Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Misdemeanor Citation

Can you believe it? I have been Cited with a Misdemeanor!!!!! AAARRRRGGGGHHH!!!

I was driving to Malta last Monday and expected to take I-84 south down to Malta. When I reached the interchange I was met with a sign that said "Road Closed, Detour". The detour pointed further down the road towards Pocatello. I didn't want to drive to Pocatello. I continued down the road looking for a detour so I could drive back to Declo and take the back roads into Malta. As I looked ahead I saw a truck crossing the middle using the emergency crossover. I figured that this must be the detour. (conveniently leaving out details) I was then met by a police officer standing in the middle of the road which motioned me to pull over. He then informed me, as his teeth chattered from the cold, that I would need to wait for him to give me a citation. I sat and waited to see what would happen. Hopefully, I thought, he would just give me a warning and let me go since it was a wintery day and due to the unusual circumstances. Well, that didn't "detour" (no pun intended) our friendly freezing police officer. He gave me a Misdemeanor Citation for using the Emergency Crossover. I asked him, "when can someone use the emergency crossover"? He said "never!". I said, "If there was an emergency, I still can not use the crossover?". He said "correct".

I then find out that this is not a ticket that I have to pay, it is a Misdemeanor. I have to show up to court! WHAT? So, a week from Monday I have to go to Rupert for a court hearing in front of a judge about my Misdemeanor Citation. YIKES!!!!

How am I going to plead?
Could I get excommunicated?

I have decided not to contact my Idaho State Representative on the matter since he did not handle his own "Misdemeanor Citation" very well.