Have I missed anything?

[Lloyd95]

I'm moving to Tuscaloosa Alabama!!!
I'm excited but I know it will be nothing like Michigan.

Understatement of the year.

It'll be good to hve you back on Monday, the board's been dead lately...

[clynn]

Yay!

Congratulations!

Looking forward to hearing more about it.

[squirrley]

Hey Rosebud! Nice to see you back! Alabama~what a change from MI, but I bet you'll love it! Anything is a nice change from MI!

See ya around!!! Welcome back!

[shh!]

Blackiesharley lives in Alabama, too.

[Lloyd95]

Remaining Continental 47 > Alambama.

[Rosebud]

Yea, it's going to be a big change but I'll get used to it. still a little frustarted with all the things I ahve to do before the move though!

I'm sorry things have been so dead around here, sounds like things really haven't changed much..LOL

Oh well, In any case I'm excited to come back again...I'll catch up more tomorrow and fill you guys in on all the chaos I've been through!!! HAHA, I know....just what you guys wanted to hear, right? LOL

[misombra]

actually i'm ready to hear everything...

[clynn]

Oh yes, bring it on.

And look at little ole me - my post count is over a 1,000 now.

[whaywardj]

There's a saying about Alabama, Rosebud: "Visit Alabama on vacation. Leave Alabama on probation...if you leave at all."

Element of truth to it. Authorities at every level down here take themselves very seriously. Part of the reason for it, apart from the local "good citizens" having a generally intolerant attitude toward anything they don't approve of, is that the state has the lowest property taxes in the nation. With the local well-to-do not being willing to pay their fair-share, local elected officials they put in office and their bureaucrats (e.g., cops) have little choice but to look for (or create) opportunities to "generate revenue" whenever they can from the less than well-to-do.

So, in addition to having a regressive tax system in general, (e.g., a combined 10.5% sales tax in some counties), you'll find a number of other peculiar numbers floating around down here...like "county occupational tax," (a tax on the right to work in the county you're living in) and "reinstatement fee(s)." (E.g., if you let your auto insurance expire, or cause it to be suspended by, say, missing a payment, they won't give you a license plate tag until you pay this fee and reinstate your insurance. They DO run periodic "scans" comparing tags to policy numbers. If they can't find a match, you're in violation.)

There's additional hitches around vehicles having to do with "notifications." My son just went through one. He traded-in his car at the same dealership he bought his first one at, bought a newer car, and the insurance company transferred the policy to the new vehicle. Well and good, right? Wrong. Alabama suspended his license, fined him, charged him a tag reinstatement fee ($100) AND a license reinstatement fee ($300). Why? HE hadn't "notified" the state he had bought a new new vehicle and his insurance was now covering it, not the old one they had on record. How was he to notify them? Go stand in line at Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and fill out a form. Did anyone tell him had to do this? No.

Another motor vehicle "notification" nightmare: You can't change your address by filling out a form at DMV and notifiying the post office. Post office won't forward "official" correspondence. (Ostensible reason: "identity theft security.") DMV is only HALF of who you have to notify. You also have to stand in line a second time and notify the driver's licensing authority of your change of address. Which is NOT the same as DMV. This little oversight on my part cost me $450.00 last year to "reinstate" my $65.00 tag. The State had sent me a crucial notification to the old address and I never got it. I got penalized for noncompliance to a requirement I never received notice of.

Here's another good one: "Line of sight precedent." On this one, if you're in your living room having a beer, with the blinds open, and a cop in shitty mood happens to drive by and see you drinking in your living room, he has the authority to come into your house and arrest you for "public nuisance drinking," and one or two other causes. The legal theory is that just seeing you drinking constitutes a violation. Doesn't apply, of course, in bars or restaurants serving alcohol. They pay extra "licensing" fees to "lift" that statute within the confines of their establishment.

BTW, the Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board (ABC) controls alcohol sales and distribution in this state. So, in effect, the state sells you the alcohol, then can arrest you for drinking it in your home...if someone outside your home just sees you doing it and wants to complain.

Same goes for language. One can be arrested for telling someone to "**** off." If who you say that too decides to hassle you, they can press charges on the grounds your langauge was "offensive to the public." Depending on the county you're in, the cop will or won't take the accusation seriously and do his or her duty and arrest you. You will pay bail, a fine and court costs. Or go to jail.

Speaking of jail, penalty for possession of a controlled substance of ANY sort, first-time offense? One year to life, depending on the judge's descretion, and a $10-$50,000 fine (as I recall reading). Authorities are ESPECIALLY harse around cocaine and/or meth, but it also extends to marijuana. Don't bother protesting whatever it was wasn't yours, or was left in your car or whatever by someone else. There's something down here called the "proximity law," (recently passed...or about to be...I forget which). If whatever is illegal is within arm's reach, you're in control of it and you go to jail with whom ever it DOES belong to, whether or not they're with you or claim to be the owner.

(The financial angle on incarceration, btw, is that the Feds pay the State a daily subsidy for each inmate in the State penal system. In addition to the State getting free labor from inmates, Alabama then ships these inmates to private institions in different states who charge less to house them. Alabama gets $75.00 per day per inmate from the Feds. A private prison in Louisinana charges Alabama $35.00 per day per inmate to house prisoners. Alabama ships the prisoners to Louisiana, pays the $35 bucks and pockets the difference. Alabama isn't alone in this practice, incidentally. Other states in the US are picking up on the scheme and doing likewise. Basically, slave-trading, but officials will call it something else.)

Don't party too hearty, either. DUI first-time offense penalities? $1,000 to $2,000 fine, 90-day license suspension from state, plus 90-suspension from judge, plus court appointed "rehab" program (you pay for) and court costs. No provisions for limited use license to commute back and forth to work. Ergo, you either drive without a license to work (risking additional penalties...read "more revenue"), or you don't work. Fourth DUI offense: up to life in prison. (It ceases being a misdemeanor and becomes a felony at three DUI offenses...whenever previous offenses occurred, wherever they occured. "Pattern of behavior" is the relevant operating legality here.)

And, oh yes: You can be arrested for DUI even if you're not driving. Just having the car keys in your pocket and standing next to your car gives you legal "control." It's up to the officer to decide if you "posed a public danger" by "getting ready to drive" while "intoxicated." Again, a hitch here too. It doesn't have to be alcohol or drugs. Anything which can "impair" your senses or judgment makes you vulnerable to arrest. Could be aspirin. Doesn't matter. If the officer on the scene decides your aspirin, or cough syrup, or prescription medicine has "impaired" you in any anyway, he or she can cite you for DUI.

And -- most hilarious AND awful to me -- an out-of-state purchase sales tax. On this one, you're expected to pay local sales taxes on items you buy of out state for use in state. So, you get to pay sales taxes twice: once when you buy whatever it is from wherever; and once again when you start using it here. I know of no one who observes this statute personally, but I'm sure a lot of businesses get snapped up in this one.

If you dot all the i's and cross all the t's when you move down, and keep your nose clean while here, you'll be fine. God forbid, though, you let a tail-light on your car go out, or do anything the local constable can interpret as a violation. They'll tangle you up in so much red tape you'll never get untangled.

Other than little annoyances like that, Alabama's a wonderful place to raise a family. Especailly, if you're wealthy.

By and large, Alabama is the last bastion of Roman-Greco wealth in this country. If you have cash, gold or land, they'll invite you in with open arms and let you do, pretty much, whatever you want as long as you share your wealth. (Stocks, bonds or other paper assets don't count, though. That's just "pretend" wealth.) If you're an average Joe, they'll tolerate you...as long as you dance their tune. And pay the fees one another bureaucrat may abruptly decide to tag you for on that particular day because he or she has found a way to. Or devised one.

Oh. One last thing. When you rent a property or apartment down here, you don't get interest paid on your deposit unless you make that deal with the owners. Local law doesn't require property owners to pay you for the privilege of using your money. Nor is there anything even remotely like rent control. You can pay $750 this month, then be asked to pay $850 next. Don't like it? Move. Read your lease very carefully before signing if you plan to rent.

In general, cover your ass in all quarters because local authorities will have a bite of it at every opprtunity you give them. Ask a lot of questions about EVERYTHING financial (banks) or official (vehicle registration, occupational licenses, etc.) and don't settle for "feel-good" answers that provide no real information. It's all pretty much rigged to increase the odds you'll stumble over a wire that will permit someone to charge you for the privilege of being here. Don't like it? Move. Or don't come here in the first place.

It's all a way of keeping out the riff-raff. And all indication of just how sorry and sad a state of affairs now exists in the US.

[shh!]

Whoa - Hayward, you must have gotten in all kinds of trouble in Alabama...

[whaywardj]

Actually, all of us in the the States a LOT more exposed to such abuses of power than most of us even know.

For two reasons, basically. First, we aren't aware of when we are in violation of one or another law. Say you jump out of a bush to scare a friend just for a joke. Legal fact is, you've committed assault. If you happen to grab them while doing it, you've also committed battery. There are dozens of innocent circumstances like that which can be interpreted to awful effect by some. And some do intrepret them so. Another fact: You, more than likely, have under your kitchen sink most or all the ingredients and tools you need to manufacture methamphetamine. In Alabama, if you have but three of such, you can be arrested and tried for manufacturing meth, even if you aren't. This is a result of the Feds moving a great number of common cleaning and pest control items into the Class I controlled substance category.

The second reason we in the US are so exposed is because we don't know what laws ARE being made until it's too late.

Research your own state and discover the many "arrangements" which have been set in place to trigger "authoritative actions" of different varieties. If you're able to distinguish consipiracy theorist garbage from fact, and have the the time it takes to do that, you might want to pay a visit to [URL="http://www.rbnlive.com/news.html"]Republic Broadcasting Network[/URL]. For starters.

[misombra]

i made a pot of collard greens...

[whaywardj]

Typical attitude. Ignore it and maybe it'll go away. At least it won't affect ME. Maybe. Since we're so disinterested in keeping tabs on what it's actually doing, we Americans deserve the government we have.

[Rosebud]

HOLY CRAP HAYWARD!!!

Now I'm scared to go there! I was reading the Alabama website on where and what things I have to do when I first move but you just gave me a whole bunch of other insight I would have never known.

Jesus, I mean I'm not a criminal or anything....but you get locked up for drinking in your frickin living room if someone see's you? What happens if you have a party and someone knows of it but doesn't see you drinking? Damn.....

[Tone]

Yay for RoseB.

RK + RoseB return today - should be exciting day in LF history!