Hundreds flock to regain licenses in amnesty program

David LeBarron of Springfield was one of dozens of people taking advantage of a program offered by the Windsor County state’s attorney’s office to help people with multiple tickets regain the right to drive.


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Photo by Len Emery Gov. Peter Shumlin welcomes David LeBarron and Shelby Ford to the White River state office building Friday. LeBarron was seeking to settle his fines and get his driver’s license reinstated for the first time in seven years. Published December 12, 2015 in the Rutland Herald Hundreds flock to regain licenses in amnesty program By Susan Smallheer STAFF WRITER WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — For Christopher Mitchell, a chef at Chili’s and the father of four young children, Friday’s $25 ticket amnesty at the state office building was a welcome break. Mitchell, 31, of White River Junction, brought a check for $500 which he hopes will resolve the remaining balance on more than a dozen tickets he’s accumulated in the past 10 years. “I’m good to go,” he said Friday morning outside the state office building on Prospect Street, waiting for his wife to pick him up so he could get to work. He was one of dozens of people taking advantage of a program offered by the Windsor County state’s attorney’s office to help people with multiple tickets regain the right to drive. People who had had their driver’s license suspended due to ticket problems and not criminal acts could have their tickets forgiven for $25 per tickets. Mitchell wasn’t the worst offender: one man had 70 tickets to resolve. Mitchell said state officials told him he would probably hear about getting his driving license back in four to six weeks, but he said it would be worth the wait. “It’s been 11-12 years,” the Newport native said. Mitchell said he was facing a minimum payment of $300 a month to pay off his accumulated tickets until the Windsor County program was announced. Gov. Peter Shumlin posed with a very happy Springfield couple outside the new state office building. He posed for photos and selfies and listened to people’s hard-luck stories. Shumlin said too often poverty that people couldn’t pay the tickets, which are often in the hundreds of dollars and can quickly spiral out of control. “They’re happy, they’re getting their lives back,” said Shumlin. David LeBarron, 24, of Springfield hadn’t held a driver’s license for the past seven years, since he was 18. “I drove until I was 21 and then I got a DLS,” he said. “It wasn’t a smart thing to do.” Then in 2010, he was charged with drunken driving, “and that really screwed me up.” Between paying for the CRASH course ($500) and the required DUI counselor, ($50 a meeting) he was tapped out. LeBarron makes $9.15 an hour working at the Dunkin Donuts in Springfield, and paying off his fines in full was an impossibility. He would work at it, and then fall behind. “This helps so much, especially with the kid coming,” he said, standing with his girlfriend, Shelby Ford, 21, who is expecting their first child in March. Ford’s mother drove them up for the program. Mitchell, the chef dressed in camouflage, said that with the birth of his twin daughters seven months ago, he realized he had to do something. He said he hadn’t been driving illegally – as many others had – “because I can’t risk it,” he said. Instead, he’s had to rely on friends and his wife and public transportation to get to and from work. “I have too much to lose now,” he said, referring to his family. A 2004 speeding ticket started his troubles, he said. And once he had five tickets for driving without a license, it was bumped up to the charge of driving with a license criminally suspended. Add to that a charge of disobeying a police officer, and Mitchell stopped driving. State’s Attorney Michael Kainen announced the Windsor County’s amnesty program earlier this month, the second in the state. Kainen followed the program first started by State’s Attorney T.J. Donovan of Chittenden County. Donovan was in White River Junction on Friday with two of his deputies to help process the ticket plea agreements. In all, there were 11 county and state prosecutors on hand to help with the process. Kainen said he expected about 400 Windsor County residents would take advantage of the ticket forgiveness, out of about 1,400 drivers who have lost their right to drive because of ticket problems rather than criminal acts. Kainen said he had a vested interest in getting people back on the road legally and out of his courtroom. It would free up a lot of time in court if people weren’t getting stopped and charged with driving with a suspended license. “We waste a lot of time and effort in court on this,” he said. Too often, he said, looking around a waiting room full of people of all ages, it’s economic circumstances that prevent people from paying their fines. Donovan and Kainen said it was up to individual county prosecutors to offer the program, and many are opposed to it. Donovan, who is running for attorney general, said he had heard about a similar program in the state of Washington, and adopted it in Chittenden County earlier this year. “We’ve got to hit the reset button,” Donovan said, signing some paperwork for a soon-to-be restored driver. “We want people to work in this state and drive in this state.”