Saturday, March 25, 2006

Big Brother Is Watching!


The above was received in the mail yesterday from the Marietta Police Department. It is a nifty one of a kind portrait of my car running a redlight. And those pictures will cost me $70 which does not include framing.

But wait! I am innocent! The citation said I was under crossing under the redlight 1.5 seconds after it turned red on March the 16th at 5:45am. I can prove it could not have been me - I have my credit card bill to prove I was on Lovely Linda Website video, watching Linda take a shower at that time. Naw, not really, but I was probably banging away on the key board doing something that the time was probably stamped - and could probably find it if I cared.

I will tell the truth. My wife is the guilty party. She did it. I was home minding my own business. She was rushing to be at work by 6:00.

But I get the blame because, even though both cars are in both of our names, my names appears first in both, which we intentionally did, so, we will pay the vehicle taxes on at one time on my birthday - and not hers, which is closer to Christmas.

Enclosed with the citation is a statement form that you can fill out and accuse someone else of driving your car that date and time. It doesn't matter, the $70 still has to be paid by this family.

I guess I could fuss about the George Orwell type of world we live in - or 1984, with Big Brother watching, but I don't mind if they catch traffic violators by the Big Brother method. If one breaks traffic laws and is punished for breaking those laws, then, just maybe it might cause some potential speeders and light-runners to be aware and drive more carefully.

Now, my next step is to get a money order a mail it in (no personal checks accepted) of maybe just go down and let the present guard know my father used to be the Chief of the Marietta Police and might even point him out on their wall of police chiefs framed in 8X10s.... then, maybe they will tear it up! just kidding.

Which reminds me, this past week I was digging in old copies of the Marietta Daily Journal when my father was the chief of the Marietta Police when they only had 8 men. This was in the 40s. The police had a wake-up call service. All you had to do was call them and tell them what time you wanted to be woke up, and they would, as a public service. Now, they have several hundred police officers, and I bet that service has been discontinued.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I didn't even know they had things like this!

Eddie said...

Steve,
Marietta is pretty much dotted with them and so is Atlanta. I think I read that Decatur also has them.
The lights that have the cameras have a sign stating they do.
I think it will be a matter of time before the technology reaches the mountains of Georgia.

Eddie said...

Steve,
Marietta is pretty much dotted with them and so is Atlanta. I think I read that Decatur also has them.
The lights that have the cameras have a sign stating they do.
I think it will be a matter of time before the technology reaches the mountains of Georgia.

Anonymous said...

Well, they could start with a stop light at the Highway! Thats another story

Michael Bains said...

Howdy ET. I followed Steve's link here and dig your approach to bloggin'. Except for Steve's unfortunate obsession with some Lucky steeltown football team, I gotta agree that his Aging Hipster is a hekk of a good blog as well.

I'm in Cleveland, OH and they just installed those Traffic Cams up here in the last year or so. I've not been busted yet, and am hopin' not to be.

Thanks for the reminder that those things DO work! lol

Eddie said...

Michael,
Thank you.
Cleveland? I think that is where Harvey Pekar of AMERICAN SPLENDOR lives.
My wife and I are going out the door now to the library to find something about redoing our deck. I will check out your site later today or tomorrow morning.
Eddie

Carolyn said...

Wow, I guess I'd better start looking up at the lights then and check for camera's! I can't imagine they've progressed that far where I live, but if they have, and it's gonna catch someone, it'll be me!

Idea: Why don't you start a wake up service? Of course, who'd wake you up in time? lol :D

Eddie said...

Judy,
I might as well, I am awake every morning by 4:30 anyway, so I might as well do something useful.
I think anytime I know I have to get up at by a certain time I sleep with one eye opened.... or it seems like that anyway.

Rose Lane said...

That light is terrible. I got a ticket directly across the street for doing about the same thing. It was 7:52 (school starts at 8) and I had to make it to Walker and run in on time.

Eddie said...

Rose Lane,
I think if the truth be known we would have received more tickets from that light. I know of three other times we ran it thinking we would get under the yellow before it turned to red but failed.