Follow up on VA ASAP Entry - Don't be Afraid to go to Court If They're Jerking You Around

The editorial I ran about the VA ASAP program has gotten more responses, and more adament ones, than any thing else I've written here. Which I'd say is reflective of a pretty serious problem, considering this is a national, not a VA site. I'm surprised MADD isn't responding, considering the fact that they have a very good point with their organization/it could do a lot of good and maybe does some. They seem, however, to think there's nothing wrong with a program that only has a 7-9% success rate. That's ridiculous. They should be lobbying their asses off to have an effective program implimented, or to audit and fix existing problems in the one that there is now, based on the statistics alone.

Drunk driving is a serious problem. The main problem, it seems to me, is that the behavior is condoned by bar owners/workers to the greater part. Now, I've worked in restaurants myself and am going back to work in one next week actually. So I get their side of it/the financial place bartenders are coming from with this. But, as I think I said in my last blog on the subject, no one should be put in that position to begin with. People not dying should be a bigger priority than anything else when you get right down to it. And there should, without question, be penalties for the bar owners if their policy does not prevent people who have clearly had too much to drink from getting in their car and driving. It's like someone coming in with an empty gun who thinks it's ok to fire it at random when loaded and putting the bullets in it for them.

However, nothing is in place to prevent this and the reality is bartenders won't be able to pay their rent, feed themselves or their families or probably keep their jobs if they go around cutting people off and/or insisting they take their keys. So, regardless or the right or wrong of it, they're in an incredibally difficult position. MADD has no excuse. They're supposed to be preventing drinking and driving, that's their self-proclaimed job. Whereas the self proclaimed job of bar owners and tenders is to provide an environment for people to drink in, responsibility is generally acknowledged to rest on the drinker. And that means not just taking prevention measures in the schools but addressing the situation head on and making sure offenders don't become repeat offenders. IE ensure that your program is effective.

I don't know the why or wherefore of it, maybe it's because everytime someone goes to court people make money, maybe it's also because the system is punishment based, but ASAP seems to be pretty trigger happy over sending people to court when they're not clearly in violation of anything or only of very minor infractions that have nothing to do with alcohol. Since nothing outside of ASAP is challenging this, it's up to the individual to handle it on their own. If they are truly violating your rights in some way, the judge is not going to agree with them if you present your case clearly. You are not supposed to go to court for innability to pay, for example. And mistakes happen, if you legitimately forget or confuse an appointment chances are the judge isn't going to side with them either.

So, before they send you to court consider the situation carefully and think about going on your own to prevent the mark against you. You have a right to make a motion any time court is in session. THe judge can choose whether or not to hear that motion, but you can show up and make one and he or she will probably hear it. Seeing that you're taking the situation into your own hands to try to correct it will make a much better impression on him or her than seeing your case brought before court over and over again by people who are saying you're wrong. If you're not wrong, they do not have a right to do that to you. Officially they might, but it is going to create more problems for you, that's why they're doing it, don't let them.

For example, someone had a legitimate medical issue that led them to confuse appointment times. This was supportable by physicians records and statements. The person showed up an hour late on 2 occasions, but was not trying to miss the appointment or not participate, rather genuinely believed it was at the time they appeared. He was not allowed to make another appointment but told that he might be able to. So, he called his attorney, who contacted ASAP and was told that the client did, in fact, have another appointment schedueld and was assured that all that was needed was for that one not to be missed. When he went on the date the attorney was told the appointment had been moved to, he'd been told it had been sent to court. The judge was annoyed, but sided with the defendant.

ASAP had not sent anything to the current address of the defendant, by the way. No notice of hearing, no communication at all, in spite of the fact that the new address had been repeatedly given. If he hadn't known where and how to look up court information, he may well have had a whole new set of trouble, though, technically, if you don't receive service you can't get in trouble for not showing up. However, if service is posted on your door, or someone else receives the document for you, that counts. So, first and foremost, don't trust them to communicate with you, even when required by law.

When he returned to be re-enstated, he was told his appointment was the next morning. When he arrived, he was told that because he couldn't pay, he couldn't go. He said he was starting a job in a few weeks, could the appointment be moved to when he was able to pay and they said no, re-scheduled it for a week away, and was told if he didn't have the money then it would go back to court.

Instead of playing into this and spending another month completely paranoid, annoying the judge again by again being sent to court on a false non-compliance charge etc, he went to court on the morning of his next appointment. The judge wasn't happy about the situation, but threw it out and ordered that he be given 30 days to pay. Chances are, if it had been brought to court by ASAP, which would have created the immediate impression that he was wrong, wheras going of his own accord created the immediate impression that he was the one in the right, chances are it wouldn't have gone as well.

So, know what your rights are, limited though they may be. Yes, you made a mistake and yes you should face consequences for that. But not allowing you to participate because you can't pay is outside of the realm of reason. The law itself says that should not be the case. The same goes for pennalizing people for medical conditions. No law about anything thinks that's ok. But they're getting away with it and more. Why? Partly I think because people don't think there's anything they can do about it. But you can. You can go to court for anything they're doing, report it, and request that they be ordered to stop. The above described address situation alone, for example, would be a legitimate motion. If the person hadn't had so many other issues at hand, that point would have also been made and they would, no doubt, have been ordered to correct the problem.

If everyone who encountered a legitimate issue with these people took it before judges, things might change in the way they run things. The judges would probably do something just to clear the court-rooms of cases money isn't being made on. Some of them may well want to reform the programs themselves so that they're more effective, everyone in the system isn't just about money.

I'm not an attorney, so talk to one or look up the law on your own (the entire code of VA is on-line), but as I understand it, you can probably successfully fight the above issues, non-service/not recording current contact info if provided (if you don't report it, it makes it look like you're not giving it to them - which is probably what they'll say and that will get you in trouble); any time you're threatened with court or anything else because you're not able to pay, the law clearly states that it's intent is not to incarcerate people because they're poor. The judge can waive most fees permenantly or for periods of time and ASAP itself is supposed to work with you to make payment arrangements; and - if you miss an appointment go as soon as you realize it or are able and try to sort the situation out. If something legitimate occurred that's truly drastic, child care, a medical issue, you were going to not have a job otherwise, you might be found in the right and re-instated. The same goes for if you do not speak english and don't have an interpreter at the time of your appointment. The missed appointment situation is iffier than the others and you're not guaranteed that you will be re-instated, but there's a chance.

Whatever is happening, you're better off taking control of it than letting an obviously corrupt and flawed organization control it for you.