The Wisdom of Solomon

Court was interesting yesterday, but the day began with a story I didn't want to hear.

A young man, 20, approached. He didn't have the money to pay his ticket, which had been issued because he couldn't produce proof of insurance when asked to do so by a police officer. Typically, we ask those people to buy insurance so that they will be legal drivers, and then they pay a reduced fine. He bought insurance, but he doesn't have the money to pay a fine. The insurance he bought has now expired because he could afford to buy insurance for only one month.

He is homeless. He doesn't have a car. He doesn't have a job. He does have a GED and a sister. They are orphans. The sister has a job at a nursing home, but doesn't make enough money to find an apartment and pay the first and last month's rent and a damage deposit. Their father died last July, and their mother died last August. At the time of his mother's death, he lived in Blue Springs, still with no car. She had been admitted to the hospital and he had called to find out how she was. She was improving. The next day she was dead.

He found that she had left a van, which he planned to use, but by the time he could get to it, his mother's roommate had arranged for it to be towed. The towing company now wants over $1000 to release the van; however, if he can pay $600, they will accept that.

I like to solve problems, and that's one of the reasons I like being a municipal judge. I can use wider vision to solve problems, but I can't solve this one. I have no idea what to do to help this young man and his sister. Someone, the mother of the sister's friend, is allowing them to stay in her home, but the long term for both of them looks bleak. How do we help kids such as these? How can they get on their feet when the very things they need to survive and work - a home, a car, insurance for the car, food - costs money that they can't get because they can't find decent jobs?

The kid is a decent kid. His problems must seem overwhelming to him, and yet I don't know what to do to help him begin a life that is stuck in first gear.

He needs the money he would have to pay for a fine.

I dismissed the charge