More Thursday morning rail news:
— U.S. Rep. Jim Costa (D-Calif.) will introduce legislation to help fund completion of California’s high speed rail project at a Friday event in Madera, Calif. According to a press release, the High-Speed Rail Corridor Development Act of 2020 would provide $32 billion in funding for projects in federal designated high-speed rail corridors.
— Texas Central is offering a first look at interiors of the trains it plans to operate in high speed service between Dallas and Houston. On its website, the company says it will offer two-and-two or two-and-one seating, and is emphasizing the difference between its seating and that of an airplane, with up to 41 inches of seat pitch and 32 inches of legroom.
— Pan-Am Railways’ Hoosac Tunnel remained closed Wednesday following its Feb. 12 closure due to a partial wall collapse in the 135-year-old bore, but expectations are that the route could reopen sometime this week. Norfolk Southern told customers earlier this week the line was expected to reopen Saturday.
— An Oregon bill would prevent police from stopping riders who they believe may not have paid a fare to ride. The bill before the Oregon House of Representatives, introduced by Rep. Diego Hernandez (D-Portland), is in response to concerned about “disparities in fare encorcement, KATU-TV reports. TriMet, the Portland area transit agency, issued a statement opposing the bill.
Some jurisdictions are playing with not charging fares altogether…
Many years ago a group of young men where stopped in Florida, suspected of being terrorists. The arresting officer charged them with toll evasion, because they did not have a toll receipt(they don’t give one to save paper unless one asks). Thx
The reason they were suspected of being terrorists is some women called 911 and told the operator she heard them plotting an attack on Arabic. It turned out she heard one of them talking in Spanish. Turned out she did not speak or a word of Spanish or Arabic and she thought they were Arab terrorists.
Can one understand why sometimes one has to look askew about claims made. It tends to be particularly galling when one knows an officer is incorrect and then having to waste time to have it dismissed(in my case the court was nice, I sent a written plea in, and it was accepted).
I make no claims of being any kind of legal expert. I’m just a worn out truck driver. If you need a lawyer look in the yellow pages.
PS if anybody out there wants an answer to NIMBYisn , read this:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/13/business/economy/housing-crisis-conor-dougherty-golden-gates.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage
Mister McGuire:
The following is not to be considered to be legal advice, and is not to be relied upon for any purpose whatsoever. For accurate, timely, and correct legal advice, consult an attorney licenced to practice in your jurisdiction.
I can think of many things you could be arrested for if the cop (I am assuming a sworn policeman) is of a mind. If he can’t get you for not paying the fare then he can get you for, say, disorderly conduct, delaying and obstructing, loitering, trespass, resisting arrest, or any combination thereof. From their perspective it is a goldurned shame the vagrancy statutes have generally been held to be void for vagueness (Papachristou v Jacksonville 1972), as have the “suspicious person” statutes (they were struck down as status offences, Columbus v. Thompson 1971), but there is still plenty to choose from – especially if he gets you on a Friday afternoon.
Although these days you will probably not be booked for aggravated mopery with intent to gawk – nor vag lewd. But you never know.
Generally, they can hold you for 72 hours (or three working days) not including holidays and weekends before they have to take you before a magistrate and formally charge you or let you go, so even if the ADA decides to nolle pros you will spend a couple of days in jail. If they get you on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving (gotta love those four-day weekends) then you could easily be in jail for a week before you see the judge.
If you sufficiently annoy the Boys in Blue they might treat you to a little diesel therapy – and good luck getting hold of a telephone if they do, much less an attorney or a bail bondsman.
And you will have been booked, even if it was only a holding charge, so your special crime will be recorded for all eternity in the bowels of the National Crime Information Computer, to the accompaniment of the Collateral Consequences of Criminal Charges.
Remember, the process IS the punishment, and the Red Queen was right (“Sentence first – verdict afterward.”).
And of course the cop gets overtime for booking you – and a dog biscuit for helping make his arrest quota for that month.
Always keep in mind that there is no crime in the world more heinous than Contempt of Cop. None.
The above comments are generic in nature and do not form the basis for an attorney/client relationship. They do not constitute legal advice. I am not your attorney. And somewhere in Washington, in a folder, a study in black and white, are your fingerprints.
If you are not going to be arrested or ticketed for not paying a fare then why would anyone bother to buy one. Paying a fare now becomes a voluntary thing. Same as the Washington Metro.
Regarding the transit fare issue we in Mpls/St. Paul have that proposal too to no longer ticket those who don’t pay their fare on the light rail because they feel no one pays the citation anyway but there are just as many who don’t pay on the bus routes either they either try & pass off an old trfr or card or just tell the driver they don’t have any money and being as the driver understandably does not want to get punched in the face he lets them ride. I think in the end the fare cheating is just as common on the bus as the LRT.
Group W Bench
Mister Dupee:
Yup. Alice’s Restaurant. I can quote all 18 minutes 36 seconds of it.
On the topic of holding charges, in California many people – probably numbering in the thousands, certainly in the hundreds – have been booked for the murder of Nichole Simpson. O.J. was acquitted, mind you, so technically the crime has never been solved (I take no position whatsoever on O.J. Simpson’s guilt or innocence concerning this crime). That leaves it free to be used as a holding charge against whomever. The beauty of a 187 booking is that it is (in practice) a no-bail charge. Not even your attorney can get you out of jail, not until you go to court.
That was what? A quarter of a century ago? I remember watching the slow-speed chase on Channel 5 KTLA from a residence in central Mexico. The cops in Southern California probably aren’t using the Simpson case as a holding charge any more, but there are plenty of others to choose from.
I see some of the d***dest things whilst swimming in the sewer that is the legal system. Some of the nastier rats wear uniforms.
The above comments are generic in nature and do not form the basis for an attorney/client relationship. They do not constitute legal advice. I am not your attorney. And they all moved back there on the Group W bench, shook my hand, and we had a great time smoking cigarettes and all kinds of things …
Arlo Guthrie.
Thank you Texas Central for not being as lazy as Amtrak’s designers and forcing half of us to ride backwards!