Hopefully not “Dead or Alive,” but apparently there’s been a warrant issued for my arrest back Stateside!

Back in April while I was driving from Phoenix to Ohio (to ultimate drop the truck off for shipping to Italy), I was stopped at a random checkpoint in Nowhere, New Mexico… and I mean nowhere.  It was high-noon; who sets up a random checkpoint in the middle of the day!  I dunno if they were looking for DUIs, illegal aliens, or just a quick buck for the County.  But I was stopped and had to show my license and registration.

About 5 minutes later the Officer came back and asked for my registration (again).  I told him I gave him everything I had.  He then informed me that what I had given him had expired in January.  I was dumbfounded.  I was almost 100% sure that it was good until the end of April.  I asked him to check the sticker on the plate and sure enough it said “APR 10.”  The plate numbers matched the registration, so apparently Georgia had messed up the paperwork when I registered it with the Prius; the Prius (already enroute to Italy) expired in January and the truck was expired (or was supposed to be) in April.

I tried explaining to the guy that I was on my way to drop the truck off at a port to ship to Italy, that the registration should not be expired, that I no longer live or would be back in Georgia, and that it would take me a month to get the paperwork corrected in correspondence.  He responded with a citation – I guess that meant “tell it to the Judge.”

So, even though I was leaving for Italy within a week or two, I tried calling the Court about 10 times during their business hours and was greeted by the answering machine every time.  On time #10, I had enough.  I left a message that went something like this:

My name is Snakeye.  I received a traffic citation the other day and have tried multiple times to get ahold of the Judge, but no one seems to want to answer the phone.  There was a registration mix up, and as I’m talking the vehicle is already aboard a ship to Italy.  I’m trying to do the right thing by getting this sorted out.  In fact, I’m leaving for Italy in 3 days.  My phone will be shut off tomorrow.  I no longer live at my address.  I have email at xxxxx@yahoo.com and can be reached there.  Thank you very much.

So I was a little sarcastic, but it gets frustrating when you try to take care of business during business hours and the phone rings… and rings… every time.  I kinda figured whoever would listen to the message and realize my situation and circumstances and just kinda drop it.  But I guess things really don’t work that way.  Oh well, I guess I got a B for effort on that one.

On a more grounding note, I did manage to get ahold of the Judge today using Skype at 1¢ a minute. He seemed pretty understanding; hopefully they’ll be taking down all my Wanted Posters that are scattered across New Mexico.