Well that was easy

FOB had his court date today.

Rewind - 3 months ago FOB was driving while intoxicated (drunk off his a$$) and "someone" cut him off on a back road and he swerved to miss their car and ended up flipping his own and landing upside down in a ditch walking away without a scratch on his body.

First court date gave him 90 days to complete a set of classes and be evaluated by an addiction specialist or something.

Today, I get myself and my baby up at 6:30 AM to take FOB's behind to court since he told me his parents wouldn't take him. He had told me that he also hadn't completed the classes because of some reason or another. We get to court, the attorney comes out and talks to him, he walks in (I can't go because I have the baby and there is a huge brightly colored sign there which says "Absolutely No Children Allowed" however, upon close inspection I see another more official looking rules list which allows children in "extreme" circumstances. I wonder if pure curiosity counts? I decided not to risk it). Either way, Jason is only in there a total of five minutes, two of those being him actually interacting with the judge, then he walks out of the court room all smug like and says "It's over."

We continue down to the cashier's office where he pulls out a blank check from his parents and pays off the $890 fine. And we leave. And that's that.

I am appalled.

I can intellectually pause and say that it's no business of mine that his parents (once again) fronted the money to pay him out of trouble while ignoring their two grandchildren who don't receive squat and struggle to figure out how everything will be paid for each month. It's not my concern and I should be thankful that he did not go to jail (which I kinda am) and did not get too harsh a punishment for his DUI, yada yada.

But right now I'm spitting mad. I'm angry at our judicial system and feel scammed. Here we see commercials talking about cracking down on drunk driving, radio sponsorships by the traffic departments reminding people they drink and drive they go to jail, and all he walks out with is an $890 fine and a piece of paper telling him to "make sure" he completes his classes within 90 days. (The same classes he was supposed to have completed BEFORE going in for sentencing.) So are we now waiting for a person to injure or kill someone before we actually stick them with probation, reasonable fees, and a restricted license?

Maybe part of my anger comes from seeing my friend a fellow single mom (who lost her baby a year ago on the 19th, RIP) struggle to keep food on the table and get slapped with $4500 in fines for driving on a suspended license (from work) because she couldn't pay a speeding ticket. She was just doing what she had to do, working to keep food in her baby's belly, and ended up with 6 months of extreme headache, impounded car, and outrageous fees because she drove 5 MPH over the posted speed limit coming home from work one night anxious to see her baby. Meanwhile, a jobless loser drives while completely trashed out of his noggin' and he walks out with a measly $890 fine and a piece of paper telling him to take a couple classes and never do it again. Just seems to be hurting the wrong people here.

Then, while we're leaving the court house, I ask if he has gas money for me for driving him around, etc. He replies "Well, how much do you need?" I think that did me in. Apparently it's too much to just fill up a tank for $30 after I've been driving his butt around all weekend (and don't forget driving his kids around too for him since he can't drive) and instead he has to sit there and ask me how much gas it took to drive him to the court house.

I know I'm blinded but unnecessary anger right now. I know come tomorrow half of this wont matter anymore. But I told A to go ahead and press for the warrant for backed CS if she needs the money. If his parents are willing to pay to keep him out of jail, well... She should get her money then. Especially when he has the nerve to tell the court originally (before they announced the amount of the fine) that he could pay $500 today and the rest within two weeks. Oh really? How about you send some up for your kid(s) then.

Oh a brighter note, he did agree to sign off on Caden. Now I just need to figure out where a notary public will be on Saturday.