School Zone Speeding Ticket? Apply for a Refund!

Wilmer Citizen Activist, in public information requests has determined that the City of Wilmer has prosecuted 529 individuals for the crime of "Speeding in a School Zone" to the tune of $165,852since Wilmer Academy began operation in August 2009 - WITHOUT an ordinance creating a school zone. YOU COULD BE DUE A REFUND AND CLEANED DRIVING RECORD.


What if the City Council never adopted an ordinance declaring a school zone and just threw up some new signs and started issuing tickets and collecting money? What if the City did declare just one School Zone in an ordinance - where the old elementary school is on Walnut Street - but definitely not on Belt Line or Dallas Avenue where you got your ticket?

This is EXACTLY what happened, the charter school came in, new school zone signs were erected near the intersection of Belt Line Road & Dallas Avenue, the old signs were removed from Dallas Ave, Walnut Street and College/Kissell. The ordinance declaring the Walnut Street school zone was left intact, nothing was repealed, no new ordinance was created to replace the existing school zone ordinance.

"Unlawful Prosecution" doesn't even rate as a crime, but this situation is definitely one of unlawful prosecution because there is no violation of law. The depth of the collusion implicates both the entire Municipal Court and Police Department - as well as any attorney acting to prosecute the charges. Obviously, this is just a mere oversight, a clerical error, an exigent circumstance to be waived away as a minor inconvenience. We all know ignorance of the law is no excuse - that applies equally to those who uphold the law as well as those who violate it.

At a minimum, we've discovered egregious violations of due process rights for at least 529 individuals - roughly equivalent to one-in-six Wilmer residents!

This is nothing less than racketeering, an ongoing criminal enterprise, denying the citizens of due process, unlawfully collecting penalties for non-violations, defrauding the tax payers, generally obstructing justice and intentionally tampering with government records. Couple this with an unknown number of additional charges and a few custodial arrests and the potential liability claims of the victims of the City's unlawful acts are extreme.

As a potential victim, you have a choice of whether to join a class of similar victims in a class action against the City of Wilmer, or complain to the criminal authorities about the civil rights violations. Then there's always the State's Victim Fund.

Having discovered the current state of the City's finances, any class action litigation probably wouldn't net enough funds to cover the cost of litigation. Besides, any settlements are going to have to come out of the taxpayers' pocket - probably your own pocket eventually.

There are a number of remedies which seem appropriate in this matter:
EXPUNCTION - fix the victims's driving & court records eliminating the conviction,
REFUND any fines, fees & court costs,
CEASE the enforcement of school zone speeding and remove all the signs from the streets.

THEN perhaps the City can work on actually solving the legal dilemma by writing a new school zone ordinance and repealing the old one. Whatever the resolution, it's never going to be enough in my mind to adequately compensate the victims of this travesty for their time, money and continuing expense in increased insurance premiums, not to mention the emotional trauma and other damages sustained by the City of Wilmer's capricious administration.