A Warrant for My Arrest?

So I’ve had quite the run in with the City lately and as far as I know there may currently be a warrant out for my arrest on two matters…

#1 I got a speeding ticket.

#2 I skipped jury duty.

The first matter occurred the day we left for our New York trip. I got pulled over for speeding on the way home from work. This was a huge deal for me because I never speed in the city. I’m talking always within 5mph of the posted limits (I will say that I view interstates as a different matter). Years ago, I was speeding through a neighborhood and got a serious guilt trip from a very stern policeman about how I might have killed a child. I promised the cop that if he wouldn’t give me a ticket I wouldn’t speed anymore. And I’ve made every effort to honor that commitment. So it was a huge deal when I got this ticket. I was on the access road going 50 (with the flow of traffic I might add) but the speed limit is 35. He was absolutely right, I was wrong, no excuse. I didn’t even try to get out of it.

I did, however, wait until after he handed me the ticket to do my good citizen duty and tell him that I thought it might not be the safest thing for him to step out into the middle of the access road (where he had already commented everyone speeds) to wave me over for my ticket. He did not appreciate my advice.

Sassyness aside, the reason this might lead to my arrest, though, is the fact that he told me I just had to call the phone number on the ticket within 11 days. I did call…on about the 9th day (why wait until the VERY last minute) at which point I found out that the cop was wrong, I didn’t have to call I had to mail it within 11 days. Next day was Saturday, 11th day was Sunday. I didn’t mail the ticket until late in the day Saturday and it probably didn’t get picked up until Monday. I don’t think they’d really arrest me for mailing my ticket one day late…but they could.

Second matter had to do with jury duty. I was assigned to city court jury duty on a day while we were out of town. Being a responsible citizen (who rarely speeds), I called in advance to ask to be rescheduled. I talked to a lady that must have been working in that office longer than I’ve been alive. She was kind, though, to set a new date for me and let me know that my new summons would come in the mail. It never did. So, I called back (again with the responsible stuff) after we got back to town. “Oh, honey,” and I quote, “You’ve already missed your date”. Yep, she never changed it and had no record of our previous conversation. shocker. Technically you can be arrested (or at least fined) for missing jury duty, right? When I asked “Grandma” at City Court about this she said not to worry and that she’d “take care of it for me”…just like she took care of rescheduling my last appointment. That’s a relief.

Think I should be worried? I’ve gone from a responsible citizen who rarely speeds and tries to keep policemen safe to a sassy rebel who avoids tickets and dodges jury duty all in one fail swoop. We might have to move.

ABL