So back in June I go in to renew my Driver's License and find I cannot do so because the State of North Carolina has a block on it! I was dumbfounded and a little freaked out but called the number I was given for both the North Carolina and Ohio. Ohio can do nothing becasue its NC that issued the block but I find they are both part of a great multi-state group that cooperate in tracking down us nasty, criminal types.

At the NC Bureau of Motor Vehicles (after taking 2 days to get through, tells me my crime seems to be a................are you ready.......................a stop sign violation from.............wait for it.......................June, 1985!

The nice lady tells me they need a "purge letter" from Mecklenberg County (Charlotte) and gives me a phone number for the county BMV. I call them and after spending several hours getting through, I'm given a Citation number and told that I have to talk to the DA's office "to get a purge letter." When I finally get through to them, I find they will not talk to me unless I leave a detailed message explaining why I should. I did/   Three days later they return my call and the girl who will not give me her name (because they don't do that) tells me to send them a detailed fax. I do. 2 weeks later I've heard nothing and repeat the preceding process and am told they have no fax from me and I should refax them. I told her I had a copy that said it went through but she said I should refax and also send a snail mail. BTW, they will not respond directly by fax or e-mail.....only by snail mail.

I'm going to stop the details here as it became a joke with more of the same conversations and some getting raw on my end. From the outset I said that frankly I didn't remember getting such a ticket there but it was possible and in any case I would be happy to pay a fine now just to get this cleared up. I was told by everyone I talked with that it was not acceptable and the DA would dismiss the charge after they had the info. 'Course, THAT cocksucker had been out of town at some kind of DA bullshit and no one knew if the info was on his desk or not......but I should refax another time and snail mail another time............................Two months go by and and after more calls and crap, I am notified the purge letter has been issued.

I was told by several people there that they are working on this stuff every day and the back up/log jam is a serious problem.

WHAT?????

Why the fuck would you log all this stupid shit into a computer to begin with? Interestingly enough, I have run across THREE other poor souls who ran into trouble with this system. None of them did anything more major than a traffic violation and none wound up paying a dime except for all the screwing around involved.

I remember when the computers began tracking deadbeat dads but I think we have gone over the edge at this point.


Spaw