The scene starts on a nice summer day in Walla Walla at the Parker Ranch. Several families getting together for a BBQ and for a day of swimming in the pool. Present are the 2 Superior Court judges for the county plus several other attorneys and their families.

The party gets uncomfortably silent when the son of the Parker Ranch rolls up in a POS 1969 Chevy pickup followed by a WSP trooper car. Lights on. The son of the Parker Ranch get's out of the truck and walks towards all the people now gathered around looking at the WSP patrol car. The WSP officer looks at who is present in the crowd of people, turns off his lights, backs his car up, and leaves.

Both judges look at me and say "What the hell did you just do?"

Roll back the clock 15 minutes earlier.........

The son of the Parker Ranch was instructed by patrons of the pool to go on a store run for various goodies, since the goodies were running low. It's a quick ride past the local high school to the store. The High School was out on this weekday (Teacher's Day, or some crap like that) so the streets past the school were empty.

As the boy drove his 1969 Chevy pickup past the school, he noticed a WSP troopers car parked in the High School parking lot with the trooper using radar on the passing motorists. As soon as the young man had a line of sight on the WSP officer, he could see the officer frantically putting away the radar gun, getting in the car, and turning on the lights. As he passed the WSP car, the officer was already mentioning the drive to pull over. So, he did and the WSP officer quickly pulled up, got out of his car with citation book in hand, and marched over to the drivers side window. The conversation went something like this:

WSP Officer: "DO YOU KNOW HOW FAST YOU WERE DRIVING?", the tone of voice from the officer was less than pleasant and quite authoritative.

Parker: "Yes. 30 MPH. That's the posted speed limit on this street."

WSP Officer: "This is a SCHOOL ZONE and the speed limit in a SCHOOL ZONE is 20 MP, MONDAY THROUGH FRIDAY!"

Parker: "Ok. But, there is no school today."

WSP Officer: "MONDAY THROUGH FRIDAY! I'm going to issue you a citation for driving 30 MPH in a 20 MPH School Zone. License and Registration, please."

Parker: "WHY? WHAT? There's no school today!"

WSP Officer: "The sign states 20MPH, MONDAY THROUGH FRIDAY!"

Parker: "What a crock. This sucks. Oh well, gimme the ticket and I'll just have it nulled by the judges at my house now."

The WSP Officer just about had a cow at this point. I honestly think he wanted to shoot me, as he must have thought I was just another snot-nosed cocky kid - to which I was!

WSP Officer: "What did you just say?"

Parker: "I said both judges are at my house now. Let's go talk to them about this, or I'll just have them toss the ticket when I get home. I do not believe that I am doing anything wrong and I do not believe that I warrant this ticket for driving 30 MPH in a 30 MPH zone on a non-school day."

The WSP Officer got really red in the face, got really serious, and said something on the lines of:

WSP Officer: Sure. I'll follow you to your house house and we can go talk to the judge if you want. Rest assured, I will be taking you in to custody for..... (I don't recall what he said, but I did know that I wasn't going to back down at this point)

So, after telling the officer that I only lived less than a mile away, off we went. Me first, with him in tow, lights on the whole way home.

Guess he must have recognized the two judges when I got home and decided that being an asshole wasn't going to work on this day.

Meanwhile, back at The Ranch, both judges laughed when they heard the story and said that of all the area WSP officers, this guy was the biggest asshat tool of them all - especially to teenage drivers. They both were disappointed that they didn't get the chance to chew on this troopers ass.