How would Bill Clinton have handled this differently?
Former U.S. presidential candidate Mr. Perot, 75, of Tucker’s Town, pleaded guilty to operating a power craft without reasonable consideration on July 24 last year in western waters and speeding in a restricted area where the limit was five knots.
Inspector Philip Taylor, prosecuting, told the court that a member of the public in a boat in waters off Watford Island, Somerset saw Mr. Perot’s 38-foot boat, ‘Rough Rider’ bearing down at about 30 knots (56 kph) within 100 metres of the shoreline.
The boat was planing, Insp. Taylor told magistrate, the Wor. Kamisi Tokunbo and creating a large wake, rocking the complainant’s boat.
Later that afternoon, the complainant saw Mr. Perot’s boat returning through the area at a high speed before slowing down.
By then ‘Rough Rider’ had formed another large wake, rocking the complainant’s and other boats in the area. Marine police later located Mr. Perot aboard another of his boats in Castle Harbour. He reportedly admitted speeding and said: “I understand” when they charged him.
Insp. Taylor said Mr. Perot has no convictions “in this jurisdiction”.
In court, dressed in green jacket and a white golf shirt, unrepresented Mr. Perot stood erect and expressionless as he addressed Mr. Tokunbo in his firm Texan drawl: “I apologise for the inconvenience I’ve caused the court in taking your time and to the marine police for taking their time.” Mr. Tokunbo fined the U.S. Naval Academy graduate $200 on the first count and $100 on the second.
Escorted by a police officer in plain clothes, Mr. Perot wasted no time in striding purposefully from the courthouse and getting into the passenger’s seat of a white private car parked in the driveway of the Supreme Court grounds behind Magistrates’ Court, his chauffeur waiting for him.
As the car drove onto Parliament Street, Mr. Perot turned his head away from a press camera as the officer tried to block the reporter’s shot of him.
The speed was 5knots, and Ross Perot's ears were doing at least 60 !
Was there a "giant sucking sound" as he sped by?
Did they pop the hatches and get their hands dirty, and did they find the crazy aunt in the bilges?
Yawn... why doesn't it make the news when I get in trouble? I, mean, "Explodingspleen steals braws from girls' dorm and leads campus police on highspeed chase through duckpond and golf course" sounds a lot more intresting than "Ross Perot fined for speeding in his boat," wouldn't you agree?
I'm going to make the papers one of these days, by jove.
I was a Perotista once.
I still like Ross.
He's fun, and he has a Voodoo Stick.
Where life is beautiful all the time...
clinton would have sent his private investigators in to destroy the reputation of the witnesses and officer. But not before CBSNBCABCCNN did requisite stories on the history of Burmuda court corruption and known unreliability of eye-witness testimony.
It was good that Perot showed up in court . That said $300.00 is chump change for Perot.
He was stopped by the local constabulary in our city a few years ago; the cop couldn't believe it was H Ross himself. Ross got 'pinched' in a 'STEP' program LASER speed trap on a major freeway that day ...
I would not pee on him if he was on fire.
It took a year?
WOW! Three hundred dollars. That'll make him think twice about speeding. I hope he didn't have to sell too many of his investments to pay the fine.
Apparently virtually every unit got one throughout Vietnam.I wrote and asked my parents about it to see if there was any news about who this guy was.There was apparently no coverage of it at all back home.
Sounds like Perot is the same kinda guy now that he was then.Takes care of business and doen't expect alot of fuss about it.
How would Bill Clinton have handled this differently?
He would have had Monica walking beside him with knee pads on.
I'm sure that he was simply trying to put a little more water between his boat and the Republican Dirty Tricks Squad that was chasing him.
"Now, it's real simple, you just look under the hood and fix it. It's the crazy aunt in the basement."
You know,
That might be a worthwhile feeling if the offender didn't have maritime experience. But not only is Perot a Naval Acad grad, he is a boater and there is really no excuse for his behavior in that boat. He had two citations.
As a boater, there's no way someone with his background and knowledge, should so flaunt the rules, endangering those in the harbor. It's nuts.
He's lucky he's not walking a plank.