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WTVF-TV in Nashville aired an interesting story that probably would play out just about anywhere. Investigative reporter Phil Williams reports:

NewsChannel 5 reviewed more than 136,000 parking tickets for the past two years.

Of those that have been adjudicated -- 88,000 were guilty -- the drivers paid the fines.

But almost 16,000 parking tickets were dismissed or, in court language, retired -- and no one can say why.

WTVF said that a pro football quarterback didn't have to pay, and neither did some store employees who parked illegally, day after day, and racked up more than 200 tickets that eventually were all just tossed out.

 

The station says politicians, police and even people working in the courts are behind the ticket-fixing.

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One City: $40 Million in Unpaid Parking Tickets

The Dallas Morning News has discovered that scofflaws owe the city an astonishing $40 million in unpaid parking tickets. Some of the tickets are nearly 20 years old.
 

How did the mess happen? The paper said:

• The information recorded about illegally parked vehicles is inconsistent -- several different names for the same company, for example -- and sometimes incorrect. Some data on parking offenders became corrupted during a transition from one computerized accounting system to another, making collections a challenge.
• The city of Inglewood, Calif., which Dallas employed until last year to administer parking fines and collections, couldn't keep up with the workload. Collection warnings weren't always distributed, and credit agencies weren't asked by the city to penalize the most notorious offenders.
• As of November, 10 businesses each owed Dallas more than $30,000. Two of them owed more than $100,000. But some company officials, who say they're willing to settle their debts, argue that they have no idea how much money their institutions really owe Dallas.

"This is astonishing," said Linda Koop, chairwoman of the Dallas City Council's transportation and environment committee. "We certainly will look at this, and we have to get a handle on it."

Early this decade, Dallas cut dozens of jobs, and it has since raised property taxes because of meager budgets. But no one ever told the council that the city hadn't collected on millions of dollars in parking fines, Mayor Laura Miller said.
 

"You think that'd be the first thing you're told in a tough budget year," Ms. Miller said. "We've got to be aggressive and go after that money."

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Fixing Speeding Tickets

In the same vein, The Kansas City (Mo.) Star looked at how the court system there allows dangerous speeders and red-light runners to plead guilty to lesser charges in order to avoid losing points on their licenses.

 

The story said:

An investigation by The Kansas City Star found that the Municipal Court repeatedly allows thousands of speeders and red-light runners to reduce dangerous moving violations to defective-equipment pleas. That means tickets for serious violations are pleaded down to offenses such as broken taillights, which means no points against a driver's record.

The legal tactic -- called "buying points" -- is common in the metro area. But it is spinning out of control in Kansas City. The result? Problem drivers keep on speeding, even when their licenses should be suspended or revoked.

According to a computer-assisted analysis of court records, one lead-footed driver received six defective-equipment pleas in a year's time. Several drivers received five. Nearly 250 a year get three or more in Kansas City, because there effectively is no limit on how many a defendant can receive.

"As a person who has to share the road with these people, I have to say that's outrageous," said Mike Right, a spokesman for AAA Missouri, the statewide affiliate of the national 49 million-member road service agency.

Right acknowledged that it is common for courts to allow a traffic violator to plead down a ticket once or twice a year. "But come on, five times in a year? That's a little too much love," he said, adding that even three or four would be excessive.

Other courts in the metro area, The Star found, limit how often they will help a driver avoid points and stay behind the wheel. The strictest courts limit it to one per year.

Kansas City's point-buying policy also may cost law-abiding drivers. When bad drivers are involved in accidents, everyone's insurance rates go up, although how much is unclear.

What's more, false driving records are being created so that bad drivers who are pulled over in other cities appear as if they have clean records when they actually do not, traffic safety experts said.

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The Ports Story: Perspective

I think National Public Radio's perspective story is as good as I have encountered to help you catch up on the port-sales story. The closing few paragraphs are especially useful because they explain who is responsible for what around a port. Give it a listen; play it in your morning meeting. 

 

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Helping Scooter Get the Word Out
 

In case you care, there is now a "[Scooter] Libby Legal Defense Trust" Web site.

 

I especially enjoyed the "What you aren't hearing" section of the site, which links to a gaggle of snippets from news stories and speeches. Think about that. For a story that is allegedly not being told, there sure are a lot of stories to link to.

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