Don't worry - you're safe

Yup, that's right folks. You can all rest easy now. A hardened criminal has been caught. Who or whom do you ask? (I can never remember the rule for which one we are supposed to use, who or whom.) Anyway - the person who was caught was none other than my husband. He's been caught and the world is once again safe.

Here's the story, but first I have to tell you that last week he was pulled over for speeding and given two tickets - one for speeding and another because he didn't have his proof of insurance with him in the car. We have insurance, he just didn't have the card in the car with him - we think it was lost when he got his inspection sticker. In this part of the country, you have to show proof of insurance when you get your inspection sticker. We weren't too worried about that ticket because we can get it waived by showing the proof of insurance. As for the speeding ticket, we have until April 22 to pay it, so we weren't worried about that either.

So, now on to what happened today. Driving to work today he was pulled over for speeding. Same spot. Yes, I agree he should know to slow down in that area, but you try telling him that. He called me around 7:30 this morning to say that he had been pulled over and he was waiting for the police officer to come talk to him. He said that he would call me when he was finished to tell me the damage. I continue to get ready for work and finally leave the house and I still haven't heard back from him. I try calling his cell phone and there's no answer. This is when I start to get worried. I decide to drive along the highway where he got pulled over to see if I can see him or his car and I don't see anyone, so I go on to work. At this point I'm thinking that his phone has gone dead. Another side story - my phone battery keeps dying. I don't know what I do to phone batteries, but I kill them. I've had my new phone since December and I'm already on my second battery. Yesterday, he and I decided to switch batteries to see how my battery does in his phone, so it is quite possible that his phone battery is dead and he can't call me. I'm thinking that he will call when he gets in to work, which is a long commute. I arrive a work late and a bit frazzled worrying about him.

Then I get a phone call. It's a computer saying it's from the county jail and he has two seconds to say he's been arrested. For some reason, the phone call that jail inmates are allowed to make can't be made to a cell phone, so when he would call it would only let him talk for 20 seconds, then it would hang up on me. Needless to say, he didn't get a lot of information to me in those 20 seconds. I start talking to people at work as they help me figure out which county building I'll need to go to in order to bail him out. I leave work and run home to pick up a copy of our insurance policy to prove that we do have insurance on the car he was driving. I arrive at one county building and they tell me the bail is $250.00 and where he is located. I go get cash and then head to that building. I arrive there around 9:00am where I sit, and wait, and wait. Finally he is released around noon. Clearly customer service is not their first priority. Where is my comment card to the manager?

So, what was his offense? Apparently, they think he wrote a bad check. But he hasn't written a check in years. Turns out the check in question was from 1992 to a local grocery store. Yes, I said that correctly. 1992. 17 years ago. It was on the same checking account that we had up until about 3 years ago - so if there was a bad check, I should have known about it. So, he's had this warrant for his arrest since 1992 and they just now caught up to him. Which makes me a tad concerned. He's been pulled over before - why, even last week. Why now? We lived at the address on the check for several years - why didn't they come get him when we lived there? We have bought and sold houses since then, you would think the matter of a warrant for your arrest would come up. Why is this just now being discovered? And, how much work is it going to be to show that we don't have a bad check out there? Who has records from 17 years ago? This $50.00 check written in 1992 has now cost us $250.00 in bail, and $250.00 in car impoundment fees. We are not amused. Actually, I'm able to see some humor in it, but Rominal isn't laughing yet. Give him time, he'll come around. Maybe after a while he will be able to smile at this - his mug shot.

So world, you can rest easy tonight. Rominal has been caught.