Not All Heroes Wear Capes: Ohio Mayor Goes To Court, Dismisses All Traffic Tickets
Matt Agorist, The Free Thought Project
Waking Times
In the land of the free, millions of traffic tickets are issued each year in which people are issued a threat of extortion for any number of arbitrary and victimless infractions. In fact an average of 125,000 people in the U.S. receives a traffic citation every day — more than one every single second. The average extortion fee will cost you around $150, but in some states a driver can be fined up to $2000 or more depending on the offense and the state laws. Given that many of these fines are for infractions which have no victim, it is literal highway robbery.
A traffic ticket can ruin anyone’s day, and in some instances end their life. Given the sheer number of traffic citations issued every day, one would think that this may have some effect on safety. However, one would be wrong.
There are approximately 196,000,000 licensed drivers in America today. One in every six drivers will receive a speeding ticket this year, roughly 41 million speeding tickets and this number stays roughly the same year over year.
Over 95% of people who receive a speeding ticket will not contest the citation and pay the fine. The 5% who actually make an effort to fight their ticket usually have their case dismissed or receive reduced charges.
The total number of speeding tickets paid each year is $6,232,000,000 which breaks down to around $300,000 generated per police officer for speeding alone. Tack on seat belt violations, license plate lights, window tint, rolling stop signs, and expired state-mandated documents and that number sky rockets.
It is literally highway robbery conducted on behalf of the ones who claim to keep us “safe” and it has no effect on safety at all, as shown by the number of traffic fatalities every year.
Libertarian Mayor Cassaundra Fryman likely knows these statistics and she is using her position as mayor to attempt to reverse them. In Plymouth, Ohio, the mayor has a ridiculous amount of power. Fryman ran for office to limit that power by attempting to dismantle the Plymouth Mayor’s Court.
According to the town of Plymouth, the mayor’s court is to provide the community with a local judicial forum to rule on misdemeanor cases that are alleged to be in violation of the Ordinances of the Village of Plymouth. The Mayor’s Court also provides a Violation Bureau to collect payments for violations that do not require a court appearance.
While that sounds reasonable to some, according to Fryman, it is a “wild concept,” that grants the mayor a rather large influence of power — that she wanted to eliminate.
After becoming elected, Fryman explained that the “police chief persuaded me to keep it.” So, she used it to her advantage and decided to wipe clean all the traffic tickets issued to the citizens of Plymouth.
After hearing about her dismissing the tickets, the Free Thought Project reached out to the Mayor’s office but have yet to receive a response. However, in an interview with Libertarian Candidate News, Fryman explained how it unfolded.
“I saw that you and the council just threw out city traffic tickets?” the outlet asked her.
“Just me, lol. I dismissed all speeding tickets last week,” she explained.
“How does that work?” they asked.
“It’s a standard mayors court as laid out by the Ohio Dept of Justice. It’s a wild concept,” she said.
“Since your election and beginning office, how has the learning curve been of your city’s elected executive?” LC News asked.
Fryman then explained how she set out to dismantle the court but ended up using it to prevent the extortion of Plymouth citizens instead.
“It’s a lot since my initial goal was to get rid of the mayor’s court entirely. My police chief persuaded me to keep it. It is a process, and there has been a lot of learning how to apply libertarian governance to a small municipality and work within the existing system,” said.
It is a learning curve indeed. But we feel that Madam Fryman is doing an exceptional job at applying that libertarian government. Other mayors could serve to learn a thing or two from her.
About the Author
Matt Agorist is an honorably discharged veteran of the USMC and former intelligence operator directly tasked by the NSA. This prior experience gives him unique insight into the world of government corruption and the American police state. Agorist has been an independent journalist for over a decade and has been featured on mainstream networks around the world. Agorist is also the Editor at Large at the Free Thought Project. Follow @MattAgorist on Twitter, Steemit, and now on Minds.
**This article (Not All Heroes Wear Capes: Ohio Mayor Goes To Court, Dismisses All Traffic Tickets) was originally published at The Free Thought Project and is re-posted here with permission.**