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Russell Gates, The Phoenix Gazette
<br />A Paradise Valley police officer displays the photo-radar machine, set up in a four-wheel drive truck.
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<br />New points to be made in Paradise Valley photo .. radar case
<br />By larry Samson
<br />The Phoenix Gazette
<br />PARADISE VALLEY -A
<br />longtime opponent of the town's
<br />photo-radar system is expected to
<br />take a strengthened case through
<br />the appeal process.
<br />Although he lost a case Tues-
<br />day before Town Magistrate Don-
<br />ald Harris, Stephen Clark raised
<br />two new issues he hadn't been
<br />able to use in his earlier appeal of
<br />two mid-1988 speeding citations.
<br />Harris found Clark "responsi-
<br />ble" for both speeding violations,
<br />but suspended the $60 fines for
<br />each offense, pending Clark's
<br />appeal. . :·" '
<br />The fir-st of Clark's ·new points.
<br />:was that the photo-radar system
<br />is "an abuse of the 'process"
<br />because it summons the owner of
<br />the allegedly speeding vehicle,
<br />rather than the accused speeder,
<br />into court. Unlike parking of-
<br />' fenses wherein the vehicle is
<br />deemed the violator and its
<br />owner responsible, Clark argued,
<br />the state and federal constitu-
<br />tions require traffic summonses
<br />to cite the alleged violator.
<br />Clark also charged that the
<br />system violates both constitu-
<br />tions' guarantee of due process.
<br />After the trial, Clark said he
<br />would appeal the decision to
<br />Superior Court.
<br />"The (state) Supreme Court
<br />has given life to the Paradise
<br />Valley way of issuing the (photo-
<br />radar traffic) citation," Hat-ris
<br />said, but it's "an interesting
<br />situation I would like to see
<br />clarified" by the state's highest
<br />court. During a recess, Harris
<br />said he had "some philosophical
<br />problems" with the system.
<br />Under the .. photo-radar pro·
<br />gram, which was started in
<br />August 1987, the owners of cars
<br />identified as speeders by· a com-
<br />puter and photographed by a
<br />computer-operated camera are
<br />mailed citations. The owners are
<br />required to appear in court and
<br />identify the driver of the car at ·
<br />the time the photo was taken.
<br />Some defendants have charged
<br />that the system violates due
<br />process by failing to notify the
<br />driver in a timely fashion, mak-
<br />ing it hard for the driver to
<br />remember the incident. Requir-
<br />ing the appearance of the vehicle
<br />owner and his testimony -as to
<br />his guilt or innocence -also
<br />violates that right, it has been
<br />argued.
<br />In his initial magistrate-court
<br />case, more than a year ago, Clark
<br />argued that the photo-radar sys-
<br />tem was flawed because it had no
<br />external checks of the system's
<br />accuracy. Clark again raised that
<br />issue Tuesday.
<br />• Clark charged that the photo-
<br />radar system's second computer
<br />was not really independent, al-
<br />though a town police officer
<br />testified that the second unit
<br />checks the citing computer each
<br />time it selects a vehicle for
<br />photographing. The officer said
<br />the second computer overrides
<br />the first if there is a vehicle-
<br />speed calculation error of more
<br />than 1 percent.
<br />Clark also tried to disprove the
<br />system's accuracy by saying that
<br />the two patrol-car drive-through
<br />tests performed before his cita-
<br />tion weren't valid because the
<br />police cars' speedometers hadn't
<br />been calibrated.
<br />The police officer, however,
<br />testified that the vehicle's. speed
<br />for those drive-through checks is
<br />set by the car's traditional speed-
<br />radar system, not its speedome-
<br />ter. The radar units, the officer
<br />said, are calibrated at the begin-
<br />ning of each shift.
<br />Town attorney Charles Ollin-
<br />ger discounted Clark's arguments
<br />about the system's inaccuracy,
<br />saying "the odds of the photo-ra-
<br />dar and two patrol cars having
<br />the identical error are astronomi-
<br />cal."
<br />Ollinger said legal precedent
<br />had determined that abuse of
<br />judicial process requires that the
<br />defendant suffer "a demonstrable
<br />harm." Summoning vehicle own-
<br />ers to court to determine the
<br />photographed driver, he said,
<br />resulted in no harm to the cited
<br />·individual.
<br />J.. PUBLIC NOTICE 1-ftf.-90
<br />j. ELECTION FINANCIAL STATEMENT
<br />Pursuant to A.f<tS. 9-246 the Paradise Valley
<br />Town Council hereby publishes a full and correct
<br />statement of all m"onies received into and
<br />distributed from the public "treasury for the fiscal
<br />year ending June 30, 1989.
<br />REVENUES .
<br />Taxes
<br />Special Assessments
<br />Licenses and Permits
<br />Intergovernmental Revenues
<br />Charges for Services
<br />Fines and Forfeitures
<br />Miscellaneous Revenues
<br />2,592,890
<br />41,374
<br />202,726
<br />2,522,674
<br />5,845
<br />405,504
<br />1,204,874
<br />TOTAL REVENUES 6,975,867
<br />EXPENDITURES
<br />General Government
<br />Public Safety
<br />Highways and Streets
<br />Public Improvements Projects
<br />Capital Outlay
<br />1,211;899
<br />1,596,496
<br />696,431
<br />2,719,100
<br />361,775
<br />1 mprovement Bonds-
<br />Principal Retirement
<br />Interest
<br />39,000 1
<br />19,892'
<br />TOTAL EXPENDITURES
<br />EXCESS OF REVENUES
<br />OVER EXPENDITURES
<br />6,664,593
<br />311,294
<br />. FUND BALANCES AT
<br />BEGINNING OF YEAR
<br />'FUND BALANCES AT
<br />12,197,822
<br />END OF YEAR 12,509,116
<br />Is/Mary Ann Brines, CMC
<br />; Town Clerk
<br />Publish Januar-y 19, 1990.
<br />LEGAL NOTICE
<br />~?-;-/9-9o
<br />PUBLIC NOTICE
<br />Notice is hereby given that
<br />the Town of Paradise Valley
<br />will conduct Logic and Ac·
<br />curacy Test of the Ballot Tab
<br />equipment at 3:00 p.m. on
<br />Friday, February 2, 1990, at
<br />the Paradise Valley Town
<br />Hall, 6401 East Lincoln Drive,
<br />Paradise Valley, Arizona.
<br />The same equipment will be
<br />used to tabulate votes at the
<br />Primary Election to be held
<br />February 6, 1990, in the Town
<br />of Paradise Valley.
<br />Is/Mary Ann Brines, CMC
<br />Town Clerk
<br />Publish January 19,1990.
<br />eR.()t:.R ess
<br />LEGAL NOTICE
<br />·· .~t mning in Jv~ 1-~T''fo .
<br />e: Forum features PV Council hopefuls
<br />. By Mark J. Scarp C" J./.. 11 J The nine qualified for the ballot in the Feb.
<br />, Progress Staff Writer~ ()() T/ !: tXA--I....e 6 nonpartisan primary election for seven
<br />/)te{) 6./1 e Bf; Town Council seats.
<br />Nine Paradise Valley resiOents, including Candidates earning a majority in the
<br />five incumbents, will square off on issues primary will win two-year terms that begin
<br />facing the affluent residential community in April. Any open seats will be decided in a
<br />·::tonight in the first of two Paradise Valley March27runoff.
<br />: · ·Town Council candidate forums. Of the current seven-member council five , ~ Tonight's forum will be held from 7:30 to incumbents are seeking re-election. Th~y in-
<br />: 9:30 p.m. in Birch Hall at Phoenix Country elude Sara Moya, a freelance writer, and
<br />" Day School, 3950 E. Stanford Drive. The · Judson School administrator Kent Wick,
<br />forum will feature questions from represen-both second-tenn members. First-tenn
<br />·· tatives of town homeowners' groups and of members seeking re-election are John Miller
<br />"' both major political parties. Jr., an investment broker, Richard My beck,
<br />· A second forum, sponsored by the town, a patent attorney, and real-estate developer
<br />will bll held at 7 p.m. Jan. 30 at Town Hall, ScottO'Connor.
<br />~ 6401 E. Lincoln Drive. Paradise Valley Mayor Robert Plenge and
<br />Vice Mayor Joan Lincoln each said Friday
<br />they are retiring from the Town Council
<br />when tl_leir current terms expire in April.
<br />Plenge will have served eight years on the
<br />council, whil~ Lincoln will have served 10
<br />years.
<br />In addition, four other town residents have
<br />qualified for the February ballot: fanner
<br />Town Manager Oscar Butt, attorney Phil
<br />Edlund, Planning and Zoning Commissioner
<br />Joan Horne, and physician Laurence
<br />Linkner.
<br />years from 1973-86 before taking a position as
<br />sales manager for Schumacher European
<br />Ltd., a Scottsdale luxury-automobile dealer-
<br />. ship, from which he recently retired.
<br />Edlund is an attorneyspecializing in real-
<br />estate concerns. He is a five-year town resi-
<br />dent.
<br />Horne is a fonner school librarian and
<br />recently retired from her business as officer
<br />in a family corporation. An lllh-year resi-
<br />dent, she has been a member of the town
<br />Planning and Zoning Commission since 1984,
<br />serving as chairwoman for two years. Prior
<br />Butt, a 17-year Paradise Valley resident,-to serving on the commission, she was a
<br />spent 30 years on active duty in the U.S. Air member of the Board of Adjustment.
<br />Force before retiring with the rank of colonel Linkner is senior vice' president for
<br />in 1972. He served as town manager for 13 · medical affairs at Blue Cross & Blue Shield
<br />of Arizona. He was a surgeon for 22 years,
<br />and has lived in Paradise Valley for 14 years.
<br />To qualify for the ballot, candidates had to
<br />submit at least 75 but no more than 150 valid ·
<br />signatures of registered town voters. Write-
<br />in candidates must file to be on the primary
<br />ballot by Tuesday.
<br />Residents may apply for absentee ballots
<br />until Feb. 2.
<br />Polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. '
<br />Feb. 6 at Cherokee Elementary School, 8801 :
<br />N. 56th St., and Kiva Elementary School,
<br />6911 E. McDonald Drive ..
<br />Tonight's forum is sponsored by the Town
<br />of Paradise Valley Independent, the town's'
<br />weekly newspaper.
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