Posted on 12/10/2021 4:46:39 PM PST by SamAdams76
For those who don’t want to read, audio summary with music:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaFdBUZGYgM
Plain thievery .
The thieves should have been arrested
I lived in Walthourville back in ‘76-‘77, so am well aware.
*****
still happening except on a grander scale.
The saga of 301 continues into Florida with Lawtey, Starke, and Waldo. Still can bring on the jeebees & cold sweats concentrating on ever slowing speed limits on trips to Gainesville.
I remember all of this quite well.
Lester Maddox was, ... , quite a character.
During the early 1970s, my father used to get nabbed in these speed traps as we travelled south for vacation. A big-bellied deputy would waddle up to the car with the northern license plates and issue a ticket that would need to get paid on the spot - or you'd have to hang around and go to court.
And, now for some fact checking:
“He won the governor’s seat by accident: a coalition of party-crossing Republicans and hardcore segregationists made him the surprise winner of a 1966 Democratic runoff against two moderate candidates.”
Let’s correct the several errors there.
There weren’t 3 candidates in the Democrat runoff.
What really happened
There were 5 candidates in the Democrat primary. Front runner was liberal former governor Ellis Arnall. Maddox came in second, liberal Jimmy Carter was third, and strong segregationist James Gray was fourth. (A couple of minor candidates didn’t have any impact).
In the runoff between the liberal Arnall and the moderate Maddox, Maddox easily won. (There were only two candidates, not 3 in the runoff. But he is correct that crossover Republicans voted for him, thinking he would be easier to beat that the establishment Arnall)
But, as we have seen with liberals, they are sore losers, and the liberals launced a write in campaign in the general election.
So the general election pitted Maddox against Republican Bo Callaway. The write in campaign pulled about 7% of the vote, with Callaway edging out Maddox. But since the liberals had siphoned off enough votes to hold both Maddox and Arnall to under 50%, the election was decided in the Georgia General Assembly. Since the legislature was overwhealmingly Democrat, Maddox became governor, and Callaway eventually fled to Montana.
It would be years before the Republicans had another good shot at the Governor’s office.
It doesn’t look like either Zoellner or his Border Collie are strong on basic research.
In my home town the judge used to routinely make people in traffic court return to court (and take another day off work) because the officer who wrote the ticket couldn’t be bothered to show up to testify. Some people had to return 3 and 4 times. So people would just plead guilty to not have to return. The judge was as crooked as a dog’s hind leg.
US 41 north of Atlanta used to be about as bad. They didn’t run the speed traps, but a service station to the north would squirt some oil on the transmission, and when they pulled into another station down the road when it started smoking, the Yankees would have to pay for un-needed repairs.
And heading into town from the Ft Stewart side, the speed limit signs dropped faster than one could slow down. Right before the red light.
I had a boss in savannah who told me in the old days that he got pulled over by the cop driving a bread delivery truck. He had the bubble light on the dash.
I got a fine for trespassing on the altamaha River. Went to pay the fine accompanied with a black friend. The people were not very pleased with either of us.
Oh the stories of my time in the area.
I had the opportunity to talk to Maddox once.
"Lester goes to Ludowici" was issued in 1971.
They are cool dogs.
Bkmk
I did, too, in 1976, when he was running for president on the American Independent Party ticket. One of his promises was that if he won the White House, he would push for a 70 miles-per-hour speed limit--at the time, the national speed limit was 55 mph. However, I wound up voting for Gerald Ford even though I had worked my heart out for Reagan during the primary season.
Fayetteville NC speed traps.
When I got popped for going 64, the policeman asked for $47. I offered him travelers checks. His reaction to that, I almost thought I was going to jail. He took my driver's license, and I spent the next two weeks with a little stub in my wallet that said that Golden Meadow had my driver's license.
When I went to pay the fine, the secretary there had four or five stacks of drivers' licenses on one side, and stacks of 5's, 10's, 20's, and 50's on the other side.
I know I shouldn't have, but I did feel a bit of glee when Golden Meadow was flattened by Hurricane Katrina.
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