Being in the solid waste industry you're constantly under the scrutiny of the various police agencies. The local cops, always looking for you to roll through that stop sign, or be caught talking on your cell phone. The State police trying to catch you speeding or out of date inspection. The State Police DOT unit, now these guys are the ultimate. They control any vehicle on the road over 10,000 lbs or greater. They can give out more tickets on one inspection than scalpers have at a big name rock concert. But let's save the best for last; the Conservation Officer.
In the old days these folks were the game wardens. But through a series of political moves this once hidden constabulary of the woods became a police force in its own right. Bag of garbage in the back of your pick up truck, untarped load, $1,500 fine. Rain water dripping from an empty roll off container on a miserable rainy day, illegal discharge of leachate, untold fines and penalties. Maybe even scrubbing the roads with a toothbrush.
Several years ago I was involved in performing closure activities at two local landfills. I brought in wood chips for soil stabilization and out of the blue here's this Conservation Officer with her ticket book. Illegal Dumping! Pleads fell on deaf ears, the Conservation Department, who authorized the use of the wood chips back peddled so fast they could have beat Lance Armstrong going backwards. In the short, I spent $5,000 and two years of my life in court only to be exonerated. Not Guilty!
Fast forward many years. Last February this same officer came into our Plattekill facility and started writing paper. Imagine being ticketed for operating a transfer station without a permit at a permitted transfer station. Go Figure. This is one for the legal scholars to muse over and debate. September rolls around and it's finally court time. My lawyer can't peice this together let alone follow the logic train on this thought process. So before the Judge we go and in a few short sentences of legal mumbo jumbo, a few special incantations and just like Emeril says, "BAM!" case dismissed. Great! Wonderful! But it's not over!
A few weeks later the same officer shows up and this time she's climbing all over my trucks, taking pictures, writing notes, filling out forms, taking measurements. It was almost like Alice's Restaurant.
On Friday December 19 the other shoe dropped. The officer served me with a criminal summons, citing the same charges. Here we go again. So January 5 I went before the bar again. This time the officer provided all of those charts, graphs, illustrations and alike to the court. My lawyer looked at the overwhelming preponderance of details of criminal activity and she couldn't believe it. It was the same case but in greater detail. Same dates, times, locations etc. The officer was seeking a "do over." Don't win the first time, let's try the best two out of three. A few more incantations and, enter Emeril from the side and "BAM! Case dismissed! This time the Judge cited Double Jeopardy attached.
Imagine that, a television program saving my butt in court. Thanks Alex!
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
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