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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (June 12, 2017)
3A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, JUNE 12, 2017 Got a warrant? ‘Amnesty Day’ offers some relief for scofflaws Pacific County seeks $2 million in unpaid fines By NATALIE ST. JOHN EO Media Group LONG BEACH, Wash. — If you’ve got an outstand- ing warrant hanging over your head, June might be your lucky month — Pacific County will soon host an “Amnesty Day.” The June 21 event is a unique opportunity for people with warrants in South Dis- trict Court or Ilwaco or Long Beach, Washington, municipal courts to get their cases back on track without fear of arrest. “You can get the warrant quashed. You can sleep at night, and not worry about get- ting picked up,” Judge Nancy McAllister said. During the two-hour event, the fee for quashing a war- rant will be $50, instead of the usual $100. Experts will be on hand to provide information about enrolling in court-man- dated programs and deal- ing with unpaid court debts. The court will also lift driv- er’s license suspensions for participants. South District Court offi- cials can’t do anything about felony warrants, or warrants from North District Court or other jurisdictions. But they are offering a guarantee that people with only local Munic- ipal Court or South District ll Ca ime yt n A Court warrants will be free to leave when they’re done tak- ing care of business. “We’re not going to have deputies standing around waiting to arrest people. That won’t happen,” District Court Administrator Kim Hamilton said. Hundreds of warrants, millions of dollars McAllister and Hamilton hope a lot of people will take advantage of the offer. If they do, the court staff could be very busy — currently, there are more than 700 people with active warrants who qualify to participate, Hamilton said. In all, their bail amounts total more than $2 million. Most of the scofflaws aren’t hardened criminals. The municipal courts primar- ily deal with traffic tickets and citations for minor things like littering, and district court deals mostly with misde- meanor crimes. Many of the people on the list simply didn’t show up for court dates, McAllister and Hamilton said. Some failed to comply with court-ordered requirements, like enrolling in treatment programs. Some violated the terms of their pro- bation. Others didn’t pay their fines. Some of the people were irresponsible, but others made honest mistakes. “They could have just messed up. They could have been out of town,” McAllister said. “Then they sit there with this warrant in fear that they’re going to be thrown in jail.” A promising idea Hamilton said the court held an amnesty day sev- eral years ago, when the idea was still fairly new. Turn- out was modest, but the idea showed promise. The state has also occasionally sponsored amnesty days in the past. McAllister, who was appointed to replace Judge Doug Goelz last year, decided to try it again while training for her new role. “In judicial college, the other judges were talking openly about making it more convenient to resolve legal issues,” McAllister explained. ‘Easier to ignore it’ When people don’t deal with their legal issues, minor screw-ups can take on a life of their own. Fines pile up. Col- lection agencies get involved. Warrants go out. But some people are so broke, over- whelmed, or scared of being thrown in jail that they won’t even call the court to sort things out, much less show up for a hearing, McAllister said. As a result, court officials sometimes come across people with years-old underage drink- ing or marijuana possession charges that are still messing up their lives. “Fear is the biggest thing. It really is,” Hamilton said. “When you talk to someone, they say, ‘Will I go to jail? Will I go to jail? Will I go to jail?’” Their fear is understand- able, McAllister said. People who do get arrested miss work, family time and appointments. They may lose wages, or even their jobs. Without money, they can’t afford to pay their fines, or go to court hearings. The cycle continues. “You have to also under- stand how disruptive that it to their lives. It interferes with their employment,” McAllis- ter explained. “It’s easier to ignore it then to potentially go to jail.” Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian Hammond man pleads guilty to sexual abuse By JACK HEFFERNAN The Daily Astorian A man pleaded guilty Friday to three counts of first-degree sexual abuse against an underage girl. Gregory Thomas Miller, 63, of Hammond, could face more than six years in prison after his sentencing in July. 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