Again with the ML car registration

By Steve Gordon

If you have read through the blog you would be aware of the Megan's Law registration ordeal. Well...it isn't so much an ordeal as walking on coals, but it is unpleasant. You would also be aware my requirement to register is based on a domestic offense and not some random act on the street with a stranger, or worse, a minor.

Enough of the reiteration.

I purchased a new vehicle last Saturday. My 1996 Blazer has seen better days. Even though the engine was new and only had about 6,000 miles on it and it had a new computer module and some other stuff including two new tires, I drew the line at a couple thousand more dollars for a transmission. It was a $25,000 car brand new but it has outlived its usefulness to me and my family.

Here is a brief history. My son picked it out on the lot when we were just looking around. My old Blazer was getting tired. I drove it, the now ex-wife agreed to get it and we did. My son Jim learned how to drive in it. When I went to prison in 2000 Jim took control of it (his mother had her own vehicle). My family and I wanted to have it sold for money to pay a real lawyer vs. having a public pretender. The ex-wife got involved and that wasn't going to happen.

My brother Jay, who died in July 2011 of cancer at age 54, took the car and basically hid it to protect it. We still wanted to sell it while it had value but smaller minds had other plans. It wasn't until 2003 when the ex-wife got her personal injury trial and the Blazer was at the heart of discussion to drop the suit even as I agreed to give her basically everything. So she had her trial and got a $500,000 judgment against me when I was in prison and I am speculating it cost her over $100,000 to get it with lawyer fees and his percentage of the judgment.

Bottom line is there was nothing to win. Our estate together wasn't worth $500,000. The Masters Hearing for the divorce was two days after the trial. We went in and as I had offered before, she could have basically everything except for a list of personal things and the Blazer. The Master listened and Pat objected. When I pointed out she already had two cars to which Pat meekly answered yes the Master said she didn't think she needed three cars.

In a round about way the Blazer became a $500,000 vehicle. Here is what it was about. It was a personal thing for me but it was also keeping something of value. As it turned out it became very useful. I signed it over to my brother to use and in 2010 before I came home he and my father made the decision to put a new engine in it.

You can second guess that, but fact is having my own vehicle was a good thing. I did not have to rely on anyone for a car to get around and thus I had some freedom to come and go as I wanted and as necessary. I paid for the upkeep, gas and insurance and paved the road to having responsibility after 10 years away from society.

Guess I kind of got off topic, but maybe a little history made a good story.

Back to the where we started with the Blazer, its days were numbered. It was time to let go and move on and make an investment in a newer more reliable vehicle. That is where the 2005 Dodge Dakota club cab enters the story. I had established a credit rating once out by getting a couple credit cards and using them and then paying them off on time. By doing so I was eligible to get a car loan and purchase the pick-up on my own. I stress ON MY OWN.

Going back to the reason for this story I had to notify the PA State Police and...as usual the treatment was on the fringe of courteous and it took 45 minutes for them to do five minutes worth of paperwork all the while with me parked on a hard wooden bench in a lobby in front of a huge glass window. While there another guy came in and said last time he was there to update his registration it took three hours.

I understand the need to keep records, but it nothing changes what is the purpose to have people show up in person for each change when such a thing can be handled easily via mail or Internet? Oh, I know, they need to practice with their little digital camera. But it is done. Hopefully WHEN my Pardon is signed this will all be a thing of the past.



One final note: The pictures above are of a garden bridge I build last summer. The flags were for the 4th of July. Under it is one of my brother Jay's old trucks from when he was a kid and I dug it up when putting the bridge in. This kind of makes this a piece of real estate to remember my brother. Further, the last thing I remember my brother saying to me was, "At least we got the Blazer running." Today a set of keys for the Blazer rests with the truck under the bridge. I can wait for spring and all the plants around the bridge to grow in.