Is my impression of Indianapolis accurate?

[IndyDancer]

Originally Posted by Last Second Larry

I was riding in the back seat after leaving a Rush concert at Deer Creek on my 20th birthday and the car I was riding in got pulled over on the little stretch of 465 on the north side that juts into Carmel and I blew a .02. A few weeks after ending my birthday in the drunk tank of Hamilton Co. jail, I was sentenced to 60 days in jail by Judge Bardach in Carmel City Court which is the maximum for a C misdemeanor. I just stared at her slack-jawed and the bailiff grabbed me and pulled me to my chair. Many tears were shed and lots of people were thrown in jail for minor slights that day in court.

So you weren't driving (insert jokes about backseat driving, ha ha) but you were charged with some sort of "under the influence" for being drunk? Or was that for a different incident entirely?

[W & C]

Originally Posted by IndyDancer

So you weren't driving (insert jokes about backseat driving, ha ha) but you were charged with some sort of "under the influence" for being drunk? Or was that for a different incident entirely?

I was wondering that too and I do believe there was (or maybe still is) a law in Indiana that basically made being a passenger when intoxicated illegal - which is obviously ridiculous, how are people supposed to get anywhere after having a few drinks if not catching a ride with someone sober ?

[Last Second Larry]

Originally Posted by Durpie22

Did you have any priors?

I had one prior possession of 4g of cannabis in Hendricks County, for which I failed a probation drug test and had already served 182 days in Hendricks County jail. The concert was almost a year later. A year or two after the concert, I was sentenced to 96 days by the same judge in Carmel City Court for driving with a suspended license after being pulled over on that same stretch of 465. It was the first one and I had not yet received a suspension notice from the BMV at the time. You can think whatever you want about my heinous, unspeakable crimes, but I've never even been charged with any type of crime that involves any type of victim. I was gainfully employed full-time at the time of all of these arrests and court dates and I was respectful in court. Serving these sentences significantly altered the trajectory of my life, relationships, and opinions. Carmel City court really cracks people with huge fines and sentences across the board; whether it's to extract money, to keep "regular" people out of their gaudy, uppity community, or just an absurd, cranky judge, I really do not know.

[Durpie22]

Originally Posted by Last Second Larry

I had one prior possession of 4g of cannabis in Hendricks County, for which I failed a probation drug test and had already served 182 days in Hendricks County jail. The concert was almost a year later. A year or two after the concert, I was sentenced to 96 days by the same judge in Carmel City Court for driving with a suspended license after being pulled over on that same stretch of 465. It was the first one and I had not yet received a suspension notice from the BMV at the time. You can think whatever you want about my heinous, unspeakable crimes, but I've never even been charged with any type of crime that involves any type of victim. I was gainfully employed full-time at the time of all of these arrests and court dates and I was respectful in court. Serving these sentences significantly altered the trajectory of my life, relationships, and opinions. Carmel City court really cracks people with huge fines and sentences across the board; whether it's to extract money, to keep "regular" people out of their gaudy, uppity community, or just an absurd, cranky judge, I really do not know.

Yep. Just as I suspected. Failed probations, driving on suspended license, whatever crime you broke by getting a suspended license, and likely all the other times you never got caught. Of course its someone elses fault right? Maybe Carmel wants residents who respect and follow the laws.

[Last Second Larry]

Originally Posted by IndyDancer

So you weren't driving (insert jokes about backseat driving, ha ha) but you were charged with some sort of "under the influence" for being drunk? Or was that for a different incident entirely?

Originally Posted by W & C

I was wondering that too and I do believe there was (or maybe still is) a law in Indiana that basically made being a passenger when intoxicated illegal - which is obviously ridiculous, how are people supposed to get anywhere after having a few drinks if not catching a ride with someone sober ?

I was under 21. Doesn't matter if I'm in a car; it's illegal and I was taken straight to jail; charged, convicted and sentenced due to this heinous crime. I was not driving, I was in the back seat. Minor consumption is a misdemeanor and it carries a maximum sentence of 60 days in jail, and there is only one court in the greater Indianapolis area that will regularly give you a maximum sentence.

Originally Posted by Durpie22

Yep. Just as I suspected. Failed probations, driving on suspended license, whatever crime you broke by getting a suspended license, and likely all the other times you never got caught. Of course its someone elses fault right? Maybe Carmel wants residents who respect and follow the laws.

You nailed it. The fact that I smoked plants a year prior and actually served my sentence which included Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter, justifies a 60 day sentence for a completely unrelated .02% BAC after a 20th birthday concert, in your mind. Only a Carmelite would consider this sufficient justification. Child molestation often yields a 6 month sentence in Indiana. There are people like you, then there are the rest of us. Hardly anyone outside of Carmel likes Carmel or anyone in it. Just wanted the OP to know that before he moves into your precious, clean bubble. I gratuitously answered your invasive question just to inevitably be ridiculed in order to help illustrate the point I am trying to make.

[MortonR]

Well done!

I had a relative who was on the Carmel Town Council for many years. Great guy, salt of the Earth sort of person, one of my favorite relatives. He had a wife who was a social climber and realized that Carmel was the next best thing after North Meridian, since they would be "new money" and not well accepted in that area.

They moved to Carmel in the mid 70s and staked out a claim. She pushed him to become more involved in local government to increase their cred, which it did. He was a very successful businessman and later had a second home in Naples, FL, a bastion of old rich White guys.

I hated visiting him and his family, not because he wasn't a really great guy and never played the entitlement card like his wife and kids did, but just because I was from the Southside and people like his neighbors would get all snobby when they asked where I lived - which was often one of the first questions you got - and often the last. I was often tempted to wear a bowling shirt to family gatherings just to ward off the neighbors. People who have lived in Indy will appreciate the joke.

I've never understood the class garbage. And in many cases like this one it was just a facade.

RM

[cheesecake27]

yes.