Not what I expected. :hothead: :rolleyes:
Sorry to hear. What are they thinking?

$$$$$$
they know its a f***** up deal but it provides money to the local school district.

:hothead: :hothead: :hothead: :hothead: :hothead:

Sorry to hear that... now it becomes a principle thing and is it worth fighting. If it were me I would fight it even if it cost me 10 times the ticket because right is right and wrong is wrong.

Do you think speeding tickets on the interstate would hold up if all the signs were covered by stickers?

Good luck Steve!

It's time for some Moslem terrorists to "take out" those bouys..... :p . Allah.. hu' Akbar!........:D

The second set of bouys is 500 yards...1500 feet away? I'm not sure I could see something that small, that far on a sunny afternoon. Shouldn't they be more like 75 yards away from each other.

I believe if you read your Chapmans Rules of the Road it will say that a bouy is telling you what to do within 200 feet in all directions. If the second set was indeed 1500 feet away, it would be a second no wake zone and you'd need to be off plane 200 feet before you got there.

I believe I'm right about this. :confused:

Who gave you the ticket? there at least 5 agencies from two states plus the Coast Guard that patrol the lake.

Good luck.

That is what I expected, the admit responsibility with an explanation is a joke, you are lucky they gave you a second chance to show up, in most cases your signing that ticket was your admission to the citation...you just had an explanation. Now with photos and the written law in hand you will win, it is just going to require you to pay them another visit, remind them this and that you are again contributing to the local economy thru room and board. Also explain it is a Federal law not to deface these navigational aids and that it is their responsibility to make sure they are visible. The speed limit example is a good one and should be used. If all else fails lunge for the officers gun and see what happens:D

Let me help

Dear Judge Babbitt ,

This letter is in regards to a ticket I received on 3-16-04 on Lake Havasu (complaint # 70286) for excess wake.
I have been watching allot of Miami Vice in the last few weeks and really get jazzed about the close quarters high speed boating scenes. So as I passed through the channel with my pants around my ankles I decided to let er rip! I didn't get up on plane until I passed these first buoys (which I have enclosed a picture of) due to the fact that I was sh%$t faced drunk and couldn't find the throttles. The fact that I had 4 under aged girls distracting me (One who had your same last name and was a local...snorts coke like a champ!) could have stalled my progress a bit. Anyhoo, I just wanted to invite you out on my big loud bright boat that costs more than you make in a year, sometime. After all, I feel sorry for you having to deal with the numbskulls that gave me this ticket. Sorry that the attached ticket is covered in a peanut butter like substance, I was showing the officers where I was going to put it, and stuck it a bit too far up. They didn't think it was as funny as me and the girls did. I yelled at them to get a sense of humor, after all, I am paying there salaries. So your judgship, just wanted to drop you a line and extend an invite for the next time I am at Havasu.



This is the letter you will wish you would have sent after they ignore the first one.

Best of luck, Fight the good fight!

Steve, wake up and smell the coffee!You are guilty!The fact that you own an Apache is proof enough you rebel you:D :p

Mohave county sheriff.

ide really like to hear from those that think im guilty.
dont hold back , i can take it.
if im truely guilty ill take my lumps and move on like a big boy.
please speak up before i spend a chunk of money (which i dont have) to fight this thing.
you guys that boat out there. are my distances right or am im exaggerating? why the hell are there 3 sets of buoys in the first place? an outer set and a set at the beggining of the canal would be less confusing.

IDRPSTF , i should have used your letter :D

all joking aside , i wasnt drinking anything but iced tea and not the long island version either.

wheres Phknlwyr when you need him?

anyone have an aerial shot of the area?

There is no doubt you are innocent. I would think an informal hearing would be free, you don't need an Attorney for this one unless your State has another idea of how much justice should cost. Hold your ground, you will prevail.:D

I'm with him. Fight it. :hothead:

thats part of the problem.
i live in missouri and got the ticket while visiting lake havasu , arizona.
ide have to fly out to ........flagstaff?
rent a car , then drive to havasu :(

Bite the bullet, pay the $140.00 and hire some kids to put OffshoreOnly.com stickers all over the judge's car.:)

No....fly into Vegas! Your luck just might pay for the whole trip!!!

Informal hearings are a joke also.
I had proof of my inocense and still lost.
Do you have to pay the full amount at once.
Can you legally pay it $1 at a time LEGALLY???

hmmm , or perhaps 1 cent at a time? :eureka:

GUILTY!!!! JUST PAY THE FINE, APACHE OUTLAW!!!!

There you go your new name.:D

Why pay anything at all? Are you gonna go back in 7 years?

I love it ... plaster them all over his windshield... see if he can properly navigate his car... Jack-ass.... just another example of what I call "Judicial arrogance"...He probably didn't even look at your letter... just dismissed your plea as B/S and is willing to let you pay the fine.... Check what the law is for navigable water ways and the posting of bouys.... you may have a fine point of law.... but if you win... you still lose by having to pay the fine and then contest it... Who has the energy to sue city hall? Plus the expense of flying out and the rest of the B/S.........:hothead:

i was wondering about that too.
got a speeding ticket in florida years ago while on vacation. blew it off till missouri informed me they wouldnt renew my drivers license till i paid florida :eek:
didnt know they talked to each other :crazy:

They have been talking for years now, they all cross lines and to make it simple there are no state lines when it comes to the DMV.:eek:

f---ing states have a little thing called "reciprocity".... that ticket will follow you where ever you go.... :hothead: Next time I'm at Havasu... I'll contemplate taking bolt cutters and "liberating" those buoys from their burden of stickers and send them to "Davy Jones' locker"........:hothead: I've been unfairly ticketed by parking officers before... I know how maddening they can be.... :hothead: ( now play "mission impossible" music )......:p

i posted my situation on another boating forum and got this very interesting reply.

"I was out ther Sunday the 28th. I saw a couple of boats getting pulled over in Thompson Bay. On Monday morning, I saw the rangers replacing the bouy with all the stickers on it. The bouy is between Thompson bay and the channel. I guess they got your message, assuming the days are correct. Go take a pic of the new bouy, it may help your case. An as I mentioned, the boat was a pontoon marked "ranger." Hopefully this helps our case. Mike"

at least they are trying to fix the problem.

yup, they are planning on YOUR $$$$ to fund the new replacements :(

This is BS

I know the area you speak of very well.
I have actually done the same thing as you on my first trip there back when I bought my boat.
However, I was lucky to have someone with me that knew the lake and instructed me to come off plane.

You are right, the markers are way to far apart.
I would agree about the 500 yard distance. If not MORE.
They are on total oppisite sides of the bay.
They are fine coming in from down river into Thompson bay, but if you are coming from the channel first you will NOT see the second one. Until it is too late.
Not to mention I have seen people doing this daily, I think it really is BS of the condition of the bouys.


Good luck. And about the only way I see beating this is a personal showing and arguement. Letters is hard to convey and almost impossible to get your word past their $$$$ eyes.

To be helpful instead of being a wise a$$,

The court may say something along the lines of "You needed to make yourself aware of the surrounding waters and prevailing laws before boating, that is your responsibility as a captain". The best way to fight this is to prove years of safe, legal boating. Explain that you know the differance between a NO WAKE buoy and a 5MPH buoy. That you can spot a SHAUL Buoy from a mile away and know what it represents. But to see a bout covered with stickers and debris does not serve a specific purpose other than being a "Hazard to Navigation" (That may scare the officials, after all, if someone hit the buoy at night due to its reflective properties not working because covered...ohos fault would it be?)
Explain your history of boating without fines and ability to boat in varying bodies of water with safety due to your knowledge of the USCG rules, regulations and right of passage markers.
Also, The judge may bring up "Maps" having the proper information on marker buoys. Ask the judge if the information of the map is accurate to the information on the buoy? Sure a map could read the NO WAKE zone ended at a specific buoy, but how would you recognize the buoy? Especially if it was defaced? Ask when the last map was copyrighted? And if it correlates that the NO WAKE buoy is covered with other writing.

These things should help, or get you thrown in lock up. In which case we at OSO will take up a collection to send cigarettes for you to trade for your rear virginity (Speculation)

Good luck!
MD

The court told you to pay up because they know you're in Missouri and probably wouldn't fly to Arizona to fight it.

Pay the fine then drill a hole in the buoy.

I think the first letter you came up with would have been better. The second one, athough well writen and accurate, was probably more than the Judge wanted to read through. K.I.S.S. Keep it simple stupid.
The real problem here is that it would take some effort on the part of some clerk and judge to actually drop the ticket. Its easier to for them to ignore you. They are getting paid a salary wage to wade through a mountain of tickets. In fact, it is easier for them to see you come to court and dismiss the ticket there than do somthing out of the ordinary and pull the ticket now. Pulling your ticket now would take some time to find it, remove it from the system, notify you with a letter that the charges are dropped....or, throw your letter in the garbage. Unfortunatly we live in a world where your letter was thrown in the trash and there is no way to even find out who is accountable. I am in no way defending their actions, just giving you the reality of the situation your up against. These people see thousands of tickets a year and are probably pretty numb to the complaints that come along with them.

If you do decide to pay and not fight it, pay all at once. In pennies. A budy of mine did this at work. He had to pay a stupid phone bill on the company line. So he got the amount together in pennies and went to the finance dept. They were a little pi$$ed when he dumped the pennies on her desk.

If the buoy you posted a pic of is the one on the South entrance to the Channel, there is about 1/2 mile between there and the buoy line at the South end of Thompson Bay. I clocked it once on GPS from the North side of the Channel to the end of Thompson bay and it was about 1 mile. I would say that buoy is about the 1/2 way point.

I see little family boats and PWC's getting on plane all the time in Thompson Bay and have yet to see one get pulled over. If you are in a performance boat you are definitely a target.

I blew the no wake zone once by mistake coming from the lake into Thompson Bay when I was racing another boat and did not get off the throttles soon enough. I was stopped and they did a safety check, but I did not get a ticket.

Again, good luck.

TEST

If you fight this ticket and go to court hire a court reporter this makes the judge keep to the rules of law. IF he or she does't you have a legal record, scares the hell out of a judge.

ive decided to pay the dam thing. cost me to much to fight it since i live in missouri. if it happened local ide argue my case and probably still lose but at least i could get it off my chest.

tell yaa what , if i lived out there ide seriously consider dumping 14 thousand pennys on the counter just for spite. what could they do? :D

Believe it or not coins are not legal tender and they
don`t have to take it.