In the continuing tales of my son.....

As most of you know by now, my son and granddaughter moved in with me TEN months ago. It was only supposed to be for a very few short months....like maybe three.....four, tops. Needless to say, we have surpassed that and my patience is frog hair thin. My main goal is for them to get their own place. Of course a few things have to happen before THAT can happen. He has to find and hold a job so that a landlord will approve him. He has to save money for the security deposit. He has to find a place that he can afford. He's found the job and its one he likes. He's experienced in that type of work and good at it. Hopefully hurdle ONE was cleared. Ahhhh..not so fast. The company he works for wants him to drive the "service" truck and for that he has to be insured by their company insurance. Before the insurance will cover him, they send for his driving record. He has told them that he has one offense on there....a drunk driving from 10 years ago. He holds a valid driver's license with no restrictions.

Life is never easy in our household. Things always have to have that extra little twist thrown in. Its like LIFE wants to make sure that you're paying attention. His driving record is requested and it comes back. It not only has the drunk driving from 10 years ago, but it also has a "Open intoxicants in vehicle/driver" from 2006 on it, and that's worth 2 points. Yes, he remembers the ticket. He was with his friend, in his friend's vehicle. It was a hot summer's night and his friend was feeling his oats and squealed his tires, attracting the attention of the local police. Not smart. Both his friend, who was driving, and my son, the passenger, had open beer in the vehicle. Double not smart.

The friend was arrested for drunk driving, had his vehicle impounded and the police were kind enough to transport my son home. He did NOT live with me at the time. My son paid the ticket and was told it was a misdemeanor and would go on his criminal record...not his driving record because he wasn't driving. He didn't think any more about it ..... until now. It has reared its ugly head. Maybe we now know the reason why it took him so long to secure employment....were these places where he applied checking his driving record and then dismissing him as a bad risk?

His employer has stated that if he can't drive the service truck, then he can't be employed by them. So...if, indeed, there is a mistake, then it must be fixed and pronto. I have a friend who is an attorney and we call to ask him what to do. He tells us that this is fixable and how to do it. If we run up against a dead end and no one will cooperate...then call him back. He will handle it (for a fee of course). My son does what he says. He is, at first, refused the copy of the other guy's arrest report and he has to request it under FOIA. (Freedom of Information Act) After a week of waiting and paying out $14. for the copy, it does show that he was telling the truth. Now...to get it fixed. The court clerks argue why he didn't protest this 2 years ago. SIMPLE. He never knew it. You know getting your own driving record is not that easy. And he took the judge's word for it. It would not be on his driving record. The judge did not account for human error.

After talking with the prosecutor for the Township, he was assured that all would be well and his driving record would be repaired. So we are waiting. I told him to wait for five business days and then go see the prosecutor again and ask for a copy of his driving record. I know they are available to law enforcement online....I used to do that stuff. I also know that we could never give them out. But this guy is the head honcho. Hopefully he's authorized to give it out, especially under the circumstances.

Tune in next week...same time...same place to find out if the driving record has been repaired or if he was just told "what he wanted to hear". Find out if more funds will be requested to fix an error that wasn't his fault. Will the precious JOB survive all this chaos and foolishness? Find out if I will get rid of my boarders before we pass the ONE YEAR mark. Lesson learned....don't have open intox in a vehicle or even BE AROUND anyone who does. Second lesson learned....don't offer to have someone come live with you for "just a little while, until they get on their feet". HA.