Fenton, population 226, brings in over $1 million per year through its mayor’s court, an unusual justice system in which the mayor can serve as judge even though he’s responsible for town finances.
We held a hearing about whether or not the mayor should also be the Judge. The mayor has decided that the mayor runs the court impartially and there is no need for a 3rd party magistrate.
“I’m the mayor after all”
So much freedom in communist Louisiana
I’m not sure if you realize this but using that term when it’s not really applicable looks silly. Using that term when it’s 100% not remotely applicable makes you look like a moron.
Says you dupshit
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Damn, did you get banned from Reddit or something? I feel like you might fit in better over there, or maybe Truth Social.
Define communism. Go ahead. Define it.
That’s government by the cows, right? Cow-moo-nism. They swapped some letters to make it more pronuncable.
??? Mate you need to read something. I suggest starting with Cocomelon books. Since you clearly don’t understand half the words you have used.
Lol. What?
This isn’t communism, it’s totalitarianism…
Very different thing.
Nope. Same difference
Totalitarianism - A system of government that is centralized and dictatorial and requires complete subservience to the state
Centralised government - centralized government (also united government) is one in which both executive and legislative power is concentrated centrally at the higher level
Communism - a theory or system of social organization in which all property is owned by the community and each person contributes and receives according to their ability and needs
It’s so easy to research and not look stupid…
It’s easy to get these confused when every example of national communism has resulted in a totalitarian state.
I will give you that.
I hate to be that person but I’d also say if I claimed to be a Christian that didn’t believe in God or Jesus it doesn’t mean Christians don’t believe in God or Jesus, it just means I’m not Christian.
I’m from this area. A mayor got in trouble for embezzlement a few year ago. Look it up.
Does this town have a reputation?
Yep. Do not speed. You go 50.
With the size of the population, is it safe to assume they’re not sending out a helicopter search patrol if you were to say…not stop and just outrun the Ford?
Or is it that part of the south where discontinuing pursuits is based on how the officer “feels” vs actual safety regulations?
The cops can’t go 110? I had a gutless 96 horsepower 89 Nissan pulsar that could do 120 easy. At least that’s the highest I pushed it.
Maybe its like in my city where the cops kept drag racing their patrol cars so the city had limiters installed into them.
I found this telling (emphasis mine):
Mayor’s courts operate in a gray area of Louisiana law. Like municipal courts, they handle violations of local ordinances. Municipal judges must hold a law degree and pass the bar; a mayor can preside over court without meeting any qualifications. Yet, like a municipal judge, a mayor can impose fines or sentence people to jail.
Mayor’s courts must ensure defendants have fair trials. But unlike other courts in the state, they aren’t subject to rules like the Code of Criminal Procedure that are supposed to ensure courts are run fairly and properly.
Reading the article, there is obviously there’s some shady-ass conflict-of-interest shit going down in this specific case.
However.
Literally any municipality in America could make bank if they enforced the traffic laws to the letter. Conditions permitting, most drivers regularly go 5-10mph over the speed limit. Distracted driving is common, and evolving (apparently the new things is people watching streaming videos while driving). In certain areas drivers leave their cars parked on sidewalks, blocking crosswalks, inside bike lanes, etc. Laws about stopping for pedestrians waiting to cross the street may as well not exist. Buzzed (and more recently, mildly-stoned) driving is socially acceptable. My local municipality could probably fund itself exclusively off tickets from drivers who don’t have their lights on in the rain.
To be very clear: enforcement is a terrible way to get people to follow traffic laws (an outsized number of encounters that end in police violence started with a traffic stop, traffic stops are disproportionately made against people of color, tickets are regressively priced, etc etc). However the case study of this little town reveals a big truth: lawbreaking while driving is widespread on American streets to a level so extreme that nearly all drivers on the road will break the law (however minutely) every time they get behind the wheel. What kind of a broken system is that?
What kind of a broken system is that?
Just to be clear, you mean that people ignoring the laws is what makes it broken, right? Not the laws themselves?
Cause your last sentence threw me off for a second.
If so, I totally agree with you.
I’m not from the US, but are people really streaming while driving? Cause that’s just ridiculously stupid.
I know people are driving much longer distances in the US than here, but at least put on some podcast or music to entertain you. Nothing that keeps your eyes off the road.
But speeding tickets are the most common type of infraction, and I think that’s probably a good example of a systematic issue.
There are areas in this country where the speed limit is set artificially low, just to always allow for police to issue tickets capriciously.
The Atlanta beltway for example would literally grind the city to a halt if everyone adhered to the speed limit signs, and it’s actively dangerous to attempt to do so as an individual.
That’s not a people issue, it’s a systems issue.
Nearly all drivers on the road will break the law (however minutely) every time they get behind the wheel. What kind of a broken system is that?
All of this is intentional. Think about the phrase “I have nothing to hide” when you see flagrant privacy violations. Yes… Yes you do
lawbreaking while driving is widespread on American streets to a level so extreme…
Is this not the case everywhere? If anything, speeding, distracted driving, and running stop signs / ignoring traffic signals is much more common in other parts of the world.
Honestly, just put up cameras at points where following the law is the most critical for road safety, place notices something like a mile before it on the road, and if anyone’s still breaking the law after seeing the warning, just send the ticket to the home address the car is registered to with a picture that captures the driver.
Voilà, road safety AND reduction of unnecessary cop civilian conflicts.
Still send out patrol vehicles but for like, actual dangerous situations that need an immediate responder, because the patrol effect is a real and observed phenomenon (literally even just having a dude in uniform sitting on a horse in the area reduces crime), something that would actually be improved on by having cops spending less time babysitting highways and more time being visible in high crime areas to deter petty criminal behaviour.
My cat’s name is Fenton!
He does look like he would take peoples money
Gotta pay for that tux rental somehow
There was once a town that the state took its town charter away for the shitty way they pulled people over.
Louisiana needs to do the same.
Exactly.
Hey, it’s the plot line to “nothing to lose”. Is there a coal fire under the courthouse?
People should literally stay away from this town, and drive around it. It’s simply unacceptable for any municipality to work or either exist this way. It’s better for everyone besides the 221 people living there not to ever visit or even passthrough the place
Another commentor said that it’s very difficult to drive around this town and it’ll add a lot of time to your commute. For people who have tight schedules (e.g. pick up or drop off children) it might not be possible to add an hour or more to their drive time.
Reminds me of Waldo Florida, back in the day.
Can you elaborate?
For about 20 years AAA designated Waldo as a speed trap because profit from tickets was a motivation for that city. They issued tickets based on quotas, so cops had to pull over an enough drivers to meet their quota. They also had something like a half dozen speed limits or something crazy like that set up to trick drivers.
Geez that’s insane
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Hey aren’t there a bunch of 2A, anti-government tyranny people in that area? Wouldn’t that be 220 people vs 1?
That 1 will be you, the traveler who got the ticket, not the mayor. They understand they need that money to exist and they aren’t the ones getting tickets. Lots of bridge troll towns scattered around the nation.
