we saw that...

stephenson et al vs stephenson family trust

while we generally have little to no (mostly no) sympathy for woodworth, la., residents on account of their being complicit with their crooked elected officials in allowing or even encouraging them in running the town's long time speed trap scam, we have even less sympathy for those who attempt to or steal someone else's land.

so, kudos to alexandria, la. attorney gregory engelsman, esq., of the bolen firm for taking this case on.

the cause, michael d. stephenson and sherri medica stephenson vs the stephenson family trust, is allotted to ninth judicial district court judge john c. davidson.

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louisiana tax feeder out collecting governmental revenue

on the second day of spring 2012 a perfumed prince is out harassing the commoners.

perhaps we would have some respect for the police if they were out investigating and arresting crooked politicians, elected and governmental officials, white collar criminals and other treasonous, traitorous rats who are destroying this country -- rather than spending all their time out writing "speeding tickets" to citizens who are merely attempting to get from point a to point b on roads that their tax dollars already paid for and upon which they have a right to travel.

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3rd circuit: speeding conviction and sentence are not appealable judgments

City of Alexandria vs Frank Rambin

On January 14, 2011, Defendant, Frank L. Rambin, was cited in Alexandria for speeding, in violation of La.R.S. 32:63.

Defendant appeared for trial on the offense on March 24, 2011.

After considering the evidence presented, the city court found Defendant guilty as charged, fined him fifty dollars, ordered him to pay $120.00 in court costs, and directed Defendant to serve five days in jail if he defaulted on the fine and court costs.

The record shows that Defendant promptly paid both the fine and the court costs.

Thereafter, Defendant filed a pro se “Motion and Order for Appeal” with the city court;
[...]
Under La.Code Crim.P. art. 912.1(B), defendants in criminal cases may only appeal their convictions when their cases are triable by jury.
[...]
Therefore, because the potential penalty for speeding does not meet the criteria that would make the offense eligible for a jury trial, Defendant’s speeding conviction and sentence are not appealable judgments.
[...]
Though his conviction and sentence are not appealable, Defendant has the right to seek judicial review of those judgments by timely filing an application for supervisory review with this court. La.Code Crim.P. art. 912.1(C).

that a speeding ticket even exists, much less that its regarded as a criminal offense with jail time attached is absurd and unamerican.

all the people have done here is to foolishly give the state the power to cashier their money from out their pocket -- into theirs; at the point of a gun and under threat of loss of liberty -- in order to steal it, to give to their criminal friends or to keep for themselves.

so whats an application for supervisory review a/k/a a supervisory-writ?

thats a good question. the louisiana state bar association has a sixteen page .pdf of mumbo-jumbo called supervisory-writ practice in louisiana courts of appeal.

it seems that if the state bar was really interested in helping us out they would draw up an example of a supervisory-writ so that the people could see what one looks like. the proper form, wording, format and so forth. then maybe more people could file them.

the third circuit gave mr. rambin a second chance to file the proper papers, that was pretty cool, so we hope that he takes them up on it. it would be a shame to waste a second chance.

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"amber" on louisiana speed trap woodworth louisiana

My name is Amber, I was traveling from Austin TX to Jena LA to visit my parents, I was watching my speed very closely using my cruise controll to insure I did not accidently go over the limit.

It was midnight and I was the only car on the highway, sure enough, as soon as I left the 65 mph zone, I reset my cruise to 55 mph, which is what the posted speed was, as soon as I passed the 55mph sign I saw police lights.

The snaggled toothed Police officer insisted that I was going 66 in a 55. I told him NO, I was watching my speed and setting my cruise accordingly, he still issued the ticket.

What goes around does come around. I was not going 66, I wasn't even going 55, I set my cruise 4 mph below what is posted. I don't understand how they can get away with this.

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woodworth speed trap creep wants to know where his money or school is at

the following letter appeared in today's gannett/the town talk "your mail" (formerly called reader's write) section and we're posting it here because of the great comment left by "combineman" which is at the bottom.

Your Mail: Where's the school?

For the past two parish tax collection seasons I, and others in my area, have paid the property tax assessed for the proposed new school at Woodworth.

The tax associated with building the school caused my property taxes to increase some 35 percent. For two years that increase in millage has been collected.

Where's the school? It hasn't even been started yet. It is my understanding that the land that was to be given by the U.S. Forest Service had Indian relics on it, and could not be donated.

How long can the School Board collect taxes for a project that they have not begun, and apparently don't even have the property yet to build it on?

While they are waiting to find a place to build it, what about the inflationary cost of building the school? The initial call for the bond issue had a limit set for the amount of money associated with building the school.

While the School Board fiddles around, the cost of the project is going up. Are they going to ask for an additional tax?

I asked the District Attorney if there was a limitation of time that could elapse from the passage of a tax issue to the beginning of the construction of the project. I got no answer.

Are the citizens going to be assessed for the 20 years of taxes, and the school not begun to be built? What is happening to the tax money while we are waiting?

And, by the way, the citizens defeated the maintenance tax proposal associated with this school. So, how does the School Board hope to maintain it, even if it is built? Another building like the parish coliseum?

This is all ridiculous, just like those managing the project.

The collected taxes should be returned to the taxpayers as it is obvious that it is not on the front burner for the School Board.

And, some in office wonder why the public is against new taxes?

Could be this is a good example.

Richard G. Moriarty

Woodworth

Combineman wrote:

AWWW Someone who lives in the biggest speed trap in the state is whining about money being unfairly taken from them.What a tragedy.Sounds like whoever collects the tax money also collects the fine money.Hilarious!
1/23/2011 7:40:19 AM

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should police be allowed to run radar from a church?

churches have historically and traditionally been places of refuge from life's travails.

yet in louisiana, city, parish and state police routinely use houses of worship as cover to operate their revenue enhancing schemes from.

around 11:08 am this morning we observed city of pineville, la. police apparently running radar from the parking lot of the pineville church of christ.

that's just wrong. when are we ever going to see a state law banning this practice?

speed trap woodworth, la. again

wst... note: below is a comment about speed trap woodworth, louisiana, left today at the linked post. this comment was left by someone using a computer -- the ip number of which, resolves to an isp in kuwait. referral logs show it was using www.google.com.kw to search "city of woodworth louisiana"

we're not posting this just because we believe that this soldier and/or his wife should be or have been given special consideration but because we are against speeding and traffic tickets in general. we believe that a ticket should only issue if and when someone causes a wreck. everyone else leave them alone.

Enraged Soldier commented on woodworth louisiana speed trap capital of the free world

I am a Captain in the United States Army Reserve and am currently in Kuwait, on my second deployment for Operation Iraqi Freedom.

My wife was just passing through Woodworth on her way back home, after dropping off our 2 sons for camp at Camp Beauregard.

She was using a GPS to try and navigate her way back home and was completely turned around and lost. While she was trying to figure out where she was, she passed a Woodworth police officer, who pulled out behind her and stopped her.

I was on the phone with her when he pulled her over and was witness to a shameful display of what I guess Woodworth considers serving the community. ( I am a Police Officer in Southwest Louisiana and am very familiar with the reputation of the Speed Trap Capital of the state, also known as Woodworth)

I listened in total disgust and complete embarrassment to MY profession to hear how rude and heartless this officer (who by the way identified himself as the Chief of Police) treated my wife, especially after she tried to explain to him that I was a deployed soldier and fellow police officer and that she was lost and was just trying to find her way home.

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14 november 2009 election returns enable colfax to become newest louisiana speed trap

awhile back an emailer pointed out to us that you cant operate a speed trap unless you can control the police force. then kalb reported saturday night that citizens of the grant parish, louisiana town of colfax voted to quit electing their own police chief in favor of the position becoming an appointive one by the mayor and town council.

who in their right mind would vote to give up the right to elect their own police chief? what kind of leaders would think such a proposition was a good idea to put before the people?

now there is not even a semblance of separation of powers or balance of powers between those reserved to the people and those held by the town government. do you think that the mayor and town council are going to allow the police chief to investigate them for anything? its more likely that the mayor and town council will be having the police investigate you if you should get uppity enough to speak out against them.

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mike magnoli: beware speed trap tullos, louisiana

in the 2008 louisiana regular legislative session, the newspaper.com covered state senator joe mcpherson and his successful effort to have his sb799 -- which made it illegal for any state agency to have a plan -- even an informal plan -- that evaluates police officers based on the number of arrests made or citations issued, enacted into law.

however, if the part in the report about police agencies issuing tickets outside their respective jurisdictions is accurate, it would seem that a more needful law making that scam a felony would be appropriate.

in the 2007 louisiana regular legislative session, state representative billy chandler, offered his hb195 which would have revoked the citizens of pollock, louisiana right to elect their own choice for a police chief and placed it in the hands of the town council.

this would of course made it even easier for the criminal network to operate pollock as a speed trap since the police chief would only answer to the council instead of the citizenry. thankfully, hb195 never became law, it was involuntarily deferred by the house municipal parochial committee.

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is homeland security investigating speed trap thugs at woodworth louisiana?

or, did someone from homeland security receive a speeding ticket from there?

another person gets wise to the crime gang running woodworth, la.

woodworth, louisiana operates exactly like the old time highwaymen who pounced on travelers in medieval europe; lots of people, like ms. tracy, complain about woodworth's activities. unfortunately, what the complainers fail to understand, is that if we had honest and respectable people in the rapides parish district attorney's office or the rapides parish sheriff's office or the louisiana state police or the louisiana attorney general office or the state legislature, woodworth would have been investigated, dealt with and stopped long ago.

and what does this say about ms. tracy who admits that she has heard for at least 22 years about the way others have been mistreated by woodworth yet did nothing about it until her family and her were victims?

I have lived in Forest Hill for the last 22 years, and I have always heard bad stories about the town of Woodworth. Now, I know firsthand the trauma brought on from this small town.

My husband was on his way to work a few weeks ago and was stopped because a Woodworth police officer told him he didn't have insurance, asked how he could say that when he knew he did. The officer told him it was technology.

Even after I got there, right up the road, the officer told me they were going to tow the truck for no insurance. I told him it did have insurance and I had the card to prove it. He said the card makes no difference because his computer says it didn't.

Well, then I went to my insurance agent and was told of course you have insurance and then to the DMV office where I was told they don't know where Woodworth got their information because there was no flag on his license for insurance.

So I go to Woodworth again, after missing work to take care of this problem, and was told that I would have to pay a $30 paper fee.

I gave them all the information from the insurance and the DMV which showed yes indeed we did have insurance, but I still had to pay $175 to get my truck out of tow, even though it was towed unlawfully.

When I asked to have a copy of the paper Woodworth said they had that showed no insurance on the truck I was told that was the property of Woodworth.

How do they always get away with this kind of treatment to people?

Diane Tracy

Forest Hill

"the rule of law is nothing more than the rule of the bandits who have control of the law" ~ eustace mullins

speedtrap.org links to this post
see:
news stories and editorials about speed traps listed by state or province
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see also
corporate crime reporter
louisiana: most corrupt state in the nation
====
and also
the woodworth label
in the footer of this post
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sb799 and state senator joe mcpherson receive favorable coverage from thenewspaper.com

UPDATE: piyush "bobby" jindal signed sb799 into law on 25 june 2008. sb799 became act 479 of the 2008 louisiana regular legislative session. act 479 enacts R.S. 40:2401.1. which is chapter 18 of the police officer standards and training (post) law.

www.thenewspaper.com

thenewspaper.com 'a journal on the politics of driving' recently featured a front page spread on louisiana state senator joe mcpherson's senate bill no. 799. sen. mcpherson's sb799 is interesting since he lives in woodworth, la. which is one of the most notorious speed-traps in the nation.

anyway, according to the newspaper.com "mcpherson's bill would make it illegal for any state agency to have a plan -- even an informal plan -- that evaluates police officers based on the number of arrests made or citations issued. The bill goes on to make it illegal for any political subdivision to "suggest" to a police officer that he is "expected to issue a predetermined number" of tickets. The proposed law does not contain any of the escape clauses commonly found in ticket quota bans in other states." ~ read more

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related posts

is woodworth a speed trap?

cenla speedtrap woodworth...fema has your number

woodworth, louisiana: speedtrap capital of the free world

national motorists association: woodworth, la. 'worst speedtrap in louisiana'

legislative auditor report on louisiana speed traps

====
speedtrap.org links here
see
news stories and editorials about speed traps
====

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hollis downs hb1050 is a trojan horse for red light cameras!

this evening at 6:00 pm we watched the below report by kalb's mike magnoli and at first thought representative hollis downs' hb1050 was a good idea. in a telephone interview kalb conducted with representative downs he states that

"what the bill says is that if you're a community of less than one thousand people and if someone suspected that you're running a speed trap, they could report you and that the legislative auditors' office could inspect your records and if you're collecting more than thirty-five percent (35%) of all of your town's revenue from the collection of speeding tickets, then that would be prima facie evidence that you were running a speed trap and all of the money greater than thirty-five percent (35%) from speeding tickets would have to be transferred to the state treasurer." ~state rep. hollis downs

sounds great dont it? putting a stop to speed traps by removing the financial incentive and all. however, representative downs, the typical common louisiana politician, isnt being entirely forthcoming or honest about his bill and this could be perhaps because mr. magnoli didnt read the entire bill before he interviewed him and thus didnt know what to ask him or what. we dont know.

what we do know, is that the folks at thenewspaper.com read the entire bill, because when we viewed their report on representative downs' hb1050 captioned 'louisiana: proposal bans speed traps, limits cameras' it ends:

In a move sure to please the for-profit companies that operate speed cameras, the bill would restrict speed cameras either to "high volume" locations or roads with a speed-related accident history. Most photo enforcement devices are already located on high-volume roads designed to generate the maximum amount of revenue.

so then we viewed the bill and sure enough at section h (on page 4 of the 5 page .pdf) it reads:

H. The use of photographic speed violation monitoring systems or speed vans is prohibited except along stretches of highways where there is a high volume of traffic or frequent traffic accidents caused by motor vehicles traveling at high rates of speed.

you see how these conniving politicians do dont you? on the one hand representative downs is pretending to outlaw speed traps which is a good thing but on the other hand and what he and the louisiana media dont tell you is that his bill implicitly legalizes red light cameras and speed vans of which their legality is currently in dispute by several court suits and federal complaints. section h needs to be struck from this bill or the bill killed entirely. what representative downs is trying to do is cure your cancer and then replace it with aids. hollis downs...what a fraudster.

national motorists association: woodworth, la. 'worst speedtrap in louisiana'

LOUISIANA

Worst Speedtrap: Woodworth
Dishonorable Mention: Baton Rouge, Lake Charles, Metairie

see link for the other 49 states

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legislative auditor report on louisiana speed traps

apparently, in the 2006 legislative session house concurrent resolution no. 204 by representative downs was passed:

To urge and request the Department of Transportation and Development to study speed limits and their enforcement on state and U.S. highways within municipalities, to urge and request the legislative auditor to study excessive speed limit enforcement in at least one municipality as part of the department's study, and to request that the department report its findings to the House and Senate Committees on Transportation, Highways and Public Works prior to the convening of the 2007 Regular Session.

this is the report click here or the link to download the 83 page .pdf

woodworth speed trap

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is woodworth a speed trap?

this morning the town talk printed the following your mail (see link) and we note that louisiana state senator joe mcpherson lives in woodworth.


For the fiscal year 2006 Woodworth collected $971,529 [752,594 eur] in court revenue. That is about $650 [504 eur] per resident of the town that has a population of about 1,500 and was 80 percent of the town's operating budget. No other municipality even comes close to that statistic. The second closest that could be found was the tiny neighboring village of McNary. In 2005, their court collected $56,000 [43,380 eur] or $265 [205 eur] per resident. The 2006 statistics have not yet been released.

Louisiana and Ohio are the only states that continue to allow the existence of a mayor's court. In 1999, mayor's courts were declared unconstitutional by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Ohio's chief justice Thomas Moyer says that there is an inherent conflict of interest when a fine goes into a budget that the mayor controls. He goes on to say that this system blurs the bright line of impartiality.

State Sen. Joe McPherson, D-Woodworth, and state Rep. Charlie DeWitt, D-Alexandria, have, since the 1999 federal ruling, introduced legislation that allows for the towns of Woodworth and McNary to appoint, rather than elect their chiefs of police, thus transferring all authority of the police departments to the office of mayor. So now a mayor can control the police, who write the tickets, the court that adjudicates the fines and receives the revenue into the town budget. I find this appalling in light of the federal court ruling.

I've heard that when a mayor's court employs an attorney or magistrate to adjudicate the fines, then that municipality is allowed to keep a larger percentage of fines and forfeits. However, if the mayor presides over the court a larger percentage of fines must go to the district court to cover the cost of appeals and related expenses.

According to the Louisiana Legislative Auditors report, Woodworth employed and budgeted for a magistrate for the fiscal year 2005. Fines collected for that year are $787,166 [609,778 eur]. For the year 2006, there was no magistrate, nor was one budgeted for, However an increase of almost $185,000 [143,310 eur]. in court revenue was budgeted for and collected for a total of just under $1 million [774,650 eur].

These figures beg the question, did Woodworth anticipate a sudden and massive decline in safety from 2005 to 2006? If so why? Or did they anticipate a decline in retained earnings based on the loss of their town magistrate?

In my opinion, Woodworth fails the public safety "smell test." Those who defend speed traps always try to stand on the ground of moral superiority. I have heard comments such as, "stop whining because you got caught breaking the law" and "no speeding, no ticket, no problem."

They can justify cruel citations to hurricane evacuees, detaining women in labor going to the hospital, you name it with this moralistic poppycock. But when a town anticipates a decrease in revenue and plays catch-up with the motoring public, is that honest? Is that morally superior? I do not think so.

Suzanne Thompson
Pineville

cenla speed trap woodworth -- fema has your number

woodworth louisiana speed trap capital of the free world

search this blog * joe mcpherson

search this blog * charlie dewitt

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cenla speed trap woodworth - fema has your number

**updated** thursday 18 january 2007
speedtrap.org links to this post see: News stories and Editorials about Speed Traps Listed by State or Province where applicable

woodworth louisiana speed trap capital of the free world

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woodworth louisiana speed trap capital of the free world

**updated** thursday 18 january 2007
speedtrap.org links to this post see: News stories and Editorials about Speed Traps Listed by State or Province where applicable

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