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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.
Miller was originally
indicted on 16 counts of
first-degree sexual abuse
along with individual counts
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