unfortunately, he was reappointed.  It was a few more years before that magistrate finally retired.  

    Regards, 

                                                                        Fred 

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Hugh Gigante 
  To: 'Mishmash' 
  Sent: Monday, September 07, 2009 12:09 PM
  Subject: Re: [Mishmash] Fw: My First Protest Sign

  We had the spring circus in June at the state level with guys switching parites.

  The worst thing . . . when you saw most of them on TV they were barely literate.

  Hugh

  From: mishmash-bounces at mishmash.net [mailto:mishmash-bounces at mishmash.net] On Behalf Of Fred Atkinson
  Sent: Monday, September 07, 2009 3:52 PM
  To: Mishmash
  Subject: Re: [Mishmash] Fw: My First Protest Sign

      Currently, New Mexico has five Congressional Representatives.  We had a Republican in our district but he got voted out in 2008.  

      He's going to run again in 2010.  

      I intend to support him.  

                                                                              Fred 

    ----- Original Message ----- 

    From: Hugh Gigante 

    To: 'Mishmash' 

    Sent: Monday, September 07, 2009 10:16 AM

    Subject: Re: [Mishmash] Fw: My First Protest Sign

    I've made a blanket decision to work this year and next for anyone running for office who has not been elected to that office before.

    Federal ,state, local . . . no matter what party. If they are there now, I want them out.

    Hugh

    From: mishmash-bounces at mishmash.net [mailto:mishmash-bounces at mishmash.net] On Behalf Of LCR at rochester.rr.com
    Sent: Monday, September 07, 2009 11:38 AM
    To: Mishmash
    Subject: [Mishmash] Fw: My First Protest Sign

    It takes courage to stand up for what you believe in.  Good Job.

    Linda

        Here I am at the Las Cruces, New Mexico Tea Party.  

        As you can see, I am holding my first protest sign wearing my patriot's hat.  

        A good time was had by all.  The good people of Las Cruces stood up and told everyone where they stood on the subject of Obama, Obamacare, Socialism, Taxes, and the list goes on.  

        God Bless America, 

                                                                        Fred 

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