Speed-Trap City Bankrupted by Traffic-Ticket Debt

June 30, 2001 10:21 am EST

KENDLETON, Texas (Reuters) - The traffic tickets that fed the southeast Texas city of Kendleton's coffers and its reputation as a speed trap have ended up driving it into bankruptcy in an ironic twist of highway law enforcement.

Kendleton Mayor Carolyn Jones said the city was forced to file for federal bankruptcy protection after the state seized all $18,599 in the city bank account. Texas asserts Kendleton owes the state $1.7 million in unpaid speeding ticket debts of its own.

Texas officials, citing a 1995 law that allows cities of fewer than 5,000 people to keep traffic fines equaling only 30 percent of their total revenue, say Kendleton collected too much money from speeding enforcement from 1990-99.

Anything collected beyond that threshold goes to the state, as a way to keep cities from turning their police departments into money-making machines. Kendleton's attorney disputes the amount the city owes the state.

The city's traffic-ticket troubles bubbled over last June when the city council disbanded its 15-member police force amid a state-FBI investigation into misuse of federal grants and missing ticket money that is still continuing.

Situated 45 miles southwest of Houston on U.S. Highway 59, the main route stretching from the northeastern corner of Texas down to the border city of Laredo, Kendleton took advantage of its prime frontage to catch a steady stream of speeders.

-- Anonymous, July 01, 2001

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Tipsy Topless Dancer Can Sue

June 29, 2001 9:06 am EST

SAN ANTONIO, Texas (Reuters) - A topless dancer who got tipsy and had a car accident can sue her club for encouraging her to drink with customers, a Texas appeals court ruled.

The court overturned a lower court decision forbidding the lawsuit, which dancer Sarah Salazar filed after a 1998 traffic accident resulted in her being charged with driving while intoxicated.

Salazar contended that she was impaired when she left work because her employer, Giorgio's Mens Club in San Antonio, urged the dancers to drink with customers so they would buy more drinks at inflated prices.

-- Anonymous, July 01, 2001