Need your opinions, folks...
While this particular situation doesn't specifically
apply to a military vehicle, it can. It almost did
before when the city was harassing me about my M38A1.
Now, they're trying to harass me about my '68 Mustang.
My theory is that someone in the city government has
seen it and is trying to confiscate it for their own
personal use.
I would like opinions on the interpretation of the
following definition of "junk motor vehicle". The way
I read it is apparently contrary to what the city
believes it says. The code enforcement goon that has
been continually harassing me over the past 5 years
has asked me to demonstrate the vehicle is operational
and I have done so. This time, she said she didn't
care if it was operational and that it needed to have
either a valid inspection sticker or registration or
they would tag and tow it.
The vehicle is *fully* operational and is not
registered or inspected because I do not drive it on
the street. It looks REALLY nice and is in no state
of disassembly or disrepair. I drive my M1009 when I
need to go places...frankly, I don't trust the
18-year-old freshmen here at Texas A&M not to rear-end
me in the Mustang. If they rear-end me in the M1009,
their car will be in a much bigger world of hurt than
mine. :-)
I've pasted the text of the definition below. Please
let me know what you think and whether or not you have
any legal training. I want your opinions either way
though...this could happen to you. Be careful...I
know others have talked about this on the list and had
specific comments on military vehicles in particular.
They can apparently steal anyone's vehicle fairly
easily with this particular statute...especially if
the code enforcement idiot misinterprets the
ordinance. I'm going to call the City Attorney in the
morning and get his take one this...I'm sure he
probably would rather not have the code enfocement
polizei wrongfully applying the ordinance. I think
their performance standards are on quotas and not
accuracy though...
Pay careful note to the placement and use of the word
"AND" in the definition...to me, this means both
conditions must be met for the definition to be true.
I think the code enforcement yokels think "and" really
means "or". Yes, I could go buy insurance (required
to get registration or inspection) and get it
inspected or registered but this really is a matter of
principle. I don't drive it on public roads so I
shouldn't have to do this...and it is fully
operational.
T. Bloxom
1985 M1009 CUCV
--------------------------------------------------
(1) Junked Motor Vehicle means any motor vehicle as
defined in Article 4477-9a, Texas Revised Civil
Statutes, as amended:
(a) that is inoperative; and
(b) that does not have lawfully affixed to it either
an unexpired license plate or a valid motor vehicle
safety inspection certificate, that is wrecked,
dismantled, partially dismantled, or discarded, or
that remains inoperable for a continuous period of
more than forty-five (45) days.
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sun Sep 02 2001 - 11:15:40 PDT