Submitted by Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
Last night I had a situation that I found to be quite disappointing. Just after seven o’clock in the evening, I thought I would have dinner at a restaurant on the other side of town and drove over there to dine out. Along the way, I needed to merge onto a major interstate freeway in the metro area having four lanes and busy traffic. As I drove along in the outside lane, it was after dark at the time, I saw a man walking along the hard shoulder of the roadway. I worried that a drunk might veer off the travelled portion and hit him so I pulled over to offer him a ride. Thus began a conversation that really shows how we can often allow people to be put at risk because the county does not want to offer them a modicum of accommodation.
After I picked him up, the gentleman walking around the roadway told me that he had just been released from the county jail after serving time for driving while license suspended. He did not have someone to pick him up from jail so he had no other option but to walk back home. He lived twenty five miles from the jail. The only way he could get home, since he had no money with him, was to walk along a busy interstate freeway.
We previously wrote about the virtual debt peonage and endless circle of jail and further increases of fines with suspended drivers in an article HERE.
It would have taken him until after six in the morning to walk that far. So rather than drive him to the next exit to find another ride I just drove him home.
He was 57 years old, unemployed and had no family available to drive him. He had no other choice than to walk. I asked him if the jail offered him a bus ticket or some other accommodation to allow him to return home after release. He said the jail used to give bus tickets to people in his situation but stopped doing that several years ago.
We had a good visit with each other, but the entire time we were together I could not help but wonder why the county has a system as such that a person of little means is forced to walk twenty five miles home because no effort was made to arrange for his journey. The risk this man faced from being hit by a drunk driver, stopped by the state patrol for being a pedestrian on a limited access freeway, or simply collapsing from exhaustion is certainly not something that we should accept nor something a person released from custody should endure.
I recognize that the sheriff’s office is not a taxi service and has no obligation to provide transport for released inmates after their term has expired, but couldn’t the county at least take a few more steps to ensure that someone can either pick up the inmate or try to prevent a situation where a fifty seven year old does not have to walk twenty five miles to get home?
Is this too much to ask?
By Darren Smith
The views expressed in this posting are the author’s alone and not those of the blog, the host, or other weekend bloggers. As an open forum, weekend bloggers post independently without pre-approval or review. Content and any displays or art are solely their decision and responsibility.
Nick, I sadly have no doubt. (I know from working as a ward clerk in an ER after seeing many many folk coming in with merely colds, and were on assistance, I started to lose my compassion. This was decades ago. I did not know that often we were their only option of family doc. It just seemed like we have nothing else to do today so let’s go to the ER. )
Maybe if it was required, by the law/the police department, it would not have to fall upon the individual officer’s conscience as to whether to call or not
Annie, And some had already cast their votes. What were they going to do just throw the ballots in the trash can? Hopefully, Walker will lose.
The SCOTUS gave Wisconsin a gift. Hopefully by 2016 if the WI voter ID gets implemented, every potential voter will have had time to get their ID. If this law would’ve been implemented before the 2014 election hundreds of thousands of voters could’ve been disenfranchised, that is more of a crime than the rare occurrence of voter fraud.
@Annie ” Hopefully by 2016 if the WI voter ID gets implemented, every potential voter will have had time to get their ID.”
Actually I would like to see better voter ID laws. But today’s attempts seem to be little more than thinly disguised attempts to prevent the ‘wrong kind’ from voting.
In my view, reasonable implementation of voter ID laws requires much more than just time. For some the, seemingly, low fees for ID’s are a real hardship. And some will require additional documents to support their request for suitable ID. Just tracking down the sources and procedures for supporting documents can present problems. And what do we do about the few who have lived and voted in their communities for decades but have difficulties obtaining documents due to home births and other unique situations?
There is a whole knot of problems that will not be resolved easily – even over a few years.
I think voter ID laws should be implemented with a voter advocacy component that would fund staff who would advise and guide elders and others through the steps to obtain suitable ID. And voter ID and supporting documents to obtain voter ID should be free to the voter.
bfm – if you do not already have a drivers license, the Voter ID in AZ is free.
@Paul “if you do not already have a drivers license, the Voter ID in AZ is free.”
I have always thought AZ was pretty terrific. I don’t care what they say about AZ, you guys are OK with me.
leej, Having worked for the govt. I can tell you there are very few people who look upon the public as people they need to help. Many people go into corrections w/ the best of intentions. But, they get burned by convicts, see that many are truly evil people, and become jaded @ best, vindictive @ worst. As I said, all I had to do was make a call to the Salvation Army, maybe give the ex con and his family a ride to the Salvation Army. I CARED. If a govt. worker doesn’t care just making a GD phone call is something that just ain’t gonna happen. Of the people I know or worked w/ in corrections, I would say that after a few years, maybe 10% still care. So, Darren’s guy had a 1 in 10 shot of the guy releasing him making the call. This is the reality, leej. The scenario is pretty much the same w/ cops.
Nick wrote: “So, Darren’s guy had a 1 in 10 shot of the guy releasing him making the call.”
Nick, even if he calls, there really isn’t anyone to call. The Salvation Army does not give rides (at least not in this area), and neither does Traveler’s Aid. In some cities, there are groups that might give out bus passes, but they get abused a lot so even that is hard to find. Maybe a social worker in a hospital might have some.
People need to stop thinking about who is going to take care of the problem and just do it themselves. If everyone acted like Darren acted, there would be no problem at all with people like him finding a ride home.
For those who believe that the jail could just make a phone call to get this guy a ride, I challenge you to make the call yourself right now. Try it. Try to find a ride for a hypothetical person. I think you will find that nobody gives rides to these guys. So the answer is for us to live like Darren lives, and be ready to help out when you can.
(for those who doubt the Pa sec’t position on voter ID and that it will “help Romney win” here he is in his own words: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuOT1bRYdK8 )
As to the problem of more people on the rolls than there are people in the county, the correct statement of the problem would be that there are more people on the rolls than there are people of voting age in the county. This greatly reduces the problem.
When was the last time the rolls were scrubbed of people who had moved out of the county? The state could set up a procedure such that the BoE of the new registrant notifies the BoE of the person’s previous county of the new registration. They could send out postcards once a year telling everyone where they are to vote with a return to sender if the addressee is no longer at that address. This is more difficult b/c some people move within the same county and don’t update their address with the BoE.
Is the BoE monitoring the obituaries? If they don’t, that’s how dead people remain on the rolls.
If I were on the BoE, I’d probably find many other ways to insure the integrity of the rolls, but I’ll never be on the BoE, nor will I be able to work the polls. I’m not an R or a D.
If the problem is really that there are more votes than there are registrants in an area, it’s probably because the computers used for voting have been hacked. Check out blackboxvoting.org.
The requirements for voter id are designed specifically to prevent as many people as possible who are likely to vote for Democrats from voting as infamously stated by the PA Sec. of State.
http://harvardmagazine.com/2012/07/voter-suppression-returns
excerpt:
Critics of these laws (myself included) have doubted both their necessity and their ability to keep elections honest. The only type of fraud that a strict photo ID rule would actually prevent is voter impersonation fraud (I go to the polls pretending to be you), and, in fact, voter impersonation fraud is exceedingly rare. In Indiana, where the Republican-dominated legislature passed one of the first new ID laws in 2005 (on a straight party-line vote), there had been no known instances of voter impersonation in the state’s history. In Texas, a strict ID law was enacted last year, although the 2008 and 2010 elections gave rise to only five formal complaints about voter impersonation (out of 13 million votes cast). “There are more UFO and Bigfoot sightings than documented cases of voter impersonation,” quipped one Texas Democrat. Close inspection of the RNLA’s inventory of election fraud, moreover, has found it to be flawed and misleading; most election experts believe that the greatest threat to election integrity comes from absentee ballots—a threat that would not be addressed by the current laws.
As importantly, the burdens placed on prospective voters by these ID requirements are not trivial. Men and women who already possess driver’s licenses or passports, of course, will be unaffected. (So too will those in Texas who have permits to carry concealed weapons—since those permits meet the ID requirement.) But citizens who lack such documents will now be obliged to assemble various other pieces of paper (birth certificates, naturalization forms, proof of residence, etc.) and make their way (presumably without a car) to a government office that can issue an official photo ID. Who are these men and women? Studies indicate that they are disproportionately young or elderly, poor, black, and Hispanic; demographically, they are more likely than not to vote Democratic. (In states covered by the Voting Rights Act, such as Texas and South Carolina, the photo ID laws are being challenged by the Department of Justice on the grounds that they disproportionately affect minorities.) The number of people potentially affected is considerable: the Texas secretary of state, for example, estimates that at least 600,000 already registered voters do not possess the documents to cast ballots in November. New York University’s respected Brennan Center for Justice has estimated that a total of more than five million people may lack the requisite identification documents in states that have passed new ID laws
Paul, “He was guilty as hell. No question about his quilt. ”
Your approach of tough love isn’t always appropriate. First of all, Darren wrote that the guy was fresh out of jail, much like wrxdave. But even if he was appropriately charged, found guilty (and there are lots of stories about those charged and found guilty who really weren’t), and served his time, why is appropriate for you to continue to punish him for something you know nothing about? You just persist in carrying a stick without any carrot. Not a good way to get persist “good” behavior. Persistent stick treatment leads to things like resentment, depression, why bother? attitudes. Darren’s approach gives the man a carrot for, presumably, serving his time and starting fresh.
bettykath – cannot you not read what I have written? It is not continued punishment. Tough love is a tried and true tested method of dealing with addicts and alcoholics. Read ALL of my comments. Do NOT read what someone thinks I said. Read what I actually said. Then read it again, to make sure that you didn’t skim it. Then go on to the next comment. Repeat cycle.
LeeJ,
It seems that some folks simply have not got what it takes to put themselves in other’s shoes. Something lacking.
Annie – What I said to leej goes for you, too.
I had a similar personal situation. I was unjustly arrested after a no knock night time SWAT raid on my home nabbed me in me he’d after an informant used my name in an attempt to stay out of jail after his arrest on a parole violation. In my case even after allowing the police an extraordinarily long time for their investigation the DA refused to file an accusatory pleading so I was never even arraigned. However the morning after the area I did have to bail out of jail which was 35 miles from my rural ranch, and I was finally released late that evening, barefoot, wearing only the sweatpants they allowed me to put on when I was arrested. No shoes, and a long walk down rural highways with no shoulders ahead of me. A bus would not even run out there.
In my case I was fortunate to know somebody who lived on the edge of town, and I only had to walk 6-7 miles barefoot to get there. So yes, I can Identify with your passenger, I too thank you for your kindness. I would remind everyone that it is “innocence until proven guilty”, yet at every stage in the criminal justice system the innocent are punished too. In my case I had my reputation destroyed, enormous inconvenience and stress, and close to $100K in total expenses and losses directly related to the arrest.
And there, but for The Grace of God (or luck, as you prefer), may go any one of you – any one of us – at any time.
wrxdave – most of us have agreed they should have supplied transportation. As they should have in your case. In your case you had a support system that helped you. In his case he had no support system but lucked into Darren. This guy was not unjustly arrested. He was guilty as hell. No question about his quilt. The question is should he be released that far from home without transportation or a bus ticket, etc.
The Unsinkable Molly Brown sounds cute. Is she very jowly? They are such a sweet breed. The hurricane was a terrible disaster for pets, too.
davidm ~
“I simply do not understand this preoccupation with insuring every single person is able to vote.”
That sounds a little too ‘Koch-ian Brothers’ for my taste.
Don’t know how this got onto voter ID, but here goes.
Voting is a right, and history has shown many attempts at defrauding that right. It is important that we verify people’s identity accurately to combat fraud. And voter ID laws do not suppress the vote. People voted in record numbers. It is important in a democracy that votes accurately reflect the will of its citizens. I wouldn’t want a GMO manufacturer, for instance, sending busloads of people from polling place to polling place to vote multiple times in order to defeat product labeling. Or a corrupt politician to steal public office.
I have said this before and will do so again. Does anyone here feel it is racist or suppressive to require an ID for any of the myriad transactions that require it? Banking? Check cashing? The elderly and the poor run into ID problems when they need to notarize a document, such as getting a loan or a medical power of attorney. Is that racist?
Aren’t the poor vulnerable to having their vote stolen by the unscrupulous? If it is not racist to require an ID to drive or cash a check, how can it be so to require it to vote? Whatever alternate forms of ID we allow should not be so lax that it would be easy to commit voter fraud.
I don’t care how they do it, as long as it’s accurate. Heck, perhaps one day they’ll use thumbprint or retinal scanners to replace photo IDs.
And don’t you think it is a good idea to verify someone’s identity when they purchase a gun?
There are already programs in place that help the poor and the elderly get photo IDs. I absolutely support those programs.
But removing photo ID for all transactions, by law, sounds like a really dumb idea for me. And if it’s racist for one transaction, it must be racist for all.
David,
“I simply do not understand this preoccupation with insuring every single person is able to vote.”
Because focusing on voter turnout supports a democratic form of government and focusing on vote(r) integrity supports a republican form. The will of the majority against the rights of all.
Vote early, vote often.
DBQ – I’m so sorry about your relative. Addiction is a powerful foe, whether it’s to alcohol or drugs. And it can destroy families. It’s a helpless feeling, watching someone wreck their life with both hands, and being powerless to stop it. You can’t help an addict against their will. And forcing them to do rehab is pointless if they don’t want to go. They’ll just go back to their old ways the second they’re out. All their family can do is enable or tough love. They have to just be done with addiction before they can change.
David, With this SCOTUS decision we will be seeing the usual caravan of Chicago voters coming to vote in Milwaukee. They vote twice in Chicago in the morning and once in Milwaukee in the afternoon.
Nick Spinelli wrote: “They vote twice in Chicago in the morning and once in Milwaukee in the afternoon.”
LOL! That’s the Chicago way. But we should not worry a bit about that, Nick. We catch so few people committing such fraud that we should assume it doesn’t really happen much.
Paul, You do need to have a photo ID to purchase NON PRECRIPTION ephedrine products. And you DO NEED A PHOTO ID to pick up Schedule 2 pain meds. But, I hear you can fly w/o a photo ID, on ACLU AIR. LOL! Ignore these bozos.
Please ignore this bozo in particular, who is in agreement with the minority here…
Regarding Wisconsin Voter ID according to Richard Posner, Federal Judge (Appointed by Reagan) of the Seventh Circuit.
http://media.jrn.com/documents/7circuitvoterid.pdf
According to Posner and four other Federal Judges, Nick and others here are quite incorrect concerning the need for photo ID in order to fly or open a bank account. You also don’t need one to pick up a prescription or buy a gun at a gun show.
The entire opinion is a great read and demolishes the argument that voter impersonation occurs and offers fabulous arguments about what Voter ID laws do accomplish – voter suppression and are aimed at voters that lean Democratic.
.BTW. Posner is a highly respected Judge.
docmadison – I have had to show photo ID every time I have flown. Maybe Posner and the other judges are on a chartered jet? You do need photo ID to get an account opened at the bank, you don’t need it to pick up a prescription but you do have to identify yourself and the person you are picking up for. You do have to use a photo ID to buy a gun in a gun store and to get into the Dept of Justice and the WH. I am not sure, but I think you need a photo ID to get into the Supreme Court building as well.
Paul –
You might very well have to show ID every time you fly, but there are two points I’d like to make:
1. flying isn’t a right, voting is
2. some of the people now being required to get a photo ID have been registered to vote, many for quite some time. Why, in the face of what has been admitted, even by GOP spokespeople, to be a non-existent threat of “fraud” (less than point 0 something, by many studies) are we erecting corrections? Shouldn’t there be a problem first, or are we now saying that cart precedes horse?
chestercat1 wrote: “1. flying isn’t a right, voting is”
Why do you think voting is so important? If I had the choice to retain my right to fly versus retaining my right to vote, I would choose to keep my right to fly. I simply do not understand this preoccupation with insuring every single person is able to vote.
More can be accomplished by people talking to their representatives, protesting, writing, blogging, and by producing YouTube videos than by voting.
David –
Apparently, you and I have very different views of democracy (excuse me, a republic).
maxcat06 – hope you don’t mind my using your real nom de plume. 😉 Voter fraud is hard to prove and harder to prosecute. One has to realize how racist the DOJ, led by racist in chief Holder, is when they require photo ID to enter the building.
Voting by mail does not require ID. Just that you be a registered voter. Funny about that.
Paul – Well, I’ll try to get that racist Holder on the voting by mail, too. Please use my “old” name – I’m going to try to get back to it.
maxcat – did you change computer IPs. Po seems to have that problem. He gets locked out of this Po name and has to use that other one.
BTW, what the heck is a chestercat. I am not a cat person, so I am ignorant of many of the breeds, but the name has never come up.
Paul – Nope. My same ole IMac that I’ve had for 5 years. Didn’t do anything. A maxcat and a chestercat are both late cats of mine. If you ever see a post for zoeycat (don’t worry, I haven’t even set up the name…), that’ll be my current cat, Zoey.
maxcat – so, it is the name of the cat, not a breed of cat. I was soooo confused. 😉
Yep, Paul. I figured when I set up the accounts that I wouldn’t find too many others with similar names. The funny thing is, I’m really a dog person. Max and Chester just gravitated towards my home during a 12 year period, while Zoey was supposed to be a foster at the request of a friend. My main pet “squeeze” is a big St. Bernard with the name of The Unsinkable Molly Brown, who came via Hurricane Katrina. Her name was a bit long for a moniker.
maxcat – nice of you to take a pet in. Many were lost during Katrina. My current ‘additional human’ is also a rescue
Paul – thanks. Rescues come in all forms. I believe the dogs (and cats) I’ve had over the years have rescued me as well. It’s a two way street.
maxcat – mine has taken control of a certain part of my life. I am my dog’s tool to get things. She never goes to my wife, just me. I guess I have sucker written on my forehead. 😉
Paul – It’s amazing how they can read all of a sudden, isn’t it?
docmadison wrote: “The entire opinion is a great read and demolishes the argument that voter impersonation occurs and offers fabulous arguments about what Voter ID laws do accomplish – voter suppression and are aimed at voters that lean Democratic.”
I heard on the radio about these counties that have more voters registered to vote than the population living there. You don’t care about that? Here are just two links:
Colorado Counties Have More Voters Than People
http://www.redstate.com/2012/09/04/colorado-counties-have-more-voters-than-people/
6 Ala. counties’ voter rolls exceed population
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-10-17-ala-voters_N.htm
docmadison wrote: “According to Posner and four other Federal Judges, Nick and others here are quite incorrect concerning the need for photo ID in order to fly or open a bank account. ”
I followed your link. That document had many errors. He never substantiated that ID is not needed to board airplanes, and he contradicted himself by saying they were wrong to say that ID is needed for entering courthouses by later saying they were required in their courthouses but not for some visitors to the Supreme Court. His link for ID about the bank did not work. I found the correct page with the following information that contradicts what he said and the position you take by trusting him.
—
Financial institutions are required by law to have a Customer Identification Program for the creation of new accounts. A new account may include, but is not limited to, a deposit account, an extension of credit, or the rental of a safe deposit box.
The minimum information that a bank must obtain when opening a new account includes—
name,
date of birth (for an individual),
address, and
identification number (for U.S. citizens, a taxpayer identification number is defined as the individual’s Social Security number or employer identification number).
The bank must then verify the accuracy of the information via a review of documents such as a driver’s license or passport. Or it can verify the information by comparing the information you provided with information from a credit-reporting agency or by checking prior bank references.
http://www.helpwithmybank.gov/get-answers/bank-accounts/identification/faq-bank-accounts-identification-02.html
—-
Oh, and banks can legally take your fingerprint to cash a check too.
It seems pretty clear to me that there is a problem of bias involved in that document.
P.S. My posts have reverted to my old WordPress account for some reason, but before anyone thinks there’s either someone new or someone posting as an alias, I’m maxcat.
maxcat – thanks for clearing that up. 😉
Jane I am sorry for your loss. and Karten and Nick I can only imagine the pain and difficulty in dealing with this.
The irony of the philosophy I see here from some is that it appears to be from folks who are usually aligned with the repubs/right. The mantra is “fiscally responsible” but just tossing someone out is not fiscally responsible but irresponsible. With no assistance, either a ride home or education, such as GED/training while incarcerated you end up with folks who have no alternative but to rob, steal etc again, go back into the legal system costing everyone money in court and jail fees.
Forget the good Samaritan because it seems to have been forgotten or tossed by the wayside for some of the responders, think about in terms of cost analysis and it is cheaper to actually try and help these folk.
leejcaroll – I have said that I DO NOT agree that they should have arranged transport home, especially since the distance was so far. Being fiscally responsible during recessions is making some really tough calls. Our town stopped buying books for the library and had to cut expenses by 40%. Unlike the federal government, Arizona communities are required to have a balanced budget every year. Same with the state government. Many town halls were held to hear what people were willing to cut and what they were not willing to cut. Town employees were cut, but not city police or fire.
Paul to hve the number of salvation army, or other groups that are willing to give transport would have cost them $0 only a few extra seconds of time. Too often those have not been in the shoes of unfortunates such as this man, need to find a way to emotionally walk in their shoes so they can see the humanity involved, not just some guy who did wrong (and in this case no way to know why his license was suspended)/. You have jumped to a conclusion about him that has not even been borne out yet you cling to that decision about him regardless. That to me shows your close mindedness to someone else in trouble and willingness to jump to reasons that may have nothing to do with his situation.
leejcaroll – you have never walked in my shoes and don’t ever think you can say that I should walk in someone else’s shoes. You are prejudging my background and doing a poor job of it.