Now Carol, are you SURE you didn't show Smokey a little leg and give him a
pretty smile???
Don't argue with me! You KNOW it works. Twice in a row? I'm a bit
suspicious...
If that had been me, I'd be signing some paperwork with a date at the
Justice 'o Peace sure as Davey Crockett kilt himself a thousand of Santa
Anna's finest at the Alamo before he went down!
>:)
Dan
73 B
-----Original Message-----
From: Carol <car@intersatx.net>
To: mgs@autox.team.net <mgs@autox.team.net>
Cc: Bill Eastman <william.eastman@medtronic.com>
Date: Monday, July 13, 1998 2:04 PM
Subject: Fridley's Finest [was re: Oops, MGA defense, they'll never take me
alive]
>At 10:01 AM 7/13/98 -0500, Bill Eastman wrote:
>
>==snip==
>
>>Friday I was driving home from work and there was one of Fridley's finest
>>following me. He was going to turn right at a corner where I was going
>>straight. Suddenly he changed his mind and closed right up behind me.
>
>==snip==
>
>>restoring it while he kept driving his Mk II tourer. I tried to hide my
>>relief as we talked MG for a few minutes then we waved and parted. He
>>never even mentioned the collector's plate so I didn't bring it up either.
>
>Now that you mention it, Bill, Darlin' and I had two encounters over
>antique license plates in two weeks. Weird! Never before.... then twice...
>
>The first time we were out on in adjacent county on a Farm to Market road.
>County sherrif pulls us over for a tail light being out. [Sure! It hasn't
>been out since, nor was it not burning when I got out of the car that
>night!] This guy was a real "dim bulb" sorta' guy -- if anybody remembers
>THAT thread... He ran a check on the plates. HC3993 - Texas 1961. There is
>a small, but plainly visible, tag that bolts to the top of the plate. This
>tag has another ID number and an expiration date which happened to be
>3/31/98. (This was now June, and I didn't realize the little tag had
>expired.)
>
>Dim Bulb asked for my license. I told him I needed to get the proof of
>insurance from the trunk. "Oh, these old cars don't have to have
>insurance." SINCE WHEN?!! I got it anyway. He went back to the patrol car,
>then came back to me. Puzzled he said "I don't understand this. The license
>plates belong on a 1993 Ford pickup."
>
>I explained THREE times that they were 1961 plates that had come off my
>1953 Studebaker Starliner coupe. He went back and radioed in for a check on
>the plates again. Walks back to me, still scratching his head. I was soooo
>impressed at my tax dollars at work! Oh yeah! I sorta' prayed over the
>little tag when I realized it had expired. I kept repeating myself and
>pointing at the date on the plates: "These are Nineteen-SIXTY-ONE plates."
>Poor dimwit never did get it. And he never looked at the expired little
>tag. He even forgot to write the ticket for the supposed tail light being
>out. He didn't stop me to talk MGs because I'm not sure he even knew what
>he stopped! And probably had even forgotten why...!
>
>I wish I'd felt that the car was safer with this deputy on the road. But he
>never did verify the plates, so it still "could" have been stolen...
>
>Fast forward... New day... different county... different county cop. Inside
>SA city limits. I was taking some hitch parts to see about having a hybrid
>of Barney's hitch put together for Darlin'. We were on a a major
>throughway, and this deputy sheriff pulls past me at a light, then holds
>back for me to pull up in the other lane. I didn't do it, BECAUSE now I
>KNOW that little tag is expired. Light changes. He holds back, I hold
>back.. discretely. He pulls off into a parking lot. I KNOW I'm snagged.
>Sho' nuff! Light show!
>
>His bulb isn't quite as dim as the rural guy's was. He spotted that itty
>bitty number on the tag! Good eyes. I fumbled my way through the expired
>tag.
>
>"Why, I only got that tag last year and I was told it was good for five
>years!" All true, and I really was surprised when I saw the expiraton date
>during the previous encounter. I still don't understand the early
>expiration. BTW, the tag had been ordered by this time, but it takes a
>month to arrive I figured if I hadn't been stopped from March to June, I
>could make a trip to the hitch place. But, nooooooo.... And I wasn't about
>to voluntarily tell him that I already knew it was expired. I did deserve
>a ticket for the expired tag... no question about it.
>
>THEN he started preaching about how using those tags is a privilege and
>that I was abusing that privilege.
>
>Know this: when that MGA goes on the road, it's out there for a reason.
>Maybe we stop to check the air in the tires, maybe we need to locate a
>whatzitworth nut and bolt, maybe we have to see about getting a can of oil
>in Houston, maybe we need the Fredericksburg Sunday paper newsprint to trap
>the dripping oil from the engine, BUT we never, NEVER joy ride in that
>car!! >:-)
>
>Besides it was 100 degrees in the shade, and driving in town "for fun" in a
>roadster on days like that is borderline insane. (Highway is ok, though!)
>
>That was the first time I've even heard of anybody around here getting a
>sermon on driving the cars with classic or antique plates. Most officers
>don't bother with people who keep up old cars. This guy believed in equal
>justice and in staying busy. When I showed him the hitch pieces -- which
>were quite obvious when I got the insurance out of the trunk -- he eased
>off and sought a graceful exit. He never said a word about MGs, so he
>didn't pull me over to talk about cars. And he never said another word
>about a ticket, not even a warning.
>
>As I was getting ready to leave the scene of the crime, I happened to
>glance next door and there was a group of about 7 people watching the
>"bust". They smiled and waved and gave me thumbs up as I left.
>
>So there you have both ends of the spectrum ... dumb as a post and
>over-zealous.... in two weeks! And both times I deserved a ticket, and
>both times I was spared... Thank you, God! :-)
>
>Carol
>
>
>
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