Although it’s all long out of my system, when I was young I was what people called WILD! I was never malicious, but always pushed the envelope. I was hooked on adrenalin and loved the rush it gave. I was also a bit of a rebel. I did a lot of wild and crazy things and got away with most all of them. There were however a few I didn’t get away with and was penalized harshly to make up for all the things I did get away with.
As you read the saga please know that I take full responsibility and know full well all of this is my own fault. I take ownership of the situations and the consequences. I do not mean to minimize my blame in any of this. But here is the story. Real and true.
At 18 my license was revoked for DUI. I didn’t get pulled over for poor driving but had the smell on my breath and when I took the breathalyzer I failed. I also had a host of other charges against me for speeding, fleeing and eluding, etc. from other infractions. I made a deal and plead guilty and was supposed to join the Navy. My Drivers license was revoked as part of the deal.Well I never joined the Navy and years later when I attempted to get my Drivers License back they gave me a hard time because of it. They only granted restricted privileges to allow me to drive to and from work and said If I did ok for that 1st year they would re-instate full privileges.
Well a year later I went back for my new re-instatement hearing and again was only offered a restricted permit. I appealed the hearing officer’s decision and again was denied. I appealed to the State Capitol and was again denied. What’s a guy to do? Remember the rebel thing??? (lol) Who said you can’t sue city hall! Well I did and I won. I sued the Secretary of State of Illinois in a Civil Court and beat him badly. It set a president in the state and they had no sense of humor about it what so ever.
Well they say some people never learn. A few years later I was the driver and a fight broke out leaving a nightclub we were at. My passenger/Boarder beat this guy up in the parking lot and we left. I guess you can guess the rest. When I got home the police were waiting across the street from my house. They pulled in the driveway behind me and wanted to know what happened at the nightclub. I refused to say a word and when they would not let me go inside I said unless I am under arrest I ask you to leave my property. They had no warrant to be there so I was arrested and again was charged with DUI. They were very nice and apologized to me as they were only there to arrest my roommate but as they had no warrant, they needed a reason to be there if I wouldn’t grant permission. I said OK you can be here! (lol) It was too late. I again cut a deal and took a 2 year supervision with no loss of privileges and would have been removed from my record as long as I stayed out of trouble. Easier for some people than others. (lol) Well being a slow learner only when it came to that, a year and a half later I was pulled over for my tires chirping as I pulled away from a traffic light. I was just about to drive away after being let go by the officer who pulled me over when his watch commander pulled up. Wasn’t it my luck I had had a run in with him before. I was asked to wait a moment. The 2 police officers had a discussion and back out of the car I was summoned. This time for a sobriety test. I took it and passed. The officer again told me to have a nice evening. This time the watch commander himself came up to me and Literally pulled me out handcuffed me and told me I was being arrested for suspicion of DUI and taken to the Police Station for a breathalyzer. I called my attorney was instructed not to take the test as I had had a few beers after work and was on my way home.
Well I was on supervision for a DUI but was sure to beat this one in a jury trial. The Judge who handled my violation of supervision decided I should finally pay a penalty and learn my lesson. She wanted me to do jail time for violation of court supervision and would not allow a continuance until I could resolve the new charges. I would have walked away Scott free of all charges and she knew it. I was able to get one continuance but was told when I returned to court to have my affairs in order and bring my tooth brush with me. That I would be sentenced to the maximum penalty for violation of supervision which was 6 months. My Attorney said I would be out in 30 days. Well besides not wanting to sit in a cell for 30 days I owned a home. Had a mortgage. Ran a business, etc. I could not do 30 days. We cut a deal with the States Attorney and the Judge for the new DUI charges. I pled guilty, Paid a $500.00 fine had to do 80 hours community service, attend an out-patient drug and alcohol rehab program (always required by the State of Illinois) and my license was again revoked and also put on a 1 year conditional discharge. Meaning as long as I did everything they asked within the year, no jail. (the treatment is a requirement. Everyone has to go thru it, not that it was assigned just in my case) I did my community service, paid the fines, went thru all their hoops including the program that was assigned etc. A Year later I went back to court and all was over except my license was still revoked. Years later I moved to Florida and was told that Florida would be happy to re-instate my driving privileges. However IL had a hold on my License. All I had to do is call them and have the hold lifted. I called and was told that the laws had once more changed and now I had to go thru a re-instatement hearing back in IL for them to release the hold. Basically I had to convince IL to give me my full driver’s privileges back. The very same thing I had to sue them in a civil court for years ago. Pre requisites for the hearing even being granted are proof and documentation showing abstinence from all alcohol and or drugs for a period of at least 1 year preferably 2, be involved in a program like AA for at least 1 year and working a 12 step program with documented results, and a bunch of other hoops too I wont even mention.
Then when the hearing is granted, fly back up to Chicago, hire an Attorney and have a hearing which I have no remote hope of a favorable outcome except again to be granted restricted privileges to go to and from work. I don’t need a license to get to and from work. It’s not worth the $10k or so it would all cost only to obtain something I really don’t need and I would also have to lie and present false documents as I am not abstinent from alcohol or in AA or working a 10 step program. I hate to lie and will not let them make me for such a trivial gain.
