Ann Musser was arrested at her Holyoke,
Massachusetts, home, according to
media reports, and spent four and a half hours in jail—because
she was tardy in paying her $5 dog license fee.
Well, actually, as Holyoke
City Clerk Brenna McGee assured me, Musser was actually
arrested on an outstanding warrant for failure to appear in
court—over the tardy $5 dog license fee. Musser is a little
preoccupied these days with ovarian cancer, which may explain why
she put an administrative fee on the back burner. But then, it’s
common practice in Massachusetts to refer people to court after
they’ve ignored or simply missed notices of tickets for even the
pettiest of offenses. And since petty offenses have proliferated,
including the non-payment of fees for the most mundane activities,
court referrals and encounters with the police
over…well…bullshit are not uncommon.
Musser “and her husband are also repeated offenders” McGee told
me, referring to the dog license issue. Licenses for Fido and Spot
are
required by the state of Massachusetts and Holyoke, both. McGee
assures me that “this is not about the collection of administrative
fees. This is a violation of city ordinance.” But the two are not
mutually exclusive. The city
application asks for little more than “$5.00 for spayed female
or neutered male (please include proof of altering), or $15.00 for
unspayed or unneutered” and identifying information.
The state asks for proof of vacccination for rabies, but the
Holyoke application includes no such provision, and nobody alleges
that the the Musser’s 14-year-old family dog, Pumpkin, was rabid or
even unvaccinated.
But Brenna McGee reports that there are lots of ways to get
referred to the court system.
It has been the practice of this office (M.G.L
Chapter 40 section 21d) and other cities to report unpaid
tickets to the court system. The process begins in February. Up to
three notices are sent to remind dog owners to license their dogs
by the deadline. If by June 1st the dog is not licensed a ticket is
issued by the City Dog Officer. Tickets are marked very clearly
that if no payment is received within 21 days the ticket is then
sent to the court.
Musser
told the Republican that she paid the $5 license fee
and $25 late fee, but only after court proceedings had begun. She
claims she attempted to appear in court and cooled her heels in a
crowded courtroom for three hours, but left after her complaints
that seating a woman with a faltering immune system in a crowd
might be less than brilliant fell on deaf ears.
Not that it matters. Let’s not forget that she was supposed to
kill a day in an institutional room because she failed to pay for a
permission slip to own a dog. The court then sent armed men to nab
her because she chafed at remaining in after-school detention
court. The situation would have been ludicrous even if she were
perfectly healthy.
“Please also note,” McGee told me, “that ALL tickets are sent to
the court after 21 days of no payment, not just dog tickets. To
name a few: possession of marijuana, loud music, emptying of bulk
waste containers before 7am, motorized scooters, animal waste,
shopping carts, tag sale permit.”
Yes, you can really end up summoned to court, and perhaps
arrested for failure to appear, for not paying for a permission
slip to have a tag sale.
“I do know that people have been arrested in Holyoke for dog
tickets and most recently a few weeks ago in Belchertown,” McGee
said. “And yes, there have been arrests for unpaid other tickets as
well. One just a few weeks ago in Holyoke.” She didn’t remember
what the last arrest was for, other than that it was an ordinance
violation.
Speaking of revenue, state laws specify that, once court
proceedings have begun over dog licenses, tag sales, and the like,
“any fines imposed under the provisions of this section shall enure
to the city or town for such use as said city or town may direct.”
So there just may be a bit of incentive to proliferate those petty,
annoying ordinances and send defaulters courtward-bound.
To be clear, Brenna McGee isn’t the villain here—just a city
clerk kind enough to answer questions. Similar answers would have
been forthcoming from most officials in her position in
Massachusetts and elsewhere. In a hyper-regulated world, everything
becomes a subject for administrative procedures, the begging of
permission, and the payment of fees. And hyper-regulated as we are,
disorganization or defiance of even the stupidest rules become
grounds for encounters with armed men.
I asked McGee whether she and her colleagues ever discussed the
appropriateness of the system that ensnared Musser. She declined to
respond, though assured me that medical conditions are taken into
account when they’re known—a bit of mercy from the bureaucratic
class, should they choose to grant it.
Ann Musser shouldn’t have been exempted from arrest for being
sick. She should have been free of fear of arrest for violating
intrusive rules that have no business on the books and should
certainly never be enforced by armed agents of the state.
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