Everybody Wins with this Court Decision

While it may be popular not to trust the government, here’s a government policy most people can get behind.

Katie Lund is the Judge for Lincoln County Division II Magistrate Court.  Each day, she has a full docket, many of which are misdemeanor traffic violations.

If the defendants in the cases are willing to donate to a local charity, the sentence is deferred, meaning it won’t be on their permanent record.

There are stipulations. The defendant cannot have had any traffic violations or other legal issues in the past six months to a year. Also, they’re put on unsupervised probation, with donating to a charity one of the stipulations for finishing probation with the deferred sentence.

“This is a win-win for the community,” Lund said. “Everyone is benefitting and no one should ever come away unhappy.”

Lund says the statute – which several judges around the district make use of – allows defendants to give to CrimeStoppers, a drug prevention education program or domestic violence relief.

HEAL and the Nest fall solidly in that third category.  Since there is no drug resistance program here, they and Lincoln County CrimeStoppers get the benefit of this statute.

It’s not much at a time – Lund says the fines average about $25 each – but it adds up.

“I’m not sure exactly how much it’s brought in, but it’s been a couple of thousand dollars since I’ve been on the bench,” Lund said. “Sometimes drivers will give beyond the fine.”

“I don’t tell them they have to do it, I just encourage it,” Lund said. “Everyone wins. The donations help charities and they end up with a clean driving record.”