Just a Little Fine

Just a Little Fine

On the news a couple of weeks ago here in Arkansas they were telling a story about a man's car getting stolen. I didn't catch where he lived, but the thief was driving on a toll road in Texas. Evidently the thief didn't pay the toll, and they sent the owner a statement asking for the money. The amount of the toll was a little less than four dollars.

Who knew this owner wouldn't pay like they thought he should have when the car went through the toll gate? Who knew who was actually doing the driving? Only one person, and he hadn't told and wasn't going to if he could help it.

Naturally the owner didn't want to pay a toll charge for his car when he hadn't been in the car much less the one driving it. Therefore he told them that the car had been stolen, and he wasn't in possession of it at the time that it was on their toll road. He faxed that information to them and forgot about it until a few days later. That is when he got his amended statement. They had added $2.50 more on the bill bringing it to a total of more than $6.00. I didn't understand why they added the $2.50 to it, but I suppose it was because he didn't pay it in a timely fashion.

I suppose the thief or thief's thought they wasn't about to pay a toll when they didn't even pay for the car. Why should they? The D.O.T. had no way of knowing who was driving until the law convicted them for stealing the car. The Department of Transportation didn't care who paid for it. They just wanted their money, so they went after the only person they had a record of who might be driving the car--the owner.

They never dreamed the owner would be so hardheaded about such a small fine--probably thought he would just pay up and forget about it. He, however, had no plans or intentions of paying and called a local TV station and got the story on the news.

Other news stations over Texas picked the story up, and it was soon broadcast all over the state and other states as well until the Department of Transportation decided that little fine just wasn't worth the trouble it was causing. That's when the department of transportation finally gave up on collecting it. It was after all just a little fine.