Newspapers / The Perquimans Weekly (Hertford, … / April 11, 1952, edition 1 / Page 5
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PAGE FTVh 4 r o-ttjtic e;ooit By Albert Coatea, Director of the Institute of fioTernment : change the arrant to speeding or . reckless driving in order to avoid the j revocation of a driver's license. " And if the first case on the docket brings 1 a Jury conviction in a reckless or '.drunken driving case, followed fcy a I five hundred dollar fine and twelve 'Laws on the book! will never cut months on the road, it is easy to see . down accidents on the streets and how similar cases fade off the docket Following ia another of a series' . of articles written for the infor ' matkm of motorists by Albert Coates, Director of the Institute ? of Government at Chapel Hill. r Traffic Law Enforcement highways until they more out of printed, pages into the heads of law enforcing officers and automobile drivers anil go into ; action on the streets and highways. "Execution is the life of . the law," and execution of the roofor vehicle laws depends on: in the hope of lenient juries and light er judges in later terms of court., Chain of Law Enforcing Machinery ; The chain of law enforcing ma chinery is no stronger than its weak est link. ..' No law is stronger than motor venicie laws aepenus on:uv. au (1) the officer who catches flie.-lJrri fice, the jury box, the judge's bench, the hearing officer's room, or the gov ernor's Chair. To illustrate: A year or two ago a judge of Recorder's Court announced that after thirty days he would revoke the license of every person: convicted of drunken driving in his court and send him to the roads; everyone applauded the announcement. As fate would have it a young man of local prominence was arrested for drunken' driving while returning from a party on New Year's eve. The young man had been fined before without visible dampening of his spirits and he didn't mind another fine. He had driven over the roads, but didnt like the idea of working on the roads; it carried a social stig lator of the law; (2) the solicitor who prosecutes him; (3) the jury which tries him;" (4) the judge who sen tences him; (5) the hearing, officer with the power to restore a. license suspended or revoked, and (6) the agencies of probation, pardon, and parole. ' v : Investigating Officers . ' Five hundred State Hisrhway pa trolmen are continuously patrolling t twenty-three .thousand miles of hard " surfaced highways, and giving a lick and a promise to thirty-seven thous and miles of dirt roads; supplemented by sheriffs and rural police giving such time to traffic law enforcement in rural areas as their general law enforcing duties and limited equipment' msi not included in the fine and he permit; supplemented by two thous-1 didn't want to lose his driver's license, and policemen, patrolling eight thous-1 He put pressure on the officer to - and miles of streets, in three hundred j change the warrant to speeding, even town and city islands dotting this to reckless driving, or to any charge statewide traffic sea. .; ' I that would let him off with a fine Solicitors, Jurors, and Judges j even a big fins. Every year three thousand law en- When the officer stood by the facts forcing officers bring two hundred and wrote them in the warrant as he people into: (1) justice of the peace found them, the pressure shifted to courts in hundreds of scattered town-( , ships, (2) city courts in around three; . hundred cities and towns, (3) county courts in most of the one hundred counties, and superior courts ta 1 the twenty-one judicial districts of the state; charged with traffic violations ranging from illegal parking to drunk en driving, manslaughter, and murder. These violators of the -traffic laws are prosecuted by solicitors with dif fering policies in throwing out cases, changing warrants, and accepting leas of guilty to lesser offenses. They are tried by juries exercising ancient prerogatives to dispense with the law in order to administer jus tice according to jury if not accord ing to law. They are sentenced by judges with differing intenpretaitions of "negligent" driving, "reckless" driving, "drunken" driving, with dif fering policies;: of punishment even when they agree unon the same in terpstation of the law: with the net result that differences" in punishment are as likely to be based on differ ences in courts as on differences in criminals. ' ' ' To. illustrate: one officer may give a caution where another gives a tic ket and another makes arrest. One solicitor may nolle prosse a case where another changes the warrant ad.. n- other pushes prosecution to the limit of the law. One judge or one jury may convict of driving under the in fluence of intonating liquor on proof of alcoholic odor on the breath, an other may require added proof of slurring soeech and staggering walk and inability to stand alone, and an other on the - same evidence : - may the solicitor who was requested to nolle prosse the case , or accept a plea of guilty to a lesser offense, or any offense that would not involve the loss of liberty or license. When the solicitor yielded not to temptation,, the pressure shifted to the judge who was begged to recqn sider bia policy, or postpone it, or at least to exercise his fact-finding pow er to. find as a fact that he was not guilty of drunken driving beyond a reasonable doubt, thus achieving the double purpose of preserving the de fendant's ; freedom and saving the judge's face. . When the judge followed through on his policy, and the driver finished his road sentence, the pressure shifted to the hearing officers of the Motor Vehicles Department to restore his driver's license, mandatory revocation for a twelve month notwithstanding. Should old acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind ? , And if so, judgment day may come with the next election. , -, All ng the line went this finger ing ofthe joints in the effort to find a single weakness which would break the backbone of the law efforts by the defendant himself, members of his family, friends of the family, and Free Upkeep ,Jj Forever! I A lifetime of free service upfeeep . goes with your telephone from the minute it is installed. If sny thing ever gets "out of order"' we fix it at no cost to you. " This is another good reason why your telephone is one of the best bargains in your budget! " TELEPHONE A TELEGRAPH THE NORFOLK fr CAROLINA COMPANY Eliza Set n ':t Mt'i"v Mnnie Hertford Sunhurv mjunuxAJirvM'...y "", - - - - - MM , ., a i J "i ' II J yr- v 7 Athoy's MARINE FINISHES Mts licU SrM&f OeJll&l e CSSXl-ifflrocMw jd f vkaobl 0 TCr5S"50)d looks Ihot CA::::-piooiih9 -4 . forfait . 0 tCT75ft $"fof iHMiotti m!7h ill , YmiH t provd of Ihs wy yen boot trends usT C'U Lwt Xlt?Z7Jl t 0j 1 Afe 1 v ... ' ' ' i even acquaintances willing to sign pe titions without knowledge of the facts. Officers, solicitors, judges, and hear ing officers in and out jof office can multiply this "illustration with simi lar experiences with defendants work ing jn mysterious ways their wonders to perform. iSometimes their won ders work. In the latter 1920's town and city police, township constables, county sheriffs, state patrolmen, and federal officers came together in : the Insti tute of Government to coordinate their interlocking," overlapping, and con. flicting activities with rssu'ts that have given a cooperative pattern to the nation. Solicitors and judges of the cities, the counties, and the state of North Carolina are following this example, aided and abetted by sys tematic and continued research stud ies and investigations by the Insti tute of Government. A year ago guidebooks on the Laws of Arrest and Search and Seizure furnished a start- TELEVISION SALES AND SERVICE : PHONE 3856 ELLIOTT LAYDEN ing point for, forty local . schools throughout the state, attended by six teen hundred law- enforcing officers, taught by local solicitors, judges, and lawyers at the bar. r-f jn '' Seems So It seems that the woman with the least principle gets the most interest. flora Join TWIFORD'S Mutual Burial ASSOCIATION fidr '"A "thai rtoin midmiiV with o bra of NORMS Exquisite Condi. Com in todoy-NORRlS Exqubtt Candies art dressed 1st the best Eat stytnl - V: Marshalls 'm i; 1 : - . . j . X ."NATURE.! I FT", ' BE GLAMOROUS "DOLORES has the secret the only brassiere with patented "Nature Lift" support. Li-'.s not only from below, out also from the sides." StyT 201 beautifully tattered tn fin broadcloth. White, size 32-40. ABC cupt. $2.00. Styl 201 beautifully tailored In exquisite nylon. Whit, sil 32-40, ABC cups, J2.50. 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The Perquimans Weekly (Hertford, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
April 11, 1952, edition 1
5
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