Does a Driver's License and Social Security Name and address have to match?
Once again we are seeing the effect of 9/11 on the way we operate. The Georgia Department of Motor Vehicle Safety is now suspending drivers licenses when the drivers license does not match the social security records.
When Katie Sue married Bobby Lee four years ago, she went down and got her drivers license changed. The problem is
she never changed her name at social security. Well, those pesky notices from the revenuers (IRS) telling her that her records showed a problem kind of got put on the back burner what with Robby (age 3), Bo (age 2), and Katelyn (6 months) being on the front burner all the time.
She was in a hurry the other day taking the kids to Mothers Morning Out and was pulled over by her friendly neighborhood State Patrol Officer. Now the trooper was an understanding sort and might have let her go (especially with Robby asking out loud Are you going to jail Mommy?but he ran her drivers history and she was suspended. So Katie Sue got to go to the courthouse. Now I wont go into all the sordid details but poor Bobby had to get off work to bond poor Katie Sue out of jail.
Hopefully the judge will be the understanding sort.
Now the purpose of that law is to weed out as many cases of identity fraud as possible but the folks up at the state house dont always get these things right the first time. But the law is the law and if you get one of those notices from the revenuers, be sure to get it straightened out.
Oh
and make sure you keep your address correct on your drivers license or the notices dont get to the right place.
As my old preacher used to always say, A word to the wise is sufficient.
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Why dont you accept credit card payments?
What most people dont know about credit cards is that they cost the retailer money out of every purchase. If, for example, Bo and Luke Duke were finally caught in Operation Leadfoot a.k.a. the local speed trap, and the fine was $125.00, the cost of accepting a credit card payment might be $3.93. That doesnt sound like much but Operation Leadfoot* writes 1000 citations a month and if half paid by credit card the cost of offering credit cards as a method of payment would be $23,580.00 a year and Boss Hogg wouldnt go along with that.
If they acted out with the deputy and he kept writing, that single speeding ticket could have additions
Loud Music $125.00, Laying Drag $685.00, Broken Taillight $125.00
you get the idea. The cost of processing the fine just climbed considerably.
Now this is for a convenience. Businesses are sold credit card services on the basis that it increases the average purchase through impulse buying but government is not really sold by that logic. After all, do we really want you to say, Wow, it was so easy and convenient to pay that speeding ticket that Im going to speed through town again! or While Im here go ahead and add another $125.00 fine to prepay my next fine!
If you think it might increase collections, well, that doesnt really work either. If Luke doesnt pay his citation he gets this fun little letter from the State advising him that his drivers license is being suspended. If he gets caught driving after that, the charge is Driving on a Suspended License. That charge carries minimum penalties of a $500.00 fine and 2 days in jail. Say hey to Cooter while youre in there Luke!
So
when most government agencies do provide credit card processing it comes with a small convenience fee included so that only those who want to pay for the convenience have to pay extra.
We are adding that service to our website. It should be up and running by the end of February. I hope you never have to use that service but if you do, then you know why we charge extra for the privilege of paying your fine that way.
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Why did we move the Polling place?
Cusseta-Chattahoochee County has received Department of Justice approval for moving the polling place and on July 20th, 2004, and in all future elections, we will be voting at the Robinson Activity Center.
Many people have questioned why we are moving the polling place. We have been voting at the courthouse since the county was formed one hundred fifty years ago. What has changed?
1. Americans With Disabilities Act
In 1990, Congress passed legislation requiring that all public facilities be made accessible to the handicapped and the Georgia General Assembly made it a requirement of law that all polling places be made handicap accessible.
Handicap accessibility has been a matter of degree. Ramps were put in at the courthouse and the bathrooms were modified and every year until this year, we passed the tests applied by the Secretary of States office by a thin margin. This year, the survey was changed and we failed the test.
Our bathrooms are not truly handicap accessible because a person in a wheelchair cannot enter the restrooms without assistance; the doors of the courthouse are too heavy for some to open; the main entrance to the courthouse is not wheelchair accessible; the courtroom (where the elections have always been held) is not handicap compliant at all.
In the recent Supreme Court decision re: Tennessee v. Lane, the Supreme Court held that if a court had a court reporter who was handicapped and the courtroom could not accommodate this person that the trial would have to be moved to a gymnasium temporarily to accommodate the person with a disability.
Our courthouse was built in 1976. The cost of renovating the courthouse for handicap accessibility would be high and would require more space for bathrooms and the courtroom. The only place to get this space is to build into the parking lot and we already have insufficient parking during sessions of court and elections. Congress provided some money to bring polling places into compliance in the HAVA (Help America Vote Act) legislation. I sit on the Secretary of States Elections Taskforce and I can tell you that the grants average $800 per polling place. That would purchase a door. It is just not feasible to bring the courthouse into compliance at this time.
Because elections are required to be handicap accessible by Georgia law, our only remaining option is to move the polling place.
I approached the school board about moving the polling place to the school. Someone suggested that the new recreation center would be a better place. I agree. It was dedicated just last year. It is built to the standards required by law and it meets all the requirements of parking and space that we would need to conduct elections there.
2. Issues with holding elections at the courthouse
Now the law states no campaigning is allowed within 150 ft of the polling place. The reason for this is obvious. We want there to be a level playing field for those who are running for office and to assure that there is no pressuring or strong-arm tactics from candidates after the voter arrives at the polling place.
This year, every county officer in Cusseta-Chattahoochee County has opposition. Would it be fair if they used their offices inside the polling place on Election Day to campaign? It is very difficult to enforce this law when the candidates office is in the same building.
3. Space
The courtroom has simply become too small to manage the large numbers of voters who have been coming to the polls in our major elections. Eight years ago, the line that remained at the closing of the polls went way out into the parking lot. Four years ago it was the same.
The only real solution is to have more space. The gymnasium at the Robinson Activity Center has thousands of square feet and will last us for years as a polling place even if our county were to grow substantially.
When everything is added upthe requirements of the law, the opportunity to offer fairer elections and the need for more space for elections as we grow as a countymoving the polling place to the Robinson Activity Center becomes the obvious choice.
I hope you agree.
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Why do we have zoning?
Well now what most people dont know about Hazzard County is that their biggest business is well
hogs. There is Hoggs Hogs and then there is Willies Squeelies. (Ms. Lula Belles little brother Willie owns Willies Squeelies. Well maybe little brother isnt such a good way to put it. Boss Hoggs brother-in-law must weigh close to 400 pounds.)
Anyway
hogs were taking over Hazzard County. Whenever Willie put up another Willies Squeelies, Boss Hogg would build another Hoggs Hogs. And these two were the biggest producers of pork you ever saw.
Only problem is, every time a Willies Squeelies or a Hoggs Hogs went up, the neighborhood went to
well
theres no polite way of saying that it turned into a pigsty. (I know some of you city folks dont know how that might smell but imagine your Uncle Ed stinking up the bathroom times about 2000 hogs.)
Anyways
every time a Willies Squeelies or a Hoggs Hogs went up folks took to complaining but no one could do anything about it. Folks just abandoned their houses. The banks started requiring fifty percent down to buy a house because you never knew where a Hoggs Hogs or a Willies Squeelies was gonna be built. Boss Hoggs bank got stuck with a few pieces of property downwind of a Willies Squeelies and even Boss Hogg couldnt find enough folks with no olfactory sense to sell the land to.
Folks down at the county started talking about zoning but Uncle Jesse hated that idea. Tarnation! I cant stand the thought of anyone telling me what to do with my own land! But when Willies Squeelies bought some land down near the Duke place, Uncle Jesse decided enough was enough.
Anyway
they passed zoning. Even though Boss Hogg hated the idea he figured he would make more money if he didnt keep ending up with worthless pieces of property.
Heck, even the big city banks started loaning money in Hazzard and you didnt have to put fifty percent down anymore so a lot of young folks were able to buy a house.
Uncle Jesse is still grousing about but it sure beats having to light all those candles to keep down the smell. And folks down in Hazzard think zoning
well
zoning just plain smells sweet.
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Why change the legal organ?
Well now what most people dont know about Hazzard County is that their biggest business is well
hogs. There is Hoggs Hogs and then there is Willies Squeelies. (Ms. Lula Belles little brother Willie owns Willies Squeelies. Well maybe little brother isnt such a good way to put it. Boss Hoggs brother-in-law must weigh close to 400 pounds.)
Anyway
hogs were taking over Hazzard County. Whenever Willie put up another Willies Squeelies, Boss Hogg would build another Hoggs Hogs. And these two were the biggest producers of pork you ever saw.
Only problem is, every time a Willies Squeelies or a Hoggs Hogs went up, the neighborhood went to
well
theres no polite way of saying that it turned into a pigsty. (I know some of you city folks dont know how that might smell but imagine your Uncle Ed stinking up the bathroom times about 2000 hogs.)
Anyways
every time a Willies Squeelies or a Hoggs Hogs went up folks took to complaining but no one could do anything about it. Folks just abandoned their houses. The banks started requiring fifty percent down to buy a house because you never knew where a Hoggs Hogs or a Willies Squeelies was gonna be built. Boss Hoggs bank got stuck with a few pieces of property downwind of a Willies Squeelies and even Boss Hogg couldnt find enough folks with no olfactory sense to sell the land to.
Folks down at the county started talking about zoning but Uncle Jesse hated that idea. Tarnation! I cant stand the thought of anyone telling me what to do with my own land! But when Willies Squeelies bought some land down near the Duke place, Uncle Jesse decided enough was enough.
Anyway
they passed zoning. Even though Boss Hogg hated the idea he figured he would make more money if he didnt keep ending up with worthless pieces of property.
Heck, even the big city banks started loaning money in Hazzard and you didnt have to put fifty percent down anymore so a lot of young folks were able to buy a house.
Uncle Jesse is still grousing about but it sure beats having to light all those candles to keep down the smell. And folks down in Hazzard think zoning
well
zoning just plain smells sweet.
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