Knoxville Journal: Accused camera shooter says cops did it
98% of redlight camera tickets are for stopping then turning right on red, as allowed by TN Code.
90% of redlight camera ticket revenue is exported to corporations in foreign nations, such as Communist China, illegally bypassing US cops, US courts and US governments. Under US Code, the punishment for treason is death.
The following facts of law were censored this week by Knoxville News Sentinel and Chattanooga Times 'Free' Press, both from their 'news' stories and from Comments, as required by their propaganda contracts with Communist Big Brother's Fascist Police State:
"It is extremely easy to beat this type of ticket in court. Your easiest defense is to simply throw the ticket away. If it does not come with a return receipt that requires a signature, there is no proof that you actually got the ticket and they cannot prosecute you on that."
-Norman G. Fernandez, attorney at law, and Jes Beard, attorney at law in Chattanooga TN, free ebook: How to Beat a Speeding Ticket - Photo RADAR
"The city judge shall issue process on the complaint. He shall try no case until process has been regularly sued out, served and returned."
-Knoxville Code, Section 8-1, Issuance of process
Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure - Rule 4.03. Summons; Return — (1) The person serving the summons shall promptly make proof of service to the court and shall identify the person served and shall describe the manner of service. If a summons is not served within 90 days after its issuance, it shall be returned stating the reasons for failure to serve. The plaintiff may obtain new summonses from time to time, as provided in Rule 3, if any prior summons has been returned unserved or if any prior summons has not been served within 90 days of issuance. (2)When process is served by mail, the original summons, endorsed as below; an affidavit of the person making service setting forth the person's compliance with the requirements of this rule; and, the return receipt shall be sent to and filed by the clerk. The person making service shall endorse over his or her signature on the original summons the date of mailing a certified copy of the summons and a copy of the complaint to the defendant and the date of receipt of return receipt from the defendant. If the return receipt is signed by the defendant, or by person designated by Rule 4.04 or by statute, service on the defendant shall be complete. If not, service by mail may be attempted again or other methods authorized by these rules or by statute may be used.
75% of AZ Drivers Refuse to Pay Photo Traffic Tickets
85% of TX Drivers Refuse to Pay Photo Traffic Tickets
Australian Photo Ticket Firm Redflex Approaches Zero Profit - Citizens refuse to pay bogus tickets to foreign corporation, Redflex fired by Knoxville for suspected bribery and contract fraud. Redflex announces propaganda counterattack -- "managed media interface" -- via paid bloggers posing as 'grassroots' citizens (astroturf), and 'news reporters' and their 'news' corporations on the payrole of scamera companies.
Cleveland TN sitting on $113,000 in unpaid traffic light tickets
The amount of money in unpaid traffic light camera tickets owed to Cleveland is about 10 times the amount the city made from the cameras when they were operational.
A little more than $113,000 from 985 unpaid tickets is owed to the city, records indicate. The city took in between $12,000 and $13,000 during the program’s 18-month life, city Finance Director Mike Keith said.
“Our plan is to evaluate what is the best route to go on collecting (the unpaid tickets), and whether we collect those in-house or whether we do turn them over to some sort of (collections agency),” Keith said.
He said there hasn’t been a meeting to discuss the unpaid tickets, and there isn’t one scheduled.
“It is one of the things we do need to work on,” Keith said.
Traffipax, a Maryland-based traffic camera company, began operating the cameras at five of Cleveland’s intersections in late 2008 and ceased its upkeep of the devices on April 1 because of revenue shortfalls.
The company collected a little less than $257,000 from the cameras, records indicate. But that’s less than the $275,000 the company billed Cleveland to operate the cameras, so Traffipax offered to run the cameras for free in their last two months of operation, Keith said.
Traffipax continued processing tickets until June 15, then handed all unpaid tickets over to Cleveland, records show.
Messages left with Traffipax were not returned.
Now that Traffipax is completely out of the picture, any revenue from the unpaid tickets will go directly to the city, Keith said.
All tickets were originally written for $50, he said, but late penalties raised the cost to $154.75 for 626 unpaid tickets that reached their intended addresses.
Legally, the city would be able to collect on the delivered tickets without being contested since the alleged offenders didn’t show up for their scheduled court dates, said Marty Kooperman, a Nashville-based trial attorney.
One of the people Cleveland may ask to pay up is Glenwood, Minn., resident Brandy Warnock. Records show that Warnock’s vehicle passed through a red light on Paul Huff Parkway on March 27, 2009.
Warnock said the driver was her ex-husband’s brother, a Cleveland resident who borrowed Warnock’s vehicle.
“I told [Traffipax] it’s impossible for me to have gotten that ticket because I haven’t been to Tennessee in 14 years,” she said.
So Warnock decided not to pay the $50 ticket.
“I just hope if I ever visit Tennessee they don’t have a warrant out for me,” she said.
The city also has 359 tickets that came back as “undeliverable,” meaning the address that correlated with the vehicle’s license plate number wasn’t correct. These tickets are still valued at $50, records show.
“There would have to be some work done to collect those,” Keith said, adding that the cost of collection may be too high to justify.
Camera debate
Across the nation, the debate over traffic light cameras seems to show no signs of stopping.
Critics say the cameras infringe on motorists in a “Big Brother” manner, skip due process of law and are installed mostly to generate revenue.
Proponents claim they improve safety at intersections and allow patrol officers to concentrate on more pressing crimes.
In Dalton, Ga., the City Council voted unanimously in 2008 to deactivate cameras at five of the city’s intersections.
“I’ve never seen proof that cameras make intersections safer,” Mayor David Pennington said before the vote.
For Tennessee, Kooperman said that, in accordance with a 2008 appellate court ruling, traffic light cameras and the process in which they’re handed out is legal, even if the vehicle owner wasn’t driving the vehicle.
In spite of the ruling, Kooperman said, there are still a lot gray areas concerning traffic camera laws, which is why a small percentage of those receiving tickets take their cases to trial.
Red Bank and Chattanooga, which started using cameras in 2006 and 2007 respectively, are each tied up in $10 million lawsuits over the devices. The plaintiffs argue that the cities began using the cameras before the 2008 appellate court ruling.
The ruling notes that, before 2008, Tennessee Code said any traffic citation from a camera would only be for “a nonmoving traffic violation.” In July 2008, Tennessee law was amended to say all violations caught on camera are considered “nonmoving traffic violation(s).”
A hearing for the suits against Red Bank and Chattanooga is scheduled for Sept. 20 in Hamilton County Chancery Court.
Overall, though, people taking their traffic-camera tickets to trial is rare because they don’t count as points on traffic records and contesting them can get quite pricey, Kooperman said.
“You’re not going to get an attorney to come in for [the cost of a traffic ticket],” he said. “People will say, ‘But it’s a matter of principle.’ I often tell people, ‘Principle’s fine, but principle can also be expensive.’”
KNS Letters love the Police State: Red-light cameras local, not fed issue
Knoxville red-light camera citation database of paid tickets - Looks like only 10% are dumb enough to not throw the tickets in the trash, with 7,500 paid tickets per year out of 75,000 annual redlight camera tickets
Knox County deputy sheriff reported that a Knox County deputy confessed to shooting a redlight camera in Knoxville, Australian Redflex fired for suspected bribery and contract fraud, thanks to The Dragonator