Lumberton's Catch and Release Program

Otherwise known as the Lumberton judicial system. For the first time, Judge Stewart was on time, but for the sake of the citizens, everyone else was late. The entire judicial system needs a complete overhaul. The first person broght before the judge was a man charged with possession of a firearm and the fact that he was a convicted felon didn't help the matter. In an effort to seem stern, Stewart set the bail at $100,000 which he would later reduce because the man had a crying relative and a job. So, he was told to sit there until the courtroom was cleared, and he could see if he could reduce the bail amount. Afterwards, Cindy Walls did a roll call to see who was present. It seems that those present were not supposed to be in court until the 23rd of April. Cindy also had a stack of 20-30 tickets that she was fumbling through to find out who was supposed to be in court. I guess she's pre-occupied with other things, which is probably why she mixed up the docket. .again. For some reason, they still had tickets on the docket from an officer that was terminated. Instead of informing the individuals that were ticketed that their cases had been dropped, she allowed them all to come before the judge before letting them know that the officer is no longer working with the LPD. It was interesting to see that one person had three tickets for the same offense, but they were written on differnt days. Apparently, Stewart was in a benevolent mood because he dismissed the tickets and the man didn't attend court, he sent a family member to present his case. Maybe I'll try that the next time I'm written three tickets on three different dates or maybe I won't. Stewart was in rare form last night, he was dismissing tickets left and right. I wonder if it had anything to do with the demographics of those being ticketed? Whatever the case may be, it's time for the board to get a court clerk that has a memory span longer than that of a gold-fish; it's time for a new judge and a new defenselessdefense attorney. Just another day in the catch and release system of Lumberton, just hope you're one of the lucky fishes when you have to stand before the judge.

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