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I wish that I had read about the unfair treatment of "tourist" before we went to Lake Havasu for our family vacation. This was our first trip to Lake Havasu and we had planned to spend several days there. However, on our first day in town we had a very bad experience. The little "English Village" was almost a ghost town.... only a few little shops were open. But we thought that the lake looked pretty inviting so we rented a wave runner. My husband was teaching our autistic 16 year old son how to drive the wave runner (he was riding right behind him on the same wave runner.) They were traveling very slowly......just enough to be able to keep control of the wave runner......less than 10 miles per hour. They were being very careful. After riding for only a few minutes...the police on the lake pulled them over, yelled at my son and gave him a ticket for "excessive wake". My husband tried to talk to the officer but the officer just kept yelling at our son. My son was so upset by the way he was treated that he insisted on leaving. We went to court the next day to try to talk to the judge about the unfair way we were treated but they refused to let us see the Judge. We did find out that the fine is $185.00. We suspected then that we were caught in some sort of tourist trap and left town before our family vacation could be ruined even further. (I wish we had checked on this forum before we left.) We will never return to Lake Havasu and believe me .....we will help spread the word to others too. Especially the members of the Autism groups that we belong to. The Autism Society has been active in trying to educate law enforcement officers of the special concerns that people with autism have......but I guess this "education" wouldn't matter to a corrupt group of tourist trappers. I would love one of those Boycott Lake Havasu bumper stickers.
I wish that I had read about the unfair treatment of "tourist" before we went to Lake Havasu for our family vacation. This was our first trip to Lake Havasu and we had planned to spend several days there. However, on our first day in town we had a very bad experience. The little "English Village" was almost a ghost town.... only a few little shops were open. But we thought that the lake looked pretty inviting so we rented a wave runner. My husband was teaching our autistic 16 year old son how to drive the wave runner (he was riding right behind him on the same wave runner.) They were traveling very slowly......just enough to be able to keep control of the wave runner......less than 10 miles per hour. They were being very careful. After riding for only a few minutes...the police on the lake pulled them over, yelled at my son and gave him a ticket for "excessive wake". My husband tried to talk to the officer but the officer just kept yelling at our son. My son was so upset by the way he was treated that he insisted on leaving. We went to court the next day to try to talk to the judge about the unfair way we were treated but they refused to let us see the Judge. We did find out that the fine is $185.00. We suspected then that we were caught in some sort of tourist trap and left town before our family vacation could be ruined even further. (I wish we had checked on this forum before we left.) We will never return to Lake Havasu and believe me .....we will help spread the word to others too. Especially the members of the Autism groups that we belong to. The Autism Society has been active in trying to educate law enforcement officers of the special concerns that people with autism have......but I guess this "education" wouldn't matter to a corrupt group of tourist trappers. I would love one of those Boycott Lake Havasu bumper stickers.
Actually, I think you should do more than brandish a bumper sticker... perhaps you could convince the Autism Society to also take up the cause considering it was a police officer who harassed your son.
...never been to Havasu myself, actually--kinda' figured it would probably be a place like Glamis--not open to people of color...
I guess it's actually more like a place not open to anyone not a local, regardless of color.
Havasu openly states courts used to generate funds.
City OKs $100 fee for court cases
By Tony Waggoner
Wednesday, February 11, 2009 9:56 PM MST
Misdemeanor criminal offenders will now help to supplement the city’s general fund after the Lake Havasu City Council voted Tuesday to apply a $100 recovery cost fee for cases that go to court or plea agreement.
The new fee comes in response to the city’s struggle to recover general fund expenses.
“It is a proposed ordinance that establishes a prosecution assessment recovery fee, to partially recover some of the fees to fund the prosecuting criminal division,” Assistant City Attorney Kelly Garry said. “If adopted it would just be a fee tacked on per conviction of a misdemeanor criminal offense pursuant to a trial or plea agreement or someone who has a case resolved through a deferred prosecution agreement for a plea of guilty.”
The application of the fee to traffic citations would be dependent on the nature of the citation and whether it is deemed a misdemeanor offense.
All fees are to be directly deposited into the city’s general fund to recover prosecution costs.
In the 2007-08 fiscal year, the Municipal Court in Lake Havasu City collected approximately $1.2 million in fees and fines. The city retained only $425,811 of the total sum collected. A certain portion of that $425,811 went to the state, Garry said.
Garry said the purpose is to close the gap between the two and potentially accrue about a maximum of $130,900 a year if the fee were applied to every case.
Garry said the accruement of the that amount wouldn’t necessarily mean the city would retain all of the money, but it would likely be the maximum potential the fee could bring in.
According to Garry, other cities, such as Bullhead City, have adopted similar ordinances.
Council member Dean Barlow asked Tuesday Garry how the assessment fee had done in Bullhead City.
“It is something very new there,” she said. “I don’t even know if it has become effective yet. It is something that they were in the process of, and we got wind of, so we’ve also started that process.”
City Attorney Paul Lenkowsky initially brought the agenda item forth at the Jan. 29 meeting of the City Council. At that meeting, the council asked Lenkowsky to bring the item back as an introduction item.
City officials are stressing the fee is not a penalty. It is intended as a recovery cost mechanism only.
The type of component requested is unsupported
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richard k wrote on Feb 12, 2009 3:13 PM: " Scop, breaking the law has nothing to do with ending up in Havasu Court. I know, I watched it. I have spent hundreds of hours court watching all over the county. I put my money where my mouth is and moved to Bullhead. You know bullhead city? Havasu city government is full of Bullhead City castoffs like you city manager and city attorney. "
Roco wrote on Feb 12, 2009 11:46 AM: " What is a recovery mechanism? What is it to 'recover"? What prosecution cost are to be recovered? Aren't the prosecutors and clerks and so on already receiving a salary? And isn't the current court fees sufficient to cover the cost of the processing of the paperwork for a case?
"The application of the fee to traffic citations would be dependent on the nature of the citation and whether it is deemed a misdemeanor offense."
What does this mean? Aren't most traffic citations misdemeanors? So, a simple speeding ticket can have $100 dollars tacked on. So this would be an incentive for the police to write more tickets. Something just does not seem right with this. "
cal/hav wrote on Feb 11, 2009 11:07 PM: " Just another way to stick it to the tourist. If they spent all this energy attracting tourism, they might have some money to spend. Just keep sticking nails in the coffin. Boy has the LH Justice system really made this a model town. "
,,,, They were traveling very slowly......just enough to be able to keep control of the wave runner......less than 10 miles per hour. They were being very careful. After riding for only a few minutes...the police on the lake pulled them over, yelled at my son and gave him a ticket for "excessive wake". ,,,,.
This has been the case since jetskis have been made, back in the 80's it was a automatic ticket to even think of bringing a jetski in town. You can not go thru without a ticket, they do not want them there.
I wish that I had read about the unfair treatment of "tourist" before we went to Lake Havasu for our family vacation. This was our first trip to Lake Havasu and we had planned to spend several days there. However, on our first day in town we had a very bad experience. The little "English Village" was almost a ghost town.... only a few little shops were open. But we thought that the lake looked pretty inviting so we rented a wave runner. My husband was teaching our autistic 16 year old son how to drive the wave runner (he was riding right behind him on the same wave runner.) They were traveling very slowly......just enough to be able to keep control of the wave runner......less than 10 miles per hour. They were being very careful. After riding for only a few minutes...the police on the lake pulled them over, yelled at my son and gave him a ticket for "excessive wake". My husband tried to talk to the officer but the officer just kept yelling at our son. My son was so upset by the way he was treated that he insisted on leaving. We went to court the next day to try to talk to the judge about the unfair way we were treated but they refused to let us see the Judge. We did find out that the fine is $185.00. We suspected then that we were caught in some sort of tourist trap and left town before our family vacation could be ruined even further. (I wish we had checked on this forum before we left.) We will never return to Lake Havasu and believe me .....we will help spread the word to others too. Especially the members of the Autism groups that we belong to. The Autism Society has been active in trying to educate law enforcement officers of the special concerns that people with autism have......but I guess this "education" wouldn't matter to a corrupt group of tourist trappers. I would love one of those Boycott Lake Havasu bumper stickers.
That is sick. What I have found in my investigation of many police departments is that many are sociopaths and narcissists. These people live for control, are incapable of empathy. thats why they become cops and judges. look at carona, classical narcisist. Unfortunately this kind of behavior is very well established in police departments. it only takes a couple of narcisists to really screw things up...they have no conscious, and lie and manipulate Also, narcississm is a mental illness..they appear normal, but are consumed by a rage to inflict harm to others, they really are predators
My suggestion is call the FBI. If they get enough complaints they will have to look deeper. where there is smoke there is fire. I wouldn't rely on the state. Look at what happned with carona. The locals did nothing. Look at police beatings...convictions almost always come from federal courts. look at rick rizzola and the Crazy Horse strip bar. Many patrons beaten severely, yet locals did nothing, because they were being paid off. State did nothing, it wasn't until FBI got involved that something was finally done.
Also go onto you tube, look at ACLU videos on how to deal with police. Unfortunately, more than enough are bad, and you have to know how to deal with the ones that are dysfunctional
Hey dont feel like you are being picked on,,,,they jerk the locals off too,,,,however as you stated he was doing 10mph and the no-wake speed is 3-5 and i know when you rented the waverunner he was told that and there was also a sticker on the machine stating that,,,when you get pulled over in your car do you cry unfair cause you were only going 5mph over,,,yes you do ! Face it he broke the law,,,no special treatment cause he is autistic,,maybe he shouldnt have been driving to begine with
An update for those of you planning to go to Havasu this spring or summer.
Havasu did pass the $100 surcharge on tickets and it is now in effect. They also, the same night, rehired the magistrate who ran the cops a few years ago and does not have a law degree. He also has never ruled against the police. He was also the only judge to be reprimanded by the Judicial conduct committee for the state last year.
He was rehired after a private meeting with the council after which they announced the $100 surcharge.
The Magistrate also is on record last year saying that he is proud that his court brings in more money than any other court in the state.
This is man who commanded men with guns and who is now in a postition to protect them and has shown an anger management issue with those who disagree with them to the point where he ran a victim of domestice violence out of town after she exposed him for telling her what he would do to the accussed before the trial.
The council wonders why nobody stands up in front of them to give thier name and address in public to complain about him??
Come to Havasu at your own risk.
The city is starting to suffer, 5% pay cuts across the board and some layoffs. Keep up the pressure until Justice is returned to Havasu. Justice denied one is Justice denied all.
And to clear up one point. You DO NOT need to break the law to get a Ticket in Havasu. The police ticket you for things they only need to say they way or heard (new noise ordinance) and this judge has never ruled against them even when you bring in a tape showing it never happened, it is just disallowed.
Let me get this straight... You're fighting for your right to speed down the highway while towing a 2000lb boat? Hmmm.
Personally, I can't stand Havasu. It's a bunch of white trash, drunk and sunburned, flashing eachother while crowded onto a muddy lake nearly crashing into eachother because everyone's drunk! I guess, if that's what you're looking for, you should just save gas and go to Castaic. There's plenty of the waterrat type up there.
I would remind everyone that the locals dont appreciate the tourists all that much either...... Thet show up driving like ass..... deficating anywhere but the restrooms throwing thier poo paper whereever it lands. flicking butts, beer bottles and anything their too lazy to hold onto until they get off the water into the lake. I say if you wanna have fun in havasu stay away from the channel, spend your money with a smile and treat people how you wanna be treated.......as for the cops we party on the lake , drink smoke and have a great time and have never had any issues with them.....that being said cops are ass..... anywhere you go
I could talk all night on the topic of Lake Havasu City, a refuge for big, dumb, ignorant morons if ever there was one. There are so many LOUD obnoxious people here that you come across them every time you venture into town. The first thing you notice is the number of lousy drivers who think nothing of tailgating or turning left right in front of you without signaling. And they race from one stoplight to the next like teenagers even though most of them are pushing seventy-five and the price of gasoline ought to temper such wasteful habits. Further, these people never seem to have a conversation quieter than a shouting match. Either they are half-deaf (not just the oldsters, EVERYONE!) or they think it's cool to be heard a block away no matter how uninteresting what they have to impart actually is. Speaking of that, they are ALWAYS on their cell phones, no matter where they are or how inappropriate it is to be having a LOUD "private" conversation in front of everyone within earshot. It's so rude and selfish and so frigging low class at times but they have absolutely no clue at all.
Frankly, it's a tossup as to who are worse, the people who live here (or should I say "own" a home here) or the abjectly lowbrow tourists. It seems as if the money-grubbing element who run the town go out of their way to attract tourists of the lowest stripe imaginable (boaters with too much money to waste) and they routinely shout down anyone who might consider the profits from it to be of short term benefit, one that has eroded the quality of life for those who would like to enjoy their rather expensive investments in peace and quiet, if that isn't asking too much (it most certainly IS!). As long as these drunken idiots (the typical tourists) who come here in force on weekends and holidays are breathing and have money to spend, they are welcome to take over the town, such as it is. Believe it or not, in the middle of the week, after all those mindless, decadent slobs have left, you might get to enjoy a quiet moment on the bluff overlooking the lake, but don't count on it. And in the winter, an army of snowbirds descend on the place. That's another story I won't go into now for the sake of space and brevity.
I've been here ten years and the provincial jerks who love this place still look at me as if I just showed up from Mars. We wish we'd never moved here (why we did is also another story) but we bought in when it was relatively cheap. As it turned out, the cost of living is quite high and there is practically no way to make a living. You're lucky to get a job flipping burgers or manning the front door at WalMart, and if you have any education beyond high school, you'd better maintain a healthy savings account at all times. They must think anyone who has been to college is some sort of efete intellectual snob because they absolutely disdain higher education in this town, and apparently, in this whole state. Basically, if you can't or won't thump your Bible and have a fervent and unshakeable belief in creationism, they don't trust you as far as they can pee into the wind. Granted, there MUST be a few nice people here but you'll have a hell of a time finding them and they won't talk to you for fear that you might be one of the typically underhanded gossips we all must endure.
Nepotism runs rampant and the place seems to be utterly corrupt but they don't appear to understand that corruption is actually illegal so they remain unconcerned at how obvious it becomes. Besides, they can't do anything different than they've always done it no matter how dumb it is. You simply cannot tell them something they don't already know, and if they make a mistake, not only will they NEVER admit it but it's always YOUR fault. For example, if one of them undercharges you for something you buy and you go out of your way to point out that they are making a mistake, not once or even twice, but three times before they start insulting you, you must throw up your hands and take the money. Then they will figure it out eventually and the next time you go in there they will actually consider that YOU are dishonest and took advantage of them. They are really that stupid and that unable to admit that they are fallable.
Perhaps part of the problem is that so many of the people here came straight from the big city, either in Southern California or the Midwest or somewhere else like that. They get out in the middle of nowhere yet never let go of their urban fears and prejudices, yet at the same time, they are completely susceptible to the sort of overt, right-wing propaganda that I've seen offered up nowhere else as thickly as it is in Arizona. There are so many odd, quirky little things going on here that I could allude to but I'll spare you for now. Don't try to make any sense of it because there IS no sense to it. It's just Havasu, and Havasu is a very strange place, indeed.
Last edited by WhoaNelly; 03-05-2010 at 01:08 AM..
Reason: revision
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Havasu openly states courts used to generate funds.
