Hauled Into Court

Today I'm sharing one of Mom's memories. I don't remember ever hearing the story before so I assume that it happened after I'd left home and perhaps when I was living in Western New York. For anyone that is younger than I, there was a time when long distance phone calls were quite expensive and Mom and I didn't always stay in touch as well as we should have. I can't imagine what I'd think if I saw her name on a list of court summons' in the newspaper!

Now something you need to know about Mom is that she is the most law abiding person I know. She may not agree with a law, in fact there are several that she thinks are just plain stupid, but she will not break or even bend a rule. (Well at least not intentionally. She was known for missing one-way street signs.) She has never jay-walked, no rolling stops, the speed limit is the speed limit and who would even think about cheating on their taxes!

Back before the county wide trash burning plant was built each town had their own little landfill and by law you could not dispose of your trash in one of these landfills unless you were a resident of that town. Mom has had curbside pickup of her trash since she moved into her home in 1964.

Imagine her surprise and shock when she received a summons to court for illegally dumping her trash in the next town! And they had evidence against her, an envelope with her name and address on it!

So she went to court and when she saw the envelope she recognized it right away. It was from a financial transaction and it had contained a check. So she took it to the bank, deposited the check and tossed the envelope in the trash can at the bank. She explained to the judge that she saw a trash can and she used it!

Case dismissed!