What to say in court

I am here to register a statement about driving through Homer. I cannot confirm or deny that I was speeding on the day the ticket was issued, since I was driving safely, stopping in fact, and pumping gasoline at the gas station when the policeman approached me. I was not pulled over. I was working on my daily delivery route, delivering individual newspapers to individual rural customers, my job for over six years. Careful driving, personalized delivery, and a clean record are something I want to maintain.

In these years of delivery, I have been stopped by Homer's policeman three times and my hired drivers have also at least once. These were not cases of speeding or reckless driving, but the result of excessive diligence from a policeman with too little to do.

On the day in question, I delivered a paper to the residence of Terry Wolf on the outskirts of Homer. The posted speed limit there is 55, although I am sure I could and would not have reached this speed, because my car was stopped. I drove from Wolf’s to the stop sign on Main Street, where I came to a second complete stop, crossed the street to the Marathon Station that I have regularly patronized several times a week, over the last years. I was filling my tank when the policeman drove up behind me and told me I had been speeding into town.

I also think he was not happy about the bumper sticker that reads IMPEACH on my Prius.

I told him I had not been speeding; he did not claim to recognize me from before. He wrote me the ticket.

I have since stopped driving into Homer at all. I personally spoke with the mayor of Homer and the gas station operator and told them that I would no longer be able to patronize Homer business, since the risk of entering the town -- perhaps more occupied with the routine delivery of newspapers and not the speedometer -- one is likely to exceed the speed limit and the policeman laying in wait is too risky. I don't trust myself enough to drive between the shifting speed limits --- now 55, now 30, now 35, now 20 -- within this short distance. It is better to avoid the town altogether.

And that is what I have done since this ticket was issued. The mayor said sincerely he hoped I would reconsider. I am considering reconsidering, but right now I am not reconsidering. It is easy enough to re-route my delivery route to avoid the town.

I simply wanted to express this officially, to say to the policeman and the court that I was not speeding, that driving is my livelihood and I take much care and personal attention to each and every customer -- 170 in all -- that I deliver too in the four hours and 150 miles of driving I do each day in the rural countryside.

I would ask the court to find me not guilty of speeding. However, if that is not to be, I am content to continue as I have done, avoiding Homer in my deliveries. I am comfortable and do not feel a sense of threat in any other town I pass through or have passed through in delivery. In every other place, in the country or in towns such as Sidney, Villa Grove, Philo, Broadlands, Allerton, St. Joseph, and Urbana that I have regular occasion to drive through, I feel confident in doing so. Since I cannot feel a sense of safety in entering Homer, I have removed it from my delivery route.

Was I speeding on the day I received the ticket? To my knowledge, I was not. I have no further plea.