Written by Ray Province on 14 March 2010
My hat goes off today to the Boys Basketball team of Hillcrest High School in Springfield, Missouri. The boys won the Class 5 Missouri State Basketball championship. That may not mean a lot to some of you who will read this article, because you live outside Springfield. Inside the city, though, it is a great win against Kickapoo and Glendale. The area also sports good teams in Ozark and Nixa.
The team won 54-49 over Oakville High School. This state championship marks the first time since 1984 that the state crown was held in Springfield. Good job to all the team, coaches, and fans of Hillcrest High School.
Woot!
Raymond C. Province
The Celtic Ozarkian
Tags: beasketball, class 5 MO state basketball champs, hillcrest high school, Springfield MO
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Written by Ray Province on 06 March 2010
In light of a recent ruling by the Missouri Supreme Court, the red light camera program in the City of Springfield, Missouri has been declared unconstitutional. As a result, the 13 cameras have been turned off. The city has also hired an independent counsel to look at an appeal of the decision.
The question all over town is this: what to do with the fines that have already been collected by the city? I could certainly see a string of suits coming. All pending tickets were suspended, as of the day of the ruling.
It sounds strange, but I think the city ought to keep the money. It really worries me when we start retroactively applying the rule of law to things willy nilly. At the time of the fines, the law was legal. Now it is not. I am not sure I would have dropped the other pending tickets either. Let people have their day in court.
It may be worth noting that there are some statistics floating the Internet that showed the red light cameras were reducing the amount of people running red lights in town. If the issue is due process, perhaps the law can be modified. It certainly seems to slow people down.
It will be interesting to see what happens with the red light camera program in the city of Springfield. The deal with traffic light fines will not go away soon. We’ll just have to see how it plays out. If you have a differing opinion, let me know. I would love to get a public debate started here.
Raymond C. Province
The Celtic Ozarkian
Tags: red light cameras, Springfield MO, traffic light fines
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