I signed up for a seven-day free trial at World Vital Records, an international genealogical database with all kinds of records. I only want the US database though — I’m looking for info on missing people. My free trial lasts seven days, and if I find it useful enough I suppose I’ll buy a year’s access. It’s only forty bucks. (And seven days from now I’ll know whether I have to actually pay that $150 speeding ticket or not. I plan to challenge it in court; wish me luck!)
I did a search for Toni Stancil, Aleacia Stancil‘s mom. I found a death record for T. L. Stancil which is probably her. Same state, same month and year of death. It says T. Stancil was born on May 17, 1959.
I’m not sure how useful this database will be for me, but I figure I have nothing to lose.
The Charley Project Blog 
Hopefully a useful tool for you.
Let us know how it works out.
I would like to know how that works for you.
That sounds like it could be useful.
Just wanted to stop by and say Happy Thanksgiving to all Meaghan and all you guys. We don’t celebrate it here in the UK, but I hope you all have a lovely time.
In terms of the speeding ticket I would say you probably wont get out of it altogether, however, if the officer offers you a plea deal with a lesser charge, that will probably be the best you get, I work in law enforcement and have seen maybe 2 people get out of a speeding ticket scott free in the last 13 years. If you go to trial against the officer, you will lose and pay a higher fine. Also consider that the points on your license will raise your insurance rate. Some states give you a high fine with no points. New York is a lot better than New Jersey in terms of helping the motorist out, each state is different. Try to work out something with the officer, especially if you have a clean license,
The reason I’m challenging it is because the officer wrote the wrong court date on my ticket. He said I was supposed to show up at court on Thursday the 26th — that is, Thanksgiving Day. If I had shown up no one would have been there. When I got home I realized the mistake and called him about it and he told me to show up on Monday instead. I have heard of tickets being dismissed for precisely that reason.
I have seen people try to get tickets dismissed for Police errors such as license plate errors and dates and jurisdiction. However, the date you committed the offense is correct on the ticket is mostl likely correct, and it will be up to the judge to dismiss if for the clerical error on his part, but I would say that probably wont happen. But, maybe luck will be on your side and the kind judge will see your clean record and give you a break. Let’s hope that is the case, but going to trial is a big risk, so keep that in mind. You could come out with points and a much higher fine than accepting a plea deal. Good luck!
My mom said I should never have called the cop about the wrong date, but just said nothing at all, and they couldn’t have done anything about it and my ticket would be dismissed automatically. I am not sure — I didn’t want to get arrested or lose my license over this.
The usual traffic court judge around here is a real “hanging judge” who will throw the book at everybody. He is close enough to my boyfriend that Michael calls him Uncle Phil, but that wouldn’t help. Fortunately for me, Phil is suspended from the bench for some kind of misconduct and won’t be back till next month.
Well, how did your trip to traffic court go? Did you get out of paying the fine or get it reduced?
Alas, I found out Phil was still on the bench. His suspension is under appeal right now so he remains an active judge. I decided to just pay the fine and not go before him because I didn’t want to get stuck paying thousands in court costs or anything just because he happened to be in a bad mood that day or whatever.
The reason he was suspended is because he tried to prosecute somebody when the prosecutor had actually dropped the charges against them. That should tell you something.
If you’re looking for birth and death dates, as well as places, you can use this link for free:
http://ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com/
It’s the Social Security Death Index. Don’t know if it’ll be any help to you but thought I’d pass it on anyhow.
Meaghan, this is OT—but on the Ridinger case you recently posted, are you sure the city is “Ponderay”? I’m not from Idaho, but I believe that is how you pronounce, but not spell, “Pend D’Oreille” which IS a city in Idaho.
That’s what it says on the Idaho missing person site: http://www.isp.state.id.us/mp_viewer/showMissingPerson.action?id=M238229753