Cairo Association of Teachers - Newsletter

CAT Tracks for December 20, 2008 THE GHOST OF TICKETS PAST

If you needed proof of the old saying "You can run (even peel rubber), but you cannot hide", consider the tale of Darrell Miller and the October day back in 2006 when he ventured through Cairo.

That's when his heartache began...

Four decades later, Illinois still demands its pound of flesh

By Bill McClellan
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

In October 2006, Darrell Miller was stopped in Illinois for speeding. He was clocked at 42 in a 30 zone in Cairo. A speed trap, he thought. He had not had a ticket since 1968, when he was also ticketed for speeding. Back then, he was a young man, not long back from Vietnam.

He gave the officer his drivers license and waited to get his ticket. And waited. Finally, the officer came back and informed him that his Illinois drivers license had been revoked, and that he could be arrested.

Miller figured there was some mistake. He was born in the Bootheel, not far from Poplar Bluff, Mo. When he was 17, he joined the Air Force. He did a four-year hitch. Then he came back to Missouri.

There must be some mistake, he said to the officer. I've never had an Illinois drivers license.

The officer said there was something in the computer about an incident in 1965.

In the spring and summer of 1965, Miller was stationed at an Air Force base in Rantoul, Ill., not far from Champaign. He worked nights at a local Burger Chef. He bought a car. He was 18. One night after he got out of work, he tried to show off by peeling out of the parking lot. His wheels squealed as he pulled out — right in front of a Rantoul police officer. He was given a ticket for excessive acceleration. He went to City Hall, pleaded guilty and paid his $15 fine.

So that was taken care of more than 40 years earlier. Besides, even then, he had a Missouri drivers license.

The officer explained that the computer didn't give any details. But instead of arresting Miller, he gave him two tickets — one for speeding and one for driving on a revoked license.

As soon as Miller and his wife, Lynn, got back to their home in Arnold, they tried to straighten the matter out. They started calling officials in Illinois. They were eventually directed to the secretary of state's office. A clerk in that office said that the suspension could be lifted even now, but that could not be done until after Miller went to court.

In an effort to show that his license had never been revoked or suspended— that, in fact, he never even had an Illinois drivers license — he paid for a records search at the Champaign County courthouse. He received a letter stating that his driving privileges had been revoked for "unlawlful use of ID or drivers license" in May 1965. Nothing about excessive acceleration. Did the officer check the wrong box? Who knows?

In July 2007, he and Lynn went to court in Alexander County. Lynn drove. Miller pleaded guilty of speeding, and paid a $76 fine. He was facing a $200 fine for driving on a revoked license, but when the judge heard his story, he reduced the fine to $100.

Miller is a law-abiding man. After the service, he went to work for the Postal Service and he rose through the ranks to supervisory positions. He did not want some phony revocation on his record. How could he clear this up? He could have a hearing. Actually, he could get an application for an out-of-state hearing, and all he'd have to do is fill out some papers. He sent in for an application.

Instead of an application form, he received a letter. "Your recent request pertaining to the need for an out-of-state application packet has been received in this office. A subsequent routine check has determined that you reside within 30 miles of the Illinois border. This is based on using a road atlas to measure the straight line distance between the Illinois border and the city in which you live. The measured distance may not represent the actual travel distance involved."

Huh? Because he lived within 30 miles of the Illinois border, he was ineligible for an out-of-state hearing.

The heck with it, he finally decided. I'll just stay out of Illinois.

Which is where things stood for a couple of years. Then this fall, Miller sought to renew his Missouri drivers license, which was expiring on Nov. 28. Somehow the Illinois revocation had been plugged into a national computer base. He couldn't renew his license.

"All of this because I peeled out of that Burger Chef parking lot! What was I thinking?" Miller wondered.

Now he had to deal with Illinois and because he lived within 30 miles of the border, he had to do it in person. He had to get his driving privileges reinstated. He had his hearing in Bethalto.

"The hardest question was, 'What are your plans to be a more responsible driver in the future?'" he said. "I went almost 40 years between speeding tickets. How much more responsible can I be?"

He soon received a letter stating that if he paid a $500 fine, his driving privileges would be reinstated.

He paid it. He recently got his Missouri drivers license. He is not happy with Illinois, though. He told me he does not intend to drive in that state again, and if circumstances force him to, he'll carry extra fuel so that he won't have to buy gas. He doesn't want to pay fuel taxes in Illinois. They have enough of his money, he figures.