In another life at another place, I had an "administrative assistant" – an otherwise competent and lovely individual – who apparently didn’t understand just how a tire worked. In our area of the office we had a storage closet for office supplies and stuff – including a couple of dismounted tires. She went into that closet, and let out an audible gasp.
“What happened to this tire?” she shrieked.
“What’s wrong,” I asked as I quickly headed toward the shriek.
“The inside is missing. There is nothing there.”
Thinking that she was talking about the lack or a wheel, I pointed out that the tire wasn’t mounted.
“No,” she exclaimed, “I mean in here.”
She was pointing to the hollow area between the beads. “Where did the stuff that goes in here go?”
Like I said, an otherwise competent person.
I hadn’t thought about that incident for some time until yesterday when I read this story from the Arkansas News Bureau:
Dateline Clinton, Ark. – A judge threw out a charge of failing to register a vehicle against a man who claimed the police officer who (sic) cited him did not check to see if his tires were filled with air.
“Andrew Watson did not get a free ride in Van Buren County District Court. Judge John C. Aldworth found him guilty on two counts of driving without a license and two counts of having no liability insurance. Watson was fined $800.
“But the judge ruled he could find no basis for the failure to register charge under the code for which Watson was cited.
“Arkansas Code 27-14-601 requires a registration fee be paid for any automobile equipped with pneumatic tires and used for the transportation of persons.
“Watson argued at a Nov. 13 hearing that the state did not prove that the vehicle he was driving at the time he was pulled over in Fairfield Bay on two occasions had air-filled tires. In fact, it may have had foam tires, he argued.
“Aldworth sided with Watson on the point in his ruling Dec. 6.
“‘The court cannot find any provision in that statute that provides that an administration fee will be charged for an automobile or truck without pneumatic tires,’ the judge said. ‘Basically, Mr. Watson argues that the state had the burden of proof to show that he was operating an automobile or truck with pneumatic tires and failed to do so. The court finds in favor of Mr. Watson.’”
So, to square this up, even though all records point to the fact that the defendant in this case failed to register his vehicle, the judge tossed the charge because the police didn’t check to see if he was indeed driving on “pneumatic tires.”
But now the story gets just a little bit better….
It seems the defendant Watson “contended at the November hearing that local and state governments have no jurisdiction over him because he chooses not to participate in what he calls a government ‘corporation,’ whose rules and regulations only apply to its members.
“Watson said members have things such as Social Security numbers, birth certificates and driver’s licenses and they receive benefits. He said he rescinded all such paperwork 19 years ago because of his Mennonite religious beliefs.
“’Because you choose not to be a participant of this society, you aren’t subject to its jurisdiction? Do you think you can drive up and down roads at 100 miles per hour?’ Judge Aldworth asked. ‘I’m not prepared to say our society can function that way.’”
And so he didn’t, so Watson still took an $800 hit to the pocketbook.
Deputy Prosecutor Chris Carnahan, offered this summation: “‘Most of Mr. Watson’s arguments were specious, but he found one that worked,’ adding that he supposed there could be some statewide impact on no-registration violations if others chose to make the argument, an issue he said might need to be addressed.”
Ya think?
