2002 Grand Marquis LSE!

[mercurygm88]

It can be a quick process. Spray detailer on panel and gently rub clay back and forth until you feel no resistance. Move on. Dont drop the clay.

I may give it a go sometime when I'm feeling ambitious.

[mercurygm88]

I also did some hand washing today and found more scratches that I hadn't noticed before. There are some issues that I noticed last time I washed, but the stuff I noticed today isn't as noticeable. Still the nicest car I've ever owned, and like your LSE it's still pretty good looking.

Yeah it's not too bad. The worst parts are the scratches on the trunk lid and the little rust spot on the drivers front fender. There's no way I can afford to buy a fender and have it sprayed, and I don't have the ambition to swap it if I found a matching one. Strangely enough I feel no rust on the inside of the wheel well. It's almost like it was paint chip down to the metal and then it started rusting from the outside in. With any luck I can keep it from getting too much worse. I was able to get up behind the inner fender and put some heavy oil around the whole wheel well, now I just need some touch up paint. It probably won't work but it's worth a try. This car was sold new in Florida but the maintenance records I have show that it's been in Ohio since 2005. Which is interesting because it still looks like new underneath. Then again my grandparents bought a new PT Cruiser when they came out and drove it until 2018, it never had a spot of rust on it or underneath, they got rid of it at a little over 300,000 miles. Regardless of what some people would say based on personal experience I have way more faith in modern rust proofing than old stuff. Drive a clean 1970's car through one Ohio or Michigan winter and it will be rotted out, not so with newer stuff. Unless it's a Dodge truck. My uncles '97 was shot in 3 years.

[mercurygm88]

Funny, stupid story!

I got my replacement temp tag today. Ohio quit doing 30 day tags 5 or 6 years ago and went to a 45 day tag. Due to all of the BMV’s being closed their offering 90 day tags. I ordered it on March 30, it was made out and dated April 1 and mailed last Friday! Why didn’t they wait until Friday to date it so I didn’t lose out on 12 of my 90 days? Also they added a little letter in there that said in order to insure the tag lasts 90 days please display it in your rear window, then it listed the section of the Ohio revised code that allows this. Now I did this when I had the first Lincoln and I was pulled over and issued a written warning because it was in the back window when the tag and registration even said write on it that if could be displayed in the rear window. So now the BMV issues you a printout saying it’s legal, stating the ordnance number, and giving you a 1-800 number for the Ohio Attorney General's to call in case you are harassed for it. Then in fine print it says they have had issues over the past several years with law enforcement not following the rear window rule so now they make it a point to include the printout.

Now that's pretty damn stupid if you ask me. The registration and Temp tag already say on it that it can be displayed in the rear window and yet they still pull people over and harass them over it? What makes the state think the stupid printout is going to help? Apparently for some reason Ohio is incapable of keeping law enforcement on a leash, then again with the corruption in my own home town it doesn't surprise me. We've had several police chief's and county Sheriff's removed from office, charged with corruption, and imprisoned in the past 10 years. Even more going back before that. A handful of judges and prosecutors too. The only upside is I've dealt with the Ohio Attorney Generals office twice before involving similar matters, and one thing I've learned is that neither private businesses or law enforcement agencies like to get an unfriendly call from the AG's office.

[jaywish]

NY does a very similar thing with boat registration stickers. Normally a registration sticker is affixed in the bow next to the registration numbers. However if you have a wood boat you are allowed to affix the multi-yearl registration sticker on the windshield. NY provides a little wallet size document explaining this with the stickers so you can show it to the marine cops. I needed to show the document approximately once a year. When I was younger I used to think that it was normal to expect the cops to know this rule. Now that I am "old" I realize how silly my expectation was in the face of reality.

[gadget73]

Expecting people to know the law is pretty unrealistic. Whenever the NJ DMV re-opens I have to title the Mark VII. I already paid sales tax on it in Florida, and I'm not supposed to have to pay it again in NJ. I'm sure the DMV people won't know this so I'll have to find the relevant section of law to provide to them. All they will know is that normally tax of whatever % of the purchase price gets collected when a title is transferred. I need something that is not absolutely routine and its going to be a problem.

[mercurygm88]

Expecting people to know the law is pretty unrealistic. Whenever the NJ DMV re-opens I have to title the Mark VII. I already paid sales tax on it in Florida, and I'm not supposed to have to pay it again in NJ. I'm sure the DMV people won't know this so I'll have to find the relevant section of law to provide to them. All they will know is that normally tax of whatever % of the purchase price gets collected when a title is transferred. I need something that is not absolutely routine and its going to be a problem.

Expecting someone who conducts traffic stops for a living to know how I can display my temporary tag should not be unrealistic. This is certainly a very routine thing, unlike your out of state purchase. I've seen people here in Ohio be illegally taxed twice even after proving that it was illegal. Just depends on the state and whether they really care what the law says. Sure you can refuse to pay it but then you don't get the vehicle transferred. Like I said I've gotten a written warning for this before when it specifically states on the temporary tags registration that the officer looked at that I was in fact in the right. He simply told me that he didn't think that was correct. Because you know the BMV is all about issuing false paperwork.

[gadget73]

yeah thats a deeper level of bullshit than my tax thing.

[Mainemantom]

Well I know that the officer can hope the "violator" takes the issue to court. That way the officer gets overtime for court. Win or lose he gets the overtime pay if it is outside his regular shift time. If the "violator" does not challenge the ticket, that is more money for the jurisdiction where he/she works. Rarely does the officer get chewed out by the judge for writing stupid tickets. Maybe just a glare. Sometimes the officer has to "approach the bench" to explain.
The more tickets written ,the more numbers counted at the end of the day, which equates to numbers on the tally at the end of the month. That equates to a good boy or bad boy on the officer's performance review at the end of the month. The next month, it starts all over again. End of the year might give the officer a raise, a better patrol vehicle or a duncan donuts gift card. Also make the Sgt. LT and above happy which keeps everyone happy !

[mercurygm88]

Well I know that the officer can hope the "violator" takes the issue to court. That way the officer gets overtime for court. Win or lose he gets the overtime pay if it is outside his regular shift time. If the "violator" does not challenge the ticket, that is more money for the jurisdiction where he/she works. Rarely does the officer get chewed out by the judge for writing stupid tickets. Maybe just a glare. Sometimes the officer has to "approach the bench" to explain.
The more tickets written ,the more numbers counted at the end of the day, which equates to numbers on the tally at the end of the month. That equates to a good boy or bad boy on the officer's performance review at the end of the month. The next month, it starts all over again. End of the year might give the officer a raise, a better patrol vehicle or a duncan donuts gift card. Also make the Sgt. LT and above happy which keeps everyone happy !

Actually you can get away without fighting it in court. At least in Ohio. The notice I received states that if you are ticketed for displaying the tag in the back window and you call the number for the Attorney Generals office they will take care of it. And actually judges do chew them out, my dad fought a failure to control ticket a couple years ago and got off on $25 court costs. He later fought one for driving 85mph in a 45mph zone and won. The Judge chewed out the officer and told him Ohio does not have fixed speed limits we have suggested speeds. They don't even use a courtroom for this stuff here dad, the judge, and the officer met in a small office in the courthouse. When I received a written warning for displaying my temp tag in the back window back in 2015 I called the AG's office and they called the local PD and gave them hell, that officer ended up getting a 30 day suspension. The simple fact is if you have a notarized piece of paper stating that you are following the law then there needs to be accountability for power hungry cops who think they can do as they please. I don't think the overtime pay matters to them if they actually get it which I highly highly doubt. Because these court cases don't last more than 10-15 minutes.

[Mainemantom]

When in a judge's court, what he/she says goes. Right or wrong, there is an appeal process if needed. I can see a major legal challenge with the 85/45 speed issue. The officer got 30 day suspension for that ? I am not saying he didn't however Federal and State confidentiality laws prohibit adverse actions of employees to be made public. The officer may have had additional issues that led to a suspension. Depending upon the State and Union agreements court time is compensated different ways. If it is during the normal shift, that is part of the shift. If it is overtime, there are different methods of compensation most are at OT levels.
4 hour minimum at OT was very good standard whether it lasted 5 minutes or 4 hours. When I went to court, civil, traffic, criminal, the fine or the sentence in many cases was suspended or reduced however the defendant was always found guilty. Case preparation was key to winning. You would be surprised how little preparation is done with cases.
The only case I horribly lost was my divorce case. 9 years of alimony, and a lifetime payment plan from my retirement. I deprived my ex from her standard of living ... she was an accountant.

[mercurygm88]

The officer in question received the suspension for illegally writing me a written warning. Because I hadn’t broken any laws. The Attorney Generals office demanded that said officer get a 30 day suspension. They even called me and told me about it when they informed me that the illegal warning had been removed from my record.

I know multiple people in Ohio, not just locally who have gotten out of speeding tickets because of suggested speeds. On all of the 5 tickets he’s fought dad was found innocent and paid between $25-$40 court costs. I also found it interesting that most of these people said the judge told the ticket issuing officer that it was on him to prove that the ticketed person was doing something illegal or dangerous. Not on them to prove they weren’t. In the case of dads 85 in a 45 the judge asked the officer if he was driving erratically. The officer said no and the judge let dad off with just the $25 court costs.

Sorry to hear about your alimony and lifetime retirement payment. Out of all the people I’ve known who’ve gotten divorced nobody has ever paid alimony let alone part of their retirement. Are there states that don’t allow such things? Or is it just dependent on the divorce?

[gadget73]

When my cousin divorced her first husband, she had to pay alimony to him since she made more $. He paid child support to her since she had custody. The monies were pretty much the same. I don't know why they didn't just mutually agree to drop the whole thing but it worked out for years that she was just getting her own money back every month.

[mercurygm88]

When my cousin divorced her first husband, she had to pay alimony to him since she made more $. He paid child support to her since she had custody. The monies were pretty much the same. I don't know why they didn't just mutually agree to drop the whole thing but it worked out for years that she was just getting her own money back every month.

Hmm. Maybe everyone I know has mutually agreed on everything. But I dunno I’ve seen some pretty rough divorces.

In other news I drove the LSE as far away from home as I’ve had it today. A whopping 55 miles one way.

[Mainemantom]

Well one thing is for sure. In this time in society, I would not want to be in law enforcement ANYWHERE especially in places like Ohio. Some States are worse than others. It is a different world now. I am just glad that my working days are long over and I am deep in the retirement years.
California is HOSTILE toward men generally in divorce cases. It is a community property state. Any marriage over 10 years look out ! We were married 18. Kid was over 18 so no child support. Financial statements are submitted to the court for both parties. PROJECTING what living expenses will be. Bills are suppose to be divided. HA ! Savings, assets, houses all divided equally. HA HA ! Lost everything except my cars, I only kept them because I agreed to pay off her and the kid's new cars. Threw me into instant financial ruin. Oh I forgot, in the end, judge ordered me to pay my ex's attorney fees with one year to pay,no interest. Alimony $900 a month. Went on for 9 years. I took her to court 6 times to get it reduced. Finally got it stopped when I became disabled on the job. That is when the judge stopped alimony and attached my retirement for life. Oh, if she dies, the kid (who is an attorney) gets it. If the ex and him die, her best friend gets it. I could sell this horror story to Steven King. He lives just in town.
At the start, I had it set up where we could be divorced, assets split and go our ways in 6 months all for $350. No she had to play dirty. She also had the most cut throat attorney in that part of the State as her attorney (who I dealt with in court many times). Cheaper to keep her. yep but I am happy with my marriage of 20 years now !! In the end her attorney said it was one of the worst divorce cases he had done. Because he lost. He wanted alimony and retirement. I waited until the last day of the full year to pay that legal thief off.
Thanks for letting me rant. With that subject I need to vent... Now back to car talk.

[mercurygm88]

Wow that’s really crazy. My dad got slightly screwed when my parents divorced but nothing like that. Ohio has a legal limit on what they can charge for child support. I think it’s like 15% of your pay, maybe 20%. When my parents divorced the judge ordered my dad to pay more than he made! Luckily for him he refused to make the payments, back then it wasn’t automatically taken from you before you were paid, and a year later when the divorce was finalized he got custody. When that happened they forgave the back amount owed.

Looking back I still wish mom would’ve gotten custody. Yeah she moved a lot and changed boyfriends a lot but they were all good guys and she never did anything illegal. I’d have definitely had more fun during my teenage years.

Dad moved us way out in the country where there were no other kids to hang out with. I made a buddy down the road who went to another school. He lived just across the school district line. That was 20 years ago and we still hang out regularly. But my little brother and sister never had any real social interactions until they were in there late teenage years.

I can’t say growing up was terrible but I’d still have rather lived in town with mom. The only reason my dad got custody is because his family fed the judge a bunch of lies about my mother. Then again my brother fed them a bunch of lies about my grandparents on dads side. To this day everyone’s always trying to turn everyone against one another when no one really did anything wrong.