As someone who last week wrote a $365 check to the Town of Luther for a speeding ticket (valid, I was going 65 in a 55) and a ticket for “failing to yield to an emergency vehicle” (completely ridiculous, I didn’t pull over fast enough for Barney Fife) I take a tremendous amount of enjoyment in seeing a police force whose only seeming service is to poach money from highway travelers for a tiny town take such a black eye:

Jerry Pendley had worked for the Luther Police Department for about three weeks before his arrest by Oklahoma Highway Patrol troopers on Monday. The U.S. Attorney’s office says Pendley lied on the documents by not noting he had been arrested and charged twice on suspicion of assault and battery.

moral of the story:

1. stay off Route 66 – take the Turnpike when you’re going between OKC & Tulsa
2. if you do happen to get a ticket in Luther, don’t go to court with a reasonable request to reduce payment on the meaningless ticket – they won’t do it and the judge will charge you $44 to appear in court
3. support politicians who strip little towns of the right to issue tickets on highways if their ticket revenue exceeds reasonable limits

Here on the fourth day of 2010, I found one sentence that might do the best job I’ve seen yet at putting the last 10 years into a nutshell (from this NY Times article):

“A dollar is no longer a dollar in this country,” said Mallory Duncan, senior vice president of the National Retail Federation, a trade association. “It’s a Visa dollar. It’s only worth 99 cents because they take a piece of every one.”

OK, so maybe it doesn’t sum everything up… just imagine that terrorists are buying steroids with their Visa cards and then you’re there.