Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

District Court charges filed

District Court was filled with charges of failure to appear and failure to comply, along with a number of driving while intoxicated cases.

Municipal Judge Gene Hale began, as he tends to do, with the DWI charges, with four people coming before him. Two entered pleas of guilty, while two opted to plea not guilty and take their chances with a trial.

The first to enter a guilty plea was Eddie ORourke, who was also charged with reckless driving. This charge, though, was dropped. He was fined $855 and ordered to attend a DWI class.

Charles Jackson, the other to plead guilty, but to DWI 2, had a charge of driving on a suspended license as well, having fictitious tags and no liability insurance. He was ordered to attend an outpatient program, fined $1,105 and given 10 days in jail, though he can serve the time behind bars on weekends or his days off. His total fines amounted to $2,045.

Shonda Young and Anthony Glenn were the two who pled not guilty and sought trials.

Glenn had told the Court he was in the process of hiring an attorney and named a law firm he reportedly contacted. Hale had officers call the firm to validate Glenns claim, telling the suspect if they hadnt heard of him, he (Glenn) would be held in contempt of court and given 30 days in jail.

Glenn later recanted his plea, entering a plea of guilty instead. Along with DWI, he had been charged with criminal mischief for breaking a window in a police car. He was fined a total of $1,105 and ordered into an outpatient treatment program.

Two of the more interesting cases involved truck drivers. The drivers, Singh Ranjit and Richard Wright had been cited for impeding the flow of traffic near Loves.

The pair was tried together, though they work for different trucking companies. The connection was both had been ticketed by Prescott Police Officer Robert Hennegar on March 5.

Wright and Ranjit said they had no choice at the time as another semi was blocking the entrance into Loves, and they would have had to cross the double yellow center line to get around it.

Wright told the Court Hennegar didnt ticket any drivers in front of he and Ranjit, and the two of them were themselves blocked in by other trucks.

Hennegar said there would have been no problem if the drivers had pulled onto the concrete pad by the entrance, or they could have gone to another truck stop where they wouldnt have impeded traffic.

Wright and Ranjit pointed out they are given what amounts to fuel cards telling them where to buy fuel. Wright said he didnt have the fuel to get to another designated truck stop. Ranjit, though, had the fuel, but said he was blocked in and couldnt get back to the interstate.

Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Dana Stone, and Hale himself, agreed with the truckers lament, saying they have found themselves in the same situation at times.

When they stop on Highway 19, Stone said, they have to go in the other lane. They are guilty of what theyve done, but I dont know what theyre to do. I dont know the solution.

Hale said the drivers were technically guilty, but suspended the fine and cost for both  this time.