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My spouse, 4 daughters and I have been driving a rented minivan from Chicago to St. Louis for my cousin’s marriage ceremony after I immediately grew to become conscious of a police car behind me with flashing lights, signaling me to drag over to the shoulder of the street.
A clean-cut, very younger and really good police officer seeking to be in his early 20s approached my window and requested me if I noticed I had been driving in a development zone the place the velocity restrict was 45.
I instructed him I might swear the signal had simply stated 65. He acknowledges that the velocity restrict was 65 awhile again, but it surely had most just lately been 45. It wasn’t till later that I discovered that I used to be the most recent victim of a speed trap, and I might be charged with driving 20 miles over the velocity restrict.
Dennis Quaid starred as America’s fortieth president in “Reagan.” (Getty Photographs)
Because the officer crammed out the ticket, I seen his palms have been shaking. Have to be new on the job, I figured and, sensing his weak point, I attempted to see if he wouldn’t let me off with a warning. He stated he couldn’t and famous I have to seem in court docket in a month.
THE REAGAN MOVIE IS A TIMELY REMINDER OF WHY LEADERSHIP MATTERS
“However I’m visiting from California,” I pleaded. “There’s no means I can come again in a month.”
He urged me to name the court docket and see in the event that they’d velocity up my court docket look. It was solely then, as he completed writing the ticket that I checked out it and seen that the jurisdiction through which my “crime” had been dedicated was Dixon, Illinois, the hometown of Ronald Reagan.
As I attempted to course of this data, I used to be reminded of what my mom, who was simply as religious as Reagan’s mom, typically stated, that there’s a Divine Plan, and that nothing is random in a universe the place God orders the steps of His kids. Which in my case meant that I used to be being led to Dixon, in opposition to my will, maybe for a purpose.
President Ronald Reagan lived as a boy on this easy white-framed residence on Hennepin Avenue in Dixon, Illinois, from 1920-1924. It’s now a museum. (Getty Photographs)
However I nonetheless had particulars to take care of: Following the officer’s suggestion, I pulled over and referred to as a clerk at Dixon Metropolis Corridor to elucidate my predicament. She agreed I might come and see the decide – however not till the subsequent day. So, I introduced to the household, we have been spending the night time in Dixon, Illinois.
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We exited the freeway at downtown Dixon and settled into the Vacation Inn. After consuming some pizza, we determined to see the sights. I’ve by no means been to Dixon and had no concept this journey was going to take me by it, however so long as we have been there, I made a decision to benefit from it and be taught as a lot about Reagan as I might.
We went to a fuel station and requested for instructions to 2 locations I really feel I wanted to go to to higher perceive Ronald Reagan: the Rock River the place he saved 77 lives as a lifeguard, and considered one of his childhood houses on Hennepin Avenue.
We drove down a dusty path to get to the river and spent practically an hour on the lookout for the well-known log that Reagan was stated to have carved a notch in for every life he saved. However in fact, there was nothing to be discovered.
Statue of Ronald Reagan on the late president’s boyhood residence in Dixon, Illinois. (Fox Information/Cortney O’Brien)
After a calming afternoon explaining to my children the importance of the Rock River, visiting the sting of its stony banks, and taking part in there as children are wont to do, we piled into the automobile.
NEW ‘REAGAN’ MOVIE SHOWS PRESIDENT’S STRENGTHS AND WHY HE IS MOST REMEMBERED FOR FIGHTING ‘EVIL’
Subsequent cease: the house on Hennepin Avenue and extra insights into Reagan.
The house was white and small, and I ended within the kitchen and within the upstairs room to consider what the scene regarded like 75 years earlier when Reagan’s mom Nelle busied herself making a meal whereas her son did his homework. I additionally stopped to buy some poems which had been written by Nelle – nothing fancy and even sure, however only a clump of papers which had been stapled collectively.
After taking some photos in entrance of the house we have been off once more; again to the lodge to prepare for my encounter with the decide the subsequent morning.
As I handed via the metallic detectors with my spouse and 4 younger daughters in tow, I rapidly discovered my public defender who instructed me what I wanted to do. I might go to jail, he stated, however most certainly I’d simply should pay a fantastic as long as I pleaded responsible.
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After I defined that I had been merely touring on the velocity of the automobile in entrance of me and that there have been vehicles behind me, he simply smiled and stated I ought to tell it to the judge – and in a couple of brief minutes I did simply that.
The truth is, I additionally had video footage shot on my cellphone which confirmed what occurred after I tried to go on the velocity restrict after my quotation. Not solely have been vehicles honking at me from behind, however one driver sped round my proper facet and confirmed me his center finger. I had the entire thing on tape to show to the decide that 45 mph was an unreasonable price of velocity.
“How do you plead?” he requested as I stood earlier than him.
“Your honor, I’d like to indicate you some footage I took to indicate you what occurred after I drove on the velocity that was posted,” I stated with a hopeful tone.
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Former President Ronald Reagan and his spouse Nancy wave whereas attending a gala celebrating his 83rd birthday, Feb. 3, 1994, in Washington.
“Son, I’m not going to look at your video,” he says. “Now, how do you plead?”
I assumed in regards to the public defender’s warning about the potential of jail and my 4 younger daughters who wanted their dad to remain a free man. I rapidly replied: “Responsible, your Honor,” and with that I used to be on my option to the clerk to pay a hefty $500 fantastic.
The good girl on the window listened to my story after which regarded down at her clipboard. She famous that I used to be the nineteenth case that day, and with out precisely saying it, one thing about her smile left me with the robust impression that this was how Dixon stored their metropolis companies funded. Nineteen folks at $500 a head, hey, that will preserve a whole lot of companies funded, I assumed to myself.
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The truth that I fell prey to this velocity entice finally didn’t matter a lot as a result of after I bought again to California, my Aunt Jeanne, who had heard about my predicament, had despatched a test to cowl the ticket.
And, I had come to know that there was goal in what had occurred and that my journey to Dixon was a part of what Reagan would name the “DP” or Divine Plan, for me to higher perceive a person whom I assumed I understood.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM MARK JOSEPH
Excerpted from “Making Reagan: A Memoir From The Producer of The Reagan Movie” by Mark Joseph. The Reagan movie is offered on DVD/Blu-Ray and at Amazon and iTunes.
